tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-379407902024-03-14T00:48:06.575-04:00F-email FightbackHarper’s Conservatives want women to stay home and be quiet. . .
We refuse!Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.comBlogger860125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-12885499388508808712008-04-19T08:43:00.004-04:002008-04-19T08:56:09.328-04:00Thanks for Your Support<div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/SAnqnsZerBI/AAAAAAAACw8/rRBlbXyyHp0/s1600-h/0002a.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190938013175032850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/SAnqnsZerBI/AAAAAAAACw8/rRBlbXyyHp0/s400/0002a.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">F-email Fightback will not be posting any more updates but </div><div align="center">before we move on.....</div><div align="center">we are sending our heartfelt thanks to all of our fans </div><div align="center">over 500 per week</div><div align="center">from all over the world!!!</div><br /><br />It has been fun and we will continue fighting back </div><div align="center">for women's equality </div><div align="center">at every opportunity!<br /><br />The Sisters United - Will Never Be Defeated!<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-36619312351012024662008-04-04T20:47:00.003-04:002008-04-04T20:49:25.222-04:00Friday Fem-toon<div align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_bMTNRGuTI/AAAAAAAACw0/m7Y2CcLy0go/s1600-h/apple.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185556651314690354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_bMTNRGuTI/AAAAAAAACw0/m7Y2CcLy0go/s400/apple.jpg" border="0" /></a>Photo credit: <a href="http://pixdaus.com/single.php?id=36262">Pixdaus<br /></a><br /></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-24421459157909434192008-04-03T18:58:00.002-04:002008-04-03T19:02:53.555-04:00April 2 was International Day for Mine Awareness<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_Vh19RGuSI/AAAAAAAACws/T6udt9NcfZI/s1600-h/misslandmine08.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185158125594261794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_Vh19RGuSI/AAAAAAAACws/T6udt9NcfZI/s400/misslandmine08.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://www.argosy.ca/view.php?aid=40587">Women in Angola</a> have come up with a unique way of celebrating the <a href="http://www.mineaction.org/overview.asp?o=2147">UN International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action </a>while at the same time promoting female and disabled pride and empowerment. Far from your typical North American beauty pageant, <a href="http://www.miss-landmine.org/misslandmine_news.html">Miss Landmine Angola </a>is challenging not only mainstream conceptions of beauty but is also calling on countries to redouble their efforts to eliminate antipersonnel landmines. Canada has an important role to play in this respect, one that up until now has fallen short of our previous commitment to the elimination of landmines. </div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-78638821994140069842008-04-03T18:24:00.004-04:002008-04-03T18:56:42.804-04:00Thursday Fem-links<div align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_VeOdRGuRI/AAAAAAAACwk/9bujK_BT34k/s1600-h/menopause.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5185154148454545682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_VeOdRGuRI/AAAAAAAACwk/9bujK_BT34k/s400/menopause.jpg" border="0" /></a> Photo Credit: <a href="http://multimedia.thestar.com/images/90/d9/581b177c48f3a276fb8c7dbd8d67.jpeg">Fanning The Flames of Menopause<br /></a><p></p><br /><ul><li><div align="left"><a href="http://www.thestar.com/living/article/407651">Menopause</a> - Long a taboo subject that was acknowledged only with humour 20 years ago, open debate about the life stage now rages </div></li><li><div align="left">The Canadian Labour Congress <a href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpposted/archive/2008/04/01/april-fools-gag-from-the-canadian-labour-congress.aspx">issued a statement on April Fools Day</a> praising the federal government for cutting taxes on women to compensate for the estimated wage gap between women and men. </div></li><li><div align="left"><a href="http://www.caledoncitizen.com/news/2008/0403/Front_page/003.html">Neighbours, Friends and Families campaign</a> launched in Caledon Ontario to tackle domestic violence </div></li><li><div align="left">Canada's national group Egale is spending a lot of its energy these days working to <a href="http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=1&STORY_ID=4577&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=7">help Jamaican gays and lesbians </a>(asking for censorship)</div></li><li><div align="left">About a dozen members of a University of <a href="http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=f41ae88c-42c9-41e5-8693-2aece9666b06">Calgary pro-life group </a>defied administration Tuesday by erecting a controversial and graphic anti-abortion display in the heart of the campus.</div></li><li><div align="left">The first principle of ecology -- that everything is connected -- helps us understand why there are links between apparently disconnected things, like <a href="http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/arts/story.html?id=7193ade9-1087-4cbf-b201-b927b91bda2b">the status of women and environmental sustainability.</a></div></li><li><div align="left">Despite reports of its demise, <a href="http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/266">the gap in wage equality </a>between New York men and women is still very much alive, reports the director of The Howard Samuels Center.</div></li></ul></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-54635404503895978842008-03-30T18:11:00.003-04:002008-03-30T19:28:41.327-04:00Veil Talk: Examining the Many Facets.<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_AiB9RGuQI/AAAAAAAACwc/kxjkFeAPxio/s1600-h/aversion1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183680588124961026" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_AiB9RGuQI/AAAAAAAACwc/kxjkFeAPxio/s400/aversion1.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.femilicious.com/blog/2008/03/18/i-will-teach-you/">Femilicious</a> attended a talk that was held at the University of Windsor with <a href="http://www.wlu.ca/homepage.php?grp_id=103&ct_id=51&f_id=35">Dr. Shahnaz Khan</a> entitled: <em><strong>Veil Talk: Examining the Many Facets. </strong></em><br /><br /><div><div></div><div>Dr. Khan is the author of <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&id=aOLoTjrDdzwC&dq=shahnaz+khan&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=TYPDWxsvIH&sig=jbV38HIEBN26wly7n9-81FB6WsM">Aversion and Desire; Negotiating Muslim Female Identity in the Diaspora</a> where she presents the voices of Muslim women on how they construct and sustain their Islamic identity. Khan interviewed fourteen Muslim women about their sense of power, authenticity and place. Her <a href="http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.cgi?path=158441035220973">critical analysis</a> challenges the Western perception of Islam as monolithic and static.