Women's activist groups in Kenya have slapped their partners with a week-long sex ban in protest over the infighting plaguing the national unity government.Click through for the whole thing.
The Women's Development Organisation coalition said they would also pay prostitutes to join their strike.
The campaigners are asking the wives of the Kenyan president and the prime minister to join in the embargo.
They say they want to avoid a repeat of the violence which convulsed the country after the late-2007 elections.
...Patricia Nyaundi, executive director of the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida), one of the organisations in the campaign, said they hoped the seven-day sex ban would force the squabbling rivals to make up.
...But the BBC's Anne Waithera in Nairobi says the campaign is likely to meet stiff [boom boom - J] resistance from some men.
Our correspondent says some would argue that Kenyan men cannot even abstain for two days.
There may be an event of interest to you occuring on
Make a short film for YouTube about relationship violence against women and be in to win $2000 for first prize, $1000 for the runner up. Help prevent violence against women! Go to behindthescenes.co.nz for more information.
Domestic violence is a serious and lethal social problem in New Zealand. One in three New Zealand women experience physical and or sexual abuse from a current or former partner in their lifetime (Fanslow, 2005). To encourage young adults to engage with issues relating to domestic violence, we are running a YouTube competition in 2009, open to young men and women aged 17-24 inclusive (not just film and media students). The task is to make a short video clip that explores male relationship violence against young women.
Although this project is about boyfriend violence towards girlfriends, many men have respectful and loving relationships.
Women have come a long way but some men still use violence towards women in relationships. Domestic violence has been dragged out of the closet. This is an opportunity to drag boyfriend violence out in the open! We want all young people to have a go at challenging this culture by promoting respectful relationships.
You could have a go at busting some myths.
Some myths that need busting:
(Here is) Where I Come From: (Here is) What I am Getting AtFloral swimming cap gratefully tipped to Feministing's Fun with Feminist Flickr
When I was a student at Texas State I wrote a paper on the subject of feminism in contemporary art for Pat Taylor. I chose the subject and there were an abundance of resources with queries about the place of feminism within the practices of such artists as Cecily Jones and Sara Lucas, so on and so on. I spent many hours trying to find a young, successful female artist working today that would answer even the simple question, "do you consider yourself a feminist?" in the affirmative. That particular resource was never found. It exists. Somewhere. It has got to.
Feminists raised me. Some of these women would never identify themselves as such. My grandmother for instance, but luckily there were others, my aunt Noemí López, my principal Mary Ashley, my mentor Sue Robertson who all identified themselves as feminists. My aunt Noemí has been or still holds office or sits on the board of The Texas Women's Political Caucus and Planned Parenthood. She took me to every feminist rally, conference, meeting, debate, fundraiser that she was attending to fulfill her responsibilities as my God Mother. She also took me to mass on Sunday.
On April 25, 2004 hundreds of thousands (some reports say over a million) people participated in the March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC. It was the largest protest in our nation's history, though many do not know it happened. One of the participants was Ashley Judd. She wore a T-shirt that read, "This is what a feminist looks like." This glam gal movie star is not what the public identifies as a feminist. She is beautiful, wears sexy gowns on the red carpet with non-sensible shoes. There are a lot of girls that want to be just like her. Another day I saw a guy exiting the grocery store with his cart with the same shirt on (I mean, it said the same thing. I don't think it was the same shirt). He was attractive, well groomed, wore a wedding ring and wasn't driving a hybrid. I didn't see his wife around. Maybe she was at home or maybe she was at work, working at an equitable job, or maybe she is deployed to Iraq, or possibly drafting legislation, or is a Union Pipe Fitter for a local in Chicago, or maybe she is meeting with her editor or she is finishing the work for her exhibition that opens in Berlin next month.
This work that I have produced is meant to instigate an everyday agency. Personal agency begins with identity. My part in an everyday revolution toward change begins with how I see myself.
One step in becoming an artist is calling your self one.
