Saturday, April 28, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Calls grow for Scottish women’s prison to be shut

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:30 AM PDT

Rachel Salmon
WVoN co-editor

The chief inspector of prisons in Scotland said this week that conditions at the only prison for women are “unsatisfactory” and that the jail should close.

This was the third inspection that Brigadier Hugh Monro had carried out at Cornton Vale prison, near Stirling, in two and a half years.

He described visiting one of the jail’s units, which houses prisoners with mental health issues, and who are kept separate from others, as a "harrowing experience”, according to the Scotsman.

This follows the recommendation in a report published last week by the Commission on Women Offenders, chaired by former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini  that Cornton Vale should be demolished.

Her report said it should be replaced by a smaller specialist prison for long-term, high-risk prisoners, with regional units for short-term, remand prisoners.

Mr Monro told The Scotsman that he "completely endorsed" the call for the prison to be shut.

Although the Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, has accepted that the jail is not fit for purpose, he said that a new prison could not be “magicked” out of thin air.

He said that he accepted: “the logic and direction intimated by Dame Elish Angiolini, but a prison can’t be just magicked out the air, either in terms of the cost of it or in terms of the construction of it”, according to STV news.

The minister continued: “But I accept the clear implication that it is not fit for purpose, not withstanding the outstanding service of those who work in it, and that it will ultimately have to go. That’s a matter that I will be discussing with the Scottish Prison Service.

Women have equal rights because they can shop, Fox host claims

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 09:30 AM PDT

Emine Dilek
WVoN co-editor 

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld is known for his shallow rhetoric but the joke he cracked on last Friday's episode, about women having all the rights they need because they can shop, was not amusing.

In particular, the Young Turks co-host Ana Kasparian, was not amused. She had two choice words for the known misogynist: "fuck you."

Gutfeld, along with other co-hosts of the show, The Five, went on a rant about the National Organization for Women (NOW), because they had organized a boycott of Rush Limbaugh after he called the Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a "slut and prostitute" for asking her health insurance company to cover contraception.

Kasparian said: "that's just what Fox News is; they hire clowns to make clownish arguments."

I agree wholeheartedly with Ms Kasparian and think that this joke might have been funny if the policies of the right-wing in the US were not so wholeheartedly anti-women.

The reason we are not laughing our hineys off to your incredibly sophisticated joke Mr Gutfeld is that the right-wing in the US, of which you are a mouthpiece, has been waging a war on women in many State congresses and the House of Representatives of the federal government.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, over 900 bills to restrict or ban women from receiving life-saving care or the right to choose to have an abortion were introduced by Republican-controlled legislatures throughout states where they hold a majority in 2011 alone.

These bills include restricting insurance coverage for abortion; forcing women to carry dead fetuses to full term; forcing women who wants abortions to undergo unnecessary, painful and degrading vaginal probe ultrasounds, which they have to pay for; giving employers the right to refuse healthcare insurance coverage for women; or giving them the right to ask why female employees are using contraception.

Currently, at the federal level, Republicans are fighting to overturn the Violence Against Women Act that is due for renewal, citing budget restraints.

They have also been fighting to stop all forms of funding for organizations that provide affordable reproductive healthcare to underprivileged women. The list goes on and on.

So when a clown like you say clownish things that are not even funny and also sexist, misogynistic, chauvinistic and improper, women do not laugh, nor even grin like your bald-faced female co-hosts, but actually shout "fuck you!"

You deserved more than this insult but I don't think you have the capacity to get it, so I'll leave it at that and thank you Ana Kasparian.

First woman speaker of the Commons elected 20 years ago today

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Libby Ruffle
WVoN co-editor 

It’s 20 years ago today that Betty Boothroyd became the first – and to date only – female Speaker of the UK’s House of Commons.

But Boothroyd says she’s no feminist.

"I accepted my nomination," she said, "as an experienced parliamentarian, not as a woman waving the feminist flag."

But she concedes that "for the first 40 years of my life, I took more brickbats than bouquets."

When she became the parliamentary candidate for South-East Leicester in 1956, the local press listed her vital statistics and commented that she was "well worth whistling at."

Although frustrated that "nobody thought to enquire after (opposition candidate) Captain Wentworth's measurements or to describe his appearance," she said, "I had to accept it."

Even women's magazines focused not on her politics but on how Boothroyd could "stop men looking at her ankles long enough to get them interested in her party line."

Boothroyd was born in West Yorkshire in 1929.

A talented singer and dancer, she worked at the Palladium until a foot infection put an end to that career. Dancing, she would later say, taught her "the need for rigorous preparation" which was crucial in politics.

She inherited her interest in politics from her parents, particularly her mother, who took her to rallies and meetings. In the 50s, Boothroyd worked as a campaigner and assistant for the Labour party.