</div><br /><div>Dr. Khan is also a professor in Global Studies and Women’s Studies at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.<br /><br />Her website on Zina Laws can be found at <a href="http://zinalaws.tripod.com/ZinaLaws/">http://zinalaws.tripod.com/ZinaLaws/</a></div></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-76249822578955887222008-03-30T18:07:00.003-04:002008-03-30T18:09:21.780-04:00National Organization For Men?<div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_APRdRGuOI/AAAAAAAACwM/SmA9DkAOG40/s1600-h/mens+org.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183659963692005602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_APRdRGuOI/AAAAAAAACwM/SmA9DkAOG40/s400/mens+org.JPG" border="0" /></a> Cartoon Credit: <a href="http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/032108/national-organization-for-men.gif">Toothpaste for Dinner</a> </div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-75099263648836466492008-03-30T17:47:00.006-04:002008-03-30T17:56:08.634-04:00A Must See - The Shape of Water - now available on DVD!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_ALFdRGuNI/AAAAAAAACwE/aUUqdkE9-fw/s1600-h/water1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183655359487064274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_ALFdRGuNI/AAAAAAAACwE/aUUqdkE9-fw/s400/water1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R_AK9dRGuMI/AAAAAAAACv8/n3o7jwBJfNM/s1600-h/water1.JPG"></a>In an intimate encounter with five very different women in Brazil, India, Jerusalem, and Senegal (narrated by Susan Sarandon with introductory narration co-written by Edwidge Danticat) <a href="http://www.theshapeofwatermovie.com/index.html">THE SHAPE OF WATER</a> offers a close look at the far reaching and vibrant alternatives crafted by women in response to environmental degradation, archaic traditions, lack of economic independence and war.<br /><br />The documentary weaves together the daily life stories of Khady, Bilkusben, Oraiza, Dona Antonia, and Gila who, through candor and humor, infuse their communities with a passion for change. <br /><br />The women:<br /><ul><li>spearhead rainforest preservation (women working as rubber-tappers in the Brazilian rainforest); </li><li>sustain a vast co-operative of rural women (India: SEWA: the largest trades union in the world with 700,000 members); </li><li>promote an end to female genital cutting (FGC) (Senegal: communities abandoning FGC);</li><li>strengthen opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestine (Women in Black in Jerusalem);</li><li>maintain a farm, Navdanya (in the foothills of the Himalayas) to further economic independence and biodiversity by preserving women’s role as seed keepers. </li></ul><p>By revealing the women’s revolutionary actions THE SHAPE OF WATER offers a unique view of the complex realities faced by these unsung visionaries creating a more just world.</p>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-35893155961595480622008-03-29T08:14:00.007-04:002008-03-29T09:48:44.955-04:00Weekend Fem-links<div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-4-rdRGuLI/AAAAAAAACv0/dD9eqK6IQMs/s1600-h/Banksy_main.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183149137461688498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-4-rdRGuLI/AAAAAAAACv0/dD9eqK6IQMs/s400/Banksy_main.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong><span style="font-size:78%;"> Photo Credit: </span></strong><a href="http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/76/Banksy_Bombs.html"><strong><span style="font-size:78%;">Banksy Bombs</span></strong><br /></a><p></p><br /><ul><br /><li><div align="left"><a href="http://www.thestar.com/living/article/351038">Gender studies missing</a> from high school despite <a href="http://www.thefreeradical.ca/Federal_election_fact_sheet_Bill_C254.htm">alarming rates </a>of sexual harassment and sexual assault of girls in Ontario</div></li><li><div align="left">Investment banker’s study says <a href="http://www.fafia-afai.org/en/employing_more_women_helps_economy_work">making it easier for women to enter paid workforce </a>would solve many difficult social problems</div></li><li><div align="left">Over the past 10 years, the <a href="http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=114903&AA_EX_Session=2d0d0503d69a6c108b5145b91ca406a4">proportion of mothers who work part-time in Canada </a>has dropped and the number who work full-time has increased.</div></li><li><div align="left"><a href="http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=115173">Colloquium featuring Martha Friendly and Linda White </a>discussing early childhood education and care in Canada is available online for viewing.</div></li><li><div align="left">Australian social policy expert <a href="http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=115175&AA_EX_Session=99357a7c18ffa9bfab0f1b0d0437fb2b">Deborah Brennan tours Canada</a>. It's interesting to note that in Australia, the <a href="http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=115169">stay-at-home dad is, if not a myth, at least a rarity</a>, as workforce statistics show women continue to shoulder the burden of child care in the home.</div></li><li><div align="left">The <a href="http://www.femaleeyefilmfestival.com/">Female Eye Film Festival </a>now running to March 30th in Toronto.</div></li><li><div align="left">Women’s advocacy organizations are once again gearing up for <a href="http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=8163">Edmonton’s annual Take Back the Night march</a></div></li><li><div align="left">In New Brunswick some <a href="http://www.acswcccf.nb.ca/english/documents/Child%20support%20enforcement%20FINAL.pdf">18% of all child support payments </a>due through family court were not collected in 2006-2007. That represents about $9.5 million dollars...</div></li><li><div align="left">The <a href="http://www.silentwitness.ca/content/map.asp?langid=1&divno=0">N.B. Silent Witness Project</a>, the first in Canada, launched in 2002, commemorates women killed in acts of domestic homicide since 1990, promoting awareness of family violence</div></li><li><div align="left"><a href="http://www.appointments-nominations.gc.ca/prsnt.asp?page=gicgd&lang=eng">Women Need Apply</a> - The Canadian federal government appoints hundreds to boards and commissions and they want more women to apply. </div></li><li><div align="left">Alternet writes about making <a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/80617/">connections between feminism and prison abolishionism</a></div></li><li><div align="left">Studies indicating that women are more prone to depression than men: <a href="http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/women-more-prone-to-depression-than-men-its-not-the-fault-of-feminism/">it’s NOT the fault of feminism</a></div></li><li><div align="left">On pregnancy discrimination in the U.S. "Pregnancy-bias surged 14% last year, up 40% from a decade ago and the biggest annual increase in 13 years," <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120657740153967147.html" target="_blank">reports the Wall Street Journal</a>.