Thursday, August 16, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Women in Kashmir threatened with acid attacks

Posted: 15 Aug 2012 08:30 AM PDT

Emma Davis
WVoN co-editor 

A militant group in Kashmir have threatened women with acid attacks if they do not cover up their heads and faces and when they use a mobile phone.

The warnings were issued in hand-written notices that were found stuck to mosques in the Shopian district, The Daily Bhaskar has reported.

The notes claimed they were issued by two previously unknown groups; al-Qaeda Mujahideen and Lashkar e al-Queda.

They read: "We appeal to the public that they ensure that their women observe purdah [covering their heads and faces] in public places.

“If we spot any woman without purdah we will sprinkle acid on her face. If we spot any girl using mobile phone, she will be shot dead."

Women in the Kashmir area suffered a spate of attacks in 2001. Another militant group, Lashkar-e-Jabbar, claimed responsibility  in a bid to enforce more conservative dress in the state, where the majority of women choose not to wear a veil.

Acid attacks are widespread across the border in Pakistan and many fear that the warnings are a sign that the practice could become more prevalent in Kashmir.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Kashmiri commentator Professor Noor Ahmad Baba said that women in the region generally have more freedom than those in other areas and previous campaigns to try to force women to cover up have been unsuccessful.

Police in the state also told The Telegraph that the threats may be part of an attempt by militants to radicalise the state following a reduction in the infiltration of militant activity from Pakistan into Kashmir.

Inpector General of Police, S M Sahai, said: "The militants are trying to recruit locals as the infiltration has been brought to a minimum. We have cases of militants trying to engage boys of 12."

Romney picks Ryan – will it cost him the female vote?

Posted: 15 Aug 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Deborah Cowan
WVoN co-editor

When John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate for the 2008 US Presidential elections, the Republicans were clearly attempting to reach out to the American female electorate.

Well, we all know how that turned out, but at least McCain seemed to have a smidgen of an inkling as to the significance of the female vote, though it was less than apparent in his actual policies.

This week saw another Republican presidential candidate choose their significant other, when Mitt Romney welcomed Congressman Paul Ryan ('considered one of the intellectual leaders of his party') to the ticket as Republican vice presidential candidate.

Romney's gaffe of introducing Ryan as 'the next President of the United States' aside, he seems rather pleased with his cohort.

Some say Romney sees Ryan as his secret weapon in shifting the focus of the campaign debate towards issues he is more comfortable with.

So not banning abortion, marginalising contraception and treating women as second class citizens then?

Instead, Romney hopes to refocus on the country's economic condition and fiscal recovery, and as former House Budget Committee chairman, he clearly thinks Ryan might be just the man to help him do it.

But while Ryan may bring a degree of financial knowledge to the party table, what he is less likely to bring is what the Republicans seem unable to secure in any significant number – the female vote.

Much has been written about the Republican Party, and in particular Romney's 'war on women', with his anti abortion policies, the party's stance against the Paycheck Fairness Act, and, not surprisingly, against Obamacare, which aims to help poorer American citizens and families, the majority of whom are women.

Given the backlash against Republican policies already in these early stages of the presidential race, you would think that selecting a running mate who would capture at least a modicum of the female vote would be a logical move, now wouldn't you?

Well, wouldn't you?

As far as Romney goes, you'd be wrong.  Let's take a closer look at Mr Ryan.

American publication 'The Nation' provides a comprehensive list of Ryan's budget plans and policies and the negative impacts they will have on women.

Here are the edited highlights…. (or should that be low lights?)

Ryan is proposing that the federal budget be slashed across the board, most significantly with a 20% reduction to the Medicaid budget.

With women making up more than 70 percent of those who are covered by Medicaid – nearly 19 million low-income women – it will have an enormously disproportionate impact on the physical and financial wellbeing of women.

He also plans to slash the social security budget.  Social security is a financial imperative relied on, again, disproportionately by women.

Ryan has voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which would make it easier for women to legally pursue equal pay claims and pay parity.   Yes, he voted against a Fair Pay Act.  It's pretty obvious, then, how high equality for women is on Ryan's agenda.

There are also planned budget cuts that would affect child care and food stamps – again, cuts that would predominantly impact upon women.

