Women and children caught in crossfire between Russia and Georgia, Putin: “War has started”

These two images from a Russian news station show women and children running for shelter and taking cover in the city of Tskhinvali, on Friday, August 8, 2008. Georgian troops launched a major military offensive Friday attempting to regain control of the breakaway region of Southern Ossetia. Russia responded by vowing to retaliate and sent troops into the region. Dozens have been killed, according to AP reports. 

Georgia was forcibly incorporated into the USSR until the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. 

House Passes Bill to Help Enforce Equal Pay, Senate Next to Vote

House Democrats passed new legislation last Thursday to help prevent gender discrimination in the workplace and ensure equal pay.

The bill, passed by a 247-178 in the House, uses the same methods currently in place for race, disability, and age discrimination to combat gender discrimination. It would allow for compensatory and punitive damages, prevent employers from taking action against employees who share their salary information with coworkers, and require employers to defend their decisions if and when they choose to pay a woman less than a male colleague.

“Some will have you believe that the wage gap for women is a myth, that we already have laws in place to make pay discrimination on the basis of gender illegal,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. “But just because something is illegal, does not mean that it does not continue to happen.”

Although Congress did pass the Equal Pay Act in 1963, Democrats believe that companies are able to find ways around it. The Institute of Women’s Policy Research found that gender discrimination might cost a woman as much as $2 million over her lifetime in lost wages

The White House has threatened to veto the bill, claiming the proposal would weaken the strength of current equal pay laws, “and invite a surge of litigation.” The bill now goes to the Senate – we’ll have to check back and see what the bill looks like once they’re through.

.femme for thought.

Female Artists in China Push for Platform, in Effect Redefine Gender Ideals

The contemporary art scene in China is dominated by men. In the last 20 years, Chinese art has become a booming business that’s given birth to an elite group who’ve managed to make millions and establish themselves as celebrities within the industry. There are no women in this exclusive class.

As children of the Cultural Revolution in China during the last 50 years, female artists have emerged with the talent and confidence to articulate their perspective. While male constituents have flourished, female artists have difficulty finding an outlet to display their work. Museums refuse to hold female solo shows and out of the hundreds of galleries in the major cities like Beijing, women rarely get a platform. Most successful female artists in China are married to successful male artists. I can’t help but wonder then is the recognition based on her work or on the union and collaboration with an alpha male in the industry.

It’s interesting to find out that many of China’s female artists don’t identify themselves as feminists. One famous female artist, who’s work is a regular fixture at international shows, is Lin Tianmiao. She is married to the Chinese artist Wang Gongxin. When asked what she thinks about critics attempting to discredit her work’s validity by claiming that her gender is what dominates the influence in her work, “…she acknowledges that women are treated like second-class citizens in China — like “inactive thinkers,” as she puts it. Yet she is cautious about applying the term feminist to herself or her work. Why? The concept is too Western. It is too vague. China is not ready for feminism. China has its own brand of feminism. You hear variations on these reasons often, just as you do in the West. “

Art by women in China does not just have to do with “women’s issues.” That is as asinine as claiming that art created by men solely represents and is confined to “men’s issues.” Art is about transcending all that constrains humanity, including gender. And gender does not influence art. Life influences art. If a sex is marginalized by society, you cannot cry wolf when that gender’s art is reminiscent of those experiences. But I think art in China has less to do with the art industry not paving the way for women, and more with the government. Authority, especially the kind that tries to control all aspects of a citizen’s life is, after all, one of the most generous contributors to human restriction. What happens when the veil that covers the grim realities of women is moved to the side, cultural ideals about gender are reexamined, and people push for a new culture where men and women exist in an equal and harmonious balance?

What’s the word? Oh yes, REVOLUTION.

—femme for thought

Russian Judge Rules Sexual Harassment OK- it ‘Ensures the Human Race’.

A 22 year old executive in St Petersburg filed a sexual harassment action against her male colleague, stating that she had been locked out of her office after refusing to have intimate relations with her boss. Hoping to be the third woman in Russia to successfully file a sexual harassment case, her attempts were to no avail. The judge threw out her case not for lack of evidence, but because, “If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children,” the judge ruled.

According to a recent survey,

• 100% of Russian female professionals said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by their bosses
• 32% said they had had intercourse with them at least once
• 7% claimed to have been raped.
• 80% of those who participated in the survey said they did not believe it possible to win promotion without engaging in sexual relations with their male superior

Sexual harassment has become a part of the office environment and university experience, with women regularly reporting of being coerced into sex during interviews, and students facing professors who trade good grades for sexual favors.

According to Human Rights activists, Russian women remain second class citizens, receiving some of the worst levels of domestic abuse in the world.

.femme for thought.

Pioneer Journalist Edie Huggins, Dies at 72

Last Tuesday, one of Philadelphia’s most groundbreaking local television reporters, Edie Huggins passed away. She died after a long battle with lung cancer, and would have been 73 next month. Huggins had dedicated 42 years to the industry, starting her career in 1966 at what is now NBC 10. She was considered a pioneer, being the first female African-American woman to report on air in Philadelphia.

In 2006, Philadelphia City Council declared March 30th “Edie Huggins Day”, in honor of Edie’s 40 plus years of dedicated reporting.

Her memorial service will be this Tuesday, August 5 at 7:00 PM at Bright Hope Baptist Church, 12th & Cecil B. Moore Ave., Philadelphia.