</div></li><li><div align="left">A new study finds that women who describe themselves as feminists are more forgiving than other women when assessing the attractiveness of women who are either very underweight or very heavy," <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/health/research/25perc.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin" target="_blank">reports The New York Times</a>. (You'll <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B75DB-4RV1JJS-1&_user=10&_coverDate=02%2F14%2F2008&_alid=713764172&_rdoc=1&_fmt=summary&_orig=search&_cdi=13034&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=3&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=e50a3854ae14b21d63c1bc87aa929f70" target="_blank">find the study</a> in the journal Body Image; here are some <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleListURL&_method=list&_ArticleListID=713764172&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=2d093539af43a952abbb31b2d16695a6" target="_blank">previous studies</a> on feminism and body image.)</div></li><li><div align="left">R<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN0622290520080310" target="_blank">ecent headlines</a> proclaim that "workplace bullying worse than sexual harassment." based on Canadian research </div></li></ul></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-4550605505103182362008-03-29T07:51:00.002-04:002008-03-29T08:03:35.970-04:002008 Report Card on Status of Women in New Brunswick<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-4v9tRGuKI/AAAAAAAACvs/L-PelDINkMw/s1600-h/NB2008.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183132958319884450" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-4v9tRGuKI/AAAAAAAACvs/L-PelDINkMw/s320/NB2008.JPG" border="0" /></a>When it comes to the numbers on violence against women, <a href="http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/251031">there's plenty to be alarmed about.</a><br /><div></div><br /><div>Almost four in 10 adult offenders convicted of sexual assault in New Brunswick were given conditional sentences in 2005-2006. The rate for Canada was less than two in 10.</div><br /><div></div><div>Conditional sentences were not as popular for other violent crimes -- it was given to one in 10 adult offenders in our province, one in 20 nationally.</div><br /><div></div><div>It is one of the more startling statistics in the <a href="http://www.acswcccf.nb.ca/english/documents/report%20card%202008.pdf">2008 Report Card on the Status of Women </a>in New Brunswick published this month by the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women.</div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-91257656398360067042008-03-29T06:18:00.004-04:002008-03-29T17:08:24.985-04:00Art: Women, power and humour<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-4mRNRGuJI/AAAAAAAACvk/rrh6zP245bk/s1600-h/mars_gallery_large1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183122298211055762" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-4mRNRGuJI/AAAAAAAACvk/rrh6zP245bk/s320/mars_gallery_large1.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.ccca.ca/artists/artist_info.html?link_id=1066">Tanya Mars</a>, a senior lecturer and program supervisor in visual and performing arts in the Department of Humanities at U of T Scarborough, is among the six winners of this year’s prestigious <a href="http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin8/080328-158.asp">Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts </a>given for artistic achievement. The awards were announced by the Canada Council for the Arts March 25.<br /><div></div><br /><div>Cited as one of Canada’s most innovative multidisciplinary artists, <a href="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/popculture/story.html?id=40eadcd2-d75a-4908-ab4c-99a13449d53c">Mars has been active </a>in the Canadian alternative art scene since the early 1970s. Her <a href="http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prix/ggavam/2008/er128502365571629480.htm">dramatic, humorous and satirical works </a>-- ranging from performance through to sculpture and video -- have influenced an entire generation of artists in a career spanning some 30 years. She is a mentor to many emerging artists as an artist, teacher, curator and editor. </div><div><br /><blockquote><p>“My main interest is to make narratives that put women at the centre as opposed to the periphery. I’m trying to create images, strong images and positive images, of women,” she said in describing her work. “I feel very strongly about being recognized as a feminist, I’m not ashamed of being a feminist and I’m not buying into the backlash of anti-feminism. I think I’ll beat the feminist drum until the day I die. While some of my work my work may not be directly didactic or directly about feminism, I think it is always about making strong images about women.” But she added, “I like to have a healthy dash of humour. So I like to poke fun at my own political dogma and I think it’s important to laugh at yourself. <strong>If there were three words that would summarize my interests they would be women, power and humour.”</strong><br /></p></blockquote></div><div>Her works include <a href="http://sputnik.sheridanc.on.ca/c/performance_artists/m/mars/mars_perf2/pages/DSCN8539.html">Tyranny of Bliss</a> and In Pursuit of Happiness, which has toured Canada and Hot, a performance piece that reflects on middle age. She also edited art magazine Parallelogramme from 1976 to 1989 and is co-editor of <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=8pwUB_Mqn6YC">Caught in the Act: An Anthology of Performance Art by Canadian Women.</a></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-19176424937585897912008-03-26T22:29:00.002-04:002008-03-26T22:34:32.219-04:00Dreaming of Spring......<div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-sHAdRGuII/AAAAAAAACvE/YZQra53hQCg/s1600-h/knuttz_ueba_31.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182243500657653890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-sHAdRGuII/AAAAAAAACvE/YZQra53hQCg/s400/knuttz_ueba_31.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"> Photo Credit: </span><a href="http://knuttz.net/"><span style="font-size:78%;">It's Knuttz</span></a></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-50001946791343669622008-03-26T21:44:00.002-04:002008-03-26T21:47:40.995-04:00Tibet<div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-r8HdRGuGI/AAAAAAAACu0/vMxtFcXOrM0/s1600-h/tibet1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182231526288832610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-r8HdRGuGI/AAAAAAAACu0/vMxtFcXOrM0/s400/tibet1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-r8OdRGuHI/AAAAAAAACu8/uOEhVqzAnjs/s1600-h/tibet.