The United Nations (UN) established the day in 2007 to recognize “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”

Rural women often are the primary providers of food and sustenance for their families, often working in situations of poverty and adapting to their environments with new agricultural techniques.

World Vision cites numerous examples of women starting up new agricultural practices and implementing new methods of production in order to sustain their families and communities.

For example, Northern Bangladeshi women have joined together to weave and sell saris, sarongs, bedsheets and towels using a new time-saving machine.

Women in western Afghanistan are beekeeping and producing the region’s first honey. Yadha is one such woman. With the 12 pounds a kilo she earns, she can send her children to school.

To mark the achievements of rural women, nations around the world organized festivals, workshops and other events around the theme “the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication.”

In Islamabad, Pakistan, Lok Virsa, the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, collaborated with the Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy (PODA) to arrange a 2-day workshop featuring female artisans at work, a seminar on women’s issues, audio/visual displays and a folk music performance.

The Minister for Women’s Development, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Begum Zakia Shahnawaz, advisor to the Punjab’s chief minister, were among those attending.

Lok Virsa’s executive director, Khalid Javaid, said: “We were the first cultural organisation in Pakistan that stood behind PODA and supported them in organising a number of cultural and promotional activities to mark the International Rural Women’s Day.”

“This joint strategy has resulted in highlighting achievements of rural women in the development of the country not only at national, but at international level, too.”

In Rwanda, the vice-president of the National Women’s Council, Marie Rose Ndejeje, challenged women to work towards improving their social status and avoid dependency on male family members for survival.

She said the country needed strong women who can contribute actively to the development of their families and the country.

ActionAid Rwanda donated six Friesian cows and 14 pigs to local families as a way to boost rural women’s social conditions and economic security.

Josephine Uwamariya, ActionAid Rwanda representative, said: “We hope that these animals will help change the lives of the beneficiaries for the better.”

Ms Uwamariya added that poverty eradication is important for strengthening families and improving the position of women in society.

Women in the Philippines had three major activities scheduled: a forum on the land rights of marginalized women, a national search for outstanding rural women, and a women’s market.

Fiji marked the day with a workshop for women market sellers, the aim of of which was to help them improve sales and marketing of their produce. About 300 women took part.

Ba Town Council Administrator Arun Kumar said the UNWomen-organized workshop “educates these market vendors on the importance of their crops — how they can improve their produce, how they can market it, and how they can manage it.”

“Essentially, they are being trained to become better at what they do. They are being taught basically how to maximise their resources as well as increase their awareness of agriculture and the role women play,” he explained.

Tevola Lewatabe, the president of Ba Women’s Rural Association, said that women played a major role in local agriculture.

“Reducing gender inequality and recognising the contribution women make to agriculture is critical to achieving global food security,” she added.

In London, the National Alliance of Women’s Organizations (NAWO) in conjunction with Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) held a summit at the House of Lords entitled “What universal rights do rural women share?”

Chaired by Baroness Verma, the event included speakers from the two hosting organizations and a representative from UNWomen.

The aim was to address the human rights of all rural women, consensus build without ignoring the different challenges rural women face, and the look at the feasibility of producing a draft charter of rural women’s rights.

While these events addressed the specific situations of the rural women in each of the countries, they all acknowledged the value of rural women to economic and food security and the need to maximize their empowerment.

Sarah Graham
WVoN co-editor

An Indian High Court judge has been heavily criticised after telling a woman she should “adjust” to the domestic violence committed by her husband, rather than divorce him.

Justice K Bhakthavatsala, a judge at the Karnataka High Court in Bangalore, suggested that the abuse was justified by the husband’s ability to take care of his wife financially.

Addressing her in court, Justice Bhakthavatsala said, “Women suffer in all marriages. You are married with two children, and know what it means to suffer as a woman…Your husband is doing good business, he will take care of you. Why are you still talking about his beatings?”

The 28-year-old woman, who was no longer living with her husband, was seeking a divorce on the grounds that he subjected her to cruelty and abuse.

Both parties were asked to be present in court on 31 August after her 37-year-old husband complained that she had left him and taken their sons.

During the case the woman’s lawyer showed photographs of the injuries inflicted by her husband, to which Justice Bhakthavatsala responded, “You have to adjust.”

He later added, “Ask your father if he has never beaten your mother” and suggested that she was to blame for “bringing [the beatings] out in the open.”

Described as “radically pro-family”, Justice Bhaktavatsala is known for his efforts to reconcile warring couples.

He is believed to have made other sexist remarks, including reports that he recently told an unmarried female lawyer her single status made her unqualified to argue in divorce cases.

The shocking comments have sparked outcry amongst women’s groups and activists in India, where violence against women is widespread.

An online petition demanding the removal of Bhakthavatsala from his position as Justice has already been signed by more than 700 people.

The petition states, “The comments made by Justice Bhaktavatsala in various domestic violence and divorce court proceedings recently are perpetuating the myth of patriarchy and his opinions going beyond the legal scope.”

“The judges are supposed to protect and enforce human rights of the citizens, but here we have a judge who is against women’s rights and even encouraging them to continue to stay in a violent relationship.”

You can sign the petition for Justice Bhaktavatsala’s removal here.

A new report has raised concerns about strip searches in a British women’s prison, with some inmates having their clothes cut off while being forcibly searched.

Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick found that there had been a “small number of supposedly spontaneous incidents” at HMP New Hall in Wakefield, where inappropriate force had been used and “too many” women had had their clothing cut off.

Hardwick highlighted how one woman, who was held down forcibly while the clothes she was wearing were cut from her, was not offered another way to resolve the issue.

He described the practices at the prison, which also holds Young Offenders and Juveniles, as unnecessary and unacceptable.

A prison service spokesperson said that cutting off clothes was sometimes necessary “using officially approved control and restrain techniques.”

The searches in question took place in the prison’s special cell in the segregation unit, where some of the “most damaged women” were placed for “good order and discipline”.

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) commented that strip searches were rare and only carried out to find dangerous items such as weapons.

“If women resist violently during the search then clothing has to be removed by force. At times the only practical and safe way of doing this is to cut the clothing with special safety scissors.

“As far as possible, the decency of the individual is upheld throughout.”

More than a fifth of the women in the prison had worked in the sex trade in the past, 38%  had experienced sexual abuse or rape and 46% had suffered from physical abuse at some point in their lifetime. Despite this, the report found that the prison had “adequate” resources to meet issues arising from past abuse.

However, there was room for improvement in arranging visits and family contact as women often had to undergo the “unnecessary humiliation” of wearing a reflective sash when visited by their children.

In addition, separation visits, where women had their last chance to say goodbye to children who were being adopted, sometimes “unacceptably” took place in the public hall during main visiting periods.

The report’s overall conclusion was that there had been “considerable improvement” since the last inspection in 2008 and that, for the majority of women, the prison provided a safe environment and “good or reasonably good outcomes” for its inmates.

Ed Knight
WVoN co-editor

In a Democrat move to strengthen their claim to being the party supportive of women’s rights in the US, Sandra Fluke was asked to speak at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Wednesday.

In January of this year, the Obama administration instigated a rule demanding that all employers, including powerful US religious organisations, must include contraception as part of their health insurance schemes.

Fluke, then in her third year of law school, spoke before a February congressional committee in favour of this rule. She then gained notoriety in the US when conservative polemicist Rush Limbaugh labelled her a ‘slut’ during a verbal tirade against her on his radio show.

Limbaugh – one of the highest-earning syndicated radio hosts in America - claimed Fluke said ‘she must be paid to have sex. What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.’

He went on to offer an ultimatum: ‘So, Miss Fluke and the rest of you feminazis, here’s the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it, and I’ll tell you what it is. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.’

Republican nominee Mitt Romney, also commented on Limbaugh’s remarks, ‘I’ll just say this, it’s not language I would have used’. This response is common to some in the Republican party, who, though quick to criticise Limbaugh’s language, were rare in criticising his sentiment.

Fluke’s subsequent public support for Obama’s re-election campaign raised her profile and notoriety further, and her speech at the DNC bolstered the Democrat’s strength in women’s votes.

Referencing the “slut controversy”, Fluke, now a 31-year-old Law graduate, called for ‘An America in which our president, when he hears a young woman has been verbally attacked, thinks of his daughters, not his delegates or donors, and stands with all women’.

Conservative commentator Sarah Elizabeth Cupp tweeted of Fluke’s speech, ‘Feminism weeps as Fluke and the other DNC women get on their metaphorical knees to beg for government to take care of them’.

With this comment as with others, the use of sexualised imagery is rarely far from the point being made: ‘Bill Clinton just impregnated Sandra Fluke backstage…’ reads a tweet from Ann Coulter, another conservative commentator.

Limbaugh’s original abuse was called an act of “slut-shaming” by the Washington Post’s Jamilla Bey. ‘Any woman who dares admit that she is anything other than a virginal “Madonna” is rebuked and intimidated into silence and shame. And this tactic is profoundly dangerous in this context of helping to ensure women’s health.’

It appears that slut-shaming, both when literally using the word “slut” or using subtler terms, is arguably alive and well.

As to whether movements such as SlutWalk have the power to reclaim such words and recast the sexualities inferred, and whether such reclamations are even a fruitful way of proceeding, remains to be seen.

Emma Davis
WVoN co-editor

Companies in Europe could face fines or sanctions if their boards are dominated by men, according to draft proposals by the European Commission.

The introduction of a new quota, which says that no more than 60 per cent of a company’s non-executive director board can be made up of the same gender, is expected to be formally proposed next month by Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship.

Publically listed companies with more than 250 employees or revenues of at least €50m would have to meet the quota before 2020 and state owned organisations would have until 2018, if the legislation is voted in.

According to The Financial Times and The New York Times, who have both reportedly seen the draft directive, the proposals highlighted the limited progress that had been made in the representation of women within top management.

It stated: “Progress in the share of women on company boards is very slow, with an average annual increase of just 0.6 percentage points over the past years The rate of improvement in individual member states has been unequal and has generated highly divergent results.”

The EU Observer reported that earlier this year Ms Reding had said she was not a fan of quotas, but believed they may be necessary to help address the severe gender imbalances within the EU.

She expressed her disappointment that voluntary action schemes had only limited success after an EU commissioned report using data from January this year showed that women represented 13.7 per cent of board positions in large companies; an increase of just 1.9 percentage points since 2010.

Ms Reding said: “I regret to see that despite our calls, self-regulation so far has not brought about satisfactory results.” Later on, she added: “The economic case for getting more women into the workforce and more women into top jobs in the EU is overwhelming.”

Some the 27 EU member countries have already adopted their own quotas, with France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands all at different stages in implementing minimum thresholds. Other countries, such as the UK and Sweden, have been against quotas in the past.

Statistics from France back Ms Reding’s claim that countries that have quotas “bring the results”. The number of women on boards increased by 10 percentage points to 22 per cent following the year after it introduced quotas in January 2011, the Financial Times reports.

However, an official in the UK’s business department said: ““Our position will still stand – we are opposed to legislation for quotas.”

Other business organisations expressed their concerns with the proposals, including Pedro Oliveira, legal adviser at Business Europe, the EU’s largest employers group, who told the Financial Times: “One-size-fits-all quotas interfere disproportionately with the freedom of companies and shareholders to organise their own affairs.

“They disregard the highly diverse conditions in different sectors/companies and do not take into account the way corporate boards function and are renewed.”

