Women

Statement Of Vancouver Women’s Forum On Peace And Security On Korean Peninsula

January 17, 2018 Staff, Nobelwomensinitiative.org Create! Korea, Peace, Women

VANCOUVER — As sixteen delegates representing peace movements from all over the world, we have traveled from Asia, Pacific, Europe, and North America to convene the Vancouver Women’s Forum on Peace and Security on the Korean Peninsula, an event held in solidarity with Canada’s Feminist Foreign Policy to promote a peaceful resolution to the crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Sanctions and isolation have failed to curb North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and instead severely harm the North Korean civilian population. A Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons will only be achieved through genuine engagement, constructive dialogue, and mutual cooperation. We issue the following recommendations to the Foreign Ministers participating in the January 16 Summit on Security and Stability in the Korean Peninsula...

Iceland Makes It Illegal To Pay Men More Than Women

January 4, 2018 Staff, aljazeera.com Create! Iceland, Sexism, Women, Workers Rights and Jobs

A new law making it illegal to pay men more than women has taken effect in Iceland. The legislation, which came into force on Monday, the first day of 2018, makes Iceland the first country in the world to legalise equal pay between men and women. Under the new rules, companies and government agencies employing at least 25 people will have to obtain government certification of their equal-pay policies. Those that fail to prove pay parity will face fines. "The legislation is basically a mechanism that companies and organisations ... evaluate every job that's being done, and then they get a certification after they confirm the process if they are paying men and women equally," said Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, a board member of the Icelandic Women's Rights Association.

A Women’s Revolt That Targets Far More Than Sexual Abuse

December 7, 2017 Chris Hedges, truthdig.com Strategize! Sexism, Sexual Assault, Women

By Chris Hedges for Truth Dig - The press, trumpeting the lurid and salacious details of the sexual assault charges brought against powerful men, has missed the real story—the widespread popular revolt led by women, many of whom have stood up, despite vicious attacks and the dictates of legally binding nondisclosure agreements, to denounce the entitlement of the corporate and political elites. This women’s revolt is not solely about sexual abuse. It is about fighting a corporate power structure that institutionalizes and enables misogyny, racism and bigotry. It is about rejecting the belief that wealth and power give the elites the right to engage in economic, political, social and sexual sadism. It challenges the twisted ethic that those who are crushed and humiliated by the rich, the famous and the powerful have no rights and no voice. Let’s hope this is the beginning, not the end. “Women are carefully choosing the men who are at the pinnacles of power to address race and class and sex,” the feminist Lee Lakeman told me when I reached her by phone in Vancouver. “[These women] know what they are doing. You can’t take down someone like Harvey Weinstein without affecting a whole industry. Feminism has never been just about protecting our individual self. It is a collective resistance. It has a vitality we need to use to deal with these hierarchies.”

Women Worldwide Take To The Streets Against Violence

November 26, 2017 Staff, www.telesurtv.net Resist! United Nations, Violence, Women

By Telesur. Women, as well as allies, gathered worldwide to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women by holding demonstrations, rallies and protests. The chosen date, November 25, is the anniversary of the 1960 assassination of the Mirabal sisters – political activists in the Dominican Republic – whose killings were carried out by U.S.-backed dictator Rafael Trujillo's right-hand man and his cronies. According to the United Nations, violence against women is a reality for 1 in 3 women worldwide.

Of Sex Abusers and Sex Offenders

November 19, 2017 David Rosen, www.counterpunch.org Create! Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment, Women

By David Rosen for Counterpunch. Within the limits of a highly-structure class system, gender relations are fundamentally changing. Most attention is focused on female actors and political figures. Unfortunately, the same abuse is being perpetrated against female assembly-line workers, retail clerks and nannies. Hopefully, the celebrities will empower working women to point an accusing finger and say “No!” to sexual abuse. The once mythic male as the family bread-winner that defined the post-WW-II society of the “American Dream” is giving way to the two-income household, but with women still most often pulling most of the domestic chores (e.g., running the household, raising the family, socializing). The male sex-abuse scandals are a symptom of the transformation of gender power relations. It’s time to change the way the legal system deals with sex offenders.