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182231646547916914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-r8OdRGuHI/AAAAAAAACu8/uOEhVqzAnjs/s400/tibet.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-53291309721602774332008-03-24T12:12:00.006-04:002008-03-24T13:42:29.214-04:00Water, Sanitation and Eco-feminist Action in the 21st Century<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-fXitRGuFI/AAAAAAAACus/MosyWVBxDLg/s1600-h/toilet.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181346887579908178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-fXitRGuFI/AAAAAAAACus/MosyWVBxDLg/s400/toilet.JPG" border="0" /></a>I missed posting about <a href="http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/flashindex.html">International Water Day</a> on March 22 but it's not too late to take part in an <a href="http://www.righttowater.ca/WorldWaterDay">online action </a>to tell PM Harper <strong>'Water is for people, not profit'</strong> (in case you haven't heard, the "new government" is <a href="http://www.thestar.com/News/article/349539">quietly negotiating away rights to our water</a>)<br /><br />This year, World Water Day also coincides with the International Year of Sanitation. There is a <a href="http://www.unwater.org/downloads/unwpolbrief230606.pdf">gender aspect to the issue of water and sanitation</a> in large part - thanks to <a href="http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2008/03/04/1648/">Eco-feminist Action in the 21st Century</a><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Why Care About Water and Sanitation?</span></strong><br /><ul><li>More than one billion people in the world do not have clean drinking water. </li><li>Lack of sanitation is a crisis affecting more than one out of three people on the planet </li><li>Every 20 seconds, somewhere in the world, a child dies due to poor sanitation conditions</li><li>Women suffer most from inadequate sanitation. Journeys to defecate in fields or forests, or even to public latrines, can be dangerous. </li></ul><div align="center"> <em><strong>"...Women play a central role </strong></em></div><div align="center"><em><strong>in the provision, management, and safeguarding of water ...." </strong></em></div><em></em><br /><em>"This is one of the four internationally accepted principles of water management. This principle is especially important for the <a href="http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~siah/2007Fall/ER201/Readings/Week5/Ray_2007_ARER.pdf">developing world </a>where millions of women lack access to water for their basic needs. "</em>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-12115461095050383262008-03-24T09:46:00.014-04:002008-03-24T11:49:00.878-04:00Sinapalooza '08 - Vatican adds to list of sins<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-fIRdRGuEI/AAAAAAAACuk/e1sDn9eBtoQ/s1600-h/bless2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181330098552748098" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-fIRdRGuEI/AAAAAAAACuk/e1sDn9eBtoQ/s400/bless2.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/03/19/notes031908.DTL">This just in:</a> <em>If you're an obscenely wealthy drug-dealing pedophile stem-cell researcher who drives a Hummer and doesn't recycle, you are totally going to hell.</em> <strong>Oh please, like you didn't already know.<br /></strong><br />The Big Book o' Deadly Sins apparently has <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aizloDFbRPRM&refer=uk" target="_blank">a whole new addendum</a> and it looks like it ain't just gluttony and lust and murder and hot porn and witchcraft .... <a href="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/preview/story.html?id=db84b113-e3cd-4869-bd3b-a534144edec4">The pope and his posse</a> - or, rather, the Vatican's second in command on matters of hell and penance, Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti - have announced seven new deadly sins for a brave new world.<br /><br />We can only applaud the Vatican for its efforts to uphold and reinforce global ethical standards with numbers 4 to 7:<br /><br />4. Polluting the environment<br />5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor<br />6. Excessive wealth<br />7. Creating poverty<br /><br />I, no doubt, will be found guilty of 4 and 5 above. Especially at points in my life when, in youthful ignorance, I bought into the media messages to "buy and consume". Efforts to reform myself later in life will likely not absolve me from <a href="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/preview/story.html?id=db84b113-e3cd-4869-bd3b-a534144edec4">going straight to hell in what will be an increasingly crowded handbasket</a>.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">There are some sins that are still missing:</span></strong><br /><br />Note to the Vatican: You want more true sins? Here are a few on my list:<br /><br /><ul><li>Lying to women is a sin. So is oppression, repression and exclusion of women</li><li>Pathological hypocrisy is a sin. </li><li>Half a billion dollars in pedophilia lawsuit payouts is a sin. </li><li>Homophobia is a sin.</li><li>Annihilation of aboriginal cultures is a sin</li><li>The <a href="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/preview/story.html?id=db84b113-e3cd-4869-bd3b-a534144edec4">"makeover" culture</a> is a sin (making over our bodies, our faces, our hair, our wardrobes, our teeth, our outlooks, our homes, our closets, our pets and our spouses.)</li></ul>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-67886830886619561642008-03-24T09:23:00.002-04:002008-03-24T09:36:23.665-04:00No Laughing Matter - Margaret Mitchell<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-erp9RGuCI/AAAAAAAACuU/0B9HZO-ErAg/s1600-h/mitchell.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181298633622337570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-erp9RGuCI/AAAAAAAACuU/0B9HZO-ErAg/s400/mitchell.jpg" border="0" /></a>The woman who first brought the issue of spousal abuse to the forefront in Canada presents her memoirs<br /><br />When <a href="http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=9d69745b-8817-43e9-9c3e-e36857504619&p=1">Margaret arrived in Ottawa in 1979</a> she was shocked at the male-dominated culture. Fortunately her leader, Ed Broadbent, was a feminist convert, and most of her caucus members were sensitized to women's rights.<br /><br />An incident in the spring of 1982 brought spousal abuse to the forefront of Parliament and the nation as a whole. Many male Members of Parliament responded callously to my statement that one in ten Canadian women was subjected to spousal abuse. Television cameras captured their outrageous behaviour and my furious response<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rabble.ca/reviews/review.shtml?x=67781">As Mitchell tells it, </a><br /><em>"On May 12th I rose in the House to raise the urgent need for government action on a serious and widespread issue. 