Thursday, October 18, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

How to be a RESPONSIBLE woman

Posted: 17 Oct 2012 07:00 AM PDT

By Stephanie Phillips from Black Feminists.

So every feminist and her mother have been talking about the Caitlin Moran / Lena Dunham furore. If you haven't heard Dunham has come under fire for the lack of diversity in her new show Girls, which is set in New York and has be sold as a representation of modern young women’s lives. A Twitter user asked Moran if she asked Dunham about the lack of diversity in Dunham's show when she interviewed her for a piece in The Times. Moran, somewhat unprofessionally replied “I literally couldn’t give a shit about it”.

Before we move on I'll just say now that I haven't seen Girls. I don't know if it is what people say and I won't be arguing that in the piece. What I will say that as a journalist if I knew that people were concerned about issues of visibility with other races in the show I would research it and bring it up in the interview, not just dismiss it as a non-issue.

Note to the white women reading this that may think they're liberal and open minded and listen to Bob Marley 'cause they're cultured; if someone tells you that they are concerned that some shit is racist then believe that some shit is racist. Why would they lie? At least open your mind to the concept that this thing you may enjoy watching, saying, doing could offend another human being and then, here's the tricky part, ask them what you can do to not offend them. Simple innit but its true. Studies have shown that the most effective way to stop people constantly being offended by things you do is to not do them anymore.

The accusations made about Girls needed to at least be acknowledged by Moran but instead she, like many people when confronted with race, became defensive and suggested people were over reacting. The whole 'political correctness gone mad' and 'we're all one race the human race' argument is the same that is used in the liberal community by men when women start pointing out that sexism still exists in the left.

No one is asking Girls to represent all of womenhood. The question that was directed at Moran was to ask whether she asked Lena Dunham about the lack of diversity on the show. That was an apt question and white feminists can't just go straight to defensive when the 'R' word pops up in the conversation. The reality is that there is a HUGE problem with diversity and representation in media. You can't expect black women to be quiet about our concerns because white women don't want to talk about the issue.

You don't need a "token" woman of colour on the show. Is it that hard to believe that a black person could be a best friend, love interest, friendly teacher. We exist in many forms in the real world so it shouldn't take a leap of faith to recreate us in the fictional world.

Moran's dismissive comment blew up because it represented how women of colour felt mainstream feminists thought and we've had enough of it.

I've decided that I'm tired of this whole pretense that issues of race in the feminist community don't matter any more because "we're over that". No. We're not. Me and you are not on the same path and until a whole lot of privilege on everyone's part is recognised we never will be.

To start I believe that white feminists have to understand just what kind of racism black women deal with on a daily basis and how we feel about our position in the movement. I'm opening up the floor if you want to know what it's like to be a black woman in society today ask in the comments section and I will reply honestly.

I don't want to step on anyone's toes or startle anyone that was comfortable with their views but I'm tired of the dismissive remarks, the constant lack of recognition, the lack of focus on issues that affect black women and every feminist conference that claim the only reason they always have all white panels and workshops is just because they couldn't find anyone who knew about that stuff. I'm tired of it all, so let's sort it out now, honestly, respectfully and peacefully.

Stephanie Phillips is the Editor of the female-focused music blog Don’t Dance Her Down Boys. She eats too much cake and spends far too much time thinking about cake.

Help fight hunger in the UK

Posted: 17 Oct 2012 02:45 AM PDT

The Trussell Trust is asking you to help foodbanks stop people going hungry in the UK.

Yesterday was World Food Day, 'a celebration of the founding of the lead international agency for global efforts to combat hunger: the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'. The date has been observed every year since 1979, raising awareness of global poverty and hunger.

Across the world, people are working to fight hunger – and in Britain a charity called The Trussell Trust is asking you to help foodbanks stop people going hungry in the UK.

Carol and Paddy Henderson founded The Trussell Trust in 1997 with a legacy left by Carol's mother, Betty Trussell.

The Trussell Trust's initial projects, in Bulgaria, focussed on improving conditions for the 60 or more children sleeping at the Central Railway Station in Bulgaria.

But while Paddy Henderson was fundraising for Bulgaria in Salisbury in 2000, he received a call from a desperate mother in Salisbury who said her children were going to bed hungry that night – and asking what he was going to do about it.

He investigated local indices of deprivation and 'hidden hunger' in the UK, and found shocking results which showed that significant numbers of local people faced short-term hunger as a result of a sudden crisis.

Salisbury's foodbank was started in the Henderson's garden shed, and provided three days of emergency food to local people in crisis.

In 2004, the UK foodbank network was launched, and has been teaching churches and communities nationwide how to start their own foodbanks.

The Trust now runs a network of 270 foodbanks throughout the UK, with a new food bank being launched in the UK every three days. The Trust expects this growth to continue until 2015.

