Women's Views on News |
- This Woman’s Work re-released for EVAW
- London this Saturday: Million Women Rise
- Sports round-up: 25 February – 3 March
| This Woman’s Work re-released for EVAW Posted: 04 Mar 2013 08:39 AM PST
BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominated band Lady Maisery are releasing their own version of Kate Bush's ‘This Woman's Work’ and all profits are going to support the work of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW). The song will also celebrate the start of Women's History Month, which begins on International Women's Day – 8 March. It is available to download online from 4 March. 'This Woman's Work' is the trio‘s first release since their debut album 'Weave & Spin' in 2011 and features the trio's unique style of vocal harmony, as well as showing a major development from their earlier material. The single maintains the energy of Kate Bush's original version, but is a bold new interpretation; underpinned by Scandinavian inspired fiddle accompaniment and driven by Lady Maisery's characteristic vocals – three distinctive voices blended in striking harmony. "All three of us have always loved Kate Bush and her original, iconic style,” they explained. "We were struck by the way this song shows the complexities of the relationship between a man and a woman before the birth of their first child, addressing the possibilities of loss whilst exploring the situation from a man's point of view. "It felt like an unusual angle for a song, and Kate's lyrics get straight to the heart of this very human relationship, illustrating the complicated gender roles and emotions at play. "Understanding the complexity of experiences like this is an important part of working towards more equal relationships between men and women, which is why we chose this song to release on International Women’s Day." Lady Maisery is made up of Hannah James, formerly of Kerfuffle, Hannah James and Sam Sweeney, and Demon Barbers; Hazel Askew of The Askew Sisters, and Rowan Rheingans from Fidola. They have been greatly inspired by folk singing traditions of the UK and of northern Europe, and sing songs and ballads both unaccompanied and with backing from their combined instrumental talents on accordion, harp, fiddle, bansitar and banjo. Lady Maisery broke new ground as one of the first UK groups to explore the tradition of diddling, or tune singing, which has nearly died out in England but is still prevalent in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe. They are proud to be supporting the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), a unique coalition of organisations and individuals campaigning to end all forms of violence against women. EVAW was set up in 2005 when women’s organisations and others came together to lobby the UK government to take a more strategic approach to ending violence against women, including making a commitment to work which aims to prevent violence against women. EVAW continues to lobby all levels of government in the UK, and challenge the wider cultural attitudes that tolerate and condone violence against women. "We are all passionate about campaigning for women's rights and promoting feminism, and this is often reflected in the songs we've chosen to sing. "We're very excited to be working with the End Violence Against Women Coalition this International Women's Day and supporting the important work they do raising awareness about violence against women, lobbying local and national government and campaigning to protect women's support services. "The current UK government's austerity measures are adversely affecting women by cutting vital women's services, making job losses in the predominantly female public sector and cutting funding for children's services on which many working parents rely. "International Women's Day is a good time to reflect on this and continue to work for change, as well as celebrate strong, independent women around the world".  |
| London this Saturday: Million Women Rise Posted: 04 Mar 2013 06:40 AM PST
In the UK today one incident of domestic violence will be reported to the police every minute. Two women are murdered every week by their partner or ex partner. One woman in four will experience sexual assault as an adult. These are just a few of the statistics that this year's Million Women Rise (MWR) march through central London will highlight. With the goal of informing the world about all forms of male violence against women, the march's organisers have called on women to "join together in a critical mass to say enough is enough". This year, London's Oxford Street will be closed to traffic from noon to make space for the marchers to assemble outside Selfridges department store. At 1pm they will set off for Trafalgar Square, where a rally will be held from 3pm. Although it takes place in the UK, the march's focus is global. It will draw attention to many incidences of ‘pandemic, systematic and organised male violence against women’ that have taken place – and are taking place – across the world. These include the gang rape and murder of a 17 year-old South African girl last month and gang rape of a young woman, who is now dead, in Delhi in December last year; the death of Savita Halappanavar, state sponsored violence against women in Egypt; and the ongoing rape and genocide of women and children across the world, from Eastern Congo to Sri Lanka’s Tamils, from Iraq, Iran and Palestine to the Ivory Coast and Mali, Pakistan and Bangladesh to London and Bradford, from Bolivia and Brazil to Wales and East and Western Europe. The Million Women Rise (MWR) movement was established in 2007 by women's rights campaigner Sabrina Qureshi as a collective