Friday, August 3, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Female sex workers blamed for increase in HIV infections in Greece

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Sarah Macshane
WVoN co-editor

The number of HIV cases in Greece has increased by 60% since 2010.

And female sex workers seem to be getting the blame, even though the number of HIV infections has risen more among injecting drug users (by 1,450%), according to the Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Apparently an easy target for government officials in a country sinking deeper in debt and poverty, newspaper headlines refer to "infected prostitutes" posing a “death trap for hundreds of people”.

It seems that female sex workers are being named and shamed in order to scare Greeks from using their services.

The women were recently rounded up by state doctors and police and forced to take HIV tests.

Dozens tested positive, but instead of receiving immediate medical care their photos and names were posted online and they were locked up, under vague charges of 'causing bodily harm'. Not long after, militant groups gathered outside their homes and shouted abuse.

Over 4000 panicking men who had previously visited sex workers also created havoc by ringing up the Praksis health clinic in Athens demanding to know whether they were infected without actually going in for a test, in case their names would end up on the internet as well.

According to Tzanetos Antypas, the president of Praksis, the Greek government has broken every globally recognised guideline for respecting the rights and privacy of people with HIV.

Perhaps the government needs to look at why women are turning to prostitution and understand the damning effect that the cuts to social programmes have had on Greek society and particularly women.

Unemployment stands at 22% and prostitution, due to its legal status in licensed brothels, offers an easy, quick fix alternative to  unemployment.

Due to falling prices, sex workers will have sex without condoms to earn a little more than €15 (the highest going rate), thereby increasing their exposure to diseases such as HIV.

What is needed (apart from better management of the financial crisis) is an increase in knowledge regarding sexual infections and a change in perceptions so that women who work in the sex industry aren't consistently used as scapegoats.

Christian women forced to convert to Islam in Egypt

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Emma Caddow
WVoN co-editor

Escalating numbers of Coptic Christian women and girls are being abducted and coerced into conversion and forced marriage, says a report by the George Washington University.

The report, conducted by Dr Michele Clark and Nadia Ghaly during the political uprising of the Arab Spring last year, states that at least 550 Coptic Christian women and girls over the last five years have been kidnapped from their communities.

Dr Clark says victims have indicated they were befriended by friends or relatives of their kidnappers. Or the kidnappers drugged them as part of an organised strategy.

A mother who testified before the Helsinki Commission last week said kidnappers tried to abduct her daughter in broad daylight.

Her abductor shouted to bystanders while dragging her to a waiting taxi, "No one interfere! She is an enemy of Islam."

The Coptic women are often beaten and held until they eventually agree the only way to be safe is to convert to Islam.

Some are forced into domestic servitude.

Others are not so lucky and are raped by their captors and told they cannot return home because their families would not accept them back.

The victims’ families, who search for their missing daughters, sisters, aunts or wives, often never discover their fate.

Since the revolution, cases of reported disappearances have increased, while recovery of women and girls has decreased.

Some victims have managed to contact their families through the Internet, letting them know they are still alive but have had to convert to Islam.

Whilst there is no doubt some conversions are legitimate, overwhelming evidence points to abduction, forced marriage and coerced conversion persecuting the Coptic population.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, says he wants the country to be inclusive of all religions, and has even expressed his intention of appointing a Copt and a woman as his vice presidents.

But strangely, for those women recovered, the Egyptian government has refused to reinstate a Christian identity on their national identity card.

In 2008 the government also abandoned the need for religious counselling sessions with a person's own clergy prior to their conversion to Islam.

The report found that Egyptian authorities generally dismissed the criminality of conversions and forced marriages because they presume young women were willing participants.

It said there were no reported cases, either before or after the revolution, in which an abductor has been prosecuted.

One protestor of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent visit to Egypt carried a sign that said, "Obama, don't send your dollars to jihadists."

Helsinki Commission Chair Chris Smith said there was no indication the US has raised the issue with Egypt.

“Denial and obfuscation will neither help victimized Christian women, nor challenge the religious bigotry and sexism that impedes the development of democracy in Egypt,” Dr. John Eibner, CEO of CSI-USA, explained.

Teen girls in UK drinking less alcohol, study shows

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 05:00 AM PDT

Michelle Wright
WVoN co-editor

Teenage girls in England are turning their backs on booze, according to new NHS research.

A survey of over 3,000 11 to 15 year olds found under half (44 per cent) had consumed alcohol, down from 60 per cent a decade ago.

And just 12 per cent had a drink in the last week, compared to 25 per cent of those surveyed 10 years ago.

These figures paint a more sober picture of teen girls' drinking habits than those reported on earlier in the summer.

The Telegraph and Daily Mail ran articles based on 2007 statistics which suggested British young women are the "biggest binge drinkers in Europe.”

However, this latest study, carried out in 2011, shows the amount of alcohol being consumed by teenage girls is actually on the decline.

It found 15 year old girls are now drinking an average of seven units a week, compared to 10 units in 2007. In 2001, they were drinking an average of 11 units a week.

The study also discovered a drop in drug use.

Just 11 per cent of those surveyed said they had taken drugs in the previous year, down from 19 per cent in 2001.

And the number taking cannabis, the most frequently used drug amongst teenage girls, has fallen by half.

They are also stubbing out the cigarettes.

Just five per cent said they smoked regularly, compared to 11 per cent a decade ago.

The figures were collected as part of the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care's annual survey into the smoking, drinking and drug use of secondary school pupils.

UN calls for action on women’s rights in New Zealand

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:00 AM PDT

Michelle Wright
WVoN co-editor

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has raised concerns about the status of women in New Zealand.

