Women's Views on News

Ellie Watmuff WVoN co-editor One of India’s most outspoken cabinet members, Jairam Ramesh, the Minister for Rural Development, caused controversy on Friday by declaring that women in the country are increasingly demanding mobile phones, but “not demanding toilets”. His sensationalist comments formed part of a speech about sanitation, which he delivered in New Delhi at [...]

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Ellie Watmuff WVoN co-editor Parts of the South African city of Johannesburg came to a standstill on Friday over a mass debate on miniskirts. The Women’s League arm of the governing African National Congress (ANCWL) led a march against gender-based violence to the High Court, in protest at the treatment of two women who were [...]

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Ilona Lo Iacono WVoN co-editor  For the people of Vietnam, January 23 marked the beginning of the Year of the Golden Dragon (Nham Thin). This year is thought to be the most auspicious of the 60-year zodiac cycle for the birth of a child, especially if the child is a boy. Many couples will resort [...]

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Alison Clarke WVoN co-editor  February 26 is the start of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Organised and run by non-profit NEDA (the National Eating Disorders Association), this year’s theme – “Everybody knows somebody” – reflects a growing awareness of eating disorders. Lynn Grefe, president and CEO said: ”This week is so important to spreading awareness and understanding the seriousness [...]

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Shanna McGoldrick WVoN co-editor  According to recently released NHS data, 13.4% of mothers in England were smokers at the time of giving birth in the final quarter of 2011/12. Although an improvement on the 2010/11 figure of 13.5%, the results show that there is still a long way to go if the Tobacco Control Plan, [...]

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Auveen Woods WVoN co-editor Legislation to provide for limited access to abortion in Ireland is to be introduced to the Irish parliament for debate this week. The legislation would make abortion legal only in cases were there is a proven “real and substantial risk to the life” of the pregnant woman. Abortion is completely illegal [...]

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Hannah Boast WVoN co-editor The Oklahoma senate in the United States has passed a personhood bill that would define human life as beginning from the moment of conception. Effectively this would ban abortion. The bill was passed in the state senate with a margin of 34-8, showing the support for pro-life politics among Oklahoma’s majority [...]

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Lucy Moore, a 20 year-old criminal justice student has won an Ann Summers competition to find the ‘sexiest face in the UK’. The competition was publicised on national TV as part of a rebranding exercise with the help of ITV’s ‘The Only Way is Essex’ Lucy is a size 16, the average size of UK [...]

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Heather Green Freelance writer*  The Internet and celebrity news programmes have been buzzing about model Ioana Spangenberg, who claims to have a naturally occurring 20-inch waist. You heard that right. Without the aid of corsets, extreme dieting, or surgery, this Romanian-born model claims to have a waist that’s not much bigger than a compact disc. [...]

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Meg Kissack WVoN co-editor  Most of us are aware that childhood obesity is at an all-time high, and eating disorders disproportionately affect women more than men. Many organisations are doing great work in promoting healthy lifestyles, and are giving out good advice, but of all things to put on an advert, I don’t think it [...]

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