Women’s Rights

Saskatoon Protesters Rally Against Prime Minister’s Visit

Cheers of protest echoed in the streets out front of Prairieland Park in Saskatoon on Wednesday. Dozens of people holding signs proclaiming their concerns gathered to oppose Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to the city. Harper was there to speak at a Conservative Party event. Many people at the protest were calling for Indigenous sovereignty, while others criticized Canada’s relationship with Israel. Protestor Sungandhi del Canto said Wednesday she shares those concerns and pointed to a number of other issues as well. “Cutting the women’s health contribution plan, the temporary foreign workers program,” del Canto added. ”The fact that he’s slowly erasing all records of feminists from history. The abuses of human rights both within our country and what he’s allowing to happen abroad. It’s horrifying.”

Workers Speak Out Against Work Schedule Abuse And Retaliation

July 26, 2014 Emily Divito, www.ourfuture.org Educate! Labor, Minimum Wage, Women's Rights, Worker's Rights

When American women have no control over their own work schedules, they have no control over their own lives. Mary Coleman of Wisconsin knows this first-hand. She was working the night shift at a Milwaukee Popeye’s restaurant, a time slot notoriously unpopular for its exhausting hours. When she asked her manager for a transfer to the day shift, she was denied, lied to, and then penalized for even asking. Coleman’s manager told her that there were no more shifts available during daylight hours that she could have. But just weeks later, five new employees were hired to Popeye’s, all of whom were given day shifts. Simultaneously, Coleman’s hours were dramatically cut. She now only works two days a week. That is not nearly enough to live on. Coleman expressed her struggles at a Tuesday briefing in the Cannon House Office Building jointly hosted by the Center for Popular Democracy and the National Women’s Law Center. Coleman’s experience is like that of roughly 2.5 million other American women working in low-wage jobs who are at the mercy of their employers for consistent work, and so, for consistent pay.

Stand With Marissa, July 25-August 1

July 24, 2014 Aleta Alston-Toure' and Alisa Bierria, www.freemarissanow.org Resist! Criminal Justice and Prisons, domestic violence, Women's Rights

Free Marissa Now and thousands of Marissa Alexander's supporters around the world are strongly disappointed that the Florida courts on July 18 denied Marissa a fair hearing to support her right to self-defense under Florida's Stand Your Ground laws. Yet again, Florida refuses to free this survivor of domestic violence and undermines women's right to self defense, though it failed to convict two white men for the murder of two innocent black teen boys. It appears that Florida courts place less value on a young black mother's fear in the midst of a life-threatening attack and more value on the anger and unsupported fear of two white men. Nine days after a premature birth, Marissa Alexander harmed no one when she fired a warning shot to stop another life-threatening attack by her estranged husband. She faces possibly sixty years in prison as a result of prosecution by the state of Florida.

Media Decides To Report On Cecily McMillan’s Clothing Choice

July 19, 2014 Inae Oh, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Cecily McMillan, Mass Media, Occupy, Prison, Women's Rights

Cecily McMillan, the 25-year-old Occupy Wall Street activist who was jailed for elbowing a police officer during a protest, returned to court on Thursday, where a cadre of hard-hitting journalists greeted her with questions about her courtroom attire. "My editor told me to ask who you're wearing," a photographer was spotted eagerly asking McMillan, according to The Village Voice. McMillan, who was earlier this month released from Rikers Island -- one of the country's most notoriously violent jails -- explained that although she was free, she no longer felt safe in New York "because I was sexually assaulted and then put in jail for it," according to the Voice. McMillan has alleged from the start that the officer involved in her assault case forcibly grabbed her breast from behind during the protest; after elbowing him, she was promptly arrested and put in jail. Upon hearing her explanation Thursday, a Post reporter responded, "Well, you look fabulous! But you should eat more." The interactions resulted in a blatantly sexist portrayal of McMillan sprinkled with mocking details about her fashion choices -- all of which fail to mention that she was asked such questions by the press. The Daily News went straight to the sartorial details with the headline, "Occupy Wall Street protester wears Calvin Klein to court."