'The parliamentary report on battered wives states that one in ten Canadian husbands beat their wives regularly,' I began. Before I could continue, an uproar of male shouts and laughter erupted, making it impossible for me to be heard. A nearby Tory joked, 'I don't beat my wife. Do you, George?' When the Speaker finally got order, I rose again in fury. 'Madam Speaker, I do not think this is a laughing matter. What action will the Minister responsible for the Status of Women undertake immediately at the federal level to protect battered women?'"</em><br /><em></em><br />LINK: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSP44_cJk48&feature=related">YouTube</a> - Margaret Mitchell a Champion for Head Tax FamiliesCindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-70809550395383403952008-03-21T08:52:00.004-04:002008-03-21T09:34:48.697-04:00March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racism<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-OydNRGuBI/AAAAAAAACuM/uxks08S2bLo/s1600-h/equality2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5180180211253557266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-OydNRGuBI/AAAAAAAACuM/uxks08S2bLo/s400/equality2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Since 1966, the 21st of March has been recognized by the United Nations as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. </div><br /><div></div><div>The day was chosen by the General Assembly of the United Nations to commemorate the March 21st, 1960 massacre of 69 young students who were demonstrating peacefully in Sharpeville, South Africa, against the apartheid "pass laws".</div><br /><div></div><div><a href="http://www.psacbc.com/2008/03/20/march-21-is-international-day-for-the-elimination-of-racial-discrimination-2/">A further look at the Harper government’s record on human rights and equality </a>makes it obvious that the Conservatives have no interest in fighting racism and discrimination.<br /></div><div>In two years of government under the Conservative Party, it has: </div><ul><li>eliminated the Court Challenges Program, </li><li>eliminated the Law Reform Commission, </li><li>scrapped valuable literacy and equity programming to communities, including Aboriginal communities, </li><li>reduced social development programs under the Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), </li><li>reduced programs that facilitate cultural awareness under Multiculturalism, </li><li>refused to recognize Aboriginal rights in Canada and in the international forum</li><li><a href="http://www.cupw.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/10578/la_id/1.htm">AND..</a></li><li>Refused to sign the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; </li><li>Refused to sign the Optional protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; </li><li>Refused to implement the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which called for stronger measures to eliminate poverty and fight violence. </li><li>Adopted policies that promote racial profiling by introducing a no-fly list, security certificates and border controls, and by intensifying the removal of refugee claimants. </li></ul><p>Today, <a href="http://canadianlabour.ca/index.php/security_and_racial_/1352">workers still see the pernicious face of racism on the job, in their communities and in government policies</a>. Recent polls show that as many as 1 in 5 workers feel their employment rights are violated due to racism</p><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Prejudice is the child of ignorance. </span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">~ William Haslitt</p><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Education is the most powerful weapon </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">which you can use to change the world. </span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">~ Nelson Mandela</p><p align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. </span></strong><br /></p><p align="center">~ M.L.King</p>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-74131845951408607762008-03-20T20:57:00.002-04:002008-03-20T21:01:16.507-04:00An Open Letter to All Feminists: Support Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim Women.<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-MIrNRGuAI/AAAAAAAACuE/Gy7Oc7zxpOY/s1600-h/open.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5179993534795003906" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R-MIrNRGuAI/AAAAAAAACuE/Gy7Oc7zxpOY/s200/open.jpg" border="0" /></a>Western feminists talk about honor killings and the misogyny of Islam, but hypocritically ignore the legal violence of military occupation.<br /><br /><div><blockquote>As feminists and people of conscience, we call for solidarity with Palestinian women in Gaza suffering due to the escalating military attacks that Israel turned into an open war on civilians. This war has targeted women and children,<br />and all those who live under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, and are also denied the right to freedom of movement, health, and education.<br /><br />We stand in solidarity with Iraqi women whose daughters, sisters, brothers, or sons have been abused, tortured, and raped in U.S. prisons such as Abu Ghraib. Women in Iraq continue to live under a U.S. occupation that has devastated families and homes, and are experiencing a rise in religious extremism and restrictions on their freedom that were unheard of before the U.S. invasion, "Operation Iraqi Freedom," in 2003.<br /><br />At this moment in Afghanistan, women are living with the return of the Taliban and other misogynistic groups such as the Northern Alliance, a U.S. ally, and with the violence of continuing U.S. and NATO attacks on civilians, despite the U.S. war to "liberate" Afghan women in 2001.<br /><br /></blockquote><br />Full story:<a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/80131/"> AlterNet</a></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-10863732439661739842008-03-17T18:20:00.003-04:002008-03-17T18:31:47.067-04:00Nunavut women's groups outraged by cabinet appointment - Human Resources Minister Levi Barnabas convicted of sexual assault in 2000<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R97w2tnylQI/AAAAAAAACt8/YH7_lz_Wu9Y/s1600-h/qikiqtani.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178841444272739586" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R97w2tnylQI/AAAAAAAACt8/YH7_lz_Wu9Y/s320/qikiqtani.JPG" border="0" /></a>Women's groups in Nunavut say they are outraged that Levi Barnabas, an MLA convicted eight years ago of sexual assault, was named to cabinet last week.<br /><br />Barnabas, who represents the High Arctic riding of Quttiktuq, was acclaimed Thursday to fill a cabinet seat vacated by Baker Lake MLA and former finance minister David Simailak.<br /><br />Premier Paul Okalik has assigned Barnabas the human resources portfolio, as well as made him minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board.<br /><br />The one-time Speaker of the house resigned in 2000 after he pleaded guilty to sexual assault. He was re-elected in 2004.