The network has fed almost 110,000 people since April, compared with a total of 128,697 in the whole of 2011-12.

The Trust says that 13 million people live below the poverty line in the UK, and 1 in 5 mums skip meals to feed their children.

And with a record number of people receiving emergency food from UK food banks in the last six months, The Trussell Trust is asking for your help.

Help by giving up something small for just one day – or a week – and donating the money you save.

It’s easy:

1. Choose something to give up

2. Decide whether it’s for a day or a week

3. Donate what you save by texting FBUK12 plus the amount – e.g. FBUK12 £10 – to 70070 or by going online.

Pacific Island women and politics

Posted: 17 Oct 2012 02:00 AM PDT

Much-needed moves raise hopes for getting more women to be able to enter politics.

Dame Carol Kidu is not a name that resonates with many women around the world, despite the fact that she is a trailblazer as a 15-year veteran and sole female representative in the parliament of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Kidu was first elected to the Papua New Guinea Parliament in 1997 where she was one of two women in the 109-person assembly.

Before she retired in 2012 she was the only female MP and was supporting a bill to provide a 20 per cent minimum quota of women in parliament.

Unfortunately, her legacy has not paved the way for gender equity in the PNG parliament – or the rest of the Pacific for that matter.

Women hold a miserly 5 per cent of seats in Pacific Island parliaments, seriously lagging behind the UK where female political representation ranks at about 20 per cent.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) women's political participation has been steadily rising in all regions except the Pacific.

While nations in the Francophone Pacific, particularly French Polynesia and New Caledonia, can boast a healthy number of women in Parliament with both nations reaching almost 50 per cent, the figures drop quite drastically with nations such as Tonga, Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands at 3 per cent, and Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia with no female political representatives.

Kim Henderson, UNDP gender team leader for Asia and the Pacific, said: “At the moment they have electoral systems which generally aren’t friendly to increasing the numbers of women,” given that the system favours the candidate with the most votes.

“The culture, the set-up often discourages women from being able to perform well, from wanting to choose a life in politics” because the work hours are not conducive to also caring for home and family.

“[This is] a particular issue in the Pacific where, in many countries there, women are subsistence farmers and are producing food to feed their families,” she explained.

And given these barriers, Henderson argues that creating gender parity could take more than 50 years in this region.

Gender parity in the Francophone Pacific is due to a 2000 French law that requires political parties to put forward equal numbers of male and female candidates.

The law positively impacted women's elections in New Caledonia and French Polynesia, but not Wallace and Futuna where by March 2005 only two women served in the Territorial Assembly.

According to researcher Stephanie Guyon: "This law shows that it is not true that women are not ready to enter politics. When they are obliged to get involved, they do."

While only the French Pacific has a parity law, Tara Chetty, program officer of the Fiji Womens Rights Movement, would like Fiji to go further and include a provision in the new Fijian constitution to reserve 50 per cent of parliamentary seats for women.

Chetty explained that women leaders got together and decided to put their proposal forward.

"We just wanted to make our intentions very clear," she said, "that we’re very serious about the special needs of women in terms of their access to decision-making, that it can’t just happen organically on its own, because of the way that society is stacked against women."

Reserving seats for women guarantees their participation, rather than in the case of the French Pacific where women are equally eligible to compete but rely on voters to place them in Parliament.

Other countries such as the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea are also considering such a move.

The drive to increase women in state decision-making is included in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The third of 8 Global MDGs aims to promote gender equality and empower women in all arenas, including the political sphere.

All Pacific Island nations, with the exceptions of Nauru, Palau and Tonga, have ratified CEDAW, which more specifically references gender inequalities within global parliaments, calling for states to eliminate discrimination against women through legal and temporary special measures and affirmative action.

Yet, in order to achieve these goals, women also need training to seek political office, from campaigning, lobbying and working within the political infrastructures of their countries.

The Australian government is providing funding for a 10-year iniative focused on mentoring and training female political candidates for national and local elections.

A UNDP report published in September 2012 supports reserved seats for women.

The report, Gender Equality in Elected Office in Asia-Pacific: Six Actions to Expand Women's Empowerment, outlines 6 ways to fast-track women's entry into politics.

UNDP's Kim Henderson said: “Research that we’ve done globally at the UNDP shows that reserve seats… are the most effective way of boosting the number of women represented in parliament."

And so the UNDP has set up a six-point plan for women in politics.

It suggests a range of options to increase women's political participation, including constitutional reform, implementing electoral laws, reserving seats and creating gender quotas, changes in party nomination procedures, developing capacities, and creating gender-sensitive rules and procedures in elected bodies.

With these kinds of changes UNDP hopes that the Pacific can achieve its Millennium Development Goals and that there will be more women like Dame Carol Kadu to inspire generations of girls to enter political life.