So financially, it's a pretty bleak picture for women.  And we haven't even touched on the specific issues of abortion, birth control, in vitro fertilisation…..

As a staunch Catholic Republican, Ryan's views on subjects such as these should come as no surprise, but just for the record…..

He co-sponsored the 'Sanctity of Human Life' Act, which would give a foetus the same rights as an individual, and strongly believes that abortion should be illegal, even in cases of rape or where the mother's life is in danger.

He also voted to 'defund' Planned Parenthood, even though that would also reduce resources for cancer and screenings for sexually transmitted diseases.

He is against women having access to affordable contraception, and believes that religious-affiliated institutions should not provide insurance that covers birth control, calling it a violation of "our first amendment rights to religious freedom and conscience."

Galling, but not surprising.

However, hard as it may be to swallow, some polls carried out in recent months have suggested that Paul Ryan is in fact vaguely popular among some rather surprising groups, namely senior citizens (a Rasmussen poll), and women (a CNN poll).

Only time will tell if this initial ember of semi-popularity will ignite……but based on policies espoused so far, if women in America do as they did unto McCain and Palin, the votes will be just as few and far between.

Sports teacher faces lifetime ban after conviction for running a brothel

Posted: 15 Aug 2012 05:30 AM PDT

Emma Caddow
WVoN co-editor 

A British sports teacher, Tim Blake-Bowell, faces a lifetime ban from his profession after being convicted a few years ago of running a brothel from his flat in Canterbury, England.

The secondary school teacher served four months in 2009 after pleading guilty to the charge of controlling prostitutes for financial gain.

Whilst selling your body for money is not illegal in England, profiting from prostitution is.

The 51 year old pimped out six women, including his wife at the time, and would work as a prostitute himself when the demand arose.

All whilst teaching physical education at the King Ethelbert School in Birchington, Kent, between 2004 and 2007.

His now ex-wife Emma, who has worked as an escort since 2004, also pleaded guilty to the same charge.

But her sentence was suspended when the judge deemed her as being susceptible to pressure from her then husband due to her vulnerable mental health.

Emma Blake-Bowell was said to have suffered both an abusive childhood and a violent relationship with her former partner, who fathered her eldest two children.

She had met Tim Blake-Bowell whilst living in a women’s refuge in Canterbury.

Whilst they were married she worked as a receptionist and secretary in the brothel the couple advertised as “Jem’s” or “Pandora’s”.

The sports master paid £560 a month to rent the Canterbury flat and spent another £1,400 a month on advertising.

The brothel was staffed from 11am until midnight with the women charging £40 for a massage, £60 for 30 minutes of sex and £100 for a full hour.

Although Blake-Bowell used only ‘willing’ British women, the operation was uncovered during a Kent Police probe into illegal sex-trafficking from Eastern Europe.

Blake-Bowell had been described as a ‘dedicated teacher’ at the 700-pupil mixed comprehensive.

School sources said they were astonished to learn of his involvement. One mother described the accused as a ‘model teacher’.

Yesterday Blake-Bowell was found guilty of professional misconduct.

The father-of-two was told his actions had placed him in direct contravention of the teaching code of conduct.

“It is in direct contravention of section eight of the code of conduct, which states a teacher must maintain reasonable standards in his own behaviour, always trying to maintain an effective learning environment and maintaining public trust in the profession,” said the presenting officer.

Blake-Bowell lost his job at King Ethelbert School in December 2007 shortly after his arrest – although he was allowed to stay on until the end of term.

At the Teaching Agency panel yesterday, chairman Dr Roland Kitchen said:

“A decision on whether he [Blake-Bowell] will be banned from teaching for life is expected in two weeks time.”

Blake-Bowell said he had no plans to return to the profession.

Female artist Abrams finally awarded own retrospective

Posted: 15 Aug 2012 04:00 AM PDT

Emma Caddow
WVoN co-editor

Jewish female artist Ruth Abrams is being honoured with her own retrospective at the Yeshiva University in New York.

The late artist was regarded as a contemporary to some of recent history’s most acclaimed painters – such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

Her contemporaries in Abstract Expressionism were widely recognised for the misogyny expressed in their paintings.

Although described by the New York Times as a “woman unfairly neglected in a macho era” back in 1986, the Brooklyn born artist has still never had an exhibition of her own – until now.