<br /><br />"I want to see him stepping down and just be a regular MLA," Mary Akpalialuk, the women's co-ordinator with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, told CBC News on Friday.<br /><br />"It disgusts me when [an] offender like that becomes a minister."<br /><br />Akpalialuk said she is tired of seeing some male MLAs out drinking and womanizing in Iqaluit, when they are supposed to be role models.<br /><br />Okalik defended his newest minister, saying it's a free society and Barnabas deserves another chance.<br /><br />"Mr. Barnabas has served his time for the crime and also been elected by his constituents, who believe that he had cleaned up his act," Okalik said.<br /><br />LINK: <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/03/17/barnabas-reax.html">CBC</a>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-39014163144214887342008-03-15T11:23:00.002-04:002008-03-15T11:48:41.244-04:00Child Care Loses the Game of Fiscal Choices Again<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9vvstnylOI/AAAAAAAACts/APfgCAfT37Y/s1600-h/dollar1.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177995748032287970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9vvstnylOI/AAAAAAAACts/APfgCAfT37Y/s400/dollar1.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Canada's children <a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2008/27/c6766.html">barely got a mention in this year's Conservative budget </a>which was noteworthy for its dearth of recognition that Canadians need and value social programs. </div><br /><div></div><div>Almost 800,000 children in Canada live in poverty. Canada lags behind its peer nations in early childhood education and child care with fewer than 20% of those 0-12 years old able to access regulated child care services. </div><br /><div></div><div><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">OECD Report - Starting Strong II</span></strong></div><br /><div></div><div>The <a href="http://www.oecd.org/document/56/0,3343,en_2649_39263231_37416703_1_1_1_1,00.html">2006 OECD report, entitled Starting Strong II</a>, found <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/16/44/37423348.pdf">Canada spending less </a>on early childhood education and care than its European counterparts, and lacking in national co-ordination. </div><br /><div></div><div>The <a href="http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/february/20/canada_lagging_funding/">study placed Canada last among 14 nations</a>, with total expenditures around 0.25 per cent of GDP on education for 0-6-year-olds. This is far behind Nordic countries like countries like Norway, Denmark and Sweden, who all spent over 1.5 per cent of GDP educating the very young, with excellent results. </div><br /><div></div><div>The Federal Department of Finance has used OECD comparisons to call for more debt reduction but has not chosen to pay heed to the OECD's warnings about the consequences of ignoring early learning and child care nor to its recommendations to Canada calling for substantial increases in public spending.</div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-69792812323550601192008-03-15T10:28:00.005-04:002008-03-15T10:51:26.669-04:00Masculinist loses defamation suit against "feminist radicals"<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9viCdnylNI/AAAAAAAACtk/9PeK_VdyzDo/s1600-h/get+the+hint+2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177980728531653842" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9viCdnylNI/AAAAAAAACtk/9PeK_VdyzDo/s320/get+the+hint+2.JPG" border="0" /></a>F-email Fightback has <a href="http://cupwsisters.blogspot.com/2007/04/masculinists-takes-direct-aim-at.html">written previously </a>about the British Columbia Supreme Court challenge where Fathers Rights Activist Ken Wiebe went to trial in his legal suit against "radical feminists" within Status of Women Canada and the Federal Minister responsible for SWC<br /><br />Well, <a href="http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=60a4636d-d809-4579-be24-6a811cdc6a3e">he lost his defamation suit </a>over a report he said portrayed him as "hate-monger."<br /><br />Wiebe's name, along with a link to his website www.fathers.bc.ca, appeared in a 145-page research paper titled <a href="http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/pubs/pubspr/0662882857/index_e.html">School Success by Gender: A Catalyst for the Masculinist Discourse</a>, Policy Research.<br /><br />The report, originally printed in French in 2003 and later translated into English, was funded by Status of Women Canada, a federal agency.<br /><br />In his statement of claim, Wiebe listed various examples from the report which he said identified him "as a hate-monger and a danger to women" associated him "with racists, extremists, pedophiles, pornographers and terrorists" and asserted he had "committed criminal offences."<br /><br />Wiebe also said he thinks the report likely cost him a government contract.<br /><br />One of the examples Wiebe cited was a <a href="http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/images/pubs/0662882857/get_the_hint.gif">cartoon pulled from his website </a>with a swastika with the bars altered to look like Fs atop a baby gesturing with its middle finger captioned: "We are all tired of feminaziism. So stop it, OK?"Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-30551052215942733572008-03-15T09:53:00.003-04:002008-03-15T10:20:34.450-04:00How oil keeps women oppressed and isolated<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9vbDtnylLI/AAAAAAAACtU/EincGDu70r0/s1600-h/oil1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177973053425095858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9vbDtnylLI/AAAAAAAACtU/EincGDu70r0/s400/oil1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>TorStar writes:......<a href="http://www.thestar.com/living/article/345823">it's not the imams who are keeping women burqa-bound.<br /></a></div><br /><div>It's a chain of conditions that goes like this: the larger the country's oil revenues, the greater the influx of foreign currency. The greater the influx of foreign currency, the more imports there are. The more imports, the smaller the domestic manufacturing sector.<br /></div><br /><div>And it's those low-level, low-paying manufacturing jobs – in textiles, for example – that give women a way to obtain their own money, independence, networks and, most important, political clout.<br /></div><br /><div>It's not unlike what happened here in the late 1800s, when women ran most of the sewing machines in the factories. They started to get into schools, unions, political groups and, eventually, pushed for the vote.<br /></div><br /><div>But, without jobs, women are isolated, with no money, and easily cowed by patriarchal ideas of their place in society.</div><div></div><br /><div>That's all according to a provocative new paper by Michael Ross, chair of the International Development Studies program at UCLA.