It says more needs to be done to increase political representation, reduce the gender pay gap and improve access to healthcare for Māori women.

The recommendations were made in response to the country's most recent report to CEDAW.

The Committee said action is also needed to tackle the high levels of violence against women and ensure the availability of legal aid.

The comments come a year after the head of UN Women New Zealand urged the government to address the country's maternal mortality and domestic violence rates after it was revealed they were amongst the worst in the developed world.

Speaking before she presented to the Committee, Minister of Women's Affairs, Jo Goodhew admitted there was still room for improvement:

"New Zealand ranks well internationally for gender equality but … we could still do better at making the best use of women's skills in leadership and the economy, and reducing our rate of family violence."

However, she dismissed CEDAW's suggestion the government consider decriminalising abortion, saying there was "no appetite" for reform in this area.

Grounds for an abortion in New Zealand are contained in the 1961 Crimes Act.

In response, President of the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ), Dr Morgan Healey said:

"It's important pressure from international bodies like CEDAW remains. The Committee has consistently voiced its concern around the ability of women in this country to access a comprehensive suite of sexual and reproductive health services, specifically abortion."

New Zealand was the first country to grant women the vote in 1893.

It was also the first to sign up to CEDAW which periodically monitors the progress of UN member states on gender equality.

At its most recent session, which closed on Friday, it also reviewed reports from Guyana, Indonesia, Bulgaria, Jamaica, Mexico, Samoa and the Bahamas.

To flirt or not to flirt…. why is that even the question?

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Deborah Cowan
WVoN co-editor

Hold on to your hats ladies.

A new study has revealed that women who combine charm and flirting can benefit in the workplace and in negotiating successful business outcomes.

At last, as reported in The Independent, 'feminine charm is a measurable phenomenon.'

Not only that, but the more we have of it – and depending on how cleverly we use it – the more 'economic' benefits women can reap.  And if that were not enough, flirting can also improve women's chances of closing a successful business deal by as much as a third.

And, according to Dr Laura Kray, lead author of the study and Professor at the University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business, just being friendly doesn't cut it.

You need some va va voom.

'Just being friendly, women run the risk of people thinking they're pushovers,” said Kray.  ”But when friendliness is balanced with flirtation, which is a signal of dominance and confidence and self-regard, then they actually do better.'

To sum up, simply being friendly conveys weakness – it implies that you are a pushover, and that you care more about someone else's needs and interests than your own.

Add a little flirting and you are seen as assertive and invested in your own goals, ergo, more like a man, without actually being masculine (heaven forbid).

Researchers at the University of Berkeley, including the aforementioned Dr Kray, carried out a series of experiments in order to try and measure the success – or lack thereof – of women who used their natural 'charm' in a series of negotiations.

For example, one scenario involved negotiations between car salesmen and women, some who turned on the charm, and some who remained neutral (or dare I say it, were just themselves?).

Given that we are talking about car salesmen here, it's little surprise that the former category of women paid less for products than the latter.

Conversely, other studies also found that these economic advantages were not forthcoming when a woman was seen to be simply friendly, rather than flirtatious.  In fact, they often experienced more negative outcomes.

So…. now that we have unlocked this gem of knowledge, should we be bracing ourselves for a flood of newly successful – and fabulously flirty – women to take their places in board rooms across the country?

I suspect not.

Isn't it ringing alarm bells that the behaviour of a woman who flirts to get ahead may be misconstrued by her male colleagues, and subsequently expose her to unwanted sexual advances or harassment?  (And, no doubt, the usual tirade of male insults that would go with a rejection…)

And why is the news coverage of this study littered with mentions of Joan Holloway, a character from the US hit series Mad Men?

She, apparently, has just the right balance of flirtatiousness and friendliness, sexiness and savvy, to get exactly what she wants.

Hasn't anyone noticed that Mad Men is set in the early 1960s, a patriarchal age when women were predominantly secretaries (or office managers in Joan's case – clearly the flirting is working) or housewives?

As a matter of fact, jaunty Joan does go on to greater things with the advertising firm she works for and negotiates like a real pro.  (The firm's partners persuade her to have sex with a client they are trying to secure a deal with, offer her $50,000 to do so, which she then negotiates into a 5% share of the company instead.  You go girl.).

As to the benefits – or indeed justifications – of women flirting to manipulate an outcome, the voice of reason we can leave to Chloe Taylor, assistant professor of women's studies at the University of Alberta, who penned a piece in response to the study.

'To exercise 'feminine charm' or to flirt with men, one has to cater to a man's ego, flatter him,” she said.

“This is a subservient position to be in, not a position of power. This kind of feminine charm – or ability to boost a man's ego by flirting with him – is also obviously more available to women who are young, conform to social norms of feminine attractiveness, and pass as heterosexual.

“Thus, needing to exercise 'feminine charm' in order to counter-balance other penalties against women as negotiators means that women are incited or compelled to attend to debilitating gender and beauty norms and to pass as heterosexual.  The need for women to submit to systematic sexualisation in the workplace in order to excel is a form of gender discrimination”.

There is another downside to this latent superpower we call charm.  Dr Kray does warn in her research that, while these techniques may work on male colleagues, they are unlikely to do so with female or other colleagues who you are not trying to disarm with charm, and who may in fact find you untrustworthy and false.

Kray also acknowledges that taking 'flirting' too far and being overtly sexual can have a derogatory effect on how colleagues view you and indeed on your professional reputation.

But, she argues, there are certainly 'shades of grey'…

Now don't get me started on that …