28 February 2006

Abortion Stories

A chance to help influence the abortion debate for the better, from Abortion Rights: “Marie Claire magazine is running a big feature on women\x92s experience of abortion and need women to contribute. The story is a re-run of a feature… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 28 February 2006

Libyan rape victims imprisoned and brainwashed

Rape victims in Libya are being confined in jail-like conditions and subjected to brainwashing attempts, according to Human Rights Watch. These so-called “social rehabilitation” centres sound horrific in their own right, but more worrying is the fact that instead of… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 28 February 2006

26 February 2006

Pay gap report calls for action

Government should take urgent action to close the gender pay gap, a report published tomorrow will say. The Sunday papers are already mulling over advanced copies of the Women and Work Commission’s report. From the Independent: Tomorrow a report of… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 26 February 2006

24 February 2006

Europe reports 15% gender pay gap

European women earn an average of 15% less than men, although we are now winning more jobs EUobserver reports. “More than four in ten employed women work in public administration, education, health and social activities, compared to less than two… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 24 February 2006

Torygraph moralises on pregancy

Oh, middle England, when is the right time to get pregnant? Certainly not too late, when you’ve obviously and callously delayed going forth to multiply in order to do something selfish like have a career. But it’s not too early… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 24 February 2006

Another step towards abortion ban for US

South Dakota’s state senate has passed a bill banning abortion in all cases, except where the mother will die unless the procedure takes place. There is no exception for cases of rape, incest or where carrying the pregnancy to term… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 24 February 2006

23 February 2006

A quarter of a million feminist bloggers! (and the new carnival is up)

There are a quarter of a million feminist bloggers on the internet. Or so says the person who set up the Carnival of Feminists (which we have been honoured to be included on more than once, including this month). Over… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 23 February 2006

22 February 2006

US edges closer to abotion ban

The US Supreme Court is set to rule on whether a ban on partial-birth abortion in South Dakota is unconstitutional or not. As the New York Times reports, pro-lifers say the ban would only affect terminations very late in pregnancy,… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 22 February 2006

21 February 2006

Sexual Apartheid in Saudi Arabia

Are women in Saudi Arabia slowly edging out of “sexual apartheid”, the Guardian asks today in a fascinating feature. A male reporter, Brian Whitaker, reports on the women who are entering the workforce. And apartheid really is the word: women… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 21 February 2006

19 February 2006

Women Warned: Procreate!

Nary a month goes by without a new study berating or warning or generally telling off women for not having enough babies. First we had fertility tests so working women could tell how many years we have left to get… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 19 February 2006

When Women Pursue Justice

London is one of the world’s most vibrant cultural hubs. But for all its theatres, art galleries, concert halls, gig venues, underground cultural centres and other forms of artistic life, there is one area in which it is desperately impoverished…. Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 19 February 2006

18 February 2006

Film fans pay attention

It’s nearly time to celebrate International Women’s Day once again, and as usual the Bird’s Eye Film Festivalare marking the occasion by showcasing films directed by talented women. THE FILMS: FOURTEEN dir. Nicole Barnette (USA), 7min, 2005 UK Premiere fresh… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 18 February 2006

"Feminism's unfinished revolution"

“How is resurrecting every stereotype of female sexuality that feminism endeavoured to banish good for women? Why is labouring to look like Paris Hilton empowering? And how is imitating a stripper or a porn star - a woman whose job… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 18 February 2006

17 February 2006

Cameron takes paternity leave despite voting against it

Ah, the hypocrisy. David Cameron, the Tory party’s still new-ish leader, is taking his full two weeks in paternity leave after the birth of his third child. Which would be great, if he hadn’t voted against the entitlement to do… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 17 February 2006

12 February 2006

Angry Wimmin

Turn on your TVs this Wednesday, because BBC4 is screening a documentary on the women’s movement in London in the 1970s. Angry Wimmin is part of a series called Lefties, on left-wing radicals of all stripes. The show on the… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 12 February 2006

11 February 2006

Prison pageant wows Bogota

Beauty pageants have been a feminist bete noir for so long now, I was literally amazed that anyone could call one “liberating”. But this is no ordinary pageant: it takes place inside a Colombian jail and the contestents are “contract… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 11 February 2006

9 February 2006

A gel to stop HIV infection, but does it come at too costly a price?

A gel which could protect women against HIV is in the advanced stages of human trials. That’s the good news. But a drug company is using thousands of poor African women to test it, and questions are being asked about… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 9 February 2006

Capitalwoman 2006

Ken Livingstone is holding his third annual conference for women on Saturday 4th March. Capitalwoman is a forum for discussing the issues that matter to, and affect, women in London. It enables women to question the Mayor and other policymakers,… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 9 February 2006

7 February 2006

Betty Friedan 1921-2006

Betty Friedan, credited with kick-starting second wave feminism, died last weekend on her 85th birthday. She was best know for her 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, which challenged the ‘Stepford Wives’ mentality of the American middle classes and said that… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 7 February 2006

6 February 2006

Pink: The new Sheila Jeffreys?

Pink’s new song, “Stupid Girls”, takes on the celebrity, porn-influenced current culture of pop and some of the women who perpetuate it, branding them “stupid” and encouraging girls to aspire to more. “What happened to the dreams of a girl… Read more...

Posted by Catherine Redfern at 6 February 2006

UK defies US over abortion funding

Britain is to step in and replace funding for abortion services and family planning services withdrawn by the the United States, the Guardian reports today. The Bush administration instituted the “global gag rule” in 2001, meaning that no aid organisation… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 6 February 2006

5 February 2006

How a cup of Femenino improves the lot of poor Peruvian women

A women’s co-operative in rural Peru is using a new coffee brand to improve the lot of female coffee workers - a sort of “Fairtrade plus gender”. With so much bad news lately, Women’s eNews has chosen the perfect time… Read more...

Posted by Jess McCabe at 5 February 2006

3 February 2006

The Personal is Still Political

The BBC is carrying a report of a rape trial taking place in Scotland in which a drunk man attempted to rape and threatened to kill a woman on her way home. He has pleaded guilty to attempted rape (saying,… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 3 February 2006

1 February 2006

Alito confirmed to US Senate

The conservative judge Samuel Alito was confirmed by the US Congress yesterday to the Supreme Court - which seems to have been somewhat lost in the UK coverage of Bush’s State of the Nation speech. The Supreme Court is responsible… Read more...

Posted by Lynne Miles at 1 February 2006