What's the point of this website?
A fair question. Two quick answers:
1. Those of us lucky enough to live in the most progressive parts of the world tend to focus on how good we have it, and yet we still haven’t achieved true gender equality.
2. I’m over trying to pitch women’s magazines. I find that if the story isn’t about slimmer thighs for summer, they’re just not interested.
This stuff is important, I’ll try not to make it too dry.
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From Change.org:
World Cup fever is everywhere, bringing hundreds of thousands of people from around the world to South Africa.
But not all of those people are tourists.
As many as 20,000 women have been trafficked into forced prostitution for the 2010 games in preparation for the influx of visitors. Some of these women entered South Africa on the promise of regular jobs, and upon arrival were drugged and held in private homes in preparation for “customers.”
Read More
Two weeks ago, an anti-abortion extremist invaded the waiting room of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization in Jackson, Mississippi - the only abortion provider in the entire state of Mississippi.
The Feminist Majority Foundation’s legal coordinator traveled to Jackson to discuss ways to improve security, to assess legal needs and to devise new ways for the local community to support the facility.
Now they’re asking pro-choicers around the country to make an emergency, tax-deductable contribution to keep the organization open and its patients, doctors and staff safe.
To donate, please click here.
Photo by Casper Hedberg for the International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is running a series called “The Female Factor,” which examines where women stand in the early 21st century. Yesterday’s story focused on Sweden, which may be the most promising model for gender equity in the world.
Currently, 85% of Swedish fathers take paternal leave. This started in 1995 when Sweden introduced “daddy leave,” a policy that encouraged fathers to stay at home for a month with their newborns or lose a month of subsidies.
If Mona Sahlin wins Sweden’s election in September, becoming the country’s first female prime minister, she will double the nontransferable leave for each parent to four months.
As is stands, parents may use their 390 days of paid leave however they want up to the child’s eighth birthday — monthly, weekly, daily and even hourly.
Divorce and separation rates in Sweden have dropped since daddy leave was implemented, and Sweden’s model has inspired Germany to get on board as well, reserving two out of 14 months of paid leave for fathers.
What I love about this news, besides everything, is that it might adjust American men’s notions of masculinity to include cooking, cleaning and cutting their children’s nails, as Swedish men do. It also might cause the United States to stop punishing men and women in the workforce for caring for their families.
Lauryn Hill
Aimee Mann
Regina Spektor
Tori Amos
Sheryl Crow
Whitney Houston
Mariah Carey
Fiona Apple
Indigo Girls
Liz Phair
Sarah McLachlan
Blondie
It’s a terrible list (no songs from the above artists were mentioned, but R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” is #406), and obviously one intended to cozy up to certain record labels (U2 is mentioned six times). Only six of the top 100 songs are songs by women (seven if you count The Mamas and the Papas), and Tracy Chapman isn’t counted in the top 150.
Another compilation list that leaves out women. How. Shocking.