Kimberley Lansford, a senior policy adviser at the European Round Table of Industrialists, a forum for the chairmen and chief executives of major multinational companies, echoed these sentiments when they told the New York Times: “Big divergences among sectors and national traditions mean any measures must remain voluntary.”

An EU official who spoke anonymously to The New York Times said that companies would still have the freedom to chose among the best qualified executive directors to help run the business.

Sarah McAlpine

UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, reshuffled his cabinet yesterday in a series of moves widely considered have the hand of George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, at its heart.

The shuffle saw Jeremy Hunt promoted from Secretary of State for Culture, to that of Health. His successor is Maria Miller, who not only takes on the position of Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Sport and Media, but also Minister for Women and Equalities.

What we at Women’s Views on News are not quite sure about, is what precisely qualifies Hunt for Health or Miller for Equalities.

Hunt, most recently remembered for his embarrassment in front of the Leveson Inquiry, which led to calls for his resignation, has come under fire for his record on voting to reduce access to abortion, his support of homeopathic medicine and his calls for the National Health Service to be dismantled.

Hunt has voted in favour of several unsuccessful bills regarding abortion including one that would have the legal limit halved from 24 to 12 weeks despite the 24 week limit being widely supported by scientific evidence and the medical community.

Diane Abbott, shadow health minister, has said that Hunt’s, “record on women’s right to choose is really concerning.” She believes that a key test of Hunt’s appointment will be if he moves to drop current plans that would, “allow anti-choice organisations to give counselling to women.”

Maria Miller’s promotion to her post has also been under scrutiny. As well as voting for a reduction to a 20 week limit for abortion, the MP for Basingstoke has voted in favour of denying counselling to women with unwanted pregnancies. Miller has also voted against gay marriage and gay adoption rights.

Despite David Cameron’s pre-election pledge to appoint a third of top jobs to women, the number of women in his cabinet has slipped from 5 to 4 in a total of 31 positions available. So far, David Cameron has secured the UK’s poor ranking of 57th in the world when it comes to women’s representation in government.

The reshuffle was neatly summed up by Labour MP Pat Glass, who tweeted: “Cameron’s new cabinet – 85% men, 100% white, 70% Oxbridge, 100% wealthy. #wereallinthistogether.”

On the back of this, UK Feminista have announced that they are building for a feminist lobby of parliament on 24th October 2012. See you there.

Natalie Calkin

Forbes recently published its annual list of the world’s most powerful women.

The list is dominated by women holding positions in politics, the media, business and technology and ranks women by factors including dollars, media presence and impact.

Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, tops the list for the second year running. Merkel has been widely credited with presiding over Germany’s thriving economy, despite other countries being in the midst of recession.

The top three spots on the list in fact all remain unchanged from last year. Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, comes in at number two and Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil, at number three.

Forbes said that it is no surprise that women in political roles feature so prominantly on the list because their influence, already strong, is growing year on year.

Women in the technology sector also fared well, contributing over 15 percent of the spots overall and a quarter of the top 20 positions.

Notable women in technology included Melinda Gates (four), Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg (ten), with Yahoo’s new leader, Marissa Meyer, just missing the top 20.

Commentators have described some of the choices as “a tad odd” wondering why Lady Gaga has been placed at number 14, ahead, even, of the Queen.

The Guardian feels the list is “all about the money…the ability to earn it, control it, manipulate it, and influence how others spend it”.

This raises important issues about power and what kind of power women should aspire to. Has the time come to define women’s influence by other criteria? For example, the ability to affect change and to “stand up to dissenters and deliver viewpoints with clarity, bravery and authority”.

Aung San Suu Kyi at spot number 19 seems to be one woman who has achieved both – earning political power as well as being an inspirational, positive influence for often lesser-hailed values such as democracy, human rights and dignity.

Achievements of the women on the Forbes list should not be undermined. However, as long as power structures remain rooted in patriarchal values, certain lists, such as this, seem to serve to preserve the status quo rather than reflect the range of power and influence that women can demonstrate in all walks of life.

Rachel Meehan
WVoN co-editor

Haifaa Al Mansour, Saudi Arabia’s first female director, has broken boundaries with her full length feature debut at the Venice Film Festival this week.

Not only is it the first movie filmed entirely within the Kingdom, it is an authorised production in a country where cinema is banned.

“Wadjda” confronts the taboos of conservative Saudi society with the story of a rebellious young girl’s quest to own a bicycle to beat a neighbourhood boy in a race.

However, Wadjda’s mother refuses to buy her a bicycle, as society considers them to be dangerous to girls’ virtue. Undeterred, Wadjda decides to raise the money herself by entering a Koran recitation competition at her school to win the money.

The film was shot in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, with the permission of the authorities as well as support from within the Saudi royal family. Saudi entertainment company Rotana Group, whose studios co-produced “Wadjda,” is owned by the Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.

Al Mansour encountered local hostility while filming. She said she was sometimes forced to direct via walkie talkie from a van in some of the more conservative neighbourhoods, where people would have disapproved of her mixing professionally with the men on set.

Despite this, Al Mansour has said that women’s rights in the Kingdom are slowly improving and having a Saudi prince on board showed support from the officialdom.

“[Saudi Arabia]’s opening up, there is a huge opportunity for women now,” she said. “It is not like before, although I can’t say it’s like heaven. Society won’t just accept it, people will put pressure on women to stay home, but we have to fight.”

In Saudi, women have a lower legal status then men and require a male guardian’s permission to work, travel or open a bank account. Saudi law also forbids women driving.

A number of reforms under current monarch King Abdullah have somewhat improved women’s rights. He announced in 2011 that women will be allowed to stand and vote in the 2015 elections. Also, this Olympic games saw Saudi Arabia sending its first female representatives (see WVoN story).

Al Mansour cited the fact that the authorities allowed her to film in Riyadh as evidence that cultural attitudes are changing. It suggests Saudi Arabia, “is embracing art” and Al Mansour thinks the authorities “really want to see more films”.

Catherine Scott
WVoN co-editor

In what has been described as a ‘rare victory’ by Amnesty International, a Colombian army officer has been convicted of the rape and murder of a 14 year-old girl during Colombia’s ongoing decades-old civil war.

On Monday 27th August, sub-Lieutenant Raúl Muñoz Linares was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Jenni Torres, as well as the murder of her brothers aged nine and six and the rape of another girl in October 2010.

The case was prompted when the tortured bodies of the children were discovered close to an army base in Tame, in the north-east of Colombia. This resulted in a high-profile investigation into 60 members of the Colombian army.

The 45-year conflict in Colombia has seen rape increasingly used a tool of war by both paramilitary and guerilla forces. In 2008, Colombia’s Constitutional Court described sexual violence committed in the conflict as “habitual, extensive, systematic and invisible”. Few perpetrators ever face justice.

Marcelo Pollack, Colombia researcher for Amnesty International, said: “Although the government and the prosecuting authorities have implemented measures to combat impunity in such cases, these have been ineffectual. More must be done to ensure that the right of survivors to truth, justice and reparation is fully respected.”

Campaigners for justice hope the conviction of Munoz will set a precedent for further arrests and convictions in the numerous cases of sexual violence committed by the armed forces. The case has been marred by attempts to intimidate the Torres family, who received so many death threats they were forced to move.

Sexual violence is a serious problem in Colombia, as Women’s Views On News has previously reported, with 51,000 women being attacked in 2011 alone.

Natalie Calkin
WVoN co-editor

Natalie Bennett has been elected the new leader of the Green Party in England and Wales.

In a vote of more than 3,000 party members this week, Bennett, whose first politics is feminism, beat three other candidates, Peter Cranie, Romayne Phoenix and Pippa Bartolotti.

The new leader takes over from Caroline Lucas, who was elected the Green Party’s first MP in 2010.

Bennett was born in Australia and has been living in the UK for the last 13 years. She is a former journalist for The Independent, The Times, Bangkok Post and former editor of Guardian Weekly.

Bennett is the Chairwoman and founder of Green Party Women, a Trustee of the equality campaign group the Fawcett Society and has also acted as an advisor to the United Nations.

In her acceptance speech, she said she is “deeply honoured” to be elected as leader and stood because she believes in the party’s “radical vision”  for Britain’s future.

She outlined her plans as leader and vowed to fight the coalition government’s “economically illiterate” cuts.

“We need investment in homes, investment in jobs, investment in energy conservation, renewable energy and public transport.

“We are the only party that plans to invest in the future rather than cut. We will cut, but we will only cut Trident and end the UK’s costly military involvement in Afghanistan.”

It is also her goal to see a Green Party MP elected for every region and has set a target of acquiring ten seats in Westminster for the party.

Her first challenge will be to oppose the government’s proposals to build on the Green Belt and construct the controversial third runway at Heathrow.

Bennett feels that the Green Belt acts as a vital part of Britain’s landscape and that investment in rail infrastructure in the UK is a better alternative to increased numbers of flights.

The Green Party has elections every two years for the leader and deputy leader roles. The new Deputy Leader who, under party rules, must be a different gender to the leader, is Will Duncan.

UN women executive director, Michelle Bachelet, issued a press statement at the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Leaders’ meeting last week in support of Australia’s efforts to promote gender equality in the Pacific region.

Bachelet thanked the Australian government for its political and financial support of UN Women in the Pacific region and worldwide.

“From training the military and police to protect women’s rights, to providing skills to women entrepreneurs, to providing services to survivors of sexual violence, Australia is supporting women’s empowerment and equality on the ground,” Bachelet said.

In the week prior to the PIF, Bachelet visited Canberra where she commended Australia for its support of female leaders, saying: ”Seeing women in powerful positions, it opens the sky for young girls who thought they could never become a powerful person in the future.

”[Australia] is living a very special situation. You have the first Prime Minister that is a woman, but also you have the Governor-General, the Attorney-General, you have a lot of important authorities that are women.”

At the PIF Leaders’ meeting Bachelet highlighted the particular problems women in the Pacific face, from the lack of agency in Pacific governments, to limited economic opportunities and high incidents of gender-based violence.

The plans UN Women have for promoting gender equality in the Pacific include positioning women in climate change discussions to ensure that they become part of the policy-making process.

Pacific leaders at this year’s forum endorsed a Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration which commits Pacific governments to promote national policies that will improve the status of women in their nations, including implementing temporary special measures to facilitate women’s participation in government and politics, senior management in private business.

Pacific leaders have also agreed to reform legislation to include equal employment opportunities and equal pay as well as providing financial support and training for female business-owners.

Suzannah von Strandmann
WVoN co-editor

The centrality of women at this year’s Republican National Convention will not have escaped the attention of even the most inattentive of onlookers.

From the delicate sensibilities of Ann Romney’s appeal to the “silent majority” of  mothers, wives, grandmothers and daughters, to the capable edicts of the former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, women were important. Why so?

This manoeuvre, carefully orchestrated by the Romney-Ryan campaign, was intended to tackle a serious image problem that exists between female voters and their prospects’ high hopes for office.

In May, Mitt trailed Barack by 20 points with female voters – a situation undoubtedly compounded by Todd Akin’s infamous “legitimate rape” comments.

Though the Romney campaign would have us believe that Akin is an extreme right outlier, he and Romney’s new running mate have stood toe to toe on several issues that show sympathy for his opinions, including a bill that would have narrowed the definition of rape to mean ‘forcible rape’.

