Leading Ladies

LEADING LADIES

S

o

H

i

p g

h g

i

i

e

n

s

Thank you for reading.

Foreword

This newspaper is designed to illuminate positive news stories, concerning women in modern life.

The articles have been extracted from various news outlets from March/April 2015.

The purpose of this idea is to highlight and celebrate the amazing things women are still achieving today, and how feminism is still very much needed. The eorts of the people throughout this paper will, and have, beneďŹ ted future generations to come.

Sunday 8 March 2015

On Sunday 8 March, it’s International Women’s Day. To celebrate, Helen Lewis pays tribute to 10 inspirational feminists.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: THE 10 BEST FEMINISTS

1. Aphra Behn A playwright, translator and spy, Behn (also known as Astrea) has a good claim to being the first Englishwoman to make a living out of her writing. In the centuries after her death in 1689, her plays were dismissed as indecent because of their focus on female sexuality (“The stage how loosely does Astrea tread/ Who fairly puts all characters to bed!” wrote Alexander Pope in 1737).

Recent feminist scholars have rediscovered her writing, and have made the case that the publication of her prose fiction Oroonoko, the story of a slave, was a key moment in the development of the English novel.

2. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie “Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.”

In the most high-profile pop-feminist moment of 2013, Beyoncé included these words – taken from a TED talk given by Adichie – on her single Flawless. In the talk, which has since been published as a book called We Should All Be Feminists, the Nigerian-born author asks: why are girls taught to shrink themselves, to compete for men, to limit their ambitions? She urges her audience to reclaim the word “feminist” and to say: “Yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today, and we must fix it.”

3. Nellie Bly “No one but a man can do this,” Nellie Bly’s editor told her in 1886 when she suggested travelling round the world in less than 80 days.

She would need a protector, he said – and how would she ever carry all the luggage a lady would need on such a trip? Bly didn’t worry too much about the first quibble, and travelled light, crushing all her belongings into a single handbag. She made it home in 72 days. That wasn’t the first time the pioneering American journalist had attracted attention through her work – a year earlier, in 1887, she faked madness to go undercover in an asylum, exposing its poor conditions and abusive staff.

4. Caitlin Moran Rarely has feminism seemed as much fun as it does in the work of Caitlin Moran. Her 2011 book, How to Be A Woman, covered a host of modern dilemmas – body image, abortions, motherhood, what to do when Lady Gaga invites you to share her loo cubicle – and kicked off a feminist publishing boom. The movement might be fuelled by anger against injustice, but who doesn’t need laughter and silliness in their life, too? Moran followed up with a novel that celebrated the sexuality of teenage girls – a subject too often marred by the prurient anxiety of their elders.

3

5. Andrea Dworkin If you only know Dworkin by reputation – a big, scary man-hater who decreed that “all sex is rape” – then a pleasant surprise awaits. Seen through her own words, a different woman emerges: still strident, still unapologetic, but with a fierce intelligence and a bludgeoning prose style that will take your breath away. Dworkin’s brand of antipornography feminism might have lost the “sex wars” of the late 70s and 80s, but that doesn’t invalidate her career. As feminists, we need to come to an accommodation with foremothers who are inconvenient, exasperating – or sometimes just wrong.

6. Malala Yousafzai The two great engines of progress for women’s rights are birth control and the education of girls. At the age of just 15, Malala became a symbol of the struggle to achieve the second of these goals when she was shot in the head by Taliban fighters in the Swat valley. Her survival inspired hope for the future – not just in Pakistan, but across the world. Last year, she travelled to Nigeria to put pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan to “bring back our girls” abducted by Boko Haram. Now taking her GCSEs in Britain, Malala has dealt with her sudden fame with wisdom far beyond her years.