“Children of God”

When more than 400 minors were forcibly removed from a Texas ranch belonging to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder-day Saints last April on charges of physical and sexual abuse, millions got a glimpse into American life they never see. Texas child-welfare officials claimed cases of sexual and physical abuse at the ranch. However, the Texas Supreme court ordered the children to return back to their families in early June citing that officials overstepped their authority.

The legal age for marriage in Texas is 16 with consent. Images of these young mothers walking in and out of courthouses to testify and fight to get their children back, sparked sympathy in some. An article in New York Times Magazine last Sunday made a powerful point. The reporter who was allowed to visit the ranch writes, “What’s interesting is that in a case that is, at heart, about doctrinaire male authority, and supposed abuse committed by men, it’s the women of the F.L.D.S. who have largely had to assume a public mantle these past months, making court appearances, trying to defend both their faith and their lifestyle in the face of deep skepticism.”

Former female members of the sect have been very critical. They claim to have escaped abuse and underage marriages. Two have gone on to write best-selling memoirs “detailing a world in which women are forced into unconditional obedience and rapid-fire childbearing as a ticket to eternal salvation.”

The leader of the F.L.D.S., Warren Jeffs, was convicted last year as an accomplice to rape in which he coerced a marriage to a 14-year-old girl. He is now serving his sentence while awaiting trial on other sex charges in Arizona.

—femme for thought

Keira Knightley Refuses Digital Breast Enhancement

Actress Keira Knightley recently refused to allow any digital enhancement of her cleavage in upcoming publicity photos for her new film, “The Duchess”.

“She has insisted that her figure stay in its natural state,” an insider said. “She is proud of her body and doesn’t want it altered.”

After receiving scrutiny for King Arthur publicity posters where the young actress’ image was altered from her natural breast size to a much larger C or D, Keira put her foot down to make sure she was not digitally enhanced again. Photos promoting her new film “The Duchess” will be of her, rather an enhanced version of the actress that others might think would sell better.

Keira’s figure may be a difficult one to relate to for most women, but she embraces it completely, in its totality.

.femme for thought.

Chechen “Black Widows”

Women suicide bombers have been on the forefront of the Chechen rebel movement for years. More than 2/3 of the Chechen suicide bombers are women- which is much higher in comparison to other terrorist organizations. Why has the Chechen insurgency opted to include more women in their ranks of suicide bombers?

One of the reasons is the low social status of widows and single women in Chechnya, which happens to be the main pool of recruitment. The Russian media has sensationalized this by dubbing these women, who appear on videotape dressed in all black with explosives strapped to their waists, the “Black Widows.”Chechnya is a Muslim region in southern Russia that has been fighting for independence from Russian for centuries. Thousands of Chechen civilians and soldiers have been killed since the war in Chechnya started in 1994 and many of these “Black Widows” lost their husbands and family members. 

Although the human rights violations and atrocities committed by the Russian army against Chechen civilians were being documented by international organizations, Russian civilians did not feel the horror of the war in the Caucuses and for the most part, felt safe. However, this new face of terrorism- a WOMAN- has received mass national and international press coverage, not solely because they are women but of the magnitude of the damage they have done. One of the reasons for that is that it is nearly impossible to profile a woman terrorist and Chechnya has used this as a strategic tool, responsible for highlighting public fear in Russia and helping the Chechen insurgency asset itself at the fronts of global jihad. 

Source: ISN- International Relations and Security Network, Zurich, Switzerland http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=9781%20

—femme for thought

Female Suicide Bombers Kill at Least 61 in Baghdad

A quick succession of three bomb attacks killed at least 61 people and injured 238 in Baghdad. Reports state that all three explosions were female suicide bombers.

“At about 8am, three female suicide bombers detonated themselves among pilgrims heading to Kazimiyah,” Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, Baghdad’s military commander, said in a statement posted on his website. As the pilgrimage climaxes on Tuesday, police and security officials expect at least a million people to visit the Kadhimiya shrine in northwestern Baghdad. Iraqi security forces have increased their numbers in the area, including female security guards to search women.

By discouraging women against joining security forces and not frisking female civilians, target areas have become vulnerable to multiple, close range attacks. Female suicide bombers reach their targets swiftly, bypassing the multiple security checkpoints that would have stopped any male conspirator’s efforts.

According to Time magazine, “Although fewer than 30 of the nearly 1,000 suicide bombings since the end of the war have been attributed to women, American and Iraqi officials say jihadi groups are deploying female bombers far more frequently to slip past the heavy security cordons that are the backbone of the U.S. military’s surge strategy.

Health officials reported that most of the dead were women and children.

.femme for thought.

Gender No Factor in Math Skills

The stereotype that boys are better at math than girls can finally be subtracted from society. A recent study and the largest of its kind looking at the exam results of 7.2 million students, found that girls are at the same level of math as boys in every class, from second through 11th grade. 

The head researcher Janet Hyde of the University of Wisconsin told the Associated Press that both teachers and parents believe that boys are simply better at math. Girls are affected by this and grow up believing that it would be easier to avoid math altogether. “It keeps girls and women out of a lot of careers, particularly high-prestige, lucrative careers in science and technology,” Hyde said.

Although women have made incredible progress earning 48 percent of all undergraduate math degrees, we still lag far behind in physics and engineering. Ph.D programs in engineering currently average only about 15 percent women. 

Hyde says the next step is to attract women to the graduate and career level. “Mathematics and science departments need to work on making graduate departments more women-friendly for not just the students but for the faculty as well,” says Hyde, by encouraging more women into their ranks where they can serve as role models for future generations of female students.” 

—femme for thought