Thursday, June 28, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Egyptian president Morsi vows to elect woman, Christian as vice presidents

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 09:54 AM PDT

Crystal Huskey
WVoN co-editor

Newly elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi says he will appoint a woman as one of his vice presidents and a Christian as another.   

The decision is historic, as no woman has ever held that position in Egypt.  

Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, held that women should be banned from the role of president, but that he would stand for women’s rights.   

The Muslim Brotherhood is historically conservative.  Before the election, there was a real fear that the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power would mean Egypt would become an Islamic state.  

It is important to remember that the new regimes have been democratically elected.  As long as the people continue to have a voice and can report on human rights violations and demand change, the government will continue to evolve in a positive way. 

The most significant threat posed by an Islamic regime would be to women's rights.  

Morsi, however, directly confronted this fear by saying: “”The role of women in Egyptian society is clear.  Women’s rights are equal to men.

“Women have complete rights, just like men. There shouldn’t be any kind of distinction between Egyptians except that … based on the constitution and the law.” 

Egyptian women have had a history of their rights being violated. According to the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, 90-97% of women have been victims of female genital mutilations (FGM).

Following the mass protests in Egypt, women were subjected to virginity checks and further abuses. 

According to “Islam, Human Rights and Interfaith Relations: Some Contemporary Egyptian Perspectives,” by Valerie Hoffman: 

"In the last ten to fifteen years, Islamist thought has evolved. Politically speaking, the Muslim Brotherhood has long been viewed as 'moderate,' working within the system and no longer advocating the violent overthrow of the government, a reality that has in fact led them gradually to alter their political theories and perspectives on Egyptian society and government.” 

Egyptian feminist Nawal el Saadawi (and patron of WVoN) pointed out, however, that just because one of the vice presidents was a woman would not necessarily mean that she would be less of a patriarch, capitalist, or racist than a man.   

“Half of the Egyptian Women’s Union are young revolutionary men,” she told WVoN, “yet some women with the Salafi party or with the Muslim Brothers party supported the backlash against women’s rights in the last parliament in Egypt. 

“If the new president… chooses a progressive woman supporting women’s rights, then this will be positive.”

Latest figures show women faring worse than men in UK job hunt

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Michelle Wright
WVoN co-editor 

Unemployed women in the UK are finding work at a lower rate than men, according to figures released last week.

Female unemployment fell by just 1,000 in the three months prior to April, while male unemployment dropped by 49,000, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Meanwhile the number of women out of work in Wales actually rose by 4,000.

This means UK female unemployment remains at its highest level in 25 years, at around 1.1 million.

Trade union officials say recent cuts to the public sector and retail industry are reasons for the rise.

The same figures also showed the number of people working in the public sector, one of the largest employers of women, is now at its lowest since 2003.

In Manchester alone, the number of women out of work has risen by a third over the past two years. Unemployment among men, on the other hand, has only risen by 3 percent.

Lucy Powell, Labour’s parliamentary candidate in the city, said: "The rise in women's unemployment is massively disproportionate and women and families are paying a much bigger price for the economic situation the country is in."

Girl Guitar pioneer Mandy Rowden talks to WVoN

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT

Polly Trenow
WVoN co-editor 

“You can’t be as good as the guys; you have to be better.” – Mandy Rowden*

Girl Guitar Austin is a women-only music school in Austin, Texas.

It is the brainchild of singer/songwriter/teacher Mandy Rowden who, after teaching privately for ten years, combined her love of teaching, playing, wine and good old-fashioned fun to form Girl Guitar in 2007.

Women’s Views on News correspondent Polly Trenow sat down with Rowden to find out more.

WVoN:  Tell me about the birth of Girl Guitar.

Rowden: I used to teach at the Austin School of Music and I’d always thought it would be fun to have a girl guitar class but I’d never had any luck starting it.

I came back from New York and didn’t want to teach private lessons anymore but I was super broke and so the Austin School of Music let me try to put a class together. At that time I guess I was just broke enough that I was really motivated to try to make it happen!

I managed to get enough people for a full class so I thought I would just do one six-week class, get my cell phone turned back on and that would be that. But we had such a good time that they all wanted to sign up again. Then random strangers started calling me wanting to do a class and it started getting too big for the space available at the school of music so I moved it.

I never planned on it being a full-time job but we just kept having fun and getting all this attention so I thought “ok, let’s keep doing this.” After about two and half years I was able to quit waiting tables and just do Girl Guitar full time.

WVoN:  What was the motivation behind the girls-only aspect of Girl Guitar?

Rowden: I’ve never been a big feminist, it just sort of happened.

It’s kind of boys-club playing guitar and there are so many women that want to learn but for some it’s like going to a gym – some women just feel more comfortable without dudes there.

I had wondered whether a girl-only class would make a difference and when we tried it, it was so much fun. Someone brought a bottle of wine and it turned into our own girl’s club. That sounds cheesy when I say it, but the women did seem to respond well. A lot of people told me that they wouldn’t have felt as comfortable if there were guys there.

