Thursday, August 2, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

First female Saudi competitors triumphant, but still walking behind the men

Posted: 01 Aug 2012 11:00 PM PDT

Jem McCarron
WVoN co-editor

The Olympic Games will herald many firsts over the next few weeks, but there is one that really could impact lives around the world.

For the first time since the games began, every participating country will have at least one female representative.

At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, three countries failed to send any women; Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar.

The 2012 Olympics have made special efforts to ensure that every country sent at least one female competitor and whilst none of the women sent by Saudi Arabia, Brunei or Qatar met the qualifying conditions, they were invited to attend by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as part of their Principal of Universality that allows them to wave the usual conditions to ensure equality.

This year Brunei has sent one woman in a team of three, Maziah Mahusin, who was accepted less than a month before the start of the olympics and will be running the 400m hurdles.

Qatar has fielded three female athletes. The country made a failed bid for the 2020 Olympics but will be attempting again for 2024.

Despite leaving it right to the very last minute, the Saudi Arabian’s have two women on their team.

Sarat Attar will be running the 800m for the Saudis; however, she is rarely in the country, living and training instead in California.

Her colleague, sixteen-year-old Wodjan Shaherkani has never left Saudi Arabia, having been trained for her role in the Judo competition in private by her father.

Irrespective of this faltering start, they both made history when they stepped into the arena on Friday evening at the opening ceremony, waving triumphantly at the exuberant crowd.

Viewers could not help but notice that the women walked behind their male teammates, something sadly comfortably in line with the country’s attitude toward women, Olympians or not.

The Saudis may have allowed the women to compete, however they do so under strict sharia guidelines.

A recent row about Shaherkani’s head covering resulted in threats of the country pulling out altogether.  The women are to be chaperoned by a ‘guardian’.

It is hoped that the presence of these two women will improve conditions for women wanting to take part in sports in Saudi Arabia where they are currently banned from competitive sports.

Most gyms and swimming pools do not provide female-only sessions. Those that do are prohibitively expensive.

Whilst this is most definitely a landmark moment for women in the Middle East, it is not a revolution, and any change will be slow and face significant resistance.

Nigerian writer Chika Unigwe writes about marginalized women’s lives

Posted: 01 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Helen Thompson
WVoN co-editor

On an unseasonably cool July evening at the Purcell Room in the Southbank Centre in London, Nigerian fiction writer Chika Unigwe read from her latest novel to a diverse audience as part of an event entitled Nigeria Now.

Noo Saro-Wiwa, travel writer and daughter of activist and author Ken Saro-Wiwa, accompanied Unigwe onstage, and journalist Onyekachi Wambu moderated the panel as the two women read from their works and discussed topics such as writing, food, and Nigeria's past and present.

I prepared for the event by reading Unigwe's two novels in English, On Black Sisters' Street and Night Dancer. By the time I’d finished them, I was very excited about hearing her talk about her work.

Both of  Unigwe's novels focus on the lives of Nigerian women, the limited choices they have in terms of making a decent living and developing the ability to live life on their own terms.

They also focus on the sex trade and the costs of prostitution for her female characters.

In On Black Sisters' Street, Unigwe examines a group of six mostly Nigerian prostitutes in Antwerp, indentured to Dele, a male compatriot who offers them a way out of poverty through sex work, but who keeps them from flourishing through insurmountable debt and threats of violence that he carries out in the case of Sisi.

A reviewer in the LA Times said it was not an uplifting book, but I see Unigwe's work transcend the horrors of the lives of these trafficked women in a couple of ways.

Firstly, as the same reviewer says, the women do not see themselves as victims.

With Sisi's death comes a chance for them to tell their stories and bond with each other in ways that offer a degree of hope for them because they are no longer alone.

Secondly, the beauty of Unigwe's language, a testament to her skill as a poet as well as a fiction writer, encapsulates these women in words that not only give voice to their marginalized stories but also memorializes their strength and resilience.

Unigwe's latest novel, Night Dancer, provides a different trajectory for examining Nigerian women's marginal identities.

In a plot revolving around a mother and daughter, we witness Mme's estrangement from her recently-dead mother, Ezi, due to the latter’s ‘shameful’ status as a single mother who supports herself and her adult daughter through prostitution.

An adept storyteller, Unigwe firstly unfolds Mme's emotional journey to discover her father before she reveals the story of how Ezi ends up in such a marginal state.

As with On Black Sisters' Street, Night Dancer takes the reader into the painful territory of women's limited choices, but in the character of Ezi we witness a woman who relinquishes her reputation in order to avoid living with a husband who has morally compromised his family.

Mme's journey is one that many of us will recognize.

In trying to distance ourselves from our mothers, we discover that we are more like them than we were willing to admit. But with knowledge and maturity, we hopefully embrace the similarities.

During the Nigeria Now event, Unigwe talked about Nigerian women's empowerment in cultures that are decidedly patriarchal.