of ordinary women who want to see an end to violence against women. Primarily based in London, its volunteers have facilitated regional actions and activities throughout the United Kingdom and worked in solidarity with many international women's movements. The first march, which around 5,000 women attended, was held in 2008 and since then the march has become an annual event. It always takes place on a Saturday close to International Women's Day, which this year is on Friday 8 March. Each year the marchers are encouraged to wear a certain colour and this year it is red. For MWR red symbolises "the colour of Woman and her blood, the blood of our sisters who have been murdered and raped, our blood which contains life, courage, respect, dignity and protection". The MWR website provides information about coaches organised to take women from around the UK and also the Republic of Ireland and Germany to the march. See you there.  |
| Sports round-up: 25 February – 3 March Posted: 04 Mar 2013 03:00 AM PST
Athletics: Jess Ennis opted not to compete at the European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg last weekend, preferring to concentrate on preparing for this summer's World Championships. In the absence of the Olympic heptathlon champion, the spotlight was on the rest of team GB's women, and they did not disappoint. four of Britain's eight medals were won by women, and all ten British women competing reached the final of their events. Britain's first gold went to Holly Bleasdale, who won the pole vault with a jump of 4 metres 67 on 2 March. She told the BBC how she planned to celebrate her title: "I think I'm going to find a big cheesecake and eat it all.” The star performance came from Perri Shakes-Drayton. Having been the fastest runner throughout the heats and semi-finals, the Londoner won gold in the 400m on 3 March with a personal best and season record time of 50.85. The title is her first individual triumph at senior level. The 400m final was a very British affair, with Eilidh Child and Shana Cox joining Shakes-Drayton on the start line. The silver medal went to Child, who also ran a personal best of 51.45. Cox brought up the rear, coming in sixth. Other notable performances came from Jenny Meadows and Shara Proctor, who came in 4th in the 1500m and long jump respectively. Yamile Aldama posted a season's best of 13 metres 95 in the triple jump, enough to earn her sixth place. Britain’s strong showing was rounded off on 3 March with gold medals for both the men’s and women’s teams in the 4x400m relay. Shakes-Drayton, Child, Cox and Christine Ohuruogu set a new British record in the process, with a time of 3 minutes 27. Although Ennis was not competing, she was in the news for other reasons. It was announced on 1 March that Sheffield's Don Valley Stadium, where she has trained since she was a youngster, is to be closed because of council budget cuts. Ennis and her coach Tony Minichiello have publicly opposed the closure. The athlete has called the stadium “iconic”, and said that its loss would be a shame for future athletes. Football: As the start of the Women’s Super League (WSL) approaches, there is good news from the world of football: the league is to be expanded from 2014. The WSL was launched in 2011 with one tier of eight teams. From 2014, there will be two tiers of 20 teams. Manchester City, Sunderland, Leeds United, Aston Villa and Watford have already applied to join the expanded league, with a total of 28 teams expected to apply. The eight teams already in the league will have to reapply, and may lose their position if they do not perform well. The 2013 Women's Super League begins on 23 March. In other football news, the BBC announced that the women’s FA cup final will be broadcast live on BBC Two on 26 May this year. Judo: Following her win at the British Championships last week, Olympic silver medallist Gemma Gibbons won gold in the -78kg in the Dusseldorf Grand Prix event on 24 March. The tournament win is her first at world tour level. "I was really pleased I was able to perform at this level and execute some great judo,” she said. "It's been six months since I have fought against some of the best players in the world and to come away with the gold gives me great confidence going forward to the Turkey GP and the European Championships." Gymnastics: Gymnast Lisa Mason has won gold in her first competition for twelve years, topping the table in the vault at the English Championships on 3 March. The 1998 Commonwealth champion retired after the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but was inspired to start training again during the build up for London 2012. She aims to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Tennis: The rise of Laura Robson and Heather Watson has dominated the tennis headlines recently, but British number four Anne Keothavong made a splash of her own this week by reaching the doubles final in Florianopolis, in Brazil, on 3 March. Keothavong and her doubles partner, Valeria Savinykh of Russia, lost to number one seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova in the final. Nevertheless, Keothavong was thrilled with her performance. “It’s only taken me ten years to make a damn final!” she said. “After so many semifinal losses, it was great to finally have a chance of winning a WTA title with Valeria but I guess it wasn’t to be tonight. “Anabel and Slava are both Grand Slam doubles champions and they played the bigger points better than us.” Between 1992 and 2012, Keothavong was Britain’s most successful female player, reaching seven world tour semi finals in singles and two in doubles.  |
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