Hobby Lobby Draws Protests Over Recent Supreme Court Ruling

July 11, 2014 Susan Abram, www.dailynews.com Resist! Hobby Lobby, Law, Protesters, Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights

One protester brought a hanger. Another dressed like a vagina. And dozens carried signs to demand that the U.S. government stop the war on women. The graphic costumes, props and banners were part of a demonstration on Monday of about 50 people who marched and chanted outside of a new Hobby Lobby store in Burbank. Protesters said they were angry with last week’s Supreme Court ruling that will allow some for-profit companies with strong religious beliefs such as Hobby Lobby to opt out of covering birth control under the Affordable Care Act. The decision, many said, gives corporations too much power on deciding what women employees can and can’t do with their bodies and it throws reproduction rights far back into the past. Protesters called on customers entering the store to turn around and shop elsewhere. “It’s very obvious that the five males on the Supreme Court want to return to a time when women were barefoot and pregnant,” said Lauren Steiner, who organized the demonstration, and who dressed in pink to mimic a vagina.

First Nation Shines Spotlight On Violence Against Women

July 11, 2014 Johnathan Charlton, www.thestarphoenix.com Organize! Canada, First Nations, Violence, Women's Rights

A vicious attack against Marlene Bird in Prince Albert has spurred her home community, Montreal Lake Cree Nation, to keep the issue of violence against women in the public eye. When events like this happen, they're in the news for a while and then disappear, Chief Edward Henderson said. In August, the First Nation intends to start a fundraising campaign to establish an advocacy group, the Foundation for Aboriginal Women of Canada. Then, in November, it plans to co-host the first Canadian Indigenous Women Conference, which Henderson hopes will have a global reach in years to come. The idea behind the conference and the foundation is to be proactive, rather than reactive, Henderson said. "We're inviting people to come and join us and get it organized. We haven't worked out all the details yet; I know we've got some calls from other organizations that want to get involved, see how we can combine with all the other organizations (on the) nationwide issue of violence against First Nations women."

Cecily McMillan Speaks Out On Abuse Endured During Arrest

July 10, 2014 Kira Brekke, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Cecily McMillan, NYPD, police brutality, Rape Culture, Women's Rights

The Occupy Wall Street protester who was jailed for elbowing an officer in the face was released just last Wednesday, and she is now speaking out about the brutality she faced while incarcerated. Her arrest sparked outrage and for the 58 days that she served, she said she endured serious brutality, including sexual assault: I was locked up, hands and feet with my legs spread open, exposed in a storage closet with bloody rags all around. Officers were using this space to charge their cell phones, coming in and out, talking about how I needed a good hard you-know-what because I was obviously so out of control as a woman. It was not an environment in which I could have said, ‘Hey, you know what, you guys ought to listen to me, I was sexually assaulted by a police officer.'

US Female Justices Issue Fierce Dissent On Contraception Ruling

July 7, 2014 Amanda Holpuch, www.theguardian.com Educate! Law, Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights

The US supreme court late Thursday ruled in favor of a Christian college that believes the contraception mandate of US healthcare law burdens the school, inciting forceful dissent from the three female justices in the nation’s highest court. In an unsigned, provisional order, the court granted a Christian college a temporary exemption from having to provide full contraception coverage to its employees and students as is mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This decision comes days after the court’s 5-4 decision in Burwell v Hobby Lobby, which provided small, for-profit corporations with a similar exemption. The court’s three females justices – Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan – said Thursday’s ruling introduced unnecessary layers of bureaucracy, altered the interpretation of the Hobby Lobby ruling and “undermines confidence in this institution.” “Those who are bound by our decisions usually believe they can take us at our word,” Sotomayor wrote. “Not so today.” Last year, the Obama administration finalized its rules that grant churches an exemption to the mandate under the ACA. These provisions also allows religious nonprofits to request exemption by filing a form to its insurance issuer or third-party administrator.