Jen López
Chicago, IL
February 2007
It won't surprise anyone to hear that my periodic grizzling about the ghastly voices of female broadcasters has had zero effect. If anything, things have got worse.But wait, there's more!
On my local radio station I hear a young woman announcer who sounds as if she has just inhaled helium. Even Radio New Zealand, the last citadel of correct pronunciation, has fallen to the Barbarians. There are female reporters on the state-owned radio network who would make Lyn of Tawa sound like the Queen.
I recently heard a female RNZ journalist report that a district howth board had wowcomed a crackdown on teenage drinkers. And did you know the Labour Party is led by someone named Full Goff?Really? What about male broadcasters?
Female broadcasters were once regarded as exemplars of proper speech, but in a bizarre upending of the norm, they now talk in a wince-inducing kay-way accent far worse than anything heard on the streets.
It's almost a relief to report that the phenomenon is not unique to New Zealand. Australian political journalist Kerry-Anne Walsh, who does a weekly report from Canberra on Radio New Zealand's Morning Report, has a voice that would make a flock of galahs sound melodious.Can't say I'd noticed. i love listening to Kerry-Anne Walsh as I find what she has to say interesting, and often communicated in a witty and intelligent manner. Silly me!
I have heard it argued that none of this matters as long as we can understand what people are saying,Finally some sense!
to which my response is twofold. First, it's physically painful to listen to some of these awful voices torturing the language; and second, it's getting to the point where we can't understand them.Oh dear, I typed too soon. I wonder what type of torture reading a Karl du Fresne column constitutes?
It's only a matter of time before we'll need subtitles on the TV news bulletins to explain what some female journalists and newsreaders are saying.But not the men. Maybe we should just replace the ladies with fellas and solve the problem?
Wine and Cheese Tasting Launch Party(The details have changed a little from last time I posted about this, please note this is the correct stuff).
Thursday, April 30th
5pm-7pm
Executive Chambers (will be signposted from Munchie Mart)
Women's writing is not determined by biology, anatomy, or psychology. It comes from women's relation to the literary marketplace, from pressures to live public and private lives, from literary influence.
What is women's literature and is there a place for a women's literary history? The academic Elaine Showalter talks about her new book A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers From Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx (Knopf), and discusses some of these issues. Showalter argues that even today, after all these freaking years, women's writing remains largely unknown and that this is to do with the fact that women's writing hasn't been pulled together into a defined literary tradition.
The good news can be found in the progress that Showalter describes.
And the end of the story? In an earlier work, I talked about the phases of British women's literature: "feminine" (bowing to male expectations), "feminist" (rebelling), and "female" (articulating women's experience). By the 1980s and 90s, I think, we'd entered a new stage: "free." Women had joined the juries, as publishers, critics, reviewers, authors. No longer restricted to certain subjects, they could, for example, write about violence and boxing, as Joyce Carol Oates does. They could, like Raymond Carver, be minimalists (look at the understated style of Amy Hempel or Ann Beattie). They could write from any perspective, even a male one. They were multiculturalists.
More here.That doesn't mean that their work has become fully integrated into our literary culture: That's why I wrote the book.
A pregnant Wellington woman had her baby wrongly aborted because an ultrasound was misread by a radiologist in Australia.Click through for the rest of the article. WARNING: May be hard reading for those who have miscarried or had ectopic pregnancies.
A follow-up ultrasound at Hutt Hospital nine days later showed the baby was simply in an unusual position and was still alive.
But by then the woman had been given medication to terminate the pregnancy and the baby later died.
An external report into the case also criticised the woman's independent obstetrician for terminating the pregnancy after just one ultrasound, when the scans are known to be inaccurate in such cases.
The report, issued to The Dominion Post under the Official Information Act, found the mother, who had difficulties conceiving and had already had two miscarriages, desperately wanted the baby and should have been told the diagnosis might be wrong and given more time to decide.
At the time of the incident, Hutt Hospital had a "low number" of radiologists and was forced to send urgent after-hours scans to specialists in Australia.