8

8. Mary Beard Any young woman having a hard time at school or university should ask herself: “What would Mary Beard do?” The answer is usually: read another book, don’t worry about what your hair looks like, and take no crap from anybody. The Cambridge professor of classics memorably stood up to internet trolls by refusing to be ashamed when they made lewd jokes about her age and her body. She has recently opposed the trend among university societies for censoring feminists who have the “wrong” opinions on sex-work and gender. Just as importantly, Professor Beard makes it cool to be clever.

10. Patrick Stewart Yes, Star Trek’s Captain Picard. In 2009, Stewart revealed that he had grown up in a household scarred by his father’s violence against his mother, Gladys. The police refused to help the family, telling Gladys: “Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight.” Her son disagreed: “Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.” At a time when funding cuts are hurting the women’s sector and specialist provision is being cut, the actor and activist offers a simple, heartfelt message: no woman should die, and no child should live in fear, because they cannot escape a violent man.

7. Angelina Jolie In the past five years, the film star has shugged off lurid headlines about her relationship with Brad Pitt to become an eloquent advocate of better treatment and support for victims of rape in war zones.

Last year’s UN summit in London heard from grassroots activists around the world and was attended by then foreign secretary William Hague. Sexual violence as a weapon of war is one of the world’s most persistent human rights abuses : it is estimated that 12% of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo are rape survivors, and the crime affects thousands of men and children too. Brava, Angelina, for putting it on the international agenda.

9.Virginia Woolf “Chloe liked Olivia” was Virginia Woolf ’s nomination for the most startling sentence she had ever read. In her essay A Room Of One’s Own, Woolf attempted to reclaim English literature from its relentless focus on men’s lives, and she explored the material conditions that make it harder for women to be creative. The book was written in 1929, but it is just as relevant today, when women wrote 11% of the 250 top-grossing films of 2014, and the latest VIDA (Women in Literary Arts) count found that threequarters of the authors and reviewers in journals such as the New York Review of Books and the LRB were men.

Harry Potter star and UN ambassador Emma Watson unveiled a new year-long initiative to end gender inequality as part of HeforShe campaign

EMMA WATSON AT DAVOS: 'WOMEN NEED TO BE EQUAL PARTICIPANTS'

Friday 23 January 2015

Actor Emma Watson took her gender equality campaign to Davos on Friday when she told politicians and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that she wanted governments, universities and companies to join her new initiative.

Appearing in her capacity as a goodwill ambassador for UN Women, the Harry Potter star outlined her new year-long “IMPACT 10X10X10” plan to address deficiencies in women’s empowerment and gender equality.

“We need all-country leadership, as well as that of hundreds of universities and corporations, to follow HeForShe’s IMPACT 10X10X10 so as to bring an end to the persisting inequalities faced by women and girls globally,” said Watson, who was appearing in her capacity as a goodwill ambassador for UN Women, the United Nations organisation dedicated to gender equality.

Watson said she had been overwhelmed by the messages of support she

had received since speaking at the launch of HeForShe – a UN campaign that attempts to include men in the battle for gender equality – in New York last September. In that speech she extended a “formal invitation” to men to participate in the conversation about gender equality in a “uniting movement”.

She told Davos: I’ve been stunned by the amount of men in my life that have contacted me since my speech to tell me to keep going, and that they want to make sure that their daughters will still be alive to see a world where women have power and equality, economically and politically.

The actor spoke passionately about a fan who told her that since hearing her speak she had been able to escape the cycle of her father’s violence.

I’ve had my breath taken

away when a fan told me since watching my speech she has stopped herself being beaten up by her father. We are tapping into what the world wants: to be a part of change.

Now we have to channel that energy into purposeful action.

Watson ended her speech on a mobilising and positive note.

“It is my belief that there is a greater understanding than ever that women need to be equal participants in our homes, in our societies, in our governments, and in our work places,” she said.

“They know that the world is being held back in every way, because they are not. Women share this planet 50/50 and they are under-represented, their potential astonishingly untapped.”

Watson was joined by a panel including UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who emphasised

Watson’s appeal to men to be key to influencing the fight for gender equality.