She first stood for a seat in her home town of Dewsbury, in the 1952 council elections. Her platform was "to build houses to let, resist cuts in education and extend health services, especially for the elderly."

Although she lost, she left her job at the British Road Services to work full time for the party, joining the research department.

Her "ideal introduction" to Parliament came when she worked as a secretary to Barbara Castle, MP. Castle, Boothroyd said, "did not believe in positive discrimination for women."

She claimed that although she supported her, Castle viewed Boothroyd as a "back-room girl" and she had to rely on her abilities to persuade constituency parties to take her seriously as a candidate.

"Breaking through the gender barrier made me all the tougher," she said.

After Leicester, she campaigned unsuccessfully for a seat in Peterborough. In need of "new inspiration", she left for America, offering her services to JF Kennedy's team: "There was no British politician like him."

In America, she picked up a more informal campaigning style – known as "pressing the flesh" – and so "Hi, I'm Betty Boothroyd" became her standard greeting. Later, when asked how she should be addressed, she was to say, "Call me Madam," a line taken from a Broadway show.

Although she earned more in America than an MP ever would in the UK, "Britain was my home. More than ever, I wanted to be a Labour MP."

After returning to England in 1961, she went on the dole. The next few years were "hard".

She was defeated at Plymouth, Nelson and Colne, and Rossendale. "I felt qualified for the Guinness Book of Records for the number of seats I had fought and lost."

Boothroyd finally became an MP in 1973, aged 43, for West Bromwich East.

Her mother's death in 1982 affected her deeply and was the only time she considered giving up politics. But Parliament had "became the centre of my life in a way that I could not have managed as a wife and mother."

Her unmarried status not only raised frustrating questions ("I find it very irritating that the questions of marriage and age more usually come up with women than with men") but was held against her.

One woman attending a party meeting accused her of being "no good for us – unmarried, no children, never run a home…" (Her reply was, "Then I'll have all the more time for you, dearie, won't I?").

Although in her early career Boothroyd told interviewers she didn't see why she shouldn't combine marriage and a career in politics, "I never did. I had a choice, and I exercised it."

While feeling that her party was "perceived as old-fashioned and class-based", Boothroyd also thought that women hadn't "learned to use their emancipation… as long as they've a nice husband, a nice house, a car outside and the kids doing well at school, they don't care who's governing them."

She found some women "inclined to be bitchy" and "look up more to Liz Taylor than Barbara Castle."

By the time Boothroyd became deputy speaker in 1987, the first woman Prime Minister had been in office for eight years.

In 1992, when then Speaker Jack Wetherill retired, seven of the 11 speakers between 1900 and 1992 had been Tory. Needless to say, all had been men.

But there was no doubt "the frustrating years of being told I was too young, not in the right trade union, or the token woman were over," said Boothroyd.

She was elected Speaker of the House on 27 April 1992. At first, she was "bewildered and disorientated", partly because she now had to keep her distance from her colleagues.

She broke with tradition by not wearing a wig. "I merely wanted to open a few windows, not to bring the walls tumbling down"

When awarded her own coat of arms, she was given one that was lozenge-shaped (shields were for men only), with a forget-me-not bow on top to signify her status as a single woman.

Boothroyd was proud to have been appointed "on equal terms”, but “made no concessions to women Members because of their gender."

Indeed, she was criticised for treating women MPs too severely and was accused by Labour's women's committee of harshly treating new MP Laura Moffatt during Commons questions.

In 2000, she declared that breastfeeding mothers shouldn't be allowed in committee sittings. They were already banned from the chamber, division lobbies, tearoom and some parts of the library.

Her reasoning not to accept this "bizarre campaign" was that she didn't think areas for breastfeeding provided the"calm environment" that babies needed, and that it was "not conducive to the efficient conduct of public business."

In 2002, Boothroyd's successor, Michael Martin, failed to lift the ban entirely, but designated areas were set up in the Commons.

Boothroyd retired in 2000, dubbed a "national treasure and institution" by then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In 2001, she took up a seat in the Lords, where women now make up about one fifth of members.

"Women remain a minority in frontline politics," Boothroyd said later, "but the opportunities I took are still there for those who strive for them."

Time for a second sexual revolution?

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 05:00 AM PDT

Kate Townshend
WVoN co-editor 

A new contraceptive that lasts for as long as ten years, is easily reversible and has almost no side effects might sound too good to be true.

But a procedure that promises all of this and more may well be on the market in India within the next two years – and it could hit the rest of the world soon after.

Side effect free contraception is an exciting development in itself, but the even bigger news? This particular contraceptive method is aimed at men.

The RISUG procedure (Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance) which is in late stage clinical trials in India, works via injection.

A harmless gel coats the walls of the ducts that carry sperm from the penis, killing the sperm as they leave the man's body. And if he changes his mind an additional injection will simply flush the gel away, restoring his fertility.