She described the term "negofeminism," a liberal feminism that is more appropriately suited to African women's experience, given the prominence it gives to negotiation and 'no-ego.'

In an email interview, Unigwe expounded further by saying:

"It recognizes that African women come out of cultures which encourage negotiation, complementarity, give-and-take, and collaboration. Negofeminism is also not individualistic in the way western feminism is.

"It understands that for a majority of these women, a radical break with their culture, even if it's patriarchal, is not possible for so many different reasons."

In Night Dancer, Ezi represents the consequences for a woman breaking with her culture—isolation, marginalization, and expulsion from community.

Unigwe was born in Enugu, Nigeria, and has lived in Belgium and the Netherlands, where she completed a Ph.D. thesis on Igbo women's writing.

She is a vehement supporter of Nigerian women and an outspoken critic of the Nigerian government in both her fiction and articles written for The Guardian and the Nigerian Daily Times.

From critiques of marriage, an institution that that she believes facilitates the patriarchal attitudes that shelter abusive husbands, the high incidence of Nigerian women dying in childbirth, to the government's failure to stem Boko Haram's terrorism in the North, Unigwe writes to effect change in her home country.

She told me that she supports legalizing prostitution "because it protects women [and] also makes good economic sense as the women then pay taxes on their revenue."

However, she qualifies this statement by pointing out that in Nigeria "our government should be doing a lot more to give young women alternative choices so that those who choose prostitution do so out of multiple alternatives, and not because there is nothing else for them to do."

In all of her writing, Unigwe's engagement in social justice is evident.

She says of her work: "I write from a place of anger, of frustration. Perhaps being a woman, I write to foreground our experiences. Having said that, I also write from a place of passion."

Unigwe has received multiple accolades for her work.

She won the 2003 BBC Short Story Competition, a Commonwealth Short Story Award and a Flemish literary prize.

In 2007 she received a Unesco-Aschberg fellowship and in 2009 a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship.

In 2011 the committee for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award longlisted On Black Sisters' Street.

This same novel is currently on the longlist for the 2012 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa.

Unigwe's next project is a novel about the life of Olaudah Equiano, an 18th century Nigerian man who, as an ex-slave, wrote about his life and became involved in the British abolitionist movement.

Chika Unigwe is participating in the Edinburgh International Book Festival in an event entitled Upbringings Against the Odds with Kim Thúy on Friday August 17 at the RBS Corner Theatre from 8:30 – 9:30 p.m.

Women’s sport treated differently in Olympic TV coverage, study finds

Posted: 01 Aug 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Liz Draper
WVoN co-editor

Female athletes often get the blunt end of the stick when it comes to media coverage.

From the BBC's hesitance to show women's football matches on primetime TV, to the everlasting debate over the competitiveness of women's tennis – women's sports are rarely taken as seriously as men's.

Every four years, though, female athletes of all disciplines enjoy attention and respect equal to that lavished on their male teammates.

However, US research published last month found that the Olympic ideal of equality does not extend to television coverage.

Professor James Angelini of the University of Delaware analysed all 64 hours of American network NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and found several key differences in the way men's and women's sports were depicted.

In terms of time allocation, men received more than three fifths of the air time for single gender sports. Men also accounted for 75 per cent of the most mentioned athletes.

Further, sportscasters also framed men's and women's successes and failures in different ways.

Male athletes' achievements were more frequently attributed to athletic ability and commitment to sport, whereas women's successes were more likely to be put down to luck.

When female athletes failed, their physical ability and commitment were questioned, whereas men's failures were presented in the context of their competitors' success.

In a previous study, Angelini and his team analysed footage of the 2008 Beijing games, with similar findings.

Commentators have already raised the treatment of women's sports during London 2012.

On only the first day of the Games, Marina Hyde of the Guardian noted that the scantily clad female dancers and Benny Hill music played to entertain spectators at the beach volleyball were unlikely to lend gravitas to the sport.

Similarly, in an awkward press conference earlier this week, cyclist Victoria Pendleton was asked by a journalist whether her Australian rival Anna Meares was a cow. It is hard to imagine Mark Cavendish being asked to use similar language to refer to any of his rivals.

Angelini and his team will be continuing their research at the London Games.

“The British broadcasts will probably be a bit more balanced than the American broadcasts on NBC,” Angelini said. “It won’t be fully equitable, but I think it may be better.”

Let's hope London can overcome these early blips and prove him right.

Book review: British women olympians and paralympians past and present

Posted: 01 Aug 2012 05:00 AM PDT

Penny Hopkins
Olympics editor

In “British Women Olympians and Paralympians Past and Present,”  Mary Honeyball (who is a member of the European parliament) presents sketches of the lives and achievements of 39 women who have represented Britain at an Olympic or Paralympic Games.

There are 15 track and field athletes as well as names from fencing, canoeing, cycling, dressage, swimming, show jumping, diving, hockey, judo and tennis.