“HeForShe has signed up fathers who want to raise empowered daughters; leaders who know their societies will be stronger when there are as many women in parliament and in business as men; and ordinary people who are fed up with violence and discrimination against women – and want to be part of a global force for change,” he said.

The initiative was attended by prime minister Stefan Löfven of Sweden, UN executive director of UN Women Phumzile MlamboNgcuka, president Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Paul Polman, CEO and Chairman of Unilever.

Nearly 30 years ago, when Marylyn Haines-Evans was what she describes as a “slip of a girl”, she stood up before a group of elderly Women’s Institute members to talk to them about safe sex. As surreal as that might seem to a casual WI observer, it was actually well within the traditions of the organisation. You can forget Victoria sponge competitions because, over the past century, the WI has been a truly pioneering organisation that has paved the way for change.

It has lobbied on subjects such as mental health, litter, family planning, nursery places, health insurance and family allowance, as well as other social security benefits that we now take for granted. On almost every issue, the women were ahead of their time.

So it was in 1986, only a year or so after Aids and HIV had become recognised terms, that Haines-Evans – who is nowadays chair of the WI public affairs committee – took to the podium. “I remember a caretaker, who worked in the hall we were using, passing by in the background, shooting me glances. He probably thought I’d be speaking about something like knitting. His face said it all: What on earth is she talking to a group of old ladies about condoms for? But it wasn’t important that the issue didn’t relate directly to the women. They understood that this was something that could affect us all: our families, our society. So they listened, and they learned, and then they got out there into the community, to put up posters and collect signatures.

SAFE SEX AND JAM: THE WOMEN’S INSTITUTE AT 100 That’s what the WI is all about. We love taking on the tricky issues.”

This wasn’t the first resolution that she had been involved in. In 1975, the WI urged the government to set up a mobile screening programme for breast cancer. “I remember the campaign clearly, it wasn’t long after I joined my local WI. We take the units for granted now, but back then the health department didn’t feel it was necessary.

We kept on, though. And by the 1980s, we started to see mobile units being introduced. Like anyone, I’ve seen breast cancer affect friends and family: to know you’ve maybe played a part in someone in a remote area getting the screening they needed for an early diagnosis, that’s an amazing feeling.”

The WI, which this year celebrates its centenary, has more than 212,000 members. It was born out of the first world war, sponsored by the British government to revitalise rural areas and help with the food supply. But it didn’t take long for the meetings to become popular, says Julie Summers, author of Jambusters: The Story of the Women’s Institute in the Second World War. “You cannot imagine how liberating it was to be a woman living a village just after the first world war, and to go to a meeting where you could sit down next to the lady of the manor, whether you were a gentlewoman or a farmer’s wife – and not be judged by your rank.

There was real respect for everyone’s position.

It was revolutionary. And women loved it.”

It was in the inter-war years that the WI became what it still is today: a force for good in communities. Summers points out that while no democratic organisation would ever wish to be defined by the personality of its chief, there is no doubt that Gertrude Denman, who chaired what became the National Federation of Women’s Institutes from 1917 until 1946, made a great impact on how the WI developed.

Her tenacity is beautifully demonstrated in an incident that she related to the delegates at the 1938 AGM about her experience when the WI launched a campaign for free milk for children the decade before. “One MP suggested that he would have been saved a lot of work if he had received one letter from the Country Federation rather than 50 from individual WIs. I suggested in reply that it was always possible for one letter to be overlooked, whereas 50 were bound to receive attention.”

When the second world war broke out in 1939, Britain’s rural population swelled but WI membership fell, as a result of younger women entering the forces or war work, or joining the Women’s Voluntary Service. The WI took a pacifist stance but, as Summers explains, this was the organisation’s finest hour. “Unpaid, unsung, to a large extent

uncomplaining, these women quietly and often with humour, made the countryside tick.

