28 July 2005

Men valued more highly in the caring professions

Researchers have found that men who pursue careers in the caring professions (nursing, teaching and other so-called ‘women’s jobs’) get more respect than women in the same professions. A study recently published by Brunel University, reported in The Guardian, found… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 28 July 2005

26 July 2005

Man to chair women's studies department

Is it appropriate for a man to chair an women’s studies department? The University of Washingston thinks so, because they’ve just appointed David G Allen to exactly that role. As Inside Higher Ed reports, the move has received a mixed… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 26 July 2005

23 July 2005

Dove "Real Women" ads hit U.S.

The Dove “Campaign for Real Beauty” adverts, which have been over here since April 2004 and again more recently have started to incite debate in the U.S. Msmusings has a good summary of the reaction. When the ads were first… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 23 July 2005

21 July 2005

Iraqi women's rights under threat

Iraqi women could see their rights stripped away from them by their newly democratically elected government, Ms reports. Plans to revise the Iraqi constitution would see the stipulation that women hold 25% of seats in the national assembly scrapped, and… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 21 July 2005

'Industrial revolution' of marriage all for the best

So-called “family values” have come to be the byword of social conservatives concerned with pulling back free-ranging social change and returning us to a time when women were women and men were men. And they were married to each other…. Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 21 July 2005

20 July 2005

'Wife fattening farm' force feeds Mauritanian girls

Although in the West we are used to one standard of beauty - thin, mostly white - this has not yet spread world-wide. However, as this BBC reports reveals, that does not mean the rest of the world is any… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 20 July 2005

Bush announces Supreme Court nomination \x96 and why you should care

George Bush has announced that John Roberts is his nomination for Supreme Court Justice, to replace Sandra Day O\x92Connor, who recently announced her retirement. There has been huge concern among feminists over this nomination (we’ve written about it here and… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 20 July 2005

19 July 2005

It's not feminism

Confusing article in the Guardian today entitled “Women getting rich faster than men”. It claims that “women are becoming increasingly more wealthy than men” and “it is estimated that by 2025, women will own 60% of the nation’s personal wealth”…. Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 19 July 2005

Islamic feminists key to anti-terrorism

Further to Louise’s post below about the London bombings, on Friday last week Johann Hari took an interesting perspective on this in The Independent, in a comment piece called “The best way to undermine the jihadists is to trigger a… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 19 July 2005

Spectre of Renewed Racism?

They are concerned about women bearing the brunt of a backlash in which Muslims are all branded as potential terrorists thus making Muslim women vulnerable to both branding “as part of extremist groups; at the same time, they will remain the target of fundamentalist forces within their own communities”. Read more...

Posted by Louise Livesey at 19 July 2005 | Comments (0)

13 July 2005

US women skip treatment because of cost

In the US, 27 per cent of women say they are have skipped doctors visits or delayed treatment, because they are afraid they cannot afford to pay, AJC reports (found via Lilith news round up). Women are also failing to… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 13 July 2005

Careers advice failing Welsh girls

Girls in Wales are loosing out on better-paid careers, because schools are channelling them into jobs traditionally dominated by women, the Equal Opportunities Commission said today. A BBC report today reveals that Wales is worse than the rest of the… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 13 July 2005

12 July 2005

Woman to command first shuttle launch since Columbia

The first space shuttle to launch since the Columbia exploded in February 2003 will be commanded by a woman, Women’s E-News reports. Eileen Collins already has a number of firsts under her belt - she was NASA’s first female pilot… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 12 July 2005

Late abortion survey

Most women who have abortions between 19 and 24 weeks into pregnancy do so because they only realise they are pregnant late on, Marie Stropes International reveals today. In a survey of more than 100 women who had undergone terminations… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 12 July 2005

11 July 2005

Woman refused contraception

F Word reader Helen has alerted us to a shocking news item from early July. The BBC reports that in February, a Cardiff couple whose contraception failed went to buy emergency contraception from their local Asda store. The on-duty pharmacist… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 11 July 2005

Cambridge Shorts

Are you in Cambridge this weekend? If so, you may want to check out Birds Eye View’s series of shorts being screened on Saturday as part of the Cambridge Film Festival. More info here, but highlights include a samurai short… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 11 July 2005

10 July 2005

Historical buzz

Did you know that the small electric motor was invented to power a vibrator? Or that it was the fifth electrical appliance to be sold for use in the home - after the sewing machine but before the electric iron?… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 10 July 2005

Emergency contraception use remains steady

Surprise surprise - making the morning after pill available over the counter in chemists has not resulted in a surge in unsafe sex, the BBC reports. Researchers from Imperial College London surveyed women aged 16 to 49, both before and… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 10 July 2005

5 July 2005

Women Have a Lower Pain Threshold Than Men

BBC News report on clinical testing which has shown women to have a lower pain threshold than men \x96 which leaves me wondering: \x93So What?\x94 Physical differences between males and females are really only interesting in terms of the ways… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 5 July 2005

4 July 2005

US emergency update

Ms Magazine have come up with a list of five rights Americans could be set to lose, if Bush elects a hard line right winger to the supreme court. We all knew about abortion, but did you know that gender… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 4 July 2005

2 July 2005

US women face "state of emergency"

Women’s rights are facing a “state of emergency” in the US, NOW president Kim Gandy said yesterday. She was referring to the retirement of supreme court justice Sandra Day O’Conner - the first woman ever to serve on the supreme… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 2 July 2005

1 July 2005

Look, I\x92m sorry, but I feel *compelled* to talk about Big Brother

Another week, another eviction. Maxwell and Saskia are up, and you just know that Saskia\x92s going to be for the chop. But why is it that when a woman comes up against a man in a Friday night vote, she\x92s… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 1 July 2005

Are there any female superheros? Yes!

As Batman Begins hits the screens, Tanya Gold (writing for the Guardian), asks where are all the femal superheros?. On the big screen, she’s right - they’re few and far between, and unconsciounably drippy. But that doesn’t mean they don’t… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 1 July 2005