Applicants must be women aged 27 years or over, who have not obtained a qualification of NZQA Level 4 (or the equivalent), and who are studying in NZ for an NZQA-approved qualification.If this sounds like you then check out their website for more information.
From here originally.Sebastian Vettel and the Red Bull car he calls 'Kate's Dirty Sister' have given Formula One championship leader Jenson Button plenty to think about ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.Click through for the rest, which is actually about motor racing.
The eye-catching moniker came to light after Vettel powered through rain, spray and treacherous standing water to hand his team a breakthrough first victory at the Shanghai circuit last weekend.
"Like a ship, a car should be named after a girl as it's sexy," the 21-year-old German explained to reporters when asked about the name stuck on the dashboard of his car.
"My original car was called Kate. But then it got smashed at the opening race in Australia. So we called this one Kate's Dirty Sister because it is more aggressive and faster."
The way hotels are trying to reach out to female business travellers is an interesting study in gender stereotypes. Hotels, apparently, have finally answered the age-old question of what women want. Their answer, according to the Dispatch story, is evening wine hour, in-room spa services, curling irons, "fashion tape", aromatherapy, and, of course, yoga.However, the writer goes on to argue that all business travellers have the same basic needs:
There's an element of silliness to this story. Women have been travelling for business for years, and both sexes need the basic things a hotel provides. Everyone wants a safe, comfortable place to sleep, wash up, and maybe get some work done.As someone who travels a bit for work, this story got me thinking about whether I would choose to stay in a hotel that specially catered for women, or had a women-only floor. I think I tend to agree that if a hotel could get the basics right (clean, reliable internet connection, a good shower), I can forgo the aromatherapy. However, are there useful services that hotels could offer women?
Unicef is running a campaign highlighting the issue of HIV pass-on during pregnancy, labour or delivery, due to the lack of diagnosis and treatment for many pregnant women around the world. Around 1,400 children under 15 are newly infected with HIV every day, mostly due to mother-to-child transmission, which is actually very easily prevented. It's an issue about adequate healthcare and access to medication for women; there's a drug that halves the risk of a baby getting HIV for its mother and it costs as little as $1.70, yet many cannot get it.Mother’s Day (10th May) celebrates the strength and trials of motherhood. For millions of women in the developing world the risk of HIV and AIDS is a reality, and pregnancy poses new concerns. Far too few pregnant women are tested for the virus and far too few are treated. With no diagnosis, and no treatment, the mother’s baby is at risk of contracting the disease too. Testing the mother and getting treatment to both mother and child is essential for their survival.Action options include:
This Mother’s Day, we want you to join UNICEF in reminding New Zealanders and our Government that every mother who is tested and treated for HIV and AIDS may one day see her child grow up healthy. The best gift a mother could have.
You can find out more about preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission here[PDF] and there's a radio interview about the campaign here [at 2:48 on the counter].
- Signing the Unite for Mothers petition asking our Government to respond to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the Pacific region
- Knitting or crochetting a square to contribute to their baby blankets
- Helping to purchase HIV test kits for mothers to be
- Participate in or support the rally at Parliament on Sunday 10th May
Sounds awesome and I understand there may also be a zine circulating on campus to mark Womensfest too?Launch of group!Many years ago I was involved with the Raving Feminist Witches, which later became Feminist Action. I still have very fond memories of the stuff we did and the positive experience of pursuing women's issues together sowed the seeds for this blog. It's fantastic to see a feminist collective starting up again at the University of Auckland.
Wine and Cheese Tasting Launch Party
Thursday, April 30th
6pm
Womenspace (for now, but will change if men cannot enter)
All welcome regardless of gender identity!
Topics:
- Why is feminism important?
- How you can get involved on campus!
- Includes a speaker from the Women's Centre on feminism in Auckland and why it is important
There has also been reaction from the government due to Kusanagi's role as official promoter of Japan's move to digital TV broadcasting, as a result of which households will need to invest in new tellys."As an adult, my actions were embarrassing. I deeply regret what I did," 34-year-old Kusanagi, a member of popular male pop group SMAP, told a packed press meeting in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Friday night. Kusanagi, who was arrested on suspicion of public indecency after being found drunk and naked in a park in the ward in the predawn hours of Thursday, was released on Friday afternoon. He will be forced to cancel his entertainment activities for the time being.