In the recent past, however, the Republican party did not have the same patriarchal tendencies that it appears to have now. The Grand Old Party was the first to mandate that women be equally represented in its national and executive committees – a move not followed by the Democrats until three decades later.

In like manner, Prescott Bush, progenitor of the illustrious Bush dynasty, was treasurer for the first national Planned Parenthood fundraiser. Ironic, then, that the Romney-Ryan campaign plans to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood’s birth control programmes – a vital healthcare service for millions of women across the US.

Limiting the definition of rape and restricting access to contraceptive programmes – is it any wonder that they need the pragmatism of Condi Rice or the bathos of Ann Romney to provide a crutch to the campaign?

This, however, is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The Democratic National Committee chair, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, has rued the consequences of the Romney-Ryan campaign’s intention to repeal Obama’s Affordable Care Act: “When breast cancer survivors like me have to choose between radiation or chemotherapy because they can’t afford deductibles and co-pays, that’s a thing of the past under Obama.”

The ideology of the Republican Party relies heavily on the ideal of individual actualisation of the American Dream – free from State intervention.

Unsurprisingly then, it is those most vulnerable sectors of society that are hardest hit by the Romney-Ryan intention to slash Medicare, Medicaid, Pell Grants and other programmes that women disproportionately rely on for retirement security and healthcare.

It is this disproportionately negative effect on those that are most vulnerable in society, that led to numerous protests outside the convention centre.

The social justice movement Code Pink: Women for Peace were in force for the duration of the conference. Twice their activists interrupted the opening night pageantry with the protestations: ”You only talk about business. You only talk about corporations, not people. We need to support people over profits.”

It was not, however, supporting people that was at the forefront of Paul Ryan’s mind when he voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act earlier this year.

Although Mitt Romney has remained suspiciously silent on the issue, it was the Republicans that defeated the 2007 version of the bill. “Romney and the New Hampshire Republican Party should also consider this isn’t just about women. It’s all about families and their economic security,” said Ledbetter, the inspiration for the equal pay act.

Republican reticence towards State intervention in social matters does not extend, however, to women’s corporeality. “Get Your Mitts Out of My Pants” read one placard outside the convention centre, no doubt reacting to a Republican back proposed personhood amendment which would criminalise abortion nationwide.

This would offer no exceptions for incest, rape – “legitimate” or otherwise – or to protect a mother’s own life in those pregnancies where she was in danger.

Although Romney has flip-flopped on the issue of abortion, Ryan, once again, made his position clear by voting to support a ban on federal funding to any clinic that performs abortions and denying payment for abortions via federal insurance vouchers or Medicaid.

A recent poll showed that only 38% of women wouldn’t vote for a candidate who differed from them on abortion rights – maybe it’s the equal pay, or the reduction in healthcare services, or restricting access to contraceptives that’s the problem for the Romney-Ryan campaign?

State intervention may not be high on the political agenda for Republicans, but policing women, both their welfare and their bodies, seems to be.

No matter how coyly Ann Romney reaches out and reassures that her husband will bear the needs of women and families in mind, the eradication of female personal autonomy under a Republican government is being made abundantly clear to voters.

When taking the formal lid off their formal political language,  it is deeply disconcerting to see what lies in the Republican mind beneath.

One highly concerning example is that of the actions of two attendees at this years’ conference who sparked outrage by throwing nuts at a black female camera woman, jeering: “This is how we feed animals!”

The convention swiftly ejected them and publicly denounced the behaviour as ‘deplorable’, but it is important to see that the actions were not necessarily isolated from the arena in which they occurred. To borrow Jezebel’s take on it:

“(N)ow’s the time to take a shower and sober up because this is the sort of bullshit, however isolated this incident may be, that makes everyone realize that inflammatory GOP rhetoric is doing its part to herd voters away from the 21st century we’re all clearly now inhabiting.”

Mitt’s team may have realised that the female vote is central to their success, but control over the female body is the tip of the iceberg to that which is central in their ideas.

Female leaders in the Melanesian nation of Vanuatu are encouraging voters to boycott male candidates in the general elections set for the end of October.

Their move is to protest the lack of women in the Vanuatu parliament.

Eleven women boycotted MP Ralph Regenvanu earlier in August when he was due to present at a workshop entitled: “Women in Shared Decision Making Candidacy Training.”

 They argue that Regenvanu promised to advocate for female candidates in political elections but did not follow through with his support.

Candidates Wendy Himford and Jenny Ligo pointed out that Regenvanu would face competition as they are standing for the same Port Vila constituency in the election and his lack of good faith was “a slap in the face.”

Ligo told Radio Australia:

“We think that is a good strategy, that on the voting days women should only vote for women.

“We think that is good and we make an appeal to other community leaders and even individuals to see the need for supporting women, not only in Port Vila but throughout the country.”

Himford and Ligo will be joined by sixteen more female candidates in the general election on October 30.

Nuclear fallout survivor and activist Lijon Eknilang, died in a Marshall Islands hospital at the age of 66 last week, following a brief illness.

Eknilang was eight years old in 1954, when the US tested the Bravo hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

The bomb spread radioactive ash to Rongelap Island where Eknilang lived, as well as islands within a 100-mile radius of Bikini Atoll.

The islanders immediately sustained radiation burns on their bodies and lost hair, but later in life suffered from more health problems including thyroid tumours, cancers, miscarriages and birth deformities in their offspring.

Eknilang was one of the catalysts for the islanders evacuating Rongelap in 1985 on the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, because of the contamination.

Bunny Mcdiarmid of Greenpeace says:

“Lijon looked forward to a day when she could return to her home island but that return remains elusive and controversial as only 1 of the 60 islands has been ‘cleaned up’ by US funds and many Rongelapese continue to believe it will never be possible to ‘clean’ their islands.”

Eknilang was a staunch advocate for the nuclear test survivors, speaking all over the world about their health problems.

Bill Graham, advocate for a Nuclear Claims Tribunal in Majuro, Marshall Islands, said of Eknilang:

“She was a powerful spokesperson for the Rongelap people and her courage in being willing to share personal health issues helped other women to come out publicly as well.”

Laura Bridgestock

There are signs of progress towards gender equality in recently announced reforms to divorce laws in Palestine, which have until now been representative of an extremely repressive and unjust patriarchal framework.

Reforms to the country’s legislation, based on Islamic law, mean that women no longer have to prove ill treatment in a court in order to divorce their husband.

The reforms also ban men from demanding ‘unreasonable’ sums of money in divorce settlements, and state that divorces must be completed within three months.

While Palestinian men have always been able to end a marriage, women have not had this freedom.

Instead, they must either ask their husband to end the marriage (which he can refuse) or prove ill treatment in court, which is often a lengthy, traumatic – and often unsuccessful – process.

Many husbands who do grant divorces do so only on condition of receiving large sums of money and, in some cases, custody of the children.

New legislation, which should be effective from September, will mean Islamic judges will be able to grant divorces simply based on the woman’s own belief that the marriage is harmful to her.

If fully implemented, this could help many Palestinian women avoid stories such as that of 31-year-old Nisreen.

Having experienced severe physical and psychological abuse at the hands of her husband, Nisreen had to fight for three years before finally being granted a divorce – landing her family with a bill equivalent to the amount the average Palestinian makes in five years and leaving her vulnerable to even more abuse while proceedings dragged on.

During the time her case was being considered, Nisreen says her husband smashed her nose, tore out her hair while using it to drag her across the floor and left her homeless shortly after giving birth.

While the reforms are a sign of progress, there remains much to be done and there are concerns that conservative judges will still be reluctant to grant divorces to women.

Sheik Yousef al-Dais, head of the Islamic courts in the Palestinian Authority and announcer of the reforms said: “We are walking step by step. We want to take a deep breath and see how the street will accept it.”

Tributes have been paid to Shulamith Firestone, a founder of radical feminism, after she was found dead in her Manhattan apartment last week.

Firestone wrote her polemic, The Dialectic of Sex: The case for Feminist Revolution, when she was just 25.

Using a Marxist analysis to argue that women would not gain total equality unless they were freed from the necessity of childbearing, Firestone recommended children be produced in laboratories and raised communally, breaking what she called “the tyranny of the biological family” reports CBCNews.

The book, published in 1970, led her to be regarded as one of the foremost second-wave feminists along with Germaine Greer, Betty Friedan and Kate Millett.

The New York Times notes that while some critics regarded her work as visionary, others damned it as quixotic.

Reviewing The Dialectic of Sex in The New York Times, John Leonard wrote: “A sharp and often brilliant mind is at work here.” But, he added, “Miss Firestone is preposterous in asserting that ‘men can’t love.’ ”

However, according to The Village Voice, Naomi Wolf said: “No one can understand how feminism has evolved without reading this radical, inflammatory, second-wave landmark.”

After the storm of controversy the book raised, Firestone, who was a painter by nature, retreated from public life. She suffered with mental illness and by the end of her life, at 67, had virtually cut herself off from the world.

Her only other published book came nearly 30 years later in 1998. Airless Spaces was a memoir but written as fiction.

An independent film called Shulie made by Elisabeth Subrin based on her life brought her back to some prominence in 1998 but it was attention which Firestone herself did not welcome.

Firestone was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Ottowa, Canada but grew up in Kansas City and then St Louis. She was the second of six children.

She moved to New York in the 1960s and co-founded three feminist groups New York Radical Women, the Redstockings  and New York Radical Feminists to challenge some of the mainstream women’s groups.

Her landlord Bob Perl told Associated Press that people often called at his office and offered to pay her rent for her.

“Family, friends and strangers supported her because she so moved them with her work,” he said.

Her sister Laya Firestone Seghi, who said she had died of natural causes, described her in the Huffington Post as, “a brilliant mind and a totally creative person”.

Laura Bridgestock

In the latest bizarre instance of the systematic removal of images of women from all areas of advertising in the Jerusalem area, a food company has removed a graphic logo representing a female figure from its table salt packaging.

The change to the Salit table salt packet, which was noticed by Brit Harel, is just the latest absurdity in the ongoing erasure of women from all public imagery in Jerusalem – motivated, it seems, largely by fears of vandalism from ultra-Orthodox groups.

In July, hundreds of people gathered to protest in the Israeli capital, after two actresses, Yuval Scharf and Michal Gavrielov, were erased from billboard posters advertising film The Dealers.

The film distribution company said that the business in charge of the billboards had asked for the change to be made – but the latter denied this.

While the city municipality said there were no official restrictions against images of women appearing on billboards, some companies said they believed their property may be vandalised if they allowed images of women to appear there.

This sentiment was recently repeated by the Egged bus company and Canaan Media, who announced that they would no longer feature any images of people – female or male – on buses in the Jerusalem area, due to fears of vandalism.

The announcement came at the end of a lengthy debate over whether buses would feature images proposed by the Yerushalmim movement, which aims to promote pluralism, and which had planned a campaign that would include images of women and the slogan: “Because J’lem is for us all.”

Yerushalmim said images of women had not appeared on advertising on Egged buses for at least eight years.

The transport ministry expressed support for the campaign, and Canaan Media initially agreed, but following some quibbling about the length of the sleeves of the pictured women, now says its advertising on buses in the Jerusalem area will not feature any human images at all.

In a more amateur approach to blanking out women, one orthopaedic products shop in Jerusalem was found to be covering up pictures of women featured on products such as elastic bandages, by placing stickers onto the packaging.

The owner of the shop said this had been done following requests from customers who practise the very conservative Haredi form of Judaism.