“The role of the WI was crucial in two ways: on the one hand, the government relied on its links with the National Federation of Women’s Institutes to make direct requests of countrywomen to look after evacuees, to collect everything – from National Savings to bones for the munitions industry – and to care for the nation’s larder; on the other hand, the WI at institute level offered women a safety valve. At monthly meetings, after they had completed business and agreed on the many requests for help towards the war effort, they could let their hair down.”

Campaigning continued during the war, and it was in 1943 (almost 30 years before the law eventually changed) that a resolution demanding equal pay for equal work was passed at the AGM. Then, postwar, membership grew again. A resolution against litter eventually led to the formation of Keep Britain Tidy, a campaign with which we are all familiar – although few of us would realise it had sprung from women’s conversations in the village halls of the 1950s.

Ruth Bond, a former NFWI chair, joined the WI in 1976. “Back then, we didn’t call our resolutions ‘campaigns’. That’s a new

expression – one that has come out of a more recent need to shout much louder.

These days so many people want to be heard. Last century, we just got on with it quietly, whatever it was. I joined the WI in the 1970s, but what got me hooked was a resolution about endometriosis. One of our members had it, and I thought: what if I could make a difference to her, to other women like her?

“Family life has been the whole premise of our organisation over the years. It’s natural: whether or not a woman has children herself, it’s all about family and community.

Watching the lobbying take place has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. Seeing the courage our members have to speak up. It’s been a privilege to be involved.”

During the 1970s, resolutions were also passed concerning battered wives, the need for recognition of rape within marriage and for the provision of accommodation for domestic violence victims and their children “at least in every county, if not in every town”. From the annual reports, it’s clear that members lobbied the secretary of state, the Commons select committee on

violence in marriage and the Magistrates’ Association.

Bond recalls Baroness Kennedy QC speaking at the Women of the World festival in 2012 and remembering how instrumental WIs had been in getting recognition of rape within marriage on to the political agenda.

As the festival agenda so eloquently put it: “Many causes are launched, but once the WI get involved they’re almost certain to succeed.”

In the 1970s, the WI pressed for a free family planning service, something else we take for granted these days.

Elizabeth Lansman was inspired to get involved in one of the federation’s most recent campaigns, for more midwives. It was launched after a resolution was passed at the 2012 AGM, with a landslide 96% majority.

What motivated Lansman and other members was the shortage of midwives in Britain, resulting in fragmented, rushed care and extra demands on maternity services.

Midwives are facing increasing pressure with chronic staff shortages, the ongoing baby boom and increasing numbers of complications in pregnancy.

Lansman recalls that almost every member was behind the resolution. “But I also remember one elderly member saying she was too old for the subject to be relevant to her.

‘No you’re not,’ I said. ‘You’ve got children and even if you didn’t, we all got here because a woman had a baby and needed somebody to help her. Giving birth is about all of us.”

Tim Yeo, the Conservative MP for South Suffolk, agreed to meet three NFWI members, including Lansman. “He invited us to his home, not his office. I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t just a 10-minute chat, either – we were there for about an hour. He seemed interested. I didn’t get the feeling he was just paying us lip service. And he wasn’t – he looked into it, and put in a series of written questions.

“Since that meeting in 2013, I’ve heard the issue discussed on television and radio. People are talking about it; things are being done.

We’ve played a part in that process, and it makes me proud. We’re a large organisation and we do have some clout. We’re not a bunch of women waving banners. I think some people expect that. We do our homework, we prepare. If we’re going to campaign about something we need to know that what we’re talking about will be taken seriously.”

One hundred years after the first WI was founded, the list of causes in which members have been involved – and the changes that they have helped to make – is a fascinating glimpse into the social history of the past century. This year is all about celebration – and there is much to celebrate.

So what is it about the WI? Marylyn Haines-Evans thinks it stems from a sense of inequality: “It’s still a man’s world, let’s be honest. That’s the driving force to make us stand up, to put our heads above the parapet. We’re determined women. We don’t take no for an answer.”