WVoN:  What was the atmosphere like in your first class?

Rowden: It was so fun, we laughed so much! You know there is a lot about guitar that when when you talk about it it sounds kind of sexual so we just ran with that and laughed our asses off. Everyone has improved and it’s been great watching the girls become friends.

At the end of the course there is a showcase and we have huge crowds at our showcases and everyone is so supportive. I don’t know if they’re more supportive because we’re chicks or just because these women are trying to learn something new, but they’re supportive anyway.

WVoN:  What do your students say?

Rowden: They seem to love it! A lot of them tell me they wouldn’t feel as comfortable if there was guys there. I don’t know why. Maybe we think that guys would make fun of us or make us feel bad or maybe we assume that guys know more than us.

WVoN:  Girl Guitar has grown to provide classes for songwriting, soloing, bass and more.  Are there further plans for growth?

Rowden:  It’s something I’ve been wrestling with lately — the need to make money versus the need to keep Girl Guitar special. I could do more classes and spread myself thin but I wouldn’t know the women as well and it wouldn’t be as cool.

People tell me I need to franchise it, but if I start franchising it and I travel all over then I don’t get to do the job I like, getting to know the people and watching them grow.

Perhaps I could just be content as it is? Or maybe that’s horrible business logic. But when you’re a teacher and you’re burnt out then it shows, your students can tell and no-one wins. It’s getting so big now, almost to the point where I don’t know some of the students. I know they have good relations with their individual teachers but it sucks for me!

I’m proud of it growing but I’m sad about it being less personal.

WVoN:  Did you have male teachers when you were young, and if so, how did that change your approach to teaching?

Rowden:  I have had a few but I was always more comfortable with women. I was always quite shy and so I gravitated to women teachers. I had male teachers in college but I think men take a different approach. They can be a bit more cut and dry and less nurturing – to speak in general terms.

I suppose that does influence my teaching style. I’ve been told I’m very nurturing so maybe that’s the reason!

WVoN:  Why is the music scene so male dominated?

Rowden:  No matter what field you’re in there are always women who just opt for wanting to raise kids so I think that has a lot to do with it. It’s not the whole thing, but it makes sense when you see fewer women — because women are having children.

WVoN:  But there are also fewer young women around on the Austin music scene…

Rowden:  I wonder if a lot of women aren’t encouraged as much as boys to go into music or there aren’t enough resources for them. I’m not sure but I do think it’s going to take a long time before it becomes equal. Leveling the playing field sounds great but there will also be fewer opportunities for us women now, so maybe being in the minority works to our advantage sometimes?

WVoN:  You’re not only a teacher, but also a performer. Have you faced challenges as a woman on stage?

Rowden:  I have heard people say as a girl you automatically have a few strikes against you. Especially with a guitar because it’s viewed as a guy’s thing. As a woman you can’t be ‘as good’ as the guys, you have to be better.

Some guys can be quite condescending.  I hate it when they tell me it’s ‘cute’ I play the guitar! That’s why I work hard at guitar itself as well as singing and songwriting. It gives me some weird satisfaction to be better than the male guitar players on stage to know I’m holding my own.

I have faced some discrimination but not always in a negative way. Sometimes I get gigs because I am chick, because it’s a novelty. For example, if the guys are doing song-swap they think it’s cool to have a girl up there too. A lot of guys want a woman in their bands so I think sometimes I get the gig because I have boobs!

Sometimes I think I’m not taken as seriously as a woman. I try to not use my sexuality to get ahead but I’m sure I’ve been accused of it before.

WVoN:  Do you think image plays a part in performing?

Rowden:  I’m afraid so. I hate to sound shallow but it’s one of those “all-is-fair” things and you have to use all the weapons in your arsenal. On stage, whatever your strengths, you have to pull out all the stops when you’re trying to get ahead.

People are more likely to want to watch people who look good. I’m not always getting all sexed-up for all my shows, but I think it is important. I mean, look at Nashville, there it’s all image. A lot of those musicians aren’t even talented, they just follow the formula and have a hot body.

WVoN:  How do you fit in your performing with teaching?

Rowden:  It takes a lot of energy! It’s cool because Girl Guitar has given me a built-in fan base but fitting everything in is tough.

At the moment Charlie (Charles Mason, local Austin musician and co-collaborator with Mandy) and I are trying to work our way through the legal and administrative parts of the music business but it’s not very interesting.

The thing about being self-motivated and ambitious is that you get so busy and want it all to happen right now and you spread yourself too thin. So instead of writing music we’re publicising and booking shows and writing becomes the last priority for me and I hate that.

WVoN:  How do you write songs?

Rowden:  I usually start with a hookline and then put other ideas into it. Some people say you have to write the whole melody or whatever but it’s never like that for me. It’s quite messy how I write but it’s how my brain works! I like to take incomplete ideas to other musicians. But everybody does it differently – just because something works for me doesn’t mean it works for anyone else.

Charlie and I work well together, we communicate well but we also talk too much and get lazy!