Proposals by Conservative Spanish authorities to tighten abortion laws prompted women’s groups to take to the streets of Madrid this week.

A protest rally took place in the capital’s Tirso de Molina square on Sunday, with hundreds of Spaniards, predominantly women, turning up to protest that new abortion regulations will have a serious impact on the rights of mothers.

The laws which currently govern abortion were put in place in 2010 by a previous, more liberal, government.

Spain’s 2010 Abortion Law, ‘La Ley de Plazos’ allows women to have a termination up to 14 weeks into their pregnancy.  However, they are also able to abort up to 22 weeks if there is a serious health issue for the mother or if the foetus shows a level of serious deformity.

If extreme abnormalities or malformations are discovered, then a woman may have an abortion at any time during her pregnancy, subject to an ethics committee approval.

The law’s provisions are in keeping with those in many European countries.

‘La Ley de Plazos’ was broadly welcomed in Spain as an important measure for the rights of women and mothers.

Previous abortion law had held that a woman could have a termination only in cases of rape, serious deformity or when the mother’s mental or physical health was threatened.

However, Spain’s current Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon is in favour of a return to more austere measures, and wants to ban the aborting of a foetus which has shown to have physical deformities.

‘I don’t understand why we should deprive a foetus of life by allowing abortion for the simple reason that it suffers a handicap or deformity’, he said.

He also cited the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which calls on nations to ‘adopt all necessary measures to guarantee the rights of disabled people’.

Additionally, he will ask Parliament to make parental permission mandatory where 16- and 17-year-olds want to end pregnancies.

But feminist protesters say that these changes are a ‘step back’ for women, and redolent of life in Spain under the dictatorship of General Franco.

Many of the women who turned up to voice their concern chanted ‘we give birth, we decide,’ and ‘not one step backwards’.  One woman painted her body with the slogan ‘curas y jueces fuera de mi cuerpo’ – judges and priests away from my body.

Feminist organisations are not alone in their dissent – according to left wing publication ‘El Pais’, the measures are unpopular even among conservative voters, with 81 per cent of Spanish people saying they are against banning abortion where the foetus is found to have physical deformities.

A member of the Feminist Assembly, Justa Montero, who helped organise the protest assembly, said that the measures would impact on women’s rights.

‘It seems to us a throwback to the Franco dictatorship and we are not willing to accept under any circumstances measures that will take away our rights.’

Gador Joya, spokesman for the “Right to Life” collective, said that banning terminations in cases of malformation ‘is a step forward for the protection of the right to life.’

However, head of the Spanish association of abortion clinics, Santiago Barambio, who is also one of the authors of  ‘La Ley de Plazos’, suggested that Gallardón is simply acting in accordance with ‘the extreme right and the ultra-Catholics, which are perhaps a minority but are very powerful economically.’

The Popular Party, of which Gallardón is a member, won a landslide victory in the Spanish elections in November.

Their campaign included a pledge to change abortion laws.  It seems they are now trying to make good on that pledge….. or will they listen to their women?

Monica Mbaru, a Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist, is now also a judge in the Kenyan court system.

President Mwai Kibaki and chief justice Willy Mutunga swore in Mbaru at the State House in Nairobi on July 13 as one of 12 new judges in the Industrial Court, which rules on employment cases.

Under Kenya’s new constitution, the Industrial Court is granted the same status as the High Court.

Mbaru has been a vehement advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and sex workers in Africa.

She has worked with organisations such as the Centre for Legal Empowerment (Kituo cha Sheria), the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos), the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK).

Speaking in May 2009 at the African Commission on Human Rights, Mbaru challenged all African nations to protect the human rights of all Africans, including LGBT Africans.

Citing violations of the human rights of gay Africans in countries such as Burundi, South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya, Mbaru called for an end to violence and intimidation against LGBT people, for police to take decisive action against perpetrators of rapes, violence and murders of LGBT people, and for the courts to fairly adjudicate such cases.

In March 2012, Mbaru, a regular columnist for LGBT magazine Identity Kenya, wrote in support of sex workers, arguing that: “Every person is entitled to basic human rights, and all sex workers are entitled to the same rights as anyone else.”

She continued with a rationale for decriminalising sex work by saying:

“Decriminalisation allows for access to human rights protections, the ability to achieve labour protections; it creates a more open relationship between police and sex workers, thus making it easier to expose trafficking, the involvement of children and the abuse of sex workers; and it enables delivery of public health interventions, including HIV prevention and treatment.”

The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission describe Mbaru’s appointment as “historic”.

“It is a beacon of hope for any law student and lawyer working with LGBT persons, for it informs that our highest legal office – the judiciary – respects and values diversity,” said spokesperson Eric Gitari.

“If the judiciary and the president of this country can appoint an LGBT activist as a judge, then any LGBT Kenyan who had doubt on their ability to serve their country must feel validated.

“We are on course where merit and qualifications are being used to appoint judicial officers without regard to sexual orientation, gender identity or past work in that field. It is inspiring.”

Research has begun in Africa to assess whether a new kind of vaginal ring may help protect women from the AIDS virus.

Many believe that enabling women to protect themselves from sexually-transmitted diseases when a partner refuses to wear a condom is crucial to tackling the AIDS epidemic. Figures suggest that women make up half of the 34.2 million people worldwide living with HIV – 60% of those affected in Africa are women.

Developing ‘microbodies’ has so far proved difficult. Partial protection was found when using an experimental anti-AIDS vaginal gel, but this relied on women remembering to use it every time they have sex.

The new preventative treatment being tested is a vaginal ring that only needs to be inserted once a month. It slowly releases an anti-AIDS drug called dapivirine into the surrounding tissue. Unlike some vaginal rings already available in the US, this particular ring is focused solely on HIV protection and does not contain birth control.

Dr Carl Dieffenbach of the US National Institutes of Health announced the new research last week at the International AIDS Conference, saying that it marks an attempt at “the next generation of women-focused prevention tools”.

Serra Sippel of the Centre for Health and Gender Equity said that women were often overlooked in HIV prevention efforts. “Women are the blind spot in the conversation,” she said.

Early studies suggest that the ring could work. It will now take larger studies to confirm whether it is effective enough. The goal is to see if using the ring will lower women’s risk of HIV infection by at least 60%.

Julie Tomlin
WVoN co-editor

It’s a story that has already caught the attention of the media but filmmakers working on a documentary about an all-woman team of racing drivers in Palestine need funding to complete the project.

Director Amber Fares has been working on the Speed Sisters film with Rachel Wexler and Rebecca Day from Bungalow Town Productions for the past two years, following the progress of a remarkable group of women who have formed the first all-female racing team in the Middle East.

Aged between 20 and 35, Marah Zahalka, Noor Daoud, Mona Ennab and Betty Saadeh, and their manager Maysoon Jayyousi, have been making their mark in the male-dominated streetcar-racing scene in the occupied West Bank, Palestine (see WVoN stories).

“People often have this idea of the Middle East that it’s like Saudi Arabia where women aren’t allowed to drive,” says Fares. “In Palestine, women have been very active in civil society, so it’s not so unusual  - people don’t see it as so out of the realm of possibility that they are racing.

“If we look at our own society, we look at women who take up motor sports and say ‘wow’ and in the same way, when I tell young Palestinian women about it they are really inspired and feel proud that women are racing.”

To help them to continue to follow the women as they pursue their ambitions Fares and her colleagues have launched a fundraising campaign. The cash will also help get a story of a little-seen aspect of Palestinian life onto the big screen.

“They are extremely independent, colourful, strong-willed, loving and funny as hell. Racing is really the hook to get into their lives and show a different view of the Middle East.”

The film chronicles how the women navigate the pressures of social expectations and family dynamics and also how Israel’s military occupation and politics impact their daily lives. But it’s not a film where the occupation is “the main character” insists Fares.

“This group of women are remarkable, irrespective of being in Palestine,” says Fares. “They are adrenaline junkies, they like the thrill of it, they like the freedom and being in control and that’s something Palestinians have very little of.”

On Friday, Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari announced his decision to appoint more women judges in the nation’s judiciary courts.

He made the announcement at a ceremony in Islamabad for the ‘One Million Signature Campaign‘, which pledges to educate and consequently eradicate violence against women.

Speaking in front of female parliamentarians, NGO representatives and foreign diplomats at the event, Zardari claimed the current government had done much over the last four years to promote women’s issues by passing a number of women’s rights bills.

These include the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010, the amended Criminal Law Act 2010 (amended a further two times in 2011), Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Act 2011, and the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act 2011.

He believes that the government is following the dreams of former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007.

Zardari said that Bhutto, his former wife, had long advocated the empowerment of women across Pakistan and he desired to continue her legacy.

He said that the 2011 Women in Distress and Detention Fund Act was a highly successful way of offering financial and legal resources for women in difficulty.

In addition, the 26 Shahid Benazir Bhutto Centres open across the country were an immediate relief for those women who were helpless victims of violence.

“The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), as the poverty alleviation programme, has been designed to empower women,” Zardari said. “And millions of women have been receiving assistance under this programme.”

He said that true female empowerment was only possible if women were given equal social, economic and legal opportunities as men, to prevent their exploitation.

“There is a need to bring positive change in the attitudes of men towards women,” he added.

Zardari believes exploitation and harm against women is fundamentally against basic human rights. He said his government had made this a high priority.

“The 2012 National Commission for Human Rights Act has also been enacted to monitor the overall human rights situation. However, a lot still needs to be done,” he admitted.

It is thought that by appointing more female judges in court, a fairer and more sympathetic attitude towards female victims can be maintained.

Zardari became the millionth signatory at the campaign event concreting his stance as an advocator against violence towards women.

Among the plethora of news stories generated by the Olympics this week (and wasn’t the opening ceremony fantastic? Kudos to Danny Boyle!) have been several stories about the remarks made by Mitt Romney, the US Republican presidential candidate.

Visiting the UK this week, Romney, in a massive miscalculation of his audience, commented on the G4S shortage of security staff and the possibility of an immigration and custom officials strike during the Games.

‘Romneyshambles’ as these gaffes have become known, did not go down well with the British. Prime Minister David Cameron is intending to address them with Romney later on this week, and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, addressed a crowd in Hyde Park with the comment:

“There’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we’re ready. Are we ready?”

Meanwhile, Carl Lewis, the winner of nine Olympic gold medals for the US, said “seriously, some Americans just shouldn’t leave the country”.

But what is striking for me is the subsequent coverage of the ‘Romneyshambles’ in the UK broadsheets – in particular three stories in The Guardian, The Observer and The Telegraph – none of which mentioned the current war on women that Romney and his party are waging over in the US.

For Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian, his take down of Romney is all about how he is not really a politician at all, but rather a former CEO of a private equity business: “Perhaps he is no more than an accomplished corporate leader who aspires to the biggest CEO job on the planet – and knows that to get it he has to pretend to be a politician.”

Henry Porter of The Observer writes that the former CEO appears to have traded in any sense of personality and conviction in order to turn himself into the Republican’s ideal presidential material.

Meanwhile, The Telegraph’s Chris Irvine focuses on Romney’s scramble to minimise the damage over his remarks about his wife’s Welsh ancestry and his great grandfather coming from Preston.

So, Freedland, Porter and Irvine – can I ask you why, in all three articles (which make some very good points about Romney’s unsuitability to be US president) – did you not mention EVEN ONCE the concentrated attack on women’s reproductive rights that is being carried out by the Republican party in general and Romney in particular?