Monday 20 April 2015

MERYL STREEP FUNDS SCREENWRITING INITIATIVE FOR WOMEN OVER 40

Meryl Streep has made a “significant” contribution to a new initiative nurturing female screenwriters over the age of 40.

The Writers Lab, run by New York Women in Film and Television, will mentor eight screenwriters at a retreat in upstate New York. Providing guidance will be the likes of Gina PrinceBythewood, writer-director of cult romantic hit Beyond the Lights, Boyhood producer Caroline Kaplan and Legally Blonde writer Kirsten Smith.

The initiative was launched over the weekend at the Tribeca film festival, and will aim to develop and hone the selected writers’ scripts. It comes following a study last year that found the number of female screenwriters in the US was falling, from 17% of the sector in 2009 to 15% in 2014. They were also found to be paid less than their male counterparts.

With her funding of the project, Streep continues to be a vocal proponent of equality in the arts and beyond. She memorably gave Patricia Arquette a standing ovation when the actor called for equal pay for women during her Oscar acceptance speech this year, and she recently signed an open letter calling for action against female poverty worldwide, addressed to Angela Merkel and the chair of the African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Her co-signatories included Sheryl Sandberg, Beyoncé and Rosamund Pike.

She is also soon to be seen playing Emmeline Pankhurst in Suffragette, a film documenting the struggle for women’s voting rights in the UK. A trailer for the film has been posted online ahead of the upcoming general election to encourage more women to vote, after 9 million women failed to take part in 2010’s election. Directed by Brick Lane’s Sarah Gavron, it’s released on 30 October.

IRAN TO APPOINT FIRST FEMALE AMBASSADOR SINCE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION

Tuesday 14 April 2015

Iran is to appoint its first female ambassador since the 1979 Islamic revolution, marking a breakthrough for women in government under the moderate president, Hassan Rouhani.

Marzieh Afkham, who is the country’s first foreign ministry spokeswoman, will head a mission in east Asia, the state news agency reported. It is not clear to which country she will be posted as her appointment has yet to be announced officially.

Afkham will only be the second female ambassador Iran has had. Under the last shah’s rule, Mehrangiz Dolatshahi, a three-time MP known for her advocacy of the family protection law, which gave women the right of divorce and child custody, became an ambassador to Denmark in 1976, a post she held until the revolution.

Women in Iran need the permission of their husband or legal custodian, such as their father, to travel abroad. The government is also reluctant to promote women who are single and not married.

Afkham was reported to have married last year.

Rouhani said this week that he saw it as his government’s duty to create equal opportunities for women and spoke against crackdowns by the religious police on women who push the boundaries of the mandatory hijab by showing their hair. But a decision to overturn discriminatory practices is not solely in his hands.

Gissou Nia, deputy director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI), a leading rights group based in New York, hailed Afkham’s appointment on Tuesday.

“This is certainly welcome news for women in Iran,” Nia told the Guardian.

“It is a positive step that the appointment has been made; we haven’t had a female ambassador since the 1970s but it doesn’t alleviate the ongoing concerns about pending legislation in the Iranian parliament that seeks to restrict women’s role in the public sphere.”

Sadeq Zibakalam, a prominent Iranian professor and commentator, said from Tehran: “This is a great decision and will pave the way for women being promoted to more senior jobs in Iran.”

Despite a series of setbacks for women’s rights after the Islamic revolution, women continued to hold government jobs. Afkham is a veteran of Iran’s diplomatic service, having served in it for about 30 years as a ministerial aide and later as head of its public relations department.

In 2013, following the presidential election that brought Rouhani to power, Iran’s new USeducated foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, appointed Afkham as his spokeswoman, the first Iranian woman to hold

such a high-profile role that demanded regular contact with the press.

Women have held senior jobs in Tehran in the past but this is the first time a woman will lead a foreign mission in postrevolutionary Iran. Mansoureh Sharifisadr was chargé d’affaires, or deputy head of mission, in Japan. She is currently the director general of the foreign ministry’s human rights and women affairs department.