It is a thoughtful selection with the more obvious competitors — such as Dame Kelly Holmes and Baronness Tanni Grey-Thompson — alongside those less well remembered such as Dorothy Manley, one of only two British women to have won a medal in the 100 metres.

There are absences too, such as Paula Radcliffe and Mary King.

When asked what her criteria were for making her choices for the book, Ms Honeyball said: "The women I chose had the most inspiring stories (in my opinion)."

She admitted there was scope for additions:

“Definitely once these games are over we will be seeking to add to it with new entries of 2012 greats such as Lizzie Armistead who won a silver medal for team GB earlier this week. Such a great achievement.”

In a largely political foreword, Honeyball says, "This year the Olympic Games will put the importance and significance of inspiring young people firmly back on the agenda.

“It's an exciting time for London and for our British athletes.  Here we celebrate some of the female athletes past and present who will and have represented Great Britain.  We should be proud of their achievements and support them in this exciting year."

The book is a good introduction for anyone interested in the subject.  It would benefit from a more extensive introduction, perhaps with a short history of British women's participation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Click here to access the e-book.

Women’s rights campaigners demand equality at the Olympics

Posted: 01 Aug 2012 03:00 AM PDT

Penny Hopkins
Olympics editor

 

It is supposed to be the most gender-equal Games ever.  At last, every country's team will comprise both women and men.

Women will be competing in every single sport – with boxing to be the last sport to achieve equality.

And yet, and this may be a theme of the WVoN reporting on the Games, is this equality real, or just so much talk?

 

On Wednesday 25, before the Games started, representatives from European women's groups met to protest against discrimination at the Olympics.

 

Annie Sugier, of the International League of Women's Rights conceded that progress has been made but added that "It is clear that more needs to be done as there is still gender discrimination at the Olympics."

 

The demonstration included a symbolic burial of the Olympic Charter in protest at the apparent disregard for the one of its guiding principles – the condemnation of discrimination of any kind.

 

The protestors presented seven demands under the title, "London 2012: Justice for Women" to be delivered to International Olympic Committee (IOC) members on Wednesday.

 

These include having the same number of medal events for men and women, working towards a 50% representation for women on sports' governing bodies, and women competitors to be given the same profile as men.

 

They also demand banning the wearing of political or religious symbols and it is this that is probably the most contentious.

 

Anne-Marie Lizin, president of the Belgian Senate said: "We want all women in all countries of the world to have access to sport, to be able to complete and have the possibility of coming to the Olympics – and to wear what they want."

 

It is unbelievable that some of these demands still have to be made in the 21st century.

Others, like the continuing issue of religious symbols, and more particularly the requirement that female Islamic competitors wear the hijab, are inevitably more complex.

One thing is sure; women's equality at the London 2012 Games will be one of the most vigorously debated subjects for the next two weeks and beyond.

Hundreds of Canadian Mounties join harrassment case

Posted: 01 Aug 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Emma Davis
WVoN co-editor

Hundreds of female Canadian Mounties have claimed they suffered discrimination, bullying and harassment while working within the mounted police force.

More than 200 past and present employees of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have come forward to join a class action lawsuit after former employee Janet Merlo filed the suit in March.

Dozens had been expected to come forward but now the figure is in the hundreds.  Lawyers anticipate there are still more women yet to emerge to make allegations.

As reported by CTV news, the acting attorney on the case, Jason Murray, said: “We’re still hearing from women who either are currently members of the RCMP or who have retired or left the force in other ways.  On a week-to-week basis we’re hearing from people coming forward who have complaints about how they feel they were treated when they were with the RCMP.

“It’s a significant number. It says to us there’s a significant problem that people feel has happened within the RCMP with respect to how women are treated."

Ms Merlo worked with the RCMP from 1991 to 2010, during which time she says in her statement of claim that she was subjected to verbal abuse and bullying.

Incidents include offensive items being left with her post, such as a dildo and a derogatory manual titled 'Training Courses Now Available for Women'.

She also states that male members of her detachment repeatedly told her now husband that they had had sex with her.

Ms Merlo left the RCMP in March 2010 suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Mr Murray said that the new allegations "range from people who feel they've been passed over for an assignment or promotion because of their gender to people who have had words and taunting all the way up to incidents of sexual assault and physical assault."

The case is one of several cases that have been filed against the mounted police force in Canada recently.

In a separate case another woman, Cpl Catherine Galliford, claims that she was sexually assaulted, harassed and intimidated during 20-years working for the RCMP and that she suffered from post-traumatic stress as a result. Cpl Galliford is suing the force, where she had been the public face of several prolific investigations.

These allegations were denied by the Federal Government, which represents the RMCP, but earlier this year the force announced it would train 100 officers to investigate sexual harassment complaints internally.

Ms Merlo's case will have a first hearing before the Supreme Court of British Colombia on Thursday August 2, but most class-action suits take several years to be heard completely.