I usually finish songs quickly but I don’t write nearly enough and my inspiration is few and far between. Everything else gets prioritised over writing so it doesn’t happen very often – perhaps twice a year! It’s one of those things like working out, when I do it I think “this feels good” but getting started is really hard.

WVoN:  Do you have advice for people who are starting out and would like to perform?

Rowden:  What’s been helpful for me is not saying no to anything. When I first started playing bars I hit every open mic possible and bugged my friends to let me play in their breaks or open for them.

You also need to be nice to everyone you meet. This has got me a long way as you never know when the bar tender at the empty club you’re playing ends up booking the big club in a few years. This business is so incestuous that people who didn’t seem like they were going to be influential are just that a few years down the line! So be nice as hell to everybody.

WVoN:  Do you have a guitar heroine?

Rowden:  Well my favourite guitar players are Keith Richards and Jimmy Page. They’re not heroines as such but they’ve done a lot of heroin…so maybe that’s the same?

It’s often more songwriting that speaks to me, like Patty Griffin and Lucinda Williams. I love [Williams'] simplicity. She has a lot of imperfections and she uses them in cool ways and of course I think Carolyn Wonderland is amazing even though I’m not a big blues fan.

WVoN:  Do you have guitar lust?

Rowden:  I’ve always wanted a Gibson SJ200 with the pearl inlays and flowers. I have a Jumbo 100 which is the same thing but without the flowers and the difference is $1500.

When I was younger I didn’t know why people wanted more than one guitar. That was until I got my second guitar and now I have nine or ten and I always want more. Maybe it’s like tattoos, once you get one…

WVoN:  What needs to change in order to get more women out on stage?

Rowden:  Maybe chicks aren’t encouraged to do this as much as men. I don’t know. I never masterminded Girl Guitar, I didn’t really have an agenda to get women equal representation in music. I just saw chicks were really into it and getting lots out of it. A great organisation who works on this issue is MEOW (Musicians for Equal Opportunities for Women). They do some really good work.

*Mandy currently plays guitar and sings in Cover Girl (#2 Cover Band, Austin Chronicle Music Poll), plays keys for The Buddy Quaid Band and can be found all over Austin playing original music and sitting in with various artists on violin, mandolin and bass. Find out more at mandyrowden.com.

* Polly performs original music with Bad Alpha

School lunch blogger Martha Payne off to Malawi

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 03:00 AM PDT

Michelle Wright
WVoN co-editor 

A Scottish schoolgirl is off to Malawi to visit the kitchen shelter her blog has helped build.

Martha Payne, nine, has been posting pictures and reviews of her lunches online to raise money for Mary's Meals, a charity which provides food to schoolchildren in some of the world's poorest countries.

In just a few weeks she has collected over £100,000, enough for a kitchen to be built and serve children at Lirangwe Primary School in Blantyre, Malawi, for a year.

Donations soared after a controversial ban imposed on the blog by her local authority was lifted.

Bosses at Argyll and Bute Council told Martha to stop updating the site, called NeverSeconds, claiming it was causing school catering staff to fear losing their jobs.

But they overturned the ban after thousands of people pledged their support for Martha's appeal, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

Now Martha is looking forward to visiting the school kitchen with her family later on in the year, which will be named Friends of NeverSeconds.

"Calling the kitchen 'Friends of NeverSeconds' is important as it's a thank you to everyone who has supported me and Mary's Meals," said Martha.

"It's really good because it can feed lots of children for a long time."

Until then, Martha intends on celebrating by holding a small porridge party where she will serve up likuni phala, the nutritious porridge dish Mary’s Meals feeds to children.

She is also inviting children from around the world to write about their school dinners for NeverSeconds whilst she takes a break over the summer holiday.

‘Her Presence In Colours’ exhibition opens this week in Vietnam

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Emma Caddow
WVoN co-editor 

The International Women's Artists Council (INWAC) presents Her Presence In Colours, its tenth exhibition, this week in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

It has been almost 20 years since the first Her Presence In Colours exhibition opened in 1993 in Bejing, China.

The main purpose of the series is to portray the insights of female artists to other cultures around the world and to provide opportunities to promote goodwill between the international female artists taking part.

Artist Dang Thi Duong, who is co-chairing this year’s exhibition, says this is a chance for Vietnamese female artists to promote culture and and tourism to international friends.

Vietnam’s beautiful landscapes and villages will feature in the exhibition, which will leave the audience with a strong impression of the country.

This year, 212 female artists, sculptors and lecturers from over 23 countries and territories around the world will be involved.  The theme is ‘A New Direction.’

The exhibition provides an opportunity for visitors to examine the beauty of compassion and humanity, the challenges women face in daily life and their concerns about society, Duong said.

Her Presence In Colours “reflects the cohesive spirit of women artists, their passions, their concern and awareness, their emotions and aspirations,” according to INWAC.

The exhibition series has been shown in the UK, USA, Australia, China, Malaysia, Bangkok and Korea.

Her Presence In Colours runs from June 21-27 at the City Museum, 92 Le Thanh Ton, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.