Another day, another pro-lifer…

Posted: 17 Oct 2012 01:00 AM PDT

From All that Chas.

Another day, another pro-lifer…decides their viewpoint on the ethics of abortion must be heard. Today, our resident anti-choicer is Mehdi Hasan, who considers it greatly important that we know one can be both left-wing and pro-life. Quite what relevance he thinks this has to the abortion debate I'm not sure, but Hasan seems to think he'll get some kudos for not being a right-wing nutbag as anti-choicers usually tend to be. Sorry chap, it doesn't work that way. Ladies are well aware that men can pride themselves on saying and doing all the correct liberal, lefty political things, and still be downright women haters. Julian Assange, anyone?

But let's consider what Hasan feels he has to bring to the debate. He starts with a defence one of my painfully right wing (Islamophobic, homophobic, anti-feminist) relatives has trotted out to me before, pretty much word for word "Who is weaker or more vulnerable than the unborn child? Which member of our society needs a voice more than the mute baby in the womb?" Anyone who canonises a zygote, embryo or foetus over a living woman has pretty much shown which flag they're nailing their colours to. Yet Hasan's article was (seemingly) defended by James Bloodworth, another left-wing man, who tweeted "not all pro-lifers are simply anti-women." Sorry fellas, but I'm not buying it. If you want to erase women from the picture and rate their life behind those of the unborn, then you're anti-woman. You don't get to wriggle out of that just because you put your argument forth nicely and calmly and don't stand outside women’s clinics hollering and holding up pictures [of] dead foetuses.

Hasan then puts forward the bizarre argument that because the UK is 'the exception and not the rule' with its abortion time limit being higher than the rest of Europe, that's somehow reason enough for us to fall in line and follow suit for the sake of consistency. Hmmm, just like Britain went into the Euro just for the sake of fitting in….oh, wait. Anyway, why compare Britain to the likes of Italy – where the Catholic church has massive influence – when you could compare it to Canada, another liberal Western country, where there is no time limit on abortion?

He also point outs "how 91 per cent of British abortions are carried out in the first 13 weeks", which is actually a fact that I do wish more people would take notice of in the argument about the 24 week limit. Unfortunately he goes on to say "You may disagree with a 12-week cut-off but to pretend it is somehow arbitrary, or extreme, or even unique is a little disingenuous." No, where I disagree is with people who act like the small percentage of women who do get late term abortions just get pregnant, hang about for 23 weeks twiddling their hair and then decide to 'kill their baby' at the last minute. The majority of late term abortions are given to women who WANTED to give birth, but discovered major deformities or life-threatening conditions after the crucial 20 week scan, and to vulnerable women such as rape victims and sexually abused minors, who are often in denial about a pregnancy. How denying much-needed abortions to women in either of these terrible circumstances is 'protecting the vulnerable', I’ll never know. To me it sounds like utter sadism.

But Hasan's clever – he's even trying to manipulate feminism to support a pro-life agenda. Wot, you mean some women who fought for votes and equal treatment in the 1700s and 1800s were anti abortion? Oh right, better alter my whole ideology on that basis. For the record I love Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony, but I can accept that they were wrong or misguided on some points. They also lived in an extremely different era where childbearing was seen as effectively mandatory due to the lack of available/reliable birth control, let alone abortion access. The likes of Margaret Sanger and Marie Stopes changed that by promoting birth control and were harangued for it (much like those defending the right of women to control their fertility are today – hmmm, I see a pattern). Neither of those women were perfect either – Sanger made some very unfortunate statements about using birth control for eugenics. But I support and believe in the good things they did, without believing I have to subscribe mindlessly to everything they say just because they're a) women and b) feminists.

But Hasan even has a 21st Century feminist up his sleeve, or so he claims. He describes Daphne de Jong as a New Zealand feminist author – all I can find about her is that she has written a lot of Mills and Boon novels, oh and – she just happens to be part of ‘Feminists for Life’, an organisation that claims to be both feminist and pro-life. Much like my mate who's both Palestinian and Zionist. But OK, let's address De Jong’s claim that "If women must submit to abortion to preserve their lifestyle or career, their economic or social status, they are pandering to a system devised and run by men for male convenience." Yes, that’s a good point. It's utterly wrong, and counter to the aims of feminism, that women should ever have abortions simply to fit in with a male-dictated system. Funnily enough, it's also counter to the aims of feminism that women should be made to give birth simply to fit in with a male-dictated system. And what is Mehdi Hasan asking us to do? Legislate about women's bodies based upon what he, Jeremy Hunt and Christopher Hitchens think. Last I checked, that’s a pretty fucking male-dictated system.