The highest ranking position ever held by a women in the Islamic republic was that of a cabinet minister. Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi was appointed under Rouhani’s predecessor, the hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Dastjerdi’s appointment in 2009 as health minister drew nationwide interest but she fell out with Ahmadinejad within a few years and was sacked over her objection to inadequate funding for the importation of vital medicine while Iran was under international sanctions.

Since taking office, Rouhani has taken a softer line on gender equality, making clear heopposes segregation of men and women at universities or banning them from attending big sporting events alongside men. But he is yet to deliver on many of his promises. No women currently hold a ministerial role, though Rouhani has a few serving as his aides and vice-presidents.

In December 2013, in a rare example of a politician from a minority group being promoted in Shia-dominated Iran, a Sunni woman, Samieh Baluchzehi, who belongs to the country’s Baluchi ethnic minority, was chosen as the mayor of a provincial city, Kalat.

Despite these achievements, Iran remains sensitive about the activities of women’s rights activists, including those behind the one-million signatures campaign demanding the repeal of discriminatory laws.

Many campaigners have been imprisoned, including the student activist Bahareh Hedayat, who is serving a sentence of nine and

half years in jail.

Last month, the human rights group Amnesty issued a strong warning over two proposed bills being considered by the Iranian parliament, which seek to reverse the country’s progressive laws on family planning by outlawing voluntary sterilisation and restricting access to contraceptives to increase Iran’s population.

Amnesty said the move would set Iranian women back by decades and reduce them to “babymaking machines”.

Although women can vote and drive in Iran, discriminatory laws persist.

Women are required to wear the hijab and in court their testimony is worth only half that of a man.

Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, a former political prisoner and activist, said: “Rouhani has stepped up his rhetoric for gender quality, which is a good move, but we need to see more women in ministerial, or even middle-ranking political jobs, such as governors and political directors.”

OXFORD’S WOMEN ROW Inaugural victory over men’s course marks an end to decades of inequality It was a historic day, when the women’s boat race was staged over the same stretch of the Thames as the men for the first time – and also broadcast live for the first time. So it was appropriate that the winning Oxford boat was called Catalyst.

Women’s sport has often struggled for exposure but, on its 70th outing, the women’s race was finally given pride of

place in the schedules and on TV. Unfortunately, while it was historic, the race was no classic. The gap in class between the two crews was apparent as soon as the starter Simon Harris cried “Go!” Oxford were a length clear after two minutes and finished the 4.2 mile course 19 seconds and six-and-a-half lengths clear of Cambridge.

This is usually as much a social occasion as a sporting event; a time for catch-ups and cold beers. On this day,

however, the oar of history gave the 186-year-old race a muchneeded prod.

Among the quarter of a million people watching as the Oxford and Cambridge boats pushed and wheezed along the four-and-a-quarter-mile horseshoe between Putney and Chiswick Bridge was German rower Anna Reinicke, who competed for Cambridge in

Saturday 11 April 2015

INTO BOAT RACE HISTORY 2004. “I have flown over from Hamburg because I wanted to see history being made with my own eyes,” she told the Observer. “When I rowed, the men had nothing to do with us. Now we have equality.

This is a day I never thought would come.” Meanwhile, Dr Stephanie Jones, who competed for Oxford in the reserve women’s race in 2012, said the promise of BBC TV exposure

had led to improved funding – and improved standards. There was one other benefit, too. “Three years ago, the women had to get public buses to training,” she said. “Now we have our own minibus like the men.”

Of course, some remain sniffy about the event, regardless of how much it modernises. The sight of pop-up grills at Putney selling “pulled duck with papaya and mango slaw with a sesame and poppy seed bun” – and

ice-cream vans referring to their produce as “fresh-made gelato” – would have only hardened the prejudices of any Citizen Smiths up from Tooting.

