Journalism can never be silent
"There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and shame the devil - remain detached from the great" - Walter Lippman
On 29 August 2012, Prime Minister Gillard announced that Australia will invest $320 million into gender equality projects in the Pacific to foster women’s involvement in business and political leadership
Radio shock jock Alan Jones has been vocal criticising the announcement, suggesting women’s involvement in business and politics should not be supported and that women are in fact ‘destroying the joint’.
He couldn’t be more wrong. Women around the world are helping address some of the world’s biggest social and economic problems - fighting issues like extreme poverty, corruption and hunger
Many men who climb the corporate ladder have sponsors, too. Indeed, they find it easier than women to persuade a senior colleague to sponsor them. But women need help more because they are generally more reluctant to promote themselves. They are also less likely to build up useful networks of contacts.
That may help to explain why women, although they now enter white-collar jobs in much the same numbers as men in many countries, still find it so hard to get anywhere near the executive suite.
(via The Economist)
When we categorize books as “boy fiction” and “girl fiction” it’s just another way to promote gender stereotyping. It is predicated on the assumption that people will only read books that reflect their personal experiences, so therefore women will only deign to read about dating, shopping, and kitchen intrigues. This is patronizing to women and undermines one of the core purposes of literature, which is to take us on voyages beyond the scope of our personal experience so that we expand in our understanding and capacity for empathy. And I think most women get this; I think most women are willing to read novels with male protagonists in worlds apart from their own. To imply otherwise is an offense to the gender.
Dear New York Times: A Game of Thrones Is Not Just For Boys | Ilana Teitelbaum, published at Huffington Post on 16th April 2011.
Interesting quote in regards to feminism and fantasy. This was inspired by this article in the New York Times written by Ginia Bellafante.
The research also shows that employers avoid expanding secure employment by contracting out, off-shoring, work intensification strategies, and creative employment arrangements such as extended probationary periods and combining permanency (perhaps one day per week) and casual status in the one job.
The research points to an uncomfortable reality: that employment can no longer bear the full weight of aspirations that cover social mobility, social inclusion and participation, equality of opportunity, and alleviation of poverty. However, much of social policy is constructed on the expectation that employment can deliver these social aspirations without doing much of the heavy lifting in its own right. The question: what should social policy be doing?
“The Price of Sex is a feature-length documentary about young Eastern European women who have been drawn into a world of sex trafficking and abuse. It is a story told by the young women who refused to be silenced by shame, fear, and violence. Emmy-nominated photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal journey¬–exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives.
(2011 Nestor Almendros Award Winner)Human Rights Watch has documented the trafficking of women and girls into forced prostitution in places such as post-conflict Bosnia and Côte d’Ivoire as well as exposed the abuses and violations sex workers face at the hands of police, officials, and private individuals–sometimes in the name of combating trafficking. Human Rights Watch has also been a leading advocate in exposing human trafficking–predominantly of women and girls–in other fields such as domestic work, where women and girls are often deceived into working in slave like conditions, enduring physical, mental and sexual abuse with no access to justice.” from http://ff.hrw.org/film/price-sex?city=4
Like drawing back a curtain to let bright light stream in, MISS REPRESENTATION uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see. Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the film explores how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in influential positions in America and challenges the media’s limiting and often disparaging portrayals of women, which make it difficult for the average girl to see herself as powerful.
In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that our young women and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman’s value and power lie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality—and not in her capacity as a leader. While women have made strides in leadership over the past few decades, the United States still ranks 90th in the world for women in national legislatures, depression rates have doubled among teenage girls, and cosmetic surgery on minors has more than tripled in the last ten years.
Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, academics, and activists like Condoleeza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem build momentum as MISS REPRESENTATION accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave the audience shaken and armed with a new perspective.