<br /></div><br /><div>His <a href="http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/ross/Oil%20Islam%20and%20Women%20v5.pdf">Oil, Islam and Women</a>, published in last month's American Political Science Review, takes a sweeping look at all the political and economic variables in oil-producing nations and comes up with one aha! kind of hypothesis.</div><div><br /><blockquote>Women have made less progress towards gender equality in the Middle East than in any other region. Many observers claim this is due to the region’s Islamic traditions. I present evidence that oil, not Islam, is at fault; and that oil production has caused women to lag behind in many other countries. Oil production reduces the number of women in the labor force, which in turn reduces their political influence. As a result, oil-producing states are left with atypically strong patriarchal norms, laws, and political institutions. I illustrate this argument with global data on oil production, female work patterns, and female political representation, and by comparing oil-rich Algeria to oil-poor Morocco and Tunisia. This argument has implications for the study of the Middle East, Islamic culture, the resource curse, and economic development.<br /></blockquote></div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-5685256414035228952008-03-15T08:09:00.000-04:002008-03-15T12:42:28.549-04:00Weekend Fem-links<div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9v3nNnylPI/AAAAAAAACt0/71LFApYeKu0/s1600-h/c8c674bdd1bc4ff326362a1ccbb24f734336f0ce_m.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178004449636029682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9v3nNnylPI/AAAAAAAACt0/71LFApYeKu0/s400/c8c674bdd1bc4ff326362a1ccbb24f734336f0ce_m.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><p></p><span style="font-size:78%;">Photo Credit:<a href="http://ffffound.com/"> ffffound</a></span><br /><strong><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/70488/">Born to Shop</a>: How Marketers Brainwash Babies</strong><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">"<a href="http://www.namedevelopment.com/blog/archives/2007/11/brand_recogniti.html">Brand Recognition in the Womb?<br />Why would they put SpongeBob on that macaroni and cheese?"<br /><a href="http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/marketers_target_kids.cfm">How Marketers Target Kids</a></span></a><br /></div><p align="left"><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">More Fem-Links</span></strong><br /></p><ul><li><div align="left">One of the chief underlying causes of domestic abuse of women by men remains unaddressed - after years of awareness and continuing social activism. We are referring, of course, to the <a href="http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=943192">discrepancy that continues </a>to exist between the wage of the average working man and the average working woman.</div></li><li><div align="left">PSAC to <a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2008/14/c4126.html">appeal Federal Court pay equity decision</a>......this complaint is at the quarter-century mark </div></li><li><div align="left">The Canadian Museum for Human Rights was brought one step closer to reality yesterday, but a <a href="http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=1&STORY_ID=4512&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=1">rightwing group is up in arms to stop the museum from "championing" homosexuality.</a> REAL Women of Canada sent an action alert to its members about the museum last month. The group calls on its members to flood the museum's <a href="http://survey.pch.gc.ca/perseus/se.ashx?s=0B880FDE7BED32DE&c=en-US" target="_blank">online public consultation process</a> with conservative input.</div></li><li><div align="left">Glenise Levendal is ready to return to South Africa, satisfied she’s made an impact.<br />The women’s rights advocate is concluding two weeks of talks, meetings, presentations and handshakes in Atlantic Canada, cheering women and <a href="http://thechronicleherald.ca/Columnists/1043558.html">their efforts for gender equality and women’s rights.</a></div></li><li><div align="left">With spring fast approaching it will soon be time for our farming families to begin another planting season. Unfortunately, <a href="http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=943808">on most farms</a>, parents have poor or no access to subsidized, affordable, seasonally available child-care options.</div></li><li><div align="left">Canon Linda Church is now in Canada as part of a pioneering investigation of women in church leadership. <a href="http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/hucknall/Globetrotting-rector-in-Canada.3877190.jp">Feminist theology</a> is developing new understandings on the role of women in the church. </div></li></ul><ul></ul>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-57141715964236056622008-03-13T20:31:00.003-04:002008-03-13T20:51:00.667-04:0010 of the worst countries in the world to be a woman today:<ul><li><strong>Afghanistan:</strong> The average Afghan girl will live to only 45 – one year less than an Afghan male. After three decades of war and religion-based repression, an overwhelming number of women are illiterate. More than half of all brides are under 16, and one woman dies in childbirth every half hour. Domestic violence is so common that 87 per cent of women admit to experiencing it. But more than one million widows are on the streets, often forced into prostitution. Afghanistan is the only country in which the female suicide rate is higher than that of males.</li><li><strong>Democratic Republic of Congo:</strong> In the eastern DRC, a war that claimed more than 3 million lives has ignited again, with women on the front line. Rapes are so brutal and systematic that UN investigators have called them unprecedented. Many victims die; others are infected with HIV and left to look after children alone. Foraging for food and water exposes women to yet more violence. Without money, transport or connections, they have no way of escape.</li><li><strong>Iraq:</strong> The U.S.-led invasion to “liberate” Iraq from Saddam Hussein has imprisoned women in an inferno of sectarian violence that targets women and girls. The literacy rate, once the highest in the Arab world, is now among the lowest as families fear risking kidnapping and rape by sending girls to school. Women who once went out to work stay home. Meanwhile, more than 1 million women have been displaced from their homes, and millions more are unable to earn enough to eat.</li><li><strong>Nepal:</strong> Early marriage and childbirth exhaust the country’s malnourished women, and one in 24 will die in pregnancy or childbirth. Daughters who aren’t married off may be sold to traffickers before they reach their teens. Widows face extreme abuse and discrimination if they’re labelled bokshi, meaning witches. A low-level civil war between government and Maoist rebels has forced rural women into guerrilla groups.