But amid the rowers – who have all trained at least twice a day, six days a week, through autumn and winter while also studying – were those who bucked lazy stereotypes. For instance, Oxford’s Maddy –

Badcott, 19, started her career on a Learn to Row course in Hackney. And according to Eve Edwards, a 21-year-old Cambridge student and amateur rower, increased attention on the women’s race had already led to more people wanting to take up the sport.

Meanwhile her friend, Fiona Macklin, insisted that where rowing had led, other sports would likely follow. “It’s massive not just for rowing but for all women’s sports at Cambridge,” she said. “Now the rugby girls are also trying to get equality. This is a giant step forward.”

It is a vast change from the first women’s race in 1927. Back then, the two crews rowed - separately – outside Oxford for about a mile because racing each other was deemed “unladylike”. Instead the women were judged on their style downstream and their speed upstream. As one contemporary report noted, the umpires disagreed on questions of style, but Oxford were judged the victors because they covered the distance 15 seconds faster.

Since then, the women’s race has been derided, – ignored or – during part of the 50s and 60s – not rowed at all because of financial issues. From 1977 it has been held at Henley, over a course of just over two kilometres, largely ignored except by the dedicated.

How that flip-flopped on a warm and breezy spring day in London. Back in 1927, it was reported that “large and hostile crowds gathered on the towpath”. On Saturday, the women were greeted by a triumphant trumpet of cheers.

Looking on, despite the emphatic nature of Oxford’s victory, it was hard not to feel that this ancient and highly idiosyncratic race had been given a much-needed blast of fresh air.

Thursday 9 April 2015

BOSTON DECLARES RIOT GRRRL DAY TO INSPIRE ITS YOUNG WOMEN Massachusetts city declares ‘girls need to see other girls picking up drumsticks, basses and microphones’

Bostonians can party against the patriarchy today. The city has declared 9 April to be Riot Grrrl Day, in honour of Kathleen Hanna.

The former Bikini Kill singer, who now fronts the Julie Ruin, is being honoured on the occasion of her visit to Boston to speak at the city’s Wilbur theatre on “art, music, writing, trends, women and more”.

The proclamation of Riot Grrrl Day states, among other things: “Because: Our young women can’t be what they can’t see. Girls need to see other girls picking up drumsticks, basses and microphones. They need to see other girls picking up paintbrushes and pens, and telling their stories loudly.

Because: the next Kathleen Hanna may be a young girl in a Boston bedroom creating feminist art by herself, fearful that she has no community to belong to.” It added that the day should “inspire grrrls everywhere to shake up the status quo and create”.

The proclamation was signed by the mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, and was guided into being by the city’s chief of policy, Joyce Linehan. “Kathleen was all about the collective, and it was a real team effort putting this together.

There are a lot of riot grrrls in the building [at city hall],” Linehan told the AV Club.

Linehan is arguably the most rock’n’roll-friendly policy wonk in

the world right now. She led the campaign – inspired by a Guardian article – to have Roadrunner by the Modern Lovers enshrined as the official rock song of Massachusetts, urging Walsh – who was then a state representative – to introduce a bill to that effect. That effort failed earlier this year, when bill H.3573 fell.

WOMEN OF INFLUENCE

Why the ‘100 Leading Ladies’ event makes you think again about the global face of feminism

Monday 16 March 2015

One does not normally think of the Institute of Directors being overcrowded with females, but about a dozen days ago it was, because of the evening event for “100 Leading Ladies”. They were not necessarily there in person, but a large, mainly female audience was told of their achievements by photographer Nancy Honey.

The Leading Ladies were of various kinds: for law we had Helena Kennedy; Jancis Robinson stood for expertise in wine; Daphne Selfe was the only supermodel – there were five women from Condé Nast Digital and Virginia Ironside of the Independent, for agony aunts. There was a wide range of skills and ages; but all were successful and free in their careers: powerful women and not typical.