There is a good overview of both the economic consequences for women and the impact on women’s reproductive rights of proposed Republican policies by Nancy Cohen in Rolling Stone Politics.

In essence, the Republicans are against the Democrat’s proposed Paycheck Fairness Act, which is intended to directly address male-female pay disparity.  And they will fight to repeal Obamacare - an Act that will provide heathcare coverage for an extra 30 million of the poorest Americans (17 million of whom are women).

Romney recently lauded a budget that would see cuts in childcare, food provision and healthcare, which would affect nearly 20 million children.

He endorsed the failed Blunt-Rubio Amendment, which would have allowed employers to morally object to providing birth control to women under their insurance coverage, telling the National Rifle Association that “As president, I will abolish [the contraception mandate]“.

Finally, he is intending to overturn Roe vs Wade – an Act that made abortion legal in the United States in 1973.  And not only this, he has also backed a bill to outlaw all abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.

The war on women that is raging over in the US is, quite frankly, scary.  The impact of a Republican president, and subsequent Republican policies on women living in the US, would be devastating.

Not only denied free contraception, but also access to free abortion, women who could not pay for either would be forced to bear children that they could not afford to raise.

Further, by keeping women constantly pregnant they would be unable to either enter or stay in the workforce due to the poor US provision of childcare – in 2011 only 5% of US children under three, and only 54% of children aged three to six were in publicly-supported childcare.

This could mean that financially-strapped women, desperate not to have yet another baby, may resort to the kind of backstreet abortions that Roe vs Wade was set up to stop.

And this brings me to the importance of the existence of Women’s Views on News. Elsewhere and every day women read news written by men and too often the news they report does not consider a woman’s point of view on current issues.  Nowhere is this more evident than in these three pieces by these three men writing in three of the UK’s most popular broadsheets.

For me and, I would argue, most women, this attack on US women’s reproductive choices is an attack on women’s independence and ability to make informed choices about their lives.  The underlying premise of this attack is that women are not capable of making their own life choices – but more than this – it signals that women are unimportant in the general scheme of things.  We should, perhaps, get back into the kitchen where we belong and let the men get on with business.

Sadly, by not including the war on women as part of their articles against Romney becoming the next US president, the three writers named above are colluding in this attitude.  Otherwise, they would have privileged the war on women as the most important aspect of Romney’s complete unsuitability as future US president. Or, if this is too much to ask, they would have AT THE VERY LEAST mentioned it.

This is why the existence of Women’s Views on News – with our our ethos of building a world where all women’s voices are heard by all - is important.

Male writers – please take note. 

Earlier this year Russian feminist punk-collective, Pussy Riot, performed a song in a Moscow cathedral in protest against president Vladimir Putin and the Church’s part in supporting his regime.

The performance, labelled a ‘pussy prayer’, led to the arrest and incarceration of three members of Pussy Riot on charges of hoolaganism. Their trial begins today.

On 21st February Maria Alekhina, Ekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, along with two other members of the band, stormed Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral and set up stage on the altar to perform ‘Holy Shit’.

The video (now available to view on YouTube) shows the women, dressed in their typical uniform of brightly coloured dresses and matching balaclavas, struggling through the performance as Cathedral security frantically attempt to stop and detain them.

The members of Pussy Riot have spoke out against Putin stating “Putin is scared of us” and is “afraid of people”.

This relatively small group has gained support from the likes of Sting and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers who have famously spoken out against the Russian authorities. Sting said:

“It’s appalling that the musicians from Pussy Riot could face prison sentences of up to seven years in jail. Dissent is a legitimate and essential right in any democracy and modern politicians must accept this fact with tolerance.

“A sense of proportion – and a sense of humour – is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness. Surely the Russian authorities will completely drop these spurious charges and allow the women, these artists, to get back to their lives and to their children.”

In the lead up to their trial the three members have been imprisoned and refused bail. Controversy and dispute now ripple across Russia and the rest of the world as the trial begins.

Amnesty International has created a website collating coverage of Pussy Riot’s plight and is asking supporters to sign a petition in request of their release.

Laura Mowat

A bill has passed in the Irish parliament declaring that unless 30% of parliamentary candidates are females, half of state funding will be withdrawn from political parties.

This stems from the country’s poor record of attracting women to put themselves forward as parliamentary candidates.  Currently, 15.1% of Irish members of parliament are women.

The quota will rise to 40% female candidates after seven years.

The Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogel, said that a financial penalty was the only way for the parties to take the issue seriously.

Deputy Nolan said: “The introduction of gender quotas for nominations will change the dynamic in the Dáil [Irish parliament]. I hope it will create a new atmosphere that will spread to other areas of society.”

Chairwoman Edel Clancy suggested the quotas be extended for local elections in 2014.

“International research continually shows that candidate gender quotas are a successful contributor to increasing women’s political representation worldwide,” she said.

However, the Women for Election group have claimed that this legislation would not be enough to fight the unbalanced ratio, and the lobby group has suggested mentoring and training to encourage women to stand to be members of parliament.

In the UK parliament, 22% of MPs are female. It is believed that childcare, cash and confidence are among the reasons that far fewer women are in governments worldwide.

Saudi Arabian women will be competing in the Olympics for the first time, but barriers to end sporting gender discrimination remain.

Sarah Attar will run the 800m race and Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani will compete in Judo.

Attar said: “I hope it can really make some big strides for women over there to get more involved in sport.”

The International Olympic Committee was considering banning Saudi Arabia from taking part if they did not allow any female competitors. The committee is allowing the two athletes to take part for equality reasons, even though neither of them qualified.

Although many see this as a milestone event for women’s rights, others fail to see the significance.

Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi researcher at Human Rights Watch said: “It is unlikely that the Saudi government or the Saudi sporting authorities of their own volition will make changes inside the country as a result of sending two women to the Olympics.”

The Saudi Arabian government only agreed to allow the females to compete if they adhered to Muslim women clothing regulations. However, the International Judo Federation have ruled that Woodjan is not allowed to wear her headscarf while competing.

The authorities have also asked the athletes not to mix with men and stay with a male guardian at all times.

The IOC have been urged to give women more freedom to do sport, such as the creation of women’s gyms.

Generally in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to practise sport and it is the only country in the world that bars women from doing sport at government schools.

This is the first Games where every country will have a female athlete to represent them, as women from Brunei and Qatar will also compete for the first time.

Penny Hopkins
WVoN Olympics editor

The 2012 Games began on Wednesday not in London, but in Cardiff, with UK women taking on New Zealand in the first of six matches on the opening day.

There had been concerns voiced about the number of tickets sold for both the women’s and men’s football, with some venues up to two-thirds empty, but a crowd of nearly 25,000 saw the home side win 1-0 with a 25-yard free kick by Stephanie Houghton.

Earlier on in the day broadcaster James Naughtie embarrassed Culture & Sport Minister, Jeremy Hunt, on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, by asking him to name Great Britain’s (GB) star player.

After a prolonged bout of evasion it became clear that he couldn’t name any at all, although he did manage to trot out a few well-worn female names, such as Rebecca Adlington, as GB medal hopefuls.

It didn’t take long for controversy to hit the Games, however, when the kick-off for the North Korea vs Colombia match was delayed by over an hour.

The North Korean team walked off the pitch after the big screens at Glasgow’s Hampden Park mistakenly showed the South Korean flag alongside the players’ pictures.

The game finally took place after some deep diplomatic discussion and the North Koreans went on to win 2-0.

In the other games, tournament favourites Brazil won 5-0 against Cameroon with other favoured teams USA beating France 4-2 and World Champions Japan winning 2-1 against Canada.

In the day’s remaining game, Sweden beat South Africa 4-1.

In the London 2012 Games there will be, for the first time in the history of the Olympics, a female athlete from every participant nation.

The last few nations to abstain from sending sportswomen were Qatar, Brunei and, the most publicised of the three, Saudi Arabia.

As has been pointed out on WVoN, however, the matter of Olympic equality is far from resolved.

The threat by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Saudi Arabia from the Games entirely unless they included women has worked, but this does not mean that the state will now encourage women to participate, or work to diminish the stigma on women athletes.

Qatari swimmer Nada Arkaji has benefited from the use of Doha’s substantial sporting facilities. Qatar is seemingly now doing its utmost to include women, since establishing a Women’s National Sports Committee in 2001.

Saudi runner Sarah Attar, on the other hand, trains in California, where she lives and grew up, and covers her hair and limbs only while representing her country. She has spent only a small amount of time in Saudi Arabia.

She may be an example of an impending transitory phase in women’s sport in the country, where initial participants will hail from diasporic communities while the training infrastructure is established.

Equally, this may  be wishful thinking as there is still considerable resentment about very idea of women’s sports within Saudi Arabia.

While the common perception is that Saudi Arabia’s reservations are due to religion, many Saudi commentators are keen to point out that it is less an issue of dogma and more of cultural norms.

Often left unsaid by the media, the more extreme of these perceptions are exemplified by Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Zuhayyan, an academic in Riyadh.

His primary concern is the hymen:

“Saudi families equate a broken hymen with the loss of virginity, and a girl losing her virginity/hymen by any means other than legitimate marriage, such as participating in strenuous activity, damages the family’s honour.

“For this reason… saving girls’ virginity is deeply entrenched in their culture, and this tradition should be respected.”

Citing the claims from various groups that human rights of Saudi women were being violated by their exclusion, Al-Zuhayyan said:

“[The] Saudi government would not force its citizens, specifically, parents, to let their girls participate in the Olympics against their will.

“In fact, by doing so, it would be in clear violation of their human rights… Also, complete disregard of culture and tradition is a violation of human rights.”

He further claimed that “cultural and structural conditions are not conducive for Saudi female athletes to present an impressive performance, or win an Olympic medallion.”

By pressuring Saudi Arabia to include female athletes, international organisations such as the IOC are “intentionally and knowingly subjecting the entire Saudi population, particularly these female athletes and their families, to a degrading treatment in front of billions of people around the globe. This is also a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 5.”

“Thus,” he concludes, “one can easily discern that Saudi women’s participation in the Olympics is against human rights.”

Rosa, the UK fund for women and girls, has this week announced the first grants awarded under her new Girls and Young Women’s Fund.

The grants have been awarded to two year-long projects.

Platform 51 and the End Violence Against Women coalition (EVAW) will be working with young women through online resources for UK schools and organisations alongside a national lobbying campaign.

This project aims to educate and empower young women to speak out and change attitudes through encouraging them to challenge their portrayal as nothing more than sex objects in the music video industry.

The second funded project is dedicated to challenging women’s devastating acceptance of body hatred. Endangered Bodies London, convened by Susie Orbach, will launch a new collaboration with schools and youth groups in London and the South East called ‘Making Media Mine’.

Both of these exciting new projects are placing the voices of young women at their centre, providing young women with the skills and platforms to make themselves heard by their peers as well as decision makers.

At the conclusion of the projects, a summit will be held by the NGO AnyBody at London’s Southbank to bring all of the girls and mentees together to share and celebrate their work.

Rosa’s Girls and Young Womens Fund is a response to young women’s concerns about how they are portrayed in popular culture and the impact on their daily lives. They see how airbrushed media messages affect self-image, personal development and sense of possibility.

The fund recognises the importance in understanding that there is a direct connection between the objectification of and violence against women and girls today.

Following a dramatic rise in women seeking ‘designer’ vaginas, a research charity has released an animated documentary to highlight the issue.

