Women's Views on News |
- Women’s Assembly Against Austerity date set
- A black day for gay rights in India
- Are men and women wired differently?
- Advertisers say ‘bah humbug’ to festive sexism?
- Women in Martin Scorsese’s films
- Memorial events for Delhi bus rape victim
| Women’s Assembly Against Austerity date set Posted: 13 Dec 2013 09:15 AM PST
We believe that women remain at the sharp end of the government’s economic and social austerity policies (Comment, 10 December). As women’s unemployment rises, wages fall, the pay gap widens, benefits are cut and household and living costs rise, women face a daily struggle to keep themselves and their families from slipping deeper into poverty. It is a travesty that 45 years after the Dagenham women workers fought for equal pay, we see increasing parts of our economy fuelled on cheap labour, with more than one in five earning less than a living wage and two-thirds of these women. In the workplace and in the day-to-day battles against poverty, discrimination, racism, attacks on disabled people, the blight of war and the destruction of the environment, women are fighting back. Women are playing a leading role in the movement against austerity, evidenced by the huge number of women on the 50,000-strong NHS demonstration outside the Tory party conference in Manchester in October. Political leaders should be using the nation’s resources in the interests of the majority of the people and prioritising the abolition of poverty, insecurity and the threat of war. Our society is moving in a dangerous direction and now is the time for us to decide how our wealth is used and what values underpin our society. In recognition of the leading role of women in the campaign against austerity and in articulating a new vision for our society, the signatories of this letter support the call for a Women’s Assembly Against Austerity to take place on Saturday 22 February 2014 at Conway Hall, London. This event will build on the success of the People’s Assembly launched in June. Diane Abbott, MP; Sarah Veale, head of equalities and employment, TUC; Vera Baird, QC, Labour police and crime commissioner for Northumbria; Natalie Bennett, Leader, Green party; Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary, NUJ; Carolyn Simpson, chair, Sertuc Women’s Rights Committee; Maxine Peake, Actress and dramatist; Francesca Martinez, Ccomedian; Jane Stewart, Chair, Unite Women’s committee; Dr Finn Mackay, Founder, London Feminist Network and revived London Reclaim the Night; Anita Wright/Dona Feltham, National Assembly of Women; Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition; Kate Hudson, CND; Ann Henderson/Kerry Abel, Abortion Rights To book your place at the conference click here.  |
| A black day for gay rights in India Posted: 13 Dec 2013 08:33 AM PST
India's highest court, the Supreme Court, has upheld a colonial-era law, known as Section 377, which criminalises gay sex, throwing out a 2009 New Delhi High Court decision that ruled the law was unconstitutional. The New Delhi ruling had effectively de-criminalised gay sex between consenting adults in private. This change could see gay people once more jailed for up to ten years. The Supreme Court is known for its broadly progressive judgments that often order politicians or officials to respect the rights of the poor, disadvantaged or marginalised communities. And, as the Guardian reported, few people expected that a legal challenge – launched by conservatives including Muslim and Christian religious associations, a right-wing politician and a retired government official-turned astrologist – against the 2009 decision on Section 377 to succeed. Anjali Gopalan, activist and director of the Naz Foundation Trust, the Indian HIV campaign group which initially lead this phase of the movement to repeal Section 377 and took the issue to the Delhi High Court, told the Guardian she had been “horrified by the judgment”. “It reflects a conservative mindset. After so much effort we are back to square one. Whatever we have gained over the years we seem to have lost.” The Foundation has said that it will file a petition seeking a review of the Supreme Court's ruling. The decision, made on World Human Rights Day, makes India the 42nd Commonwealth nation in which same-sex activity illegal. Dr Purna Sen, former head of human rights at the Commonwealth Secretariat and chair of the Kaleidoscope Trust, a UK based charity working to uphold the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people internationally, condemned the decision. Dr Sen said: "The Supreme Court's ruling is a terrible setback for the struggle to secure equal rights for LGBT people, not just in India, but in many of the Commonwealth countries that still enforce colonial era restrictions on the liberties of LGBT people." Dr Sen, who was born in India and now works at the LSE in London, added: "The 2009 ruling that read the ban on same-sex relationships as being at odds with the Constitution acted as a real beacon for hope in the Commonwealth." "Today's ruling, sadly, is a setback for India and sets a worrying precedent." The Supreme Court took the view that a section of the Indian penal code dating back to the nineteenth century that outlawed