Decisions Spell Disaster For Working Women

July 2, 2014 Sarah Jaffe, www.inthesetimes.com Educate! Religion, Supreme Court, Women's Rights, Worker's Rights

Retail sales and home healthcare work are two of the three fastest-growing jobs in this country. That’s an important consideration when looking at the decisions the Supreme Court handed down today in Harris v. Quinn and Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services v. Hobby Lobby Stores: If you are not affected by these rulings yet, you well could be in the future. Both 5 – 4 decisions were written by Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative Catholic from New Jersey appointed by George W. Bush, and both rested on narrowly tailored legal arguments that just happen to cut wide enough to impact groups of workers who are almost exclusively female. Harris creates the special designation of “partial public employees” for publicly-funded home healthcare aides who work both for the client and for the state—who are 90 percent female, most of them poor, immigrants, and of color. Hobby Lobby, meanwhile, in deciding whether an employer with religious beliefs can be required to provide health insurance that covers contraception, singles out women by targeting its arguments towards workers who use birth control—but not any other form of healthcare. As Sheila Bapat, author of Part of the Family? Nannies, Housekeepers, Caregivers and the Battle for Domestic Workers' Rights, tweeted, “These decisions speak squarely to the value of women's labor.”

Report: Women Sexually Abused In Prisons

July 2, 2014 Middle East Monitor, www.middleeastmonitor.com Educate! Egypt, Prison, Rape, Women's Rights

YouTube clip from Al-Jazeera entitled: A catastrophic report exposes cases of rape inside military prisons. One girl was raped 14 times. Presenter: The delegation submitted a general report about the violations that took place against Egyptian women since the military coup and until the first of June. The delegation also submitted another detailed report about cases of rape and sexual assault taking place against female detainees inside Egyptian prisons and police stations. The delegation submitted an authenticated report of seven cases of rape of female detainees. The report included a list of the names of detention centres and the names of police officers and individuals accused of raping the women including the cases of two women who were raped 14 times in one day in one of the detention centres belonging to Central Security Forces. One of the female detainees was suspended naked and sexually assaulted and was forced to watch obscene scenes. The delegation, which is composed of the European Coalition for Democracy and Human Rights, called for placing Egyptian women under a special category by the Committee for Women and Children and called for opening an investigation, by a neutral committee, into the violations and for opening the prisons and police station for inspection as well as for making police officers and cadets accountable for their actions.

Working Women Tell Obama: $10.10 Not Enough

June 26, 2014 Emily DiVito, www.ourfuture.org Organize! Barack Obama, Minimum Wage, Protest, Women's Rights

Joanne, a food service worker at the federal Ronald Reagan Building near the White House, took time off from her job Monday to join fellow federal contractor employees at a protest outside the Smithsonian National Zoo. As she explained her monthly budget, it was clear she had nothing much to lose. “I make just around $1,000 a month,” she said, “and I pay $500 for child care, and $250 just to ride the Metro to go to work. After that, I have nothing.” Even with her husband’s support, Joanne said she struggles to get by. Her salary of “$8.90 an hour is not enough,” she said. “I have no insurance, no holidays – nothing. My dream is to go to culinary school, and President Obama, you can help me make my dreams come true.” As a Summit on Working Families was underway at the White House, Joanne was with about 200 other women who work for federal contractors protesting at the Smithsonian National Zoo.