</li><li><strong>Sudan:</strong> While Sudanese women have made strides under reformed laws, the plight of those in Darfur, in western Sudan, has worsened. Abduction, rape or forced displacement have destroyed more than 1 million women’s lives since 2003. The janjaweed militias have used systematic rape as a demographic weapon, but access to justice is almost impossible for the female victims of violence.</li><li>Other countries in which women’s lives are significantly worse than men’s include <strong>Guatemala</strong>, where an impoverished female underclass faces domestic violence, rape and the second-highest rate of HIV/AIDS after sub-Saharan Africa. An epidemic of gruesome unsolved murders has left hundreds of women dead, some of their bodies left with hate messages.</li><li>In <strong>Mali</strong>, one of the world’s poorest countries, few women escape the torture of genital mutilation, many are forced into early marriages, and one in 10 dies in pregnancy or childbirth.</li><li>In the tribal border areas of <strong>Pakistan</strong>, women are gang-raped as punishment for men’s crimes. But honour killing is more widespread, and a renewed wave of religious extremism is targeting female politicians, human rights workers and lawyers.</li><li>In oil-rich <strong>Saudi Arabia</strong>, women are treated as lifelong dependents, under the guardianship of a male relative. Deprived of the right to drive a car or mix with men publicly, they are confined to strictly segregated lives on pain of severe punishment.</li><li>In the <strong>Somali </strong>capital, Mogadishu, a vicious civil war has put women, who were the traditional mainstay of the family, under attack. In a society that has broken down, women are exposed daily to rape, dangerously poor health care for pregnancy, and attack by armed gangs.</li></ul><p>“While the potential of women is recognized at the international level,” says World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan, “this potential will not be realized until conditions improve – often dramatically – in countries and communities. Too many complex factors, often rooted in social and cultural norms, continue to hinder the ability of women and girls to achieve their potential and benefit from social advances.”</p>[ <a href="http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/326354" modo="false">Read the original article at TheStar.com</a> ]Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-35890457007106646082008-03-13T20:29:00.001-04:002008-03-13T20:31:15.256-04:00London (On) anti-abortion billboard branded 'misleading, false'<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9nHHdnylKI/AAAAAAAACtM/ulLpwFscSmk/s1600-h/anti-abortion.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177388177663628450" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9nHHdnylKI/AAAAAAAACtM/ulLpwFscSmk/s400/anti-abortion.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2008/03/11/4967341-sun.html">The billboard</a>, on the south side of Oxford Street between Tim Hortons and the Thames River bridge, suggests otherwise. Accompanied by a side view of a pregnant woman's abdomen and a superimposed image of a fetus, it says: "9 months. The length of time an abortion is allowed in Canada. Abortion. Have we gone too far?"<br /><br />"It's misleading, it's false," said Carolyn McLeod, professor of philosophy and women's studies at the University of Western Ontario.<br /><br /><div>"Healthy Canadian women are not having abortions seven, eight or nine months into a pregnancy." Only 27 per cent of Canadian hospitals do abortions and no doctor will do one after 24 weeks except for dire health reasons, she said.<br /><br />The ad is part of a <a href="http://lfpress.ca/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=227412&x=articles&s=health">national campaign, </a>with local organizations paying for billboards in their communities, he said.<br /><br />The organization also signed a contract to run pro-life ads on London Transit buses for a year, but they were pulled by agreement after six weeks before Christmas because of complaints and vandalism. </div>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37940790.post-61119621542449625492008-03-12T15:59:00.010-04:002008-03-12T17:44:51.176-04:00.....pack up your "bread and roses" party paraphernalia...<div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9hKTdnylGI/AAAAAAAACsY/RglRf7z4ZYY/s1600-h/how_it_works.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5176969469891875938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qLjjXzDodd4/R9hKTdnylGI/AAAAAAAACsY/RglRf7z4ZYY/s400/how_it_works.png" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong> How Sexism Works</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Cartoon Link: </span><a href="http://xkcd.com/385/"><span style="font-size:85%;">xkcd</span></a><br /></div><br />International Women's week is now over.....pack up your "bread and roses" party paraphernalia...it's back to reality sisters.....<br /><br /><ul><li>The antics of Parliament had the <a href="http://rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?sh_itm=eafb7bcabd63dea456f9fe0493d1a328&rXn=1&">folks at rabble wondering what country we are living in</a>?</li><li><a href="http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=68672">Real change needed</a> at women's shelters in Canada - Transforming Shelters Beyond Protection </li><li><a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=368477">National Post reminds us</a> that "The word "hysteria" has its root in the Greek word for uterus<em>....</em>we need to know this in order to understand the hysteria over "The Unborn Victims of Crime Act"?</li><li>Really? Well, we couldn't agree more with <a href="http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=1&STORY_ID=4466&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=7">Ariel over at Xtra.ca</a> who says: ...establishing legal "personhood" for fetuses .....makes for a banner year for religious wingnuts.... </li><li>And on Harperites as heroes for Afghan women?.... MPs Marleau and Mathyssen <a href="http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/march/12/afghan_female_mps/">expressed concern that Afghan women parliamentarians were being used for public relations </a>and political purposes.....possibly to justify the government's agenda to extend the war there?</li><li><a href="http://thechronicleherald.ca/Columnists/1043155.html">Robert Fox</a> (executive director of Oxfam Canada) says <em>"If women’s needs truly mattered, resources would match rhetoric.."</em></li><li> <a href="http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=bab6273e-ba62-4c6c-9058-2e7918f3ebe3">Hillary's strong presidential run </a>may suggest a shift in the power balance...... But, in the U.S., here in Canada, and around the the world, there is a lot of power to shift.....lest we forget...... 20 per cent of MPs are female and just 11 per cent of them members of the governing Conservative party</li></ul>Cindihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11912264653772124911noreply@blogger.com0