But Hasan just can't let go of this idea that being a woman automatically makes you a feminist, or pro-woman. Apparently 49 percent of women would support a reduction in the abortion limit – OK, I've never met any of them apart from the wife of the anti-abortion relative mentioned above, but I'll assume the poll was taken from a broad enough pool. I wonder how many of those women are past reproductive age, single or happy mothers who can't imagine ever wanting or needing an abortion. It's easy to argue against abortion when it's theoretical and will not impact upon your own life. Just look at how 'pro-life' US Representative Scott DesJarlais switched from saying "all life should be cherished and protected" to pressuring his pregnant mistress into getting an abortion the moment his happy little set-up was threatened by an unwanted pregnancy. Or have a read of the deeply revealing article ‘The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion’, where abortion clinic workers reveal that many of the 'pro-lifers' who picketed outside their clinics later turned up wanting a termination themselves.

As my dad, who manages to be both a man and pro-choice, often says 'It's easy to argue from a position of no consequence'. It's easy to be a woman who doesn't want or need an abortion, or a man whose bodily autonomy will never be threatened, and say abortion is wrong. Wait til your needs or your life changes. I wonder how Hasan would feel if one of his daughters (and it bears saying he is lucky to have two WANTED children) came to him after a rape, or with a life-endangering pregnancy, and he had to explain to her she was morally obliged to go through with a birth that might ruin her life, or kill both her and her baby, because her dad felt she should not be allowed to make a decision about her own body.

I think Hasan is using his credentials as a 'left-wing' man with 'progressive principles' (I use quotes because I do not believe him to be progressive in any way) to try to obscure the fact that being anti-abortion does make you anti-woman. The fact is, his left-lean has nothing to do with this argument. Neither does the fact he is not religious. They are not even worth mentioning, and the fact he does shows he feels he needs to try and pre-empt the inevitable accusations of being a woman-hater by hiding behind the 'Moi? Impossible? I'm a liberal kinda guy!' defence.

But feminists are smarter than that. We know that you can be left or right wing, male or female, religious or atheist, and still be insidiously trying to erode women's right to bodily autonomy. So when Hasan asks "my fellow lefties and liberals to try to understand and respect the views of those of us who are pro-life, rather than demonise us as right-wing reactionaries or medieval misogynists", it's a pretty bloody tall order. Because on this issue, Mr Hasan your 'principles', make you indistinguishable from those 'right-wing reactionaries' and 'medieval misogynists' you are trying to distance yourself from. And that is why I am not interested in trying to 'understand and respect' your views.

Anti-choice = anti-woman. It's always that simple.

Catherine Scott is a freelance feminist writer who has worked for Ms Magazine and the BBC. She has also written for Bitch magazine, the Independent and the Times Literary Supplement. Read her full bio at cathscott.co.uk.

Women celebrate Black History Month

Posted: 17 Oct 2012 12:50 AM PDT

Black women make their mark on Black History Month.

To celebrate Black History month this month, a series of events are taking place –  many of them organised by women and exploring women’s issues.

From walking tours in Glasgow led by women of refugee backgrounds, via a discussion of Andrea Levy’s book ‘Fruit of the Lemon’ in Nottingham, to a fashion and style extravaganza in London, Black History month is celebrating the contribution and history of black people in British life.

MP Diane Abbott, pictured, said that the month is important because there is a need for shared history.

Abbott, who studied history at Cambridge University, writes in a foreword to Black History Month guide:

"At no point in my academic career, from the age of five to 21, was I able to study any black history at all. As far as the English educational system in the eighties was concerned, black history did not exist.

“But what effect does it have on your pride and your self esteem if you are told that you have no history? And, in a multi-cultural society, how are white people supposed to respect black people if they believe that we have no history or culture that is worth studying and that we have never contributed anything?

"It is important for black people. But it is even more important for white people. Mutual respect means that we must know each other's history."

Abbott is giving a lecture in Liverpool at John Moores University questioning whether British universities cater for black and ethnic minority students on October 25.

The Women’s Grid lists other events including a Black Feminist workshop in Brixton Library, London on October 24 at 7pm. The aim is to give women space to discuss the racism and sexism they experience and the forms that patriarchy takes in their own communities. It also lists further details about the Andrea Levy event in Nottingham.

The walking tour of Glasgow delivered by women of a refugee background is back by popular demand. Vicky Beesley from the Scottish Refugee Council said: "It takes the audience into Glasgow's Medieval and Victorian history and explores the tour guides' personal histories.

"It's an opportunity to walk, talk and drink tea with three inspiring women from Africa and to hear stories that will hopefully live with you long after Black History Month is over."

The Windrush Style Block fashion show takes place on October 28 in Windrush Square, Brixton. As explained on blackhistorymonth.org blackhistorymonth.org, this event has been set up to celebrate the Windrush generation’s contribution to British style and fashion.

Designer Georgina Harley-Smith decided to dedicate her collection for London Fashion Week 2012 to the 50th year of Jamaican Independence and show it in Windrush Square rather than at Somerset House, the hub of fashion week.