"I caused a lot of concern and trouble to my fans, concerned parties, and my fellow members of SMAP. I'm really sorry," the somber Kusanagi said as he bowed before the 300-strong media corps gathered at a major recording company's conference room shortly after 9 p.m. "I drank too much, to the extent that I was out of control. I regret my actions very much," said Kusanagi, clad in a blackish suit and tie. "I deeply apologize."
"I had never become naked in public before. I once stripped myself down to my underwear while drinking at home," Kusanagi continued. "I sometimes drink to the extent I lose myself." He even revealed that his fellow SMAP members once warned him over his drinking habit: "Maybe they were worried about me going like this today. I wasn't conscious enough of my actions."
When asked why he drank to the point of becoming unconscious, Kusanagi said, "Although I'm aware that I have the support of many people, it was my weakness that I drank (too much)." Kusanagi, however, flatly denied that he was suffering from any stress or pressure. "I want to return to SMAP as soon as possible. But I need to reflect on my actions. It's something that cannot be decided by my feelings alone," he said. At the end of the 30-minute-long press conference, Kusanagi bowed again and said, "I'm terribly sorry."
Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama vented anger when asked to comment. ''The act is shameful for a person who is asking the public to shoulder a financial burden'' of buying new televisions to prepare for the shift. The minister said he plans to remove all the posters promoting digital broadcasting that feature Kusanagi, while the singer's arrest immediately triggered the cancellation of commercials featuring him airing in Japan, including one by Toyota Motor Corp.
After hearing these things, I replied to the lady [Reason] who spoke infallibly: "My lady, truly has God revealed great wonders in the strength of these women whom you describe. But please enlighten me again, whether it has ever pleased this God, who has bestowed so many favors on women, to honor the feminine sex with the privilege of thevirtue of high understanding and great learning, and whether women ever have a clever enough mind for this. I wish very much to know this because men maintain that the mind of women can learn only a little." She answered, "My daughter, since I told you before, you know quite well that the opposite of their opinion is true, and to show you this even more clearly, I will give you proof through examples. I tell you again-and don't fear a contradiction-if it were customary to send daughters to school like sons, and if they were then taught the natural sciences, they would learn as thoroughly and understand the subtleties of all the arts and sciences as well as sons. And by chance there happen to be such women, for, as I touched on before, just as women have more delicate bodies than men, weaker and less able to perform many tasks, so do they have minds that are freer and sharper whenever they apply themselves."
"My lady, what are you saying? With all due respect, could you dwell longer on this point, please. Certainly men would never admit this answer is true, unless it is explained more plainly, for they believe that one normally sees that men know more than women do."
She answered, "Do you know why women know less?"
"Not unless you tell me, my lady."
"Without the slightest doubt, it is because they are not involved in many different things, but stay at home, where it is enough for them to run the household, and there is nothing which so instructs a reasonable creature as the exercise and experience of many different things."
"My lady, since they have minds skilled in conceptualizing and learning, just like men, why don't women learn more?"
She replied, "Because, my daughter, the public does not require them to get involved in the affairs which men are commissioned to execute, just as I told you before. It is enough for women to perform the usual duties to which they are ordained. As for judging from experience, since one sees that women usually know less than men, that therefore their capacity for understanding is less, look at men who farm the flatlands or who live in the mountains. You will find that in many countries they seem completely savage because they are so simple-minded. All the same, there is no doubt that Nature provided them with the qualities of body and mind found in the wisest and most learned men. All of this stems from a failure to learn, though, just as I told you, among men and women, some possess better minds than others. Let me tell you about women who have possessed great learning and profound understanding and treat the question of the similarity of women's minds to men's."
