Saturday, December 21, 2013

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

We are on a break, back 13th January…

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 10:00 AM PST

That was the year that was

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 08:03 AM PST

feminism, review of the year's news

As 2013 draws to a close, WVoN takes a flying look back over the stories featured on the site this past year.

We kicked off the year with women's cricket,

and my goodness reader did the UK win it.

‘Everyday Sexism’ too emerged as a winner,

with 50,000 signatories' and just getting bigger.

A woman on UK banknotes was a spirited campaign,

success was announced with the featuring of Jane.

Yet the victory itself spawned a vicious backlash,

with Criado-Perez facing threats on the cash.

Women continued to face the brunt of the cuts,

calling for action no if, whats or buts.

We mourned the loss of Terry Glover,

Doris Lessing and many empowering others.

Protesters in Ireland called for legislative change,

abortion rights and safety of women shouldn't be strange.

Nicole Cooke retired from cycling,

her attack on sexism showed she came out fighting.

One Billion Rising urged women to strike! Dance! Rise!

to break the chain and end violence, save lives.

For one third of women in the world will be raped, will be beat;

from inside their homes to out on their streets.

The prison system lets women down,

thus calls for reform of the structure abound.

FGM was exposed and explored,

within the media it was no longer ignored.

No More Page 3! came the impassioned cry,

the Sun is inactive so we still ask them why?

MP Stella Creasy fought for women in the UK,

a comment on her skirt was ill reward for her pain.

Baroness Thatcher passed in April this year,

positivity of her legacy was not deemed that clear.

Emily Wilding Davidson died 100 years ago,

The Feminine Mystique had its 50 year show.

The gender gap continues, women struggle on part time,

opportunities are limited, mothers suffer with no dime.

Women are gamers too the journalists shout,

elsewhere women in film get a modicum more clout.

The UN passed a resolution on sexual violence in war,

providing non-judgemental healthcare more universal than before.

The Savile case exposed more victims and more crime,

immunity was lifted, it was more than about time.

Female victim blaming worsened and made appearances in court,

revealing studies showed it was more prevalent than first thought.

Malala Youfsafzai valiantly protests for girls rights,

to access education and when denied it, peacefully fight.

The year draws to a close with 16 days of action,

hoping that anti-violence, anti-militarism gain political traction.

And for next year I hope that the twittersphere will be ok,

and maybe, just maybe, there'll be equality for women one day.

UK women’s sports review of 2013

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 03:04 AM PST

sarah taylor, england cricket, WVoN's highlights of the year – and a preview of what's to come.

2013 was the year in which women's sport finally hit the headlines. Indeed it has been the hot topic of the sporting year for a variety of reasons.

We have done our best to document the ups and downs and ins and outs on this website over the course of the year, so in this piece I intend to concentrate on the achievements on the field, track, course and in the pool rather than off them.

This year was always going to be about building on Team GB's awesome performance at the London Olympics and women all over Britain have been rising to the challenge.

It was an amazing year for England's women's cricket team.  It began badly with the tournament favourites only able to claim third place in the World Cup in India, but England got better and better as the year went on, with wins against Pakistan and then sweet revenge in their demolishing of Australia in the multi-format Ashes series which finished in September.

In November they went on to beat the West Indies in a one day series in the Caribbean for the first time.

And it should also be noted that England's Sarah Taylor won the ICC Women's T20 Cricketer of the Year award for the second year in a row this December.

There was controversy in the rugby union Six Nations tournament this year as England fielded weakened sides in order to prepare for the World Sevens Cup.

They paid for this policy, however, as the pre-tournament favourites could only finish third.

Ireland won their first grand slam and triple crown and were worthy, if surprise, winners.

England couldn't even claim that it worked in the bigger scheme of things as they could only finish runners-up in the Plate (second tier) trophy of the Sevens with New Zealand taking the Cup (first tier) and Australia the Plate.

There was unmitigated disaster in July in the women's football European Championships as England crashed out in the group stages.

The tournament, held in Sweden, was publicised and broadcast as never before and was supposed to be a watershed moment for the popularity of women's football in this country. Indeed, attendances were excellent, as were television audiences.

The only disappointments were the performances from England.

There were some really high-class matches in an exciting tournament with Germany winning their sixth straight title, but England's poor performances cost manager Hope Powell her job.

In more positive news, Liverpool Ladies  won their first WSL championship title and both Arsenal and Birmingham are through to the semi-finals of the Champions League, which continues in the New Year.

The other big team winner this year was golf’s European Solheim Cup team.

Europe won the trophy for the first time on American soil in Colorado in August with an amazing 18 points to 10 win.

Star of the show was England's 17 year-old Charley Hull, who, on the final day, beat American favourite Paula Creamer in the singles 5&4.

This was just one highlight among many in a sensational victory that sent shockwaves throughout US women's golf.

It was another fantastic year for women's track cycling.

It would take too long to list all their achievements but the highlight was undoubtedly the team pursuit's gold at the Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester in November.

Laura Trott, Dani King, Joanna Rowsell and Elinor Barker broke their own world record not once, but twice during the course of the event to claim gold, beating Canada in the final in a display of such dominance that they almost overtook their opponents on the final lap.

Check out some of their other triumphs here.

It was a mixed year for GB women's athletics as Jess Ennis-Hill continued to be sidelined through injury, but Christine Ohuruogu came back spectacularly to win 400m gold at the World Championships in Moscow in August.

Other notable performances came from Tiffany Porter in the 100m hurdles and the 4x400m team who took bronze in their respective events.