The retrospective aims to restore her place in history alongside her contemporaries in the Abstract Expressionist movement.

Abrams was famous for her "Microcosms" series, painted during the 1950s to 1970s, which explored the immensity and limitless of outer space.

In a time when the possibility of space travel was opening up, many male Abstract Expressionists conveyed the magnitude of the topic by using large-scale canvasses.

But Abram created paradoxically tiny pieces, as small as two by three inches, to convey the impression of infinite space.

Curator Reba Wulkan said: “These tiny paintings brought her work to a new level.”

The university will display more than 70 of these small-scale works – many for the first time.

The exhibition will also showcase large-scale color landscapes, still lifes, abstract portraits, collages and other work from Abrams' 40-year career.

Yeshiva University Museum holds the largest institutional repository of Abrams' work, together with a significant archive of her letters, press clippings and personal papers.

The director, Dr. Jacob Wisse, said:

“It's a privilege for us to bring this fascinating and overlooked artist to the attention of the public.

“We think Abrams' studies of light, color and scale will be revelatory to people already familiar with the Ab-Ex movement; her intense and sensitive evocations of nature and the human form, and her ambitious studies of the cosmic sphere provide a distinct face of the movement.”

The Huffington Post wrote:

“Between her knowledge of art’s past and courage to thrust her work into its future, Abrams deserves to take her rightful place amongst female artists like Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning and Joan Mitchell.”

Microcosms: Ruth Abrams, Abstract Expressionist will be shown at Yeshiva University Museum from August 12, 2012 to January 6, 2013.

Cosmopolitan editor, Helen Gurley Brown, dies aged 90

Posted: 15 Aug 2012 02:30 AM PDT

Holly Peacock
WVoN co-editor 

Helen Gurley Brown, one of America’s best-known magazine editors, died yesterday, aged 90.

As Cosmopolitan's editor from 1965 until 1997, she was widely credited with being the first to introduce frank discussions of sex into magazines for women.

But her ability to shock 1960s America started when she wrote ‘Sex and the single girl’, which encouraged a ‘post-war generation of young women’ to enjoy careers, sex and the single life. The book sold millions of copies.

Three years later, Brown landed the job as Cosmo editor.

Although hailed as a feminist pioneer in her day, there is now considerable debate about what she achieved.

Cosmo certainly encouraged young women to challenge society’s expectations at the time (essentially marriage and motherhood), but its format now seems outdated to many feminists. Nevertheless, it remains a best selling magazine.

Gurley was born on February 18, 1922, in Arkansas, the younger of two daughters. Her father, Ira, was a schoolteacher, as was her mother before her marriage.

When she was 10, however, her father was killed in an elevator accident, and her mother moved with her daughters to Los Angeles.

After a series of secretarial jobs, Brown became an advertising copywriter and in the early 1960s, wrote Sex and the Single Girl.

Whatever we think of Cosmo today, Brown was undoubtedly an advocate for the second wave of feminism, encouraging women to challenge the sexism that confronted them at every turn.

New UK police powers pose risk to domestic violence services

Posted: 15 Aug 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Michelle Wright
WVoN co-editor 

Concerns have been raised about the impact that forthcoming changes to local policing in England and Wales will have on violence against women services.

On 15 November Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will be elected.

They will be accountable for tackling crime in their local area and will have control of the police budget.

This will have huge implications for women's organisations, the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition has warned.

Sarah Green, their spokesperson, said: "Those elected will have the power to determine funding for domestic and sexual violence services.

"This will affect the priority given to tackling violence against women, and funding for specialist services such as Rape Crisis – which we know make a crucial difference in supporting women and girls after assault."

EVAW, together with Rape Crisis England and Wales and the Women's Resource Centre (WRC), are now calling on women's organisations to lobby their local candidates to ask them to make dealing with violence against women a local police priority.

Ms Green added: "We urge women's organisations to start pursuing candidates and making demands of them now. Get in contact and tell them about the importance of specialist women's services."

Welsh Women's Aid has already responded with a manifesto for candidates to sign.

It was recently revealed that over 80 per cent of confirmed PCC candidates to date are male.

The most high profile females to stand so far are former solicitor general Vera Baird and ex-MP Jane Kennedy.

Further information on the changes can be found on the EVAW website. Resources are also available from the WRC.