sexual acts 'against the order of nature' took precedence over the right to equality. It is now up to the Indian Parliament to legislate on this issue, according to Justice GS Singhvi, the head of the Supreme Court bench. But Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress party has called on the national assembly “to address this issue" and described Section 377 as “an archaic, repressive and unjust law that infringed on basic human rights”. And law minister Kapil Sibal said the government has not abandoned efforts to make homosexuality legal, and that the country must take swift action to challenge the Supreme Court decision. Navi Pillay, the United Nations’ high commissioner on human rights, described the high court's move as a ‘significant step backwards’ as the UN called on the Indian government to seek a rapid review of the decision. In a statement issued in Geneva, Pillay said, “Criminalising private, consensual same-sex sexual conduct violates the rights to privacy and to non-discrimination enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which," she pointed out, "India has ratified.” And Dr Sen told PinkNews, "when the Delhi High Court made its announcement in 2009, we all got excited and thought gay sex had been decriminalised. "Also, many believed that it was a fantastic judgement which interpreted the provisions of the Indian constitution". "We need to not lose heart but to keep mobilising and keep fighting".  |
| Are men and women wired differently? Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:38 AM PST
Apparently it’s because of the way our brains are wired that women can socially network with aplomb while men prefer to navigate the road networks instead. At least that is the interpretation of a scientific study which scanned the brains of 1,000 people. According to a report from the BBC, male brains appeared to be wired front to back with few connections bridging the two hemispheres, whereas in females the pathways criss-crossed left to right. From this it is deduced that these findings uphold the gender stereotypes of women being better multi-taskers whereas men are single task driven. In the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) recently, men scored well on sensory motor speed and spatial processing, whereas women scored well on attention, face and word memory as well as social cognition. Researcher Ragini Verma said: "These maps show us a stark difference – and complementarity – in the architecture of the human brain that helps provide a potential neural basis as to why men excel at certain tasks, and women at others." The Daily Mail said : "The results are likely to be seen as supporting the theory behind best-selling pop psychology book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus – that the sexes are as different as alien races." But media reporting of the research may have put too much emphasis on these differences. Oscar Rickett in The Guardian argues that this study is about mental illness and not a piece of pop psychology to prop up any battle of the sexes. Rickett said: "Often, people feel the need to back up their prejudices or assumptions with any old science they can find. Women, after all, were seen as too hysterical to be allowed the vote, and scientists would be wheeled out to attest to that." The Wired too said that the findings had been over simplified and were based on averages. The article’s author Christian Jarrett said: "These are average differences with a lot of overlap. It's possible that my male brain is wired more like an average female brain than yours, even if you're a woman." Jarrett goes on the argue that it could be because of society’s tendency to assign different assumptions to the sexes that the wiring has developed this way. "We know that cultural and societal factors affect how men and women perform on behavioral tasks. Remind people of gender stereotypes and they tend to perform in a way that reinforces them."  |
| Advertisers say ‘bah humbug’ to festive sexism? Posted: 13 Dec 2013 06:07 AM PST
Following the backlash experienced by their 1950s sorry 2012 Christmas campaign, this year Asda has opted to forgo advertisements full of sexism-laced festive cheer in favour of some – equally traditional – rival bashing and savings bragging. Last year the supermarket's winter advertising campaign revolved around a frazzled woman neurotically vacuuming up pine needles before embarking on a manic last-minute supermarket dash and single-handedly producing Christmas dinner, after which her retrosexual husband finally acknowledges her existence by asking: 'What's for tea, love?' Asda is not the only supermarket to change its advertising tactics in response to the criticism of their blatant sexism they faced over their Christmas 2012 campaigns. Tesco, which last year ran a TV advertisement in which Mum, swamped by everything going on the kitchen and aided by her Prince Charming husband only in the form of a glass of champagne, has this year opted for a sepia video montage of one family's Christmases throughout the years. Morrisons has similarly abandoned its unhappy, unappreciated Mum-centric campaign of Christmas 2012, going instead for Ant and Dec and an imaginatively named singing gingerbread man, Ginger. While two months of screen time is enough to dampen anybody's festive spirit, it seems that this year most major retailers have said bah that was humbug to their own outdated gender stereotypes, making the next couple of weeks less of a nightmare before Christmas.  |
