Save Sheila Rowbotham Campaign – new appeal date – 10th April 2008

4 April 2008 in Campaign, Education, Employment Work

Sheila Rowbotham Staying on at Manchester. Last autumn I asked the Head of Social Science if I could stay on after I am due to retire in September 2008. In Britain the retirement age is 65 though European law now has raised questions about this. But in academia it is quite common for people to [...]

A degree of difficulty for feminism as students change the subject

4 April 2008 in Education

In July, the final batch of UK undergraduates in women’s studies will graduate – all 12 of them – from London Metropolitan University. A course that was fashionable for many years in the wake of the 1960s’ feminist movement and available at many universities, will disappear off the academic map. It was a discipline that [...]

Petitions against Hooters opening in Southend and Sheffield

4 April 2008 in Campaign, Violence Against Women, Women's Group

Sheffield Fems (http://www.womeninlondon.org.uk/networks/sheffieldfems.htm) are organising a challenge to Hooters’ proposal to open a restaurant in Sheffield and they’ve set up this petition. We object to the opening of a Hooters Bar/Restaurant in Sheffield. We believe not only is this bar sexist but that it is tacky and a terrible development for the new Leopold Square. [...]

BNP removes ‘women are more troubled by handbag theft than rape’ candidate

4 April 2008 in Rape and Sexual Assault

The BNP has withdrawn one of its London Assembly candidates after he reportedly wrote that it was a “myth” that rape was a serious crime. Nicholas Eriksen was reportedly behind a blog which suggested women were more troubled by handbag theft than by rape. On Wednesday London Elects, which is overseeing the election, confirmed he [...]

EU Conservatives accuse socialist feminist of colluding in gender selective abortions

4 April 2008 in Abortion Contraception, Europe, Financial

European Funding of Gender Selective Abortions Must End Last week in Strasbourg, the political establishment of the European Union was shocked by an unexpected rebellion from an unexpected quarter, one that could proceed to fundamentally alter the West’s promotion of abortion in the developing world. The cause of this key battle was the relatively innocuous [...]

The State Government’s Prostitution Bill has passed the Legislative Council effectively ensuring it will become law (Western Australia)

4 April 2008 in Australasia, Legal Police, Prostitution

The Bill will decriminalise and regulate brothels and aims to provide sex workers with basic industrial rights such as workers compensation and superannuation. Some minor amendments recommended by the Upper House are likely to be passed by the Legislative Assembly today. The Opposition’s police and justice spokesman, Rob Johnson, says the laws will lead to [...]

Domestic violence reports increase in New Zealand

4 April 2008 in Australasia, Domestic Violence

Domestic violence reports climbed by 30% last year, but police say that does not mean family violence is rising. Instead it shows publicity campaigns are prompting more people to come forward. “Over the last 10, 20 years I think there’s been a searchlight put on family violence as opposed to a torchlight, the doors of [...]

Making Connections Between Feminism and Prison Abolitionism – American activist

4 April 2008 in Health, North America

The high STI rates among incarcerated people illustrate how social justice movements overlap. Now it’s time for activists to talk to each other. In the last few weeks, two studies came out: The first about the rate of incarceration in the United States and the second about the rate of STD cases in teenage girls. [...]

CEDAW for Jamaicans

4 April 2008 in Equality, HIV/AIDS, South America, Women's Group

Women’s Rights are human rights – The right to adequate health care Many women and girls in Jamaica who are infected with HIV face discrimination. Some children living with HIV/AIDS report that they cannot trust caregivers for fear that their personal information will be revealed to others. Some 20,000 children in Jamaica are affected by [...]

Bangladesh Government moves to boost women’s rights despite criticism from Muslim cleric

4 April 2008 in Asia, Equality, Faith

The Bangladesh government is pushing ahead with a new National Women’s Development Policy (NWDP), despite criticism from a section of Muslim clerics and some Islamic political parties. The latter groups say equal rights for women in terms of earned property would violate Sharia law on inheritance, which stipulates that a woman should inherit only half [...]

Struggling to undo the damage of sexual violence in the Central African Republic

4 April 2008 in Africa, Rape and Sexual Assault

The Monam group of rape survivors in the northern town of Bossangoa in the Central African Republic (CAR) does what it can to keep going, but morale is low and money tight. “We’ve been left to fend for ourselves. We get little help from outside. Many of our members have died,” the group’s chairwoman, Pelagie [...]

Moves towards political empowerment for women in Mauritania

4 April 2008 in Africa, Gender Mainstreaming, Government

Mauritania is often held up as a beacon when it comes to the proportion of women elected to political office – a 20 percent minimum quota was instituted in 2006 – but experts told IRIN once in power many women are still sidelined from taking important political decisions. “While the quota is a major step [...]

Funds to Promote Women’s Rights Dry Up in Ghana

4 April 2008 in Africa, Equality, Funding, Women's Group

Reports suggest that women’s rights groups and organisations are facing challenges in finding resources for their work, which is central to development. Traditional sources of funding for this aspect of development is said to be decreasing over the years. A multi-year action-research initiative in 2005 by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) dubbed, [...]

“Stop Human Trafficking!” is the message of a road show campaign in the Philippines

4 April 2008 in Asia, Trafficking, Violence Against Women

This is the message the Caraganons want to convey as the Caraga Regional Inter-Agency Committee against Trafficking in Persons – Violence against Women and Children (IACAT-VAWC) implements the roadshow campaign against human trafficking on April 1, 2008 in Butuan City. Dubbed as the Filipino Initiative against Trafficking in Persons (FIAT), the roadshow campaign will be [...]

Women’s Protection law fails rape victims in Pakistan

4 April 2008 in Asia, Rape and Sexual Assault

Human rights organisations stress police need to understand law to implement it Human rights watchdog organisations have said that rape victims are still facing difficulties in registering their cases at police stations and courts despite the implementation of the Women’s Protection Act (WPA) in January 2007. A provision in the Act calls for a session [...]