And as Alison Wolf in her book The XX Factor points out, where once those concerned with women’s hopes and happiness would write as if all women were in this together, as if we were all sisters trying to hold our own against the terrible power of men, this is no longer the case – if it ever was. Sure, some of the most powerful people in the world are female. Angela Merkel and Christine Lagarde spring to mind, having as much influence as any man; but obviously they have darn little in common with poor African women with no rights, girls being raped on Indian buses, or the many from Syria who just made it into Turkey – any more than Obama has with Carlos Acosta.

DELHI'S FIRST WOMAN BUS DRIVER TAKES THE WHEEL

20 April 2015

The first woman bus driver in India's capital Delhi has told BBC Hindi that her priority is to ensure the safety of her female passengers.

Vankadarath Saritha, 30, received messages of support from passengers on her first day in the job - but also had to deal with malfunctioning doors.

Her appointment comes at a time of growing public anger about harassment of women on public transport in Delhi.

Officials hope the move will inspire other women to drive as a career.

Some Indian states have had women bus drivers for years, but this is the first time the capital has hired a woman to drive a Delhi

Transport Corporation (DTC) bus.

Ms Saritha, who has worked as a private chauffeur, took the wheel of bus number 543 accompanied by much public interest, reports BBC Hindi's Indu Pandey.

Passengers seemed happy to see a woman bus driver - many came forward to take a good look at her, while others started taking her photos on their mobile phone cameras, our correspondent says.

Before getting down, some of the passengers called out: "Thank you, madam."

But day one was not without its hitches.

Shortly after Ms Saritha set out, the doors developed a snag and would not shut or open properly. Two technicians then responded to her call to fix the problem and the bus resumed its journey soon after.

Delhi's packed buses will provide a test for the city's

newest bus driver Ms Saritha, who is from the southern state of Telangana, said she took up driving to support her family.

"We are five sisters. I first learnt to drive an auto rickshaw and then drove a van for a college, before driving a bus."

Now, she says, she intends to help her family with her salary and buy gold earrings for herself.

"Having a woman driver will help improve the image of our service," DTC official RS Minhas said. "We had received seven to eight applications and we hired Saritha. Now we will advertise again and hire more women drivers."

Transport services in Delhi have been deemed unsafe in recent years after a 23-year-old student was fatally gang-raped on a bus in Delhi in December 2012.

And a driver from the web-based taxi firm Uber is on trial for raping a female passenger last December. He has pleaded not guilty.

Women-only carriages are provided on trains and metro services in Delhi in an attempt to improve safety and comfort for passengers.

The US Senate has conďŹ rmed the nomination of Loretta Lynch as the next attorney general.

LORETTA LYNCH CONFIRMED AS NEW US ATTORNEY GENERAL

The US Senate has confirmed the nomination of Loretta Lynch as the next attorney general.

Her confirmation means she will be the first black woman to take up the post.

The 56-43 vote comes after a five-month delay during which the confirmation became entangled in a dispute over President Barack Obama's recent immigration reforms and other issues.

Ms Lynch replaces Eric Holder, who has served since the beginning of Mr Obama's presidency.

Welcoming the news of the confirmation, President Obama said "America will be better off for it".

She had waited since November for the vote, which became ensnarled in a bitter political debate that started with the immigration reforms announced that month, and ended most recently with contention around an unrelated bill to combat sex trafficking.

Ultimately, 10 Republicans voted in favour of her nomination and she is expected to take over as head of the US Justice Department on Monday.

23 April 2015

During her confirmation hearing, Ms Lynch told the panel that, if nominated, her focus would be on fighting terrorist threats, cybercrime, and improving relations between law enforcement and minority communities.

When she assumes office, she will take on major financial cases involving some that allege prominent banks helped clients evade US taxes and manipulated the currency markets, Reuters reported.

Ms Lynch grew up in North Carolina. She most recently served as the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Janet Reno, who served from 1993 until 2001, was the United States's first female attorney general.

T

h

a

n

k

s

n

g

Fo r R

e

a

d

i

March/April 2015