The film called Centrefold was funded by the Wellcome Trust and features three women who have had labiaplasy- the surgical reduction of the inner labia – discussing their reasons for having had the procedure.

The surgery involves reducing the length or changing the shape of the inner labia or reshaping the outer labia to alter the external appearance of the genitalia.

According to recent figures, labiaplasty has increased fivefold in the last five years with 2000 procedures taking place last year alone on the NHS.

This figure is probably significantly higher in the private sector, where the procedure can cost up to £3,000.

One of the women interviewed explained how she searched pornographic websites, looking for women whose genitals were similar to her own and when she couldn’t find any she concluded it was “yet another piece of evidence that there was something was wrong with me.”

Although the procedure is a low priority, the NHS can offer the surgery if there is evidence of pain during intercourse, recurring infections or the need for reconstruction after trauma.

Despite the increase in labiaplasty there are no universal NHS guidelines on what ‘normal’ female genitalia should look like.

There is growing concern that women seeking labiaplasty should discuss the psychological reasons behind their need for it.

Dr Lih-Mei Liao, clinical psychologist at University College London Hospitals said: “When a woman says she is worried about her labia, surgeons may hear the word ‘labia’ and operate; I hear the word ‘worry’.”

She added that psychologists “simply aren’t being accessed as surgery is being presented as the obvious solution.”

One woman said:  “I thought it was going to be the end of all my problems – I thought it was going to look lovely, like a little designer vagina.”

Though after the procedure she confessed:” Six or seven weeks on my labia is smaller but I still hate it. It looks like a big fat piggy’s nose peeking out of a pair of curtains.”

The two other women said they were fairly happy with the result, with one admitting: “It’s such a shame that was such a big stigma for me.”

Women with stressful jobs are at a higher risk of heart attacks, a new study shows.

The Women’s Health Study tracked more than 22,000 female health professionals over a period of 10 years and discovered a link between work and heart problems.

Researchers grouped women into four categories: passive job strain (low demand and low control jobs), active (high demand and high control), low strain (low demand and high control), or high strain (high demand and low control).

The findings, published in PLoS ONE show women in high stress jobs are 67 per cent more likely to have a heart attack than women in low stress jobs.

It also showed that 38 per cent of women in high stress jobs are more likely to have any kind of cardiovascular event such as a stroke, high blood pressure or heart surgery.

Dr. Michelle A. Albert, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital said: “The stress we’re talking about here is stress that exceeds the body’s capacity to manage or adapt appropriately.”

Surprisingly, the results showed that women with a high level of control in their jobs still experienced elevated health risks, whereas previous findings suggested having more control at work reduced stress levels.

Positions where women could be seen as having a high level of control suggests they have a level of authority, such as a manager or executive, or someone with power to make major decisions.

Dr Albert suggests this new discovery may be due to an increased pressure on women to perform in high level jobs and prove themselves against men in the same positions.

Also trying to balance work and family life could be a factor with many women taking work home with them and not getting the chance to relax.

Dr Albert said physical activity is important to reduce stress and women should set aside time each day for yoga and meditation for relaxation.

During the 10 year study, there were 170 heart attacks, 163 strokes, 440 procedures such as angioplasty to bypass or unblock coronary arteries — and 52 deaths from cardiovascular disease.

Natalie Calkin
WVoN co-editor 

South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has become the first woman to head the African Union (AU).

She was elected earlier this month in a six-month leadership contest that saw her beat incumbent Mr Jean Ping, from Gabon.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma, the former wife of the South African President Jacob Zuma, gained the 60% of votes she needed from the 54-nation bloc at an AU Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The election victory was far from easy.  According to the Irish Times, it took eight months of behind the scenes lobbying and two separate elections for her to secure the majority she needed.

The election also highlighted tensions between African Union countries, with Francophone countries backing Ping and Anglophone countries supporting Dlamini-Zuma.

Dlamini-Zuma now faces the task of “unifying the African-Union” according to Dirk Kotze of the University of South Africa.

Alex Vines of the British Think Tank Chatham House said she will “have to focus on rebuilding relationships, especially with a number of francophone states”, adding that her election was “highly significant” because it would strengthen South Africa’s position on the continent.

However, that is not how Dlamini-Zuma sees things. ”South Africa is not going to run the AU. It is Dlamini-Zuma who is going to come to make a contribution” she said after her win.

Dlamini-Zuma comes to the job with an impressive track record. She was a minister in her native South Africa, boasting more time in government than her former husband, the President. She held health and foreign office posts and, more recently, a post within the home affairs ministry where she was credited with successful reforms.

She joins a number of African women appointed or elected to leadership positions in Africa: Joyce Banda, elected the first female President of Malawi; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the current President of Liberia, Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, who was appointed the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Mariam Aloma Muktar who became the first woman Chief of Justice in Nigeria.

The Woman’s League of the ruling ANC in South Africa welcomed her appointment, saying that it “speaks volumes for the gains made in fighting patriarchy on the African continent”.

The World Bank and the US government last week announced major new initiatives to help address data and information gaps about women and girls around the world.

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and the World Bank’s President Jim Yong Kim addressed leaders in business, academia, government and the international community about how to collect and use data to ensure better policies and outcomes for women and girls, and thereby improve entire economies and societies.

Clinton announced the creation of a new US Government initiative called “Data 2X” which she said “will develop new curriculum standards to ensure data producers and users train in gender-sensitive techniques.

“Working with key data organizations, including the UN, World Bank, OECD, PARIS21, and Gallup, the project will also publish a roadmap on how we together can fill priority gaps in gender-sensitive data as quickly as possible”, she added.

The World Bank, in parallel, is launching a new “Gender Data Portal” which will allow visitors to access results from surveys, analytical work and reference materials.

Information will cover issues like women and girl’s employment and their access to health, education and decision making.

Both Clinton and Jim Kim are unanimous about the reasons for launching these two inititives now.

As Clinton said: ”we are living in the midst of a data revolution. Massive amounts of information is being shared faster, through more channels, and reaching more people in more places than ever”.

Despite this progress, however, data on women and girls is still lacking and this is inevitably weakening planning and decision making processes at all levels.

In his speech, Jim Kim discussed information available for women in the agricultrual sector, a hugely important industry for women, especially those in poorer countries.

At present, there is no available data for how many women in Sub-Saharan Africa use fertiliser to help grow their vegetables. With this information, donors and governments would know where best to target development funds.

Clinton continued the agricultural example by suggesting that “if women farmers had access to the same seeds, equipment and irrigation as men, they could increase their crop yields by 20 to 30%” and feed up to an additional 150 million people.

Yet, as she added. “we lack the critical information on women’s land use, property rights and access to seeds and fertiliser”.

Data 2X and the World Bank’s Gender Data Portal come at a critical time for advancing the gender equality agenda.

The combined weight of these two international agencies is sure to nudge other governments and agencies into addressing the gender data gap that is holding so many women back from advancing within their societies.

Alice Rogers
WVoN co-editor 

The Crown Prosecution Service in Britain this week reported its highest conviction rate for domestic violence, but says that most victims are still “suffering in silence”.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, revealed in a speech in London on Monday that only ten percent of victims of sexual assault report their crimes to the police, mainly because they don’t trust the justice system to help them.

Starmer said that a woman on average was assaulted 30 times before going to the police.

However figures have improved. In cases of domestic violence referred to prosecutors, the conviction rate has increased from 69% in 2007-08 to 73% in 2011-12.

Likewise the conviction rate for rape charged by prosecutors has risen nearly 5% in the past five years.

The CPS launched its Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy in 2008, which focused on domestic violence, forced marriage, domestic violence and female genital mutilation.

“A lot has changed in recent years. We now have prosecutors who specialise in these types of crimes, we have introduced training and guidance and we have improved the way we engage with communities” Starmer claimed. He also highlighted better training and use of specialist prosecutors.

However these statistics don’t necessarily show the full picture.

The charity Refuge welcomed the news, but said it represented only “the tip of the iceberg“.

Sandra Horley, its chief executive, said: “In London alone there were almost 52,000 domestic violence offences recorded in one year, so the 66,860 cases successfully prosecuted nationally barely scratch the surface.

“We are concerned that the British Crime Survey tells us that there are an estimated 1.2 million women who experience domestic abuse each year in the UK.

“Some of these cases may not be reported to the police for a number of reasons… This leaves a huge number of domestic abuse cases that never reach the police and therefore the courts.

“For those who do report domestic violence the police response is often woefully inadequate.”

Liz Draper

Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, has died at the age of 61.

According to her company, Sally Ride Science, she passed away on Monday following a 17 month fight with pancreatic cancer.

Ride made history as a member of the crew on the Challenger space shuttle’s second mission in June 1983.

As well as being the first American woman to go into orbit, at 32 she was also the youngest person to do so at the time.

She participated in a second flight a year later, and was scheduled for a third before the Challenger disaster in 1986 killed all seven crew members and caused the mission to be put on hold.

Ride, a Los Angeles native, graduated from Stanford University in 1973 with bachelor’s degrees in English and physics. She went on to gain Masters and doctorate degrees, also at Stanford, before joining the NASA astronaut corps in 1978.

1978 was the first year NASA allowed engineers and scientists to join the corps; previously, all astronauts had been military test pilots. Ride was one of 35 people, including six women, selected from a field of 8000.

Ride also served on the commissions investigating the 1986 Challenger disaster, and the fatal space shuttle Columbia incident in 2003.

After leaving NASA in 1987, Ride worked for the Stanford University Security Research Institute, and then joined the physics department at the University of California San-Diego as a professor and director of the California Space Institute.

She was also a science writer and advocate for science education. She published five books for children, and set up Sally Ride Science in 2001 to encourage children to pursue their interest in science. The company produces classroom materials and programs for elementary and middle schools.

In a statement, American President Barack Obama praised Ride’s achievements and advocacy, calling her a “national hero and powerful role model” who “inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars”.

Shanna McGoldrick
WVoN co-editor

There was outrage in France this week after a video emerged showing female housing minister Cécile Duflot being subjected to jeers and wolf-whistles from male politicians as she took to the podium at the Asemblée Nationale.

Duflot was not wearing her usual low-key style of clothes (she was criticised for wearing jeans to her first cabinet meeting) but instead had donned a floral dress for the political address on July 17.

As she took centre stage to deliver a speech about a new Parisian metropolitan plan, she could barely be heard over the excitable whoops and leers of her male counterparts – to the extent that speaker Claude Bartolone was obliged to remind everyone to calm down.

To her credit, Duflot didn’t miss a beat. “Ladies and gentlemen,” she began. “Especially the gentlemen, it seems…”

In a misguided attempt to justify the situation, UMP minister and one of the hecklers Patrick Balkany later denied behaving in a sexist manner, telling French newspaper Le Figaro that he was merely ‘admiring’ Duflot’s appearance.

He then went on to insinuate that Duflot’s outfit was a ploy to distract the opposition from what she was saying.

So, sidestepping the implication that a significant portion of the French parliament has the self-control and attention span of an excitable adolescent, what is it that made some of the most powerful men in Europe believe such misogyny was acceptable?

When François Hollande was sworn in as President of the Republic in May of this year, he appointed equal numbers of male and female ministers to his cabinet.

However, the percentage of women politicians in the Asemblée National is only 27%, albeit up from 19%.

Since the explosion of the ‘DSK affair’, women ministers have become steadily more vocal about the level of sexism they have to put up with in national politics.