| Women in Martin Scorsese’s films Posted: 13 Dec 2013 04:05 AM PST
Our regular cross-post from Bitch Flicks. I've long been a little troubled by the women characters in Martin Scorsese's films. I say this as compliment overall, because though the female protagonists are few, they're far from shallow and weak. From Lorraine Bracco's Karen in Goodfellas to Vera Farmiga's Madolyn in The Departed, Scorsese has shown that he can depict women who are multi-faceted and complex. It's just that their stories are always told in relation to the men their lives. Theirs is always a kind of power struggle with their husbands or boyfriends, and in the end, that power is rarely on par with men's. I had heard that Scorsese's 1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore was different, but since it's one that so rarely talked about, it took awhile for me to finally check it out. And I'm so glad I did. Ellen Burstyn's Alice is a 30-something mother in Socorro, New Mexico, where she lives with her husband Donald (Billy Green Bush) and son Tommy (Alfred Lutter). Donald is an overbearing bastard of a man who does little more than bark at Alice and Tommy, who each take care to stay out of his way. Nothing Alice does is ever good enough for Donald. Thelma and Louise fans won't be able to help but compare him to Darryl, the lout of a spouse who bullies Thelma. Unfortunately, there's no Louise in this film to whisk Alice away in a 1966 Ford Thunderbird Convertible. Alice's release from Donald is spurred by a freak car accident that kills him and leaves her and Tommy to fend for themselves. Just like the viewer up to this point, Alice has wished for Donald to disappear, but her guilt is raw, and Tommy senses her ambivalence. Rather than remain in a town she hates in a house she can no longer afford, Alice packs up the station wagon and heads to Monterey, California, to reclaim her first love: singing. What ensues is an unlikely road movie with a mother and son at the center, and men on the periphery. Alice's first stop is Phoenix, which is about as far as her money will take her. When she and Tommy settle in to a motel, Alice must go shopping for clothes that will make her look younger, as she tells her Tommy. It was at that moment in watching the film that I saw the story come into focus: what happens when a parent doesn't hide the difficulty of making ends meet from her kid, but instead matter-of-factly involves him in the day-to-day slog of getting by, promising that good things are to come despite the current circumstances? Rather than keep Tommy in the dark about how broke she is and how no one will hire her for a living wage, Alice unsentimentally – yet lovingly – informs Tommy of her plans as she makes them. Well, almost. Given that Tommy is still young (10 or 11), Alice does prefer to keep intimate details to herself, particularly when it comes to the first man she meets since her husband's death, Ben (played by Harvey Keitel), who's a regular customer at the bar where she lands a singing gig in Phoenix. Tommy is no fool, though, and when he asks one too many personal questions Alice tells him she's not going to talk to him about her sex life. Sure, she doesn't take this moment to have the birds and bees discussion, but when was the last time you heard a parent acknowledge the existence of a sex life to their kid? Its instances like that that make this film a fascinating study of a parent-child relationship in the context of shifting gender dynamics in a changing society. A glance at the movie poster for Alice tells you that she's going to eventually make her way into the arms of a rugged and mostly affable Kris Kristofferson, but she must deal with Ben first. While Alice initially rebuffs his advances, he eventually wears her down and wins her over. Yay, we think! Someone who will treat Alice with the tenderness she deserves. It doesn't take long for Ben to reveal himself as a philanderer and psychopath, and this realization prompts Alice and Tommy to once again pack up the wagon for the next town, Tucson. Alice decides to make a pragmatic move and start working a job that's close to their motel and will ensure free food: waiting tables. At this point in the plot the story expands to include the women at the restaurant—the brassy Flo (Dianne Ladd) and timid Vera (Valerie Curtain) — and Tommy's new friend Audrey, played by a very young and very boyish Jodie Foster (creepy alert: two years later she and Harvey Keitel would be joined as the prostitute/pimp dyad in Scorsese's Taxi Driver, which makes you feel gross when you watch them in Alice). Alice also meets David (Kris Kristofferson), and like her, we're not altogether sure that his fixation with Tommy is genuine or just a sneaky way to pick up his mom. We see Alice try to work through the challenges of managing her expectations of love and work, and there's real narrative power in how she fully inhabits all her choices, be they selfish, selfless, stupid, or sane. Though billed as a romance, the real love story has two couples at its core: Alice and Tommy, and Alice and herself. Heather Brown lives in Chicago, Ill., and works as a freelance instructional designer and online writing instructor. She lives for feminism, movies, live music, road trips, and cheese.  |