Techcitement reports that in 15 years of trials the method has a 100 per cent success rate. It is more convenient than condoms, less serious than vasectomy and involves none of the inevitable side effects inherent in hormone based contraception.

In early 2010, a small foundation that grew out of the Male Contraception Information Project purchased rights to begin studying RISUG in the US with the aim of developing it for the rest of the world. Clinical trials began early this year.

So assuming RISUG ( or vasalgel to give it its US monniker) is as good as it sounds, what might this mean on a wider level?

A truly effective method of contraception for men could help to address any lingering sense that birth control is somehow still women's business.

But are men really to blame for not taking their fair share of responsibility? Not according to the Family Planning Association (FPA).

It commissioned a survey in 2008 which revealed that a startling (and encouraging) 94% of men consider contraception to be of equal relevance to them.

Rebbecca Findlay, press and campaigns manager for the FPA believes that in the past the problem has been a biological one:

"Men want to take control of their sexuality in the same way that women do, but it's been a longer journey to bring them onto an even footing. We do them a disservice when we assume they won't want to take responsibility."

The even better news is that all of this might well be a bit of a shot in the eye for pharmaceutical companies more focused on profit than people.

RISUG is the pet project of Indian scientist  Sujoy Guha, who has spent the past 30 years fighting to establish its worth according to Wired.

Ironically the simplicity and relative cheapness that make it so revolutionary also partly explain why the bigger companies are sceptical – it doesn't offer huge opportunities for money-making.

The bottom line is that contraception is about more than the science that makes it work.

Contraception saves lives, reduces the number of unwanted children in the world and gives families in deprived areas a chance to keep themselves out of further poverty.

It also makes people free-er. If RISUG delivers, men will soon have another option for taking responsibility for their own sexuality; and that can only be a good thing for women too.

Tennessee passes bill criminalising miscarriage

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 03:30 AM PDT

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s1/Panfriedmoogle/Embryo.jpgLiz Draper
WVoN co-editor

Lawmakers in the state of Tennessee this week passed a bill proposing to criminalise harming embryos.

The state senate voted almost unanimously in favour of the bill, which defines embryos as possible victims of criminal assault and murder.

The bill amends a law passed last year which granted legal protection to "viable" foetuses. The new bill extends this protection to unborn humans "at any state of gestation in utero".

According to lawmakers, last year's law was intended to cover foetuses at all stages of pregnancy.

However, the amendment was necessary because they had not realised that the term foetus is only used from the eighth week of pregnancy onwards. Before this, unborn humans are known as embryos.

Proponents of the bill claim that it will protect women, as it would allow prosecutors to add a second criminal charge when a pregnant woman and her embryo are harmed.

However, critics protest that it is too vague, and could be interpreted as criminalising any action which leads to miscarriage. This could potentially result in women who have suffered miscarriages being prosecuted for harming their embryos.

Concerns have also been raised over how the law could be implemented. It may be difficult to prove that an embryo has been harmed, since many pregnancies fail naturally during the embryonic stage.

The bill is the latest chapter in the debate over personhood. Although its aim is ostensibly to protect pregnant women, it establishes in law the principle of legal protection for unborn humans, which sets the groundwork for anti-abortion legislation.

“Farewell Intercourse” law to allow Egyptian men to have sex with dead wives

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 01:17 AM PDT

Emine Dilek
WVoN co-editor 

Egypt's new parliament is supposedly about to introduce a law called "farewell intercourse".

This will allow husbands to have sex with their dead wives up to six hours after death.

Makes me wonder if they are trying to revive the mummification tradition or they are just kidding.

The debate started last year when the Moroccan cleric Zamzami Abdul Bari reportedly claimed that marriage remains valid even after death.

Women's rights organizations have condemned the proposed law and the National Council for Women (NCW) of Egypt is demanding that the Islamist-dominated parliament refuses to approve the controversial bill.

Dr Mervat al-Talawi, head of the NCW, has written to the speaker of parliament expressing her dismay.

Prominent Egyptian journalist and TV host Jaber al-Qarmouty expressed his outrage on Tuesday's program, saying:

"This is unbelievable. It is a catastrophe to give the husband such a right! Has the Islamic trend reached that far? Is there really a draft law in this regard? Are there people thinking in this manner?"

Parliament is also set to approve legislation lowering the age of marriage to 14 for girls.  Additionally, lawmakers are working to eliminate reforms and laws implemented over a decade ago that allow women to end unhappy or abusive marriages without interference from their spouses.

Islamist members of the Egyptian parliament deny that they are intent on attacking  women's rights, claiming that current laws are "aiming to destroy families."

The Muslim Brotherhood, which dominates Egypt's first elected post-revolution parliament, is posed to take the presidency in next month's elections.