For her part, Duflot has remained remarkably sanguine about the whole affair, refusing to rise to the bait.

“There are a lot of men who do politics who aren’t like that; there are a lot of men who don’t do politics who aren’t like that,” she said in a radio interview. “I’d rather think about feminist men.”

Liz Draper

Experts have warned that the cocktail of chemicals in cosmetic products such as fake tan may contribute to a variety of health problems.

These range from skin irritation to obesity, diabetes, cancer and infertility. Pregnant women who apply fake tan products could also face a higher risk of birth defects in their babies.

According to Elizabeth Salter-Green of UK charity Chem trust, “many of the chemicals in fake tan are toxic to reproduction and can harm a foetus.”

The active ingredient in tanning products is dihydroxyacetone, which reacts with amino acids to turn the skin brown. When inhaled and absorbed into the bloodstream, it may alter DNA or cause tumours.

According to scientists, other dangerous ingredients can include carcinogens such as formaldehyde and nitrosamines.

The tanning industry has strongly refuted the findings, insisting that there are laws in place to ensure cosmetic products are safe for use.

Dr Chris Flower, director general of the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Perfumery Association (CTPA), said “It’s an exasperating, stupid story that’s taken on a life of its own. Are there any risks to yourself, your fertility, your offspring? No, absolutely not.”

Under EU law cosmetic products must be thoroughly assessed before they can be released onto the market. According to Dr Flower, this assessment means that products are safe for use at levels far exceeding the recommended amount.

However, Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the European Environment Agency, has warned that “it would be prudent to take a precautionary approach to many of these chemicals until their effects are more fully understood.”

A report released in March by Chem Trust concluded that the chemicals accumulated in the body from food and everyday consumer products are likely to contribute to modern epidemics such as obesity and diabetes.

The killing of women in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a state crime and those responsible must be pursued with rigour and brought to justice, an independent human rights expert has said.

Rashida Manjoo, who is investigating violence against women as an expert for the UN Human Rights Council, called on governments in both countries to act immediately to stop tolerance of gender-related violence.

“The failure of States to guarantee women’s right to a life free from violence allows for a continuum of violence which can end in their death,” Manjoo was reported as saying.

“The killing of women is indeed a State crime when tolerated by public institutions and officials – when they are unable to prevent, protect and guarantee the lives of women, who have consequently experienced multiple forms of discrimination and violence throughout their lifetime” she added.

Earlier this month Farida Afridi, a human rights defender,  was gunned down as she left her office in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Hanifa Safi, a provincial head of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs lost her life in Afghanistan  when a bomb attached to her car exploded.

And a young woman called Najiba was executed after being accused of adultery in Afghanistan with a Taliban commander. She was tried and shot within one hour.

There are many other women whose names do not draw international attention but who are systematically abused or killed.

The execution of Najiba was condemned by Afghan President Hamid Kharzai and led to protests in Kabul (see WVoN story).

Manjoo said: “It is crucial to acknowledge that these are not isolated incidents that arise suddenly and unexpectedly, but are rather the extreme manifestation of pre-existing forms of violence experienced by women everywhere,” she stressed.

“However, women suffering multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination face a greater risk of experiencing such violence.”

She recommended to the UN council that effective investigations, prosecutions and sanctions are carried out; that victims and their families are treated with respect, and that reparations to victims and their families are made.

Jackie Gregory
WVoN co-editor

A colour-coded mother and baby pack is helping to save lives in Lesotho, Africa.

The kit provides essential medicines and supplies to pregnant women and, in particular, helps those who are HIV-positive to give birth to babies who are HIV negative, as well as supplying every pregnant woman with essential vitamins. It means that women who live far from clinics still have access to health care.

By ensuring that every woman has a pack, the stigma is taken away from those who are HIV positive.

Mampaleng Setente, 24, is pregnant with her first baby and is waiting for the results of her routine HIV check.

She already has a name for her child: Bohlokoa, which means ‘the most important one’. She says the pack has given her confidence that she will give birth to a healthy baby.

“I know that in that package are medicines that will make sure that I have a healthy, HIV-free baby,” she said.

A health survey carried out in Lesotho in 2009 found that mother-to-child transmission is the second most common mode of HIV transmission after heterosexual sex.

Delegations from Cameroon and Zambia, along with UNICEF Chief of HIV and Aids Craig McClure, visited Lesotho earlier this month to see the system in action.

The UNICEF visit was made ahead of this week’s International AIDS Society’s biennial conference in Washington DC which began on Sunday. The event brings together 20,000 delegates including technical experts, civic leaders, youth and people from key populations.

PressTV reported that UNICEF estimate that 1,000 children become infected with HIV every day, many of whom are born in sub-Saharan Africa.

“In order to reach an AIDS-free generation, we must get to zero new HIV infections,” said the UNICEF statement.

“How do we get to zero? Test mothers and babies, and give them the medicines they need. Treat and console those living with HIV, and also focus on prevention. Let’s get to zero.”

McClure says that while much work is being done to eliminate mothers passing on HIV to their babies, a programme addressing the needs of adolescent girls must be put in place.

“Our focus [in adolescent programming] is on young girls in sub-Saharan African who bear the brunt of HIV infection,” McClure said.

Women’s charity Eaves is to host their first ever ‘All-In for Eaves’ poker night this October, hoping to raise tens of thousands of pounds for women who have experienced violence.

The fundraising event, to be held in Distillers bar, central London, on 18 October, will also boast a line-up of comedy entertainment and casino games, as well as a drinks reception and finger buffet.

The Texas Hold’Em poker tournament is open to players of all levels, with a complementary lesson offered to beginners before games get underway.

All proceeds will go to Eaves, but tournament winners can look forward to top prizes, generously donated by supporters.

Fundraising manager Laura Bassett said: “I’m a novice poker player but I’ve been working on my poker face so that I can be convincing.

“What I’m really looking forward to is a night of poker where there will be more than one winner; those that come along to enjoy the game as well as Eaves and the women they support.”

With a generous buy-in of £250 per player, and the chance to bid for luxurious auction prizes, Eaves hopes to raise at least £25,000 to help them support victims of sexual and domestic violence and trafficking.

Non-players can purchase tickets for £100, which includes food, drink and entertainment.

Venetia Barton, head of corporate and event fundraising at Eaves explained the reasons behind a poker evening:

“Eaves wants to get more men involved. Also we like the idea of getting more women into what’s traditionally a man’s game, so we’re hoping lots of women come too.”

She added: “Denise [Marshall, chief executive of Eaves] is a keen poker player so that’s helped on the advice side!”

In April 2011 Eaves suffered a dramatic funding shortfall after the Poppy Project – the branch of Eaves that offers specialist services to victims of trafficking - lost out on a government contract and consequently lost 95% of their funding.

The Poppy Project has since received generous contributions from individual and corporate supporters, including a pledge of £300,000 over three years from Man Group Charitable Trust in July 2011.

For more information about the poker night, or supporting Eaves in other ways, visit Eaves website.

Laura Bridgestock
WVoN co-editor

Last week, horrific reports emerged from India of a man  arrested on suspicion of having pierced his wife’s vagina in order to padlock it shut.

The situation came to light when the woman, identified as Sitabai Chouhan, was taken to hospital. She had apparently attempted suicide by taking poison.

While treating her, staff at Maharaja Yashwant Rao Hospital, Indore, discovered the homemade ‘chastity belt’, and contacted police.

When the husband, named as Sohan Lal Chouhan, was arrested, the key was discovered in his sock.

It is believed that he had attached the padlock to his wife four years previously by drugging her and then using a needle to make holes in her genitals.

He reportedly told police he had committed the brutality in order to prevent his wife from having extramarital sex while he was at work.

The incident is shocking, but not isolated.

In 2007 the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that many women in the state of Rajasthan were forced to wear chastity belts.

The organisation had even come across a website advertising ‘designer’ chastity belts, made from expensive metals such as gold and silver.

As AHRC pointed out at the time, chastity belts are just one aspect of the brutality many women in India face.

In this instance, it’s reported that Sitabai had been married at just 16. Police said her husband was addicted to alcohol and marijuana, and had kept her locked in the house.

There are also reports that shortly before Sitabai took the poison, her husband had attempted to rape the oldest of their five children. However, the police reports have not mentioned this.

In a recent survey of gender specialists, India was voted the worst place in the world to be a woman, due to the continuing prevalence of child marriage, abuse and exploitation, and a general tendency to see women as inferior and of less value than men (WVoN story).

Sarah Cheverton
WVoN co-editor and
Aurora New Dawn Writer in Residence

A service working with victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence has launched a campaign calling for the cancellation of a VIP dinner event with convicted rapist Mike Tyson to be held at Portsmouth Guildhall, Hampshire.

Tyson was convicted for six years in 1992 after raping an 18 year old woman, but served only three years.

His attitudes and behaviour towards women have been called into question many times, before and since, including as described in a recent article by Mary Elizabeth Williams and during a highly offensive commentary (Trigger Warning) last year featuring Tyson’s opinions on Sarah Palin’s love life.

Initial advertising for the event – scheduled for October – on the Guildhall’s website drew attention to Tyson’s “controversial behaviour both inside and outside the ring.”

Following protests, this sentence was removed and a new webpage for the event published, but the original page still remains live.

The advertising appears to nod towards Tyson’s continued notoriety, resulting not only from his career as a heavyweight boxer but also from his outspoken views, attitudes and past actions towards women.

Tyson’s reputation as a misogynist was also raised in his trial – interestingly enough by his own defence counsel, who used what is known as the ‘trash defence’.

According to a report from People magazine following Tyson’s conviction in 1992, he was portrayed by his own defence team as “a crude-mannered punk who paws, fondles and gropes every woman he sees.”

In 2003, during an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, Tyson described the woman he raped as “a lying, reptilian, monstrous, young lady. I just hate her guts. She put me in that state where, I don’t know, I really wish I did know. Now I really do want to rape her and her mama.”

Aurora New Dawn, a Hampshire-based advocacy and campaign organisation, has launched an online petition calling on the operators of Portsmouth Guildhall to cancel the event.

“By inviting a convicted rapist to speak at one of the leading venues in Portsmouth the Guildhall goes against the hard work that the city has undertaken to ensure that survivors of rape feel valued, safe and believed,” states the petition.

It goes on to point out that: “Fewer than 6% of rapists are convicted for their offence. Victims and survivors struggle to be believed and – even when there is a conviction, as in this case – are still confronted with an organisation choosing to champion a rapist.”

Responding to the online petition, manager of Portsmouth Guildhall, Andy Grays said:

“The Guildhall works with many promoters who hire the venue to put on a wide variety of concerts, some of whom feature controversial artists.

“Within reason our position must remain neutral otherwise we start to go down a path which requires a subjective view of the content of every artist that puts on a concert at the venue.

“I certainly recognise and understand your position and I have asked the promoter to tone down the description of Mike Tyson, and you should see this reflected on our website.”

The petition is being promoted this week by the Change.org campaign team and is circulating widely in women’s rights networks, including British author and broadcaster Bidisha, who has also written for us here at WVoN.

Rape Crisis has also condemned the event, warning it sends a message that “money speaks louder than humanity.”

Christina Diamandopoulos of Rape Crisis said “Any offender convicted of sexual violence cannot be counted a legend or hero in any sense without diminishing the importance and seriousness of rape and sexual assault.