| Memorial events for Delhi bus rape victim Posted: 13 Dec 2013 01:09 AM PST
A public memorial will be held on 16 December to honour Jyoti Singh, the 23 year-old student who was raped and murdered on a Delhi bus one year ago in an attack that caused outrage across India. The event is being held outside the Indian High Commission in London. It is being organised by ActionAid and will be lead by actor Meera Syal. It will coincide with a rally in Delhi which will follow the route the bus took Jyoti, known as 'Nirbhaya' or 'The Fearless One', as she was repeatedly raped and beaten by six men on 16 December last year. The London memorial event will take place from 8.00am –9.30am on 16 December at the Nehru Statue in India Place, outside the High Commission of India, on Aldwych, London, WC2B 4NA. As well as actor and writer Meera Syal, journalist and campaigner Sunny Hundal and ActionAid's executive director Richard Miller will address the crowd; Japjit Kaur from the cast of the acclaimed 2013 Edinburgh Fringe play, Nirbhaya, based on the Delhi bus rape, will sing a song from the play while the wreath is laid, and Kalpna Woolf, winner of the Asian Woman of Achievement Award (Media) 2013, will lead those gathered at the memorial to ring bells, symbolising their refusal to be silent on an issue that affects millions of women and girls. Meera Syal said: "What happened to Nirbhaya is the stuff of nightmares and has haunted many of us since. "This tragic case marked a tipping point for me and for millions of others in India and around the world when ordinary people took to the streets to all speak out loud and demand that violence against women everywhere is stopped once and for all. "One in three women around the world will experience violence at some point in their lives and it traps hundreds of millions in poverty, which is why organisations like ActionAid work tirelessly to provide long-term support programmes for survivors and campaigns to end it for good. "Standing together we can create a world in which all women can thrive in safety, dignity and equality." Come, join us! Stop #VAW! #Humanrights Earlier this year ActionAid India organised a public hearing on rape and sexual assault, probably the first of its kind, attended by thousands of women and men from across the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh – the state which had the highest number of rape cases in 2011. Fifteen cases of rape and sexual assault were shared at the hearing by women themselves and 27 cases were highlighted from a fact-finding report. One of the key demands that emerged from the public hearing was to make police and other law enforcement agencies more accessible to women. The dismissive attitude and lack of sensitivity that continues to persist among the police and judicial system is an immense hindrance to women seeking justice. The Indian police force needs to be better trained to deal with cases of sexual violence and support survivors. The government should establish a 24-hour national helpline specifically for rape survivors and also set up a "Women's Cell" staffed by police and legal advisors that will take calls directly from women who are affected by violence, and help them with filing reports and court proceedings as well as rehousing and other support if necessary. In January 2013 a government panel recommended that India should strictly enforce sexual assault laws, commit to holding speedy rape trials and change the antiquated penal code to protect women. The panel appointed to examine the criminal justice system's handling of violence against women received a staggering 80,000 suggestions from women's groups and thousands of ordinary citizens. Among the panel's recommendations were a ban on a traumatic vaginal examination of rape victims and an end to political interference in sex crime cases. It also suggested the appointment of more judges to help speed up India's sluggish judicial process and clear millions of pending cases. Many of these recommendations were introduced by the government in the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act in February 2013 – and ActionAid calls for all these recommendations to be implemented and acted upon. ActionAid also aims to create solidarity between women's groups, Dalit groups and other marginalised communities to try to ensure that equal importance is given to each and every case that is reported. From the cases that ActionAid has worked on it is clear that women from poor, marginalised and socially excluded groups like Dalits, tribal people (Adivasis), the disabled and the urban poor are most at risk from violence. They are more afraid to report crimes to the police – and less likely to see justice done. Obviously this must change. To read ActionAid's briefing, ‘In memory of Nirbhaya: one year on from the Delhi bus rape has anything changed’, click here.  |
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