... As Jacob Zuma, the man preordained to be the country's next President, voted in his rural Zulu homeland yesterday, one of his two current wives stood to the side watching patiently as he was mobbed by cheering crowds and reporters.Click through for the whole article.
But Nompumelelo Ntuli, 34, Zuma's newest and youngest wife, was soon attracting her own crowd of admirers.
...
Zuma, 67, a Zulu traditionalist and polygamist, has married at least four women over the years. Only two are still with him: Sizakele Khumalo, whom he married in 1973, and Ntuli, whom he wed last year.
The prosecutor was also criticised for "personalising" the issues and repeatedly using the victim's first name instead of calling her "the complainant".
The search is on for the 2009 Fieldays Rural Bachelor of the year. Entries are now open to single men from all over the countryside. Eligible bachelors who think they’ve got what it takes, should be aged over 18, work in the rural sector and exude understated kiwi charm.Click through for the rest.
Entries close 18 May, 2009. Following preliminary judging, just eight finalists will go on to compete for a incredible suite of prizes valued at over $15,000, the coveted Golden Gumboot trophy, and the title of Fieldays Rural Bachelor of the Year.
Fieldays Rural Bachelor of the Year takes place at NZ National Agricultural Fieldays, held 10-13 June 2009, at Mystery Creek. During the events four days; eight bachelor finalists will test both their rurally derived skills and country charisma in a number of competitive heats.
This year’s heats mark the exciting introduction of female bachelor challengers. For the first time ever, eight single women from the rural sector will be invited to challenge the blokes; in a duel of gender wit and farming skill during the Friday bachelor heats on 12 June. Following Friday’s battle of the sexes, all 16 contestants will be treated to dinner at Ohaupo’s Windy Ridge Café and Bar.
[my emphasis]
A single candle given to her each Christmas is one of the ways Michelle Bratty knows that the work she does is helping.Click through for the rest.
The North Shore mother of two has been the first point of call for many victims of family violence for 10 years.
She has dealt with numerous cases, from women abused by their partners to whole families wanting a new start.
Having seen a few "rough" cases, she says she is constantly reminded of the good that comes from her efforts.
"I've got one particular family who give me a candle every Christmas. She was a girl who was only 18 years old.
"When I went to see her, she had her arms folded - bruises up and down them from her boyfriend. She didn't want to talk to me," Ms Bratty said.
"It took a while but she came through and now she's applying for the police."
Ms Bratty works as the family violence assistant with the Orewa police.
The "three-strikes" policy is likely to increase the level of unreported family violence, a survey of ex-offenders and their families has found.Click through for the rest.
Government officials have also warned "life sentence without parole" could push criminals to kill police and victims to avoid arrest.
The Act Party's three-strikes policy has been introduced as part of the Government's support agreement although Justice Minister Simon Power has conceded it may not make it into law.
An informal survey by lobby group Rethinking Crime and Punishment showed the proposal was likely to increase the level of unreported family violence.
"Rethinking has discussed the three-strikes bill with a group of offenders, ex-offenders and their families and whanau," director Kim Workman said.
"One response, consistent with the three-strikes experience in the USA, is that offenders facing a second or third strike offence, would have little qualms about committing further violent acts to escape apprehension or conviction."
Sue has been an activist on social justice, peace and womens’ issues from 1967 until the present day. She was Vice-president of the New Labour Party in 1989-90 until joining the Green Party in 1990; Stood for the Green Party in the 1998 Auckland City mayoralty elections; was the Green candidate for Rodney in 1999 & 2002, and for Northland in 2005. First elected to Parliament in 1999, now 3rd term MP and 3rd on the 2008 Green Party List. Sue is the Green Party’s candidate for East Coast Bays for the 2008 Election.Sounds awesome, wish I could be there!
Sue represents the Green Party in Parliament to help bring about genuine, positive solutions to the unemployment, poverty and environmental problems which plague so many people and their communities in Aotearoa today.
We'll start at 5:30pm, Thursday April 23th, and Sue will speak from 6pm - stick around afterwards for a drink and a chat.