“The message to survivors and to women being victimised, at present, is that ‘society does not think you are important and your suffering is not important. It may have the effect of silencing women or deterring them from coming forward.”

You can sign the online petition here.

Catherine Scott
WVoN co-editor 

Theresa Malila, founder of Somebody Cares Ministries, works with churches in Malawi to educate people about the problem of gender-based violence, and encourage community leaders to take a strong stance and help to end it.

Malila is spreading her message via a powerful short film, which tells the harrowing tale of Rose, a Malawian woman who was raped at knifepoint and became HIV-positive as a result. A 2004 study showed that 55% of Malawian women had been raped or forced to have sex.

The film also looks at the failure to detect child sexual abuse because the perpetrators are protected by the community.

Malila says during the film,”When I see the children that are being raped, the age groups, I cannot believe it…I ask myself, does God see this?”.

She has brought together 250 villages and 1000 churches in Malawi, focusing on the need for community improvement.

Her goals include better resources for sexual assault survivors, improved medical services and awareness surrounding HIV, and strategies to empower women, such as microfinance loans for starting small businesses.

Malila’s work is endorsed by Tearfund, a Christian charity which last year launched a report called Silent No More with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The report looked at how the global church can use its platform to address the worldwide problem of sexual violence.

Malila is committed to “raise an army that will speak out, that will not be silent.”

Iranian actresses who fail to follow strict Islamic dress codes when attending foreign award ceremonies could be banned from travelling abroad, the country’s attorney general has warned.

Although the comments were not aimed at specific actresses, it is thought that the official warning referred to rising stars such as Leila Hatami, who featured in the internationally acclaimed film “A Separation” which won multiple awards this year including an Oscar for best foreign film.

Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, a former intelligence minister, suggested that violating religious rules by leaving their heads uncovered or wearing inappropriate clothing could derail their movie careers.

According to reports, Mohseni-Ejej claimed that:

“Regarding this issue, a few people are banned from leaving the country. These people have been invited abroad to take part in a ceremony and under the pretext of receiving an award. Then they have been ensnared in certain people’s traps.

“Those people, after taking pictures of their baits, forced them to undertake activities and based on the photographs, they have blackmailed their victims and taken them to a place where they shouldn’t. Of course, some of these people, after returning to Iran, are banned from leaving the country.”

Just last month Hatami was criticised by Iran’s deputy police chief, Bahman Kargar, for her outfit and for shaking hands with men at the Cannes film festival. The actress was pictured wearing a headscarf and a long-skirt, yet she wore full make-up and her neck was obviously exposed.

“Where does this behaviour stand in the revolution we carried out?” asked Kargar, who compared her unfavourably to a Bosnian-Muslim actress at the ceremony.

Whilst it is not yet clear whether the authorities will impose a travel ban on Hatami, reports suggest that the actress will receive the same treatment as Golshifteh Farahani, who caused controversy when she acted partly unveiled in the Hollywood film “Body of Lies” with Leonardo Di Caprio in 2008.

Farahani also sparked criticism when she left Iran for Paris and subsequently posed naked in the magazine Le Figaro, as a protest against Islamic restrictions on women’s dress. The authorities later warned her she was no longer welcome in Iran (see WVoN story).

The Islamic hijab (dress code) is enforced by law in Iran, and requires women to cover their heads with a headscarf and wear loose clothing when out in public.

Laura Bridgestock

Police in Australia have raised concerns that the country’s mining towns are being increasingly targeted by sex traffickers.

In particular, they say young women from south east Asia are being exploited.

Paul Biggin, the police district inspector for the Mount Isa region of Queensland, said: “They are working on a fly-in, fly-out basis, two weeks here, two weeks in the next town and so on.

“They are being advertised as available in the local newspapers, and they are coerced or threatened into doing it.”

However, the Scarlet Alliance, which represents sex workers in Australia, says the problem has been exaggerated.

The organisation’s president, Elena Jeffreys, said: “Australia’s anti-trafficking laws have resulted in thousands of raids, resources devoted to surveillance and investigations, but have found very little evidence of trafficking.”

Biggin has admitted that pinning down numbers is very difficult, largely because many trafficked women are unwilling to speak to the police. He said this is sometimes because of previous negative experience with the authorities, in other countries.

He added: “Whenever we have an operation to target them, they come into the station and you can see that they are being controlled mentally and physically and it’s very difficult to get them to open up to authority and enable us to help them.”

Prostitution itself is not illegal in Australia, but individual Australian states have laws regarding pimping and brothels.

Inspector Biggin has just been selected for the Donald Mackay Churchill Fellowship, a grant awarded for research in the field of combatting organised crime. He will use the award to visit other countries to see how sex trafficking is being tackled elsewhere.

We’ll be back with our normal service – posting news stories about women from Monday to Friday – from 23rd July.

In the meantime, thanks to all our readers for your continued support and see you in a week.

Brogan Driscoll
WVoN co-editor 

Teen Vogue magazine has been targeted by a group of girls unhappy with the magazine’s ‘unrealistic’ portrayal of beauty. Its editors, however, seem less than open to criticism.

The girls, disturbed by the damaging effects of fashion magazines on young readers, protested outside Conde Nast’s New York Office in Times Square.

Armed with ‘Keep it Real’ placards and a petition with 28,000 signatures, the girls put on a mock fashion show before meeting with the magazine’s editors.

For 17-year-old Emma Stydahar and Carina Cruz, 16, meeting with the editors was a far cry from what they had expected.

“It was kind of shocking how rude they were to us,” Cruz told NY Daily News after they were handed copies of the magazine to ‘study’.

“We have done our homework,” she continued. “That’s why we started this campaign, because three out of every four girls feel bad about themselves after reading a fashion magazine.

“We walked in, there was no handshake, no my name is, none of that. Just you sit here, you sit here. So you wanted this meeting — what do you want to say,” Stydahar told Jezebel.

“We said what is in our petition. They proceeded to take out handfuls of magazines with little Post-It notes in them, [marking] what they perceived to be diverse images.

“Most of them were thin African-American models. It was a good start – we love seeing women of colour in these magazines. But two or three an issue – and all of them super stick skinny – isn’t what we’re looking for.”

The action comes days after the girls, affilated with the SPARK movement – a group dedicated to ending the sexualisation of women and girls in media – secured a promise from Seventeen magazine pledging to change the way women are presented in its publication (see WVoN story).

“We’re really excited,” the girls said.

“Seventeen didn’t just promise one un-photoshopped spread a month, they went even further by promising not to change the faces or body size of their models, to listen to readers’ feedback and to celebrate beauty in all of its diverse shapes, sizes and colours.”

Earlier this year Vogue, also of Conde Nast, took a stand against eating disorders and the use of underage models in the fashion industry. The magazine issued a six-point plan detailing how it planned to tackle the issue (see WVoN story).

This week former England captain John Terry has appeared in court following allegations that he racially abused Anton Ferdinand during a match.

The court proceedings have given an insight into the ‘banter’ about women (wives, girlfriends and mothers) that takes place in the (man’s) world of premier league football.

The Independent reports that Terry admitted that although race is a “no-go” area, “girls are part and parcel” of the abuse exchanged by players on the pitch.

As if to evidence this, the court used the term ‘handbags’ to describe the altercation.

The trial is taking place in the aftermath of the Euro 2012 football tournament, the coverage of which was criticised for being sexist. The relentless focus on women in the audience shamelessly marketed female fans as little more than sexual objects.

The problem appears to lie in the negative role of women in some aspects of football’s ‘lad culture’, where sexist humour can be dismissed as ‘banter’.

It is possibly this very culture which caught out two respected football pundits last year, when Andy Gray and Richard Keys lost their jobs at Sky after being recorded making sexist jokes and suggestive comments about female match officials and colleagues.

This year London hosts the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. With women’s football still the fastest growing sport in the world, and hopes that the presence of female stars in the UK for the Games will provide a boost for the sport, it is essential that we uphold all of the vital principles of equality in sport that the John Terry trial claims to support.

Rachel Ogbu
WVoN co-editor

Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) have announced that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol may help protect women against osteoporosis.

The researchers measured the effects of alcohol withdrawal on bone turnover in postmenopausal women. They did this by measuring the blood markers for bone turnover, at the beginning of the study and after the women had abstained from drinking alcohol for two weeks.

Prior to the study, the group were consuming 1.4 alcoholic drinks a day on average, with more than 90% being wine drinkers. Their average age was 56.

“What we found was that the [blood] markers were higher, significantly higher [after the women stopped drinking],” explains Urszula Iwaniec, associate professor at OSU. “Indicating that more bone was being resorped,” she says.

But once the women went back to the nightly glass of wine? The blood markers dropped back to where they’d been before.

In other words, the alcohol seemed to slow down the bone turnover rate, which may over time protect against fractures.

Even more surprising: the researchers found that less than a day after the women resumed their normal drinking, their bone turnover rates returned to previous levels.

In people with osteoporosis, more bone is lost than reformed resulting in porous, weak bones.

Postmenopausal women are at greater risk of osteoporosis because oestrogen, a hormone that helps keep bone remodeling in balance, decreases after menopause.

Alcohol appears to behave similarly to oestrogen in that it reduces bone turnover, the researchers said.

“Drinking moderately as part of a healthy lifestyle that includes a good diet and exercise may be beneficial for bone health, especially in postmenopausal women,” says Iwaniec.

The women in the study who drank more alcohol (up to two drinks per day) had denser hip bones than those who drank less (as little as half a drink per day).

The Framingham Heart Study also documented that moderate drinkers — people who consume one to two drinks per day — have higher bone mineral density compared with heavy drinkers and people who don’t consume alcohol at all.

The introduction of 12 ‘easy’ parking spots in a small town in Southern Germany designed specifically for women is part of a marketing campaign to entice more tourists, according to the town’s mayor.

Gallus Strobel, the mayor of Tribeg in Germany’s Black forest region, insists that the new parking spots are a bit of a joke and says there have been no complaints so far.

“I have had much pleasure with this idea,” said Strobel. “I decided last month to do this as a question of humour for our society, and as a question of justice,” he added.

In addition to the 12 female-designated parking spots, there are two ‘difficult-to-manoeuvre’ parking spots in the parking complex that are to be left for ‘better’ male drivers. These spots are narrower, have concrete pillars and must be reversed into.

Strobel said: “It’s a joke.  Everyone in Triberg thinks it is a joke. We looked at the two parking spaces and we said ‘they could be dangerous for your car’, so at the same time, we decided to make them for men, and then give 12 others for women.”

The mayor’s main reason for the new parking rule is to try and bring in more tourists to Triberg. He said that the new parking lot is geared towards the 60,000 tourists a year who come to visit the country’s highest waterfalls and the world’s biggest cuckoo clock.

Not a new concept, the city of Tianjin in China recently introduced female-only parking spots also. Similar to those in Triberg, these spots are also better lit, wider and marked with pink paint.

Commenting on the media attention, Strobel said: “I never expected this reaction. I’ve been on the phone all day, the TV will come. I am happy, and it looks like we’ve hit a raw nerve in society. It’s been a great marketing gimmick.”

He added: “Women can come here and prove me wrong, and while they’re at it they can see the town’s attractions.”

According to statistics published earlier this year by the Driving Standards Agency, women are more likely to fail their driving test based on parking problems. In 2010-11, 40,863 women failed due to a lack of control whilst completing the reverse parking manoeuvre – over double the 18,698 men failing for the same reason.