Wales's Non Stanford began 2013 as under -23 World Triathlon Champion. She ended the year as Senior World Triathlon Champion.

In doing so she became only the second woman to achieve this feat.

Stanford was in third place going into the Grand Final in Hyde Park in September. But she came back to claim the title, even overcoming a 15-second time penalty for not placing her wetsuit in the designated box.

The tennis year was even more mixed for British women.

Laura Robson had a fantastic Wimbledon, reaching the last 16, but then a combination of poor form and injury saw her ranking slip from a career high of 27th down to 46th in the world.

Heather Watson had a dismal year, her glandular fever knocked both her physical health and her confidence, as she won just 11 singles matches in 30 tournaments.

Former British number one, Elena Baltacha, also decided to call it a day and retired at the age of 30.

I realise I have only scratched the surface of British women's sporting achievement this year, and I apologise to anyone I have missed!  Please feel free to add your favourite sporting moment in a comment!

There's a lot to look forward to in 2014.

England’s women’s cricket team take on the Aussies for the Ashes again, this time in Australia in January and February.

The winter Olympics takes place in Sochi in February – watch out for the British curlers!

There's the World Indoor Athletics Championships in March and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July and August.

The Women's World Cup in hockey takes place in June and the Women's Rugby World Cup in August.

There's also the usual sporting fare such as the Six Nations, WSL, FA Cup, cricket domestic and international…I could go on.

If you're not into anything in particular at the moment, pick something, try something. There's never been a better time to either get out there and watch the action in the flesh or, glory be, follow it on television or radio!

Lose the lads’ mags: a review

Posted: 20 Dec 2013 01:09 AM PST

object, lose the lads' mags, stop objectifying womenStill here, still fighting the objectification of women.

Lose the Lads' Mags is a campaign calling on high-street shops to stop selling sexist, pornographic lads' mags like Nuts and Zoo.

Why?

Because lads' mags are harmful.

Magazines like Nuts and Zoo portray women as dehumanised sex objects. By selling them in everyday spaces, shops like Tesco normalise the idea that it's acceptable to treat women this way.

Yet extensive evidence shows that portraying women as sex objects fuels sexist behaviours and attitudes that underpin violence against women.

Because selling lads' mags can break the law.

Eighteen top lawyers have signed an open letter to retailers stating that exposing staff and customers to the front covers of lads' mags can constitute sexual harassment and sex discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

Because lads' mags breach the supermarkets' own 'no porn' policies. Supermarkets like Tesco have official policies stating they do not stock so-called 'adult' or pornographic magazines because they are 'family-friendly' retailers.

Yet legal advice provided to this campaign confirms that lads' mags such as Nuts and Zoo contain pornography.

Lads' mags are pornographic magazines that portray women as dehumanised sex objects for the purpose of sexually gratifying men. The front covers of lads' mags feature sexually objectifying images of women. The best selling lads' mags in the UK include Zoo, Nuts and FHM.

The problem with lads' mags is that they – including their front cover images – portray women as dehumanised sex objects.

And there is evidence they cause harm.

There is extensive evidence to show that portraying women as sex objects fuels sexist attitudes and behaviours.

Sexual objectification also creates a conducive context for violence against women.

The American Psychological Association (APA) reports that viewing media which portrays women as sex objects leads people to become significantly more accepting of gender stereotyping, sexual harassment, interpersonal violence, and rape myths.

The APA also revealed that men are more likely to treat women as sex objects and their behaviour towards women is more sexualised after exposure to sexualised media.

The UK government commissioned the Sexualisation of Young People Review which found: "lads' mags promote an idea of male sexuality as based on power and aggression, depicting women as sex objects and including articles that feature strategies for manipulating women.

"The evidence gathered in the review suggests a clear link between consumption of sexualised images, a tendency to view women as objects and the acceptance of aggressive attitudes and behaviour as the norm."

The Sexualisation of Young People Review also found: "Exposure to the sexualised female ideal is linked with lower self-esteem, negative moods and depression in young women and girls."

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has repeatedly identified the links between the portrayal of women as sexual objects with attitudes that underpin violence and discrimination against women and girls.

And at this year's United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, member states agreed: "to develop and strengthen self-regulatory mechanisms [of the media] to promote balanced and non-stereotypical portrayals of women with a view to eliminating discrimination against and the exploitation of women and girls and refraining from presenting them as inferior beings and exploiting them as sexual objects and commodities and instead present women and girls as creative human beings, key actors and contributors to and beneficiaries of the process of development."

We are targeting the shops and not the publishers because it is the responsibility of shops to ensure that staff and customers are not subject to a sexist, hostile and degrading environment.

There is no law to say that Tesco or WH Smith have to sell Nuts and Zoo. It is entirely their choice.

We are not calling for these publications to be banned. We are calling on shops to fulfil their ethical and legal obligations by not exposing staff and customers to them.

This campaign isn't arguing that lads' mags are the only publications sending out damaging messages about women's role in society.

Many groups and individuals have criticised the harmful effect that some women's magazines have on women's body image and self esteem.

However, lads’ mags are a distinct group of publications that have a very specific consequence.

By portraying women as sexual objects for their mainly male readership, they fuel attitudes that underpin violence against women.

That is why the UK's leading anti-violence organisations – including Women's Aid and the End Violence Against Women coalition – support the Lose the Lads' Mags campaign.

Lose the Lads' Mags is coordinated by UK Feminista and Object. It is supported by trade unions, anti-violence organisations, equality groups, lawyers and shareholders and women’s rights groups and blogs.

Help us. Sign the petition.