On Good Guys And Bad Guys

November 8, 2017 Robert Jensen, commondreams.org Educate! Patriarchy, Sexism, Women

By Robert Jensen for Common Dreams - I am not as abusive as Harvey Weinstein, nor as narcissistic as Bill O’Reilly. I’m more respectful to women than Donald Trump, and not as sleazy as Anthony Weiner. Judged by the standards set by these public reprobates, most of the rest of us men appear almost saintly, and therein lies a danger. The public disclosure of these men’s behavior—from the routinely offensive to the occasionally criminal—is a good thing, and all those who have been harassed and raped should continue to speak out. But we should not let the most egregious cases derail the analysis of how a wide range of men’s intrusive and abusive sexual behaviors against women (as well as against girls, boys, and vulnerable men) are so woven into the everyday fabric of life in a patriarchal society that the intrusion and abuse is often invisible to men. Pause for the required disclaimer: Not all men are rapists. To acknowledge that sexuality in a culture of institutionalized male dominance (a useful shorthand definition of patriarchy) takes place within a larger framework of male domination/female subordination is not to accuse all men of rape. Another required disclaimer: Not all sex in patriarchy is rape. To take seriously a feminist critique of patriarchy and men’s violence is not to suggest that intimate relationships can never reflect mutuality and equality.

Women Still Need More Seats At The Peace-Making Table

November 2, 2017 Shaheen Chugtai, towardfreedom.com Resist! Sexism, United Nations, Women

By Shaheen Chugtai fo Toward Freedom - (IPS) – Whether targeted by perpetrators of sexual violence, oppressed by ideological extremists, or uniquely threatened by the bombing of hospital maternity units, women often bear the brunt of conflicts. Yet when it comes to peace negotiations, women too often don’t have a seat at the table. The continuing reality that men, particularly armed men, enjoy an almost exclusive role in peace processes defies both logic and evidence. It is now 17 years since UN resolution 1325 was adopted – the first Security Council resolution to establish the so-called women, peace and security agenda, which aims to uphold women’s rights in war and roles in peace. Ahead of the Open Debate on Peace and Security at the UN, it is the time reflect and double down both on what promises are left unfilled, as well as what progress has been made – there are examples of both. There have been some positive signs of headway, as seven subsequent UN Security Council resolutions have helped strengthen policies and norms worldwide over the past decade. Almost 70 countries have national action plans to put women, peace and security aims into practice. This year, renewed peacekeeping and peace enforcement mandates for Western Sahara, Sudan and Somalia included new language on the importance of women’s participation. Hopefully this trend will continue with South Sudan’s peacekeeping mandate renewal just around the corner.

3 Historical Native American Women You Might Not Know

September 30, 2017 Dina Gilio-Whitaker, www.indiancountrymedianetwork.com Educate! History, Indigenous Women, Women

By Dina Gilio-Whitaker for Indian Country Today - In the category of “famous Native American women,” everyone has heard of Pocahontas and Sacajawea. Both—but especially Pocahontas—have been turned into some of the worst of today’s stereotypes about Native American women. And in American history they have both been held up as examples of Native American women who facilitated colonization through the help they provided to white settlers. Scholars have gone a long way, however, to portray their histories as far more complex than that. There are, of course, many more Native American women who have made great contributions to indigenous history but who have been eclipsed in mainstream histories. Here we highlight three of those Native American women, all from very different regions and with very different histories. Cherokee historians have long celebrated Nancy Ward, known also by her Cherokee name, Nanye-hi. She is known by her designation as Ghigau (which means “most beloved woman” but also “war woman”), a title bestowed upon women of exceptional achievement or merit. Historical narratives tell of her earning the title at the age of 17 after fighting in the battle of Taliwa, taking up the gun of her husband Kingfisher after he was killed in battle. As Ghigau, she sat in council meetings among both the war and peace chiefs.

Female Equality Is Key To A Sustainable Future

August 31, 2017 H. Patricia Hynes, www.truthdig.com Create! Equality, Sexism, Sustainability, Women

By H. Patricia Hynes for Truth Dig - What the world will look like in 15 years depends also on our commitment to reduce substantially greenhouse gas emissions and achieve 50 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2030, so that her world remains habitable. However, we cannot get to a sustainable world without the full realization of girls’ and women’s rights, for women are responsible for providing food, fuel and water for billions of people in much of Africa and Asia, where natural resources are growing scarce or rapidly degrading. Yet many of these women lack the right to own land or to access credit and technical training to assure the sustainability of their countries’ natural resources. We will not get there in 15 years without women’s equality in decision-making because women in governance positions sign on to international treaties that take action against climate change more than their male counterparts. Further, there is abundant evidence that women care more about the environment than men and handle risk—economic, environmental and personal—more wisely than men.