#YesAllWomen Actions Planned In Major Cities

May 31, 2014 Alyssa Figueroa, www.alternet.org Resist! Online Activism, Patriarchy, Women's Rights

In the recent days after the Isla Vista shootings, women have used various social media tactics to raise public consciousness around systematic misogyny — ultimately illustrating that the violence inflicted by Elliot Rodger was not simply the act of a lone madman, but part of the societal oppression they face on a daily basis. Created to show that while ‘not all men’ commit violent acts toward women, all women have experienced violent acts by men, #YesAllWomen has garnered the most attention with more than one million people using the hashtag to share their thoughts and experiences with gendered violence. In addition to #YesAllWomen, a new tumblr page was formed to collect stories of violence inflicted on women who reject sexual advances. Called When Women Refuse, the page shares photos and links to news stories of these women — many of whom are no longer alive to speak for themselves.

Intersectionality Isn’t Just A Win-Win; It’s The Only Way Out

May 28, 2014 Henia Belalia, www.wagingnonviolence.org Strategize! Community, Environment, Indigenous Rights, Intersectionality, Women's Rights

In 2012, the Pachamama Alliance, a U.S.-based organization working in partnership with indigenous Achuar people in Ecuador, published a meme showing two native men discussing a new “scientific discovery”: the fact that our world is deeply interconnected. The joke, of course, is the idea that these scientists could “discover” a concept that is age-old wisdom for indigenous peoples across the world. I was delighted by the two-fold genius of the cartoon, the way it both highlights the importance of understanding the world we live in while pointedly calling out the dangers of cultural and intellectual appropriation. This question of intersectionality isn’t the first time that science is playing catch-up to traditional knowledge, and it won’t be the last. As Pachamama Alliance’s accompanying blog explains: “Scientific research is bringing knowledge of the natural world full circle, offering biological and theoretical authority to the enduring truth of indigenous wisdom.” Yet, among all of these enduring truths, intersectionality is one of the most central. “Perhaps the most universal indigenous perspective is the idea of a world inextricably interconnected, on all levels, and across time,” the Pachamama Alliance wrote.

Latin American Indigenous Women Hold NYC Tribunal

May 28, 2014 Hajer Naili, www.womensenews.org Resist! Indigenous Rights, Latin America, New York City (NYC), Women's Rights

At the tribunal, she calls herself Angelica Narvaez, which is not her real name. She is 17, from Mexico and says she is being bullied at school, being called names. "Indian, short, black and savage," Narvaez told a gathering here last week, with her voice breaking and her translator in tears. "They hit me on my head too," said Narvaez, adding that neither the teachers nor anyone else at the school has done anything to protect her. Across the street from the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, taking place here from May 12 through May 23, indigenous women from Latin America are staging public tribunals to denounce and publicize the violence and discrimination they suffer. Narvaez was one of a dozen indigenous women from Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua who gathered on May 15 at the Church Center for the United Nations to tell their stories and emphasize the lack of response or protection from authorities. "One of the main problems is the type of systems we have," Rose Cunningham told Women's eNews in an interview at the New York event last week. "The justice system doesn't really work for us. We have a lot of discrimination."

‘Ecofeminism’: A Talk About Hard Work And Great Joy

May 26, 2014 Joris Leverink , www.roarmag.org Educate! Environment, Patriarchy, Women's Rights

Maria Mies is a feminist activist scholar who is renowned for her theory of capitalist patriarchy, one which recognizes women and nature as colonies of both systems. She is a professor of sociology at Cologne University of Applied Siences, but retired from teaching in 1993. Since the late 1960s she has been involved with feminist activism. Before she and Vandana Shiva decided to writeEcofeminism together, she had already written Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale, which was published by Zed Books in 1986. She gave Vandana this book when they met around 1990, after which Ecofeminism appeared for the first time in 1993. Maria Mies: "The insight that man’s domination over women parallels that of man’s domination over nature dawned on me when I first began to ask: ‘What is the social origin of the hierarchical relation between men and women?’ I, like most feminists in the years around 1980, were not satisfied with answers like: ‘men are physically stronger than women, therefore women have to be protected by men’, or ‘women have to bear children therefore they are more home-bound, men are more intelligent than women’."

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