Labour list MP Phil Twyford has ruled himself out as a candidate in Mt Albert.The move effectively closes the door on a return by former Auckland Central MP Judith Tizard.
Ms Tizard is the next on Labour's list and would have come back to Parliament if Mr Twyford had stood and won the seat vacated by former prime minister Helen Clark.
Mr Twyford said he believed the by-election was an ideal opportunity to bring more fresh talent to Parliament.
National will choose between current List MP Melissa Lee, who entered Parliament last year, and Ravi Musuku, who has been the local candidate for at least the last two elections iirc.
Candidates who might seek the Labour nomination, particularly given Twyford is not, could be:
I'm sure there are others I've left off that others might wish to mention in comments. And the Greens have made it clear they are going to run a candidate; given the forthcoming leadership contest between Turei and Bradford perhaps this selection may become more important for their internal party politics than it might have otherwise. Mt Albert is one of the Greens' best seats for party votes, but whether they can convert that into a good running in the by-election will depend on who the person is. One of the major local issues (the Waterview Tunnel) is very much in their territory.
It's a sign of hope to me, as a feminist, that in the first by-election of this new Government, after a decade of female prime ministers, that there are so many women in the mix for this race. If it ends up being Hamish versus Ravi it'll feel kind of odd!
* Apologies to Meg, I got her job description a bit wrong, but I've fixed it now. You can find out more about Meg here, thanks to her for emailing :-)
Overweight people eat more than thin people and are more likely to travel by car, making excess body weight doubly bad for the environment, according to a study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.There are many many reasons why some people eat more than others. And our measures of what constitutes "overweight" are not always very robust. I wish this article was a bit longer and had a bit more analysis about what the problem is and some possible solutions.
"When it comes to food consumption, moving about in a heavy body is like driving around in a gas guzzler," and food production is a major source of greenhouse gases, researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote in their study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
"We need to be doing a lot more to reverse the global trend toward fatness, and recognize it as a key factor in the battle to reduce (carbon) emissions and slow climate change," the British scientists said.
They estimated that each fat person is responsible for about one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions a year more on average than each thin person, adding up to an extra one billion tonnes of CO2 a year in a population of one billion overweight people.
The European Union estimates each EU citizen accounts for 11 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year.
From the Herald yesterday:
The number of elective caesareans in New Zealand has risen from 7 per cent of total births a decade ago to more than 10 per cent in 2006, the latest Ministry of Health figures reveal.
Of the 14,362 caesareans performed that year, 60 per cent were urgent procedures, where the decision to operate was made during labour. The rest were elective, where the mother made the decision during pregnancy.
But that choice was still likely to be based on clinical reasons, said AUT University's head of midwifery Jackie Gunn. She said medical advances meant more women with conditions that carried a greater risk of complications were able to give birth.
And a policy shift which followed research showing caesareans were safer for breech babies - those born feet or buttocks first - also accounts for some of the increase.
Click through for the whole article, which includes brief interviews with two women, one who gave birth vaginally and the other by caesarean.
I was just relieved to see an article that for once didn't assume elective caesareans were too posh to pushers. Although I'm a little confused that they talk about the record number of C-sections without putting it in the context of a record number of births in general...
Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?If this is voted down then I expect to see future referenda questions along the following lines in due course:
The question being asked is really stupid; if it were rephrased as "Should it be illegal for a manager, as part of good management practice, to hit an employee" we wouldn't be here arguing about it.Two suggestions from Paul:
"Should it be illegal for an interrogator, as part of good interrogation practice, to hit an interrogatee?"Here's one from Brian Edwards:
[and]
"Should it be illegal for a child, as part of growing up, to hit a parent?"
This is the equivalent of asking: ‘Should doctors recommend an exclusive diet of McDonalds and KFC as part of a healthy weight loss programme?’ McDonalds and KFC cannot be part of a healthy weight loss programme. And it is open to serious doubt whether smacking can be part of ‘good parental correction’.Feel free to add yours in comments, or blog about them yourself.