Study: State That Restrict Abortion Have Laws That Hurt Women And Children

August 2, 2017 Staff, www.reproductiverights.org Educate! Abortion, Children, Legislation, Women

By Staff of Center for Reproductive RIghts - The report—titled Evaluating Priorities: Measuring Women and Children’s Health and Well-being against Abortion Restrictions in the States, Volume II—provides an update to the inaugural version of the report, originally published in 2014. As in 2014, the updated version challenges the claims of politicians who have passed abortion restrictions under the guise of protecting women’s health and safety. Indeed, the report finds that many of the states that have the highest number of restrictions included in the research—including Texas (11 restrictions), Louisiana (13 restrictions), and Arkansas (13 restrictions) —have dramatically fewer policies that would truly address the challenges women and their families face. Shareable infographics that illustrate the report’s findings are available on Ibis Reproductive Health’s website. The worst offenders—states that have passed ten or more of the restrictions included in analyses—account for a disproportionately large number of the nearly 400 abortion restrictions politicians have passed since 2010. And the trend continues; in the last three weeks the Texas legislature has introduced almost 20 new anti-abortion restrictions in a Special Legislative Session, convened after the end of the official session.

‘Ain’t I A Woman’ March Highlights The Need For Black Women’s Voices Now

July 20, 2017 Taryn Finley, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Black Women, March, Women

By Taryn Finley for The Huffington Post - Organizers created the event to fill a void they felt was left by January’s Women’s March. More than 1,500 people gathered on Saturday to participate in a black women’s rights march in Sacramento. The march was organized by Black Women United, a non-profit organization “dedicated to the education, protection, and advancement of Black women.” BWU, founded in February, came up with the “Ain’t I A Woman” march as a way to include black women more in today’s women’s rights movement. The event was intended to uplift and empower black women while highlighting the multitude of issues affecting them. Imani Mitchell, one of the organizers, told HuffPost that the overwhelming whiteness of the Women’s March in January left many black women feeling as though the event wasn’t for them. “This event we had is kind of a response to the Women’s March back in January. More so, though, we just wanted to continue the conversation but with a focus on black women and black women’s issues,” Mitchell said.

Women In California’s Largest Immigrant Prison Hold Hunger Strike

June 28, 2017 Victoria Law, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! California, Deportations, Detention Centers, Hunger Strikes, Immigration, Undocumented, Women

By Victoria Law for Waging Nonviolence - On June 14, 33 women who have been detained and incarcerated by ICE in California’s Adelanto Detention Facility launched a hunger strike. They were protesting the poor conditions at the facility as well as the policies that were keeping them away from their children and loved ones. The Adelanto Detention Facility, with a capacity of 1,940, is the largest private immigration detention facility in the United States. Run by the GEO Group, ICE pays $111 per person per day for the first 975 detainees, thus guaranteeing GEO a minimum of $40 million each year. If more than 975 people are detained inside Adelanto, the daily rate drops to less than $50 per day. Immigrant rights organizations, such as Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement, or CIVIC, and Detention Watch Network, have sharply criticized Adelanto for its widespread and systemic abuses towards immigrants in custody. Since March 2017, three people have died at Adelanto. Others have reported medical neglect and, on at least one occasion, being punished for seeking medical care. Norma Gutierrez, one of the women on hunger strike has suffered multiple strokes during her incarceration at Adelanto. Instead of receiving proper medical care, she was placed in solitary confinement.

In Red Pairs: Handmaids Are Resisting

June 20, 2017 AbZimet, www.commondreams.org Resist! Congress, Health Care, Legislation, Reproductive Rights, Women

By Abby Zimet for Common Dreams - Women occupying senators' offices Friday aren't alone in resisting the all-male "declaration of war on women" that would be repeal of Obamacare and enactment of a GOP health plan widely blasted as "catastrophic." Getting creative, women from Texas to Ohio have increasingly been protesting assaults on women's health care by dramatically donning red robes and white bonnets to channel Margaret Atwood's dystopian-themed "The Handmaid's Tale," wherein women are forced to bear children in a totalitarian society. Their goal: To remind persistently-backwards-looking conservatives that Atwood's vision of women defined purely by their reproductive capacity is not, in fact, "an instruction manual." Atwood's 1985 novel depicts women stripped of their rights in a theocratic, patriarchal, not-so-distant Gilead - aka America - rendered barren by environmental disaster, where fertile women, or handmaids, must bear the children of regime leaders and are controlled by them. Initially seen as a cautionary tale, the book has seen new life as a hit TV show on Hulu; it gained new resonance when Trump got "elected" in the middle of filming. Atwood has long argued its premise is based on old, real human themes: Historically, she notes, "There is no totalitarianism worth its salt that doesn't try to control women."

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