Women Around the World: Year in Review

So, another year is done. How did 2017 shape up for women and girls around the globe? Here is a selection of news:

Council on Foreign Relations:

• Record-breaking Women's March on January 21, 2017
• Global #MeToo campaign
• Legal advances in the Middle East
• U.S. Women, Peace, and Security Act is enacted
• U.S. slashes funding for global women’s health
• Legal reform on child marriage
• Gains in women's political leadership
• Low participation in peace talks
• Global migration crisis grows
• Female fighters combat terrorism

Women Leadership in the Worldwide Community:

• Almost four in ten businesses have no women in senior management positions in G7 countries
• The proportion of senior business roles held by women globally stands at only 24%
• There is an increase in the percentage of firms that have no places for women in senior management
• In G7 countries only 22% of companies have women as part of their senior staff
• 39% of companies have no women in senior roles whatsoever in G7 countries
• In Japan, with its powerhouse economy, only 7 percent of companies have women in senior roles
• Germany, another country with a strong economy, has only a 15% rate of countries with women in senior roles

News Deeply:

• women's march
• U.S. cuts funding to UNFPA
• Canada announces international assistance policy
• Family Planning receives funding boost
• advancements in women's rights globally
• Global #metoo campaign
• widening of the Global Gender Gap

The Lilly:

• the year in Movies

Sorry State of Women In India

Tragic tales of violence against women and children has emerged from India.  Here are just a few of the headlines that have appeared this week:

From the Guardian:

Indian PM Manmohan Singh: women's status and safety a growing concern...  India must make vast improvements to protect women, says prime minister amid protests over rape of five-year-old girl.

From the Times of India:

CPM politburo member Brinda Karat on Sunday called for the need to amend the criminal law to protect tribal women against the atrocities by officials and guards of forest department.Expressing concern over the increase in crimes against women, Brinda Karat said the issue of atrocities against tribal women should also be addressed. 

From The Hindu:
Even as protests against the brutal rape of a five-year-old girl in the Gandhi Nagar area of East Delhi snowballed into widespread public outrage, the 22-year-old casual worker accused of the crime was brought here on Saturday.

From The Siasat Daily:
The brutal rapist of the five-year-old girl had met his equally vile partner-in-crime during a chance meeting aboard a train earlier this year, sources claimed on Sunday. Identified by sources as one Pradeep, the man in question is now ‘officially’ the second accused in the case which took place precisely a week ago. “Manoj Kumar Sah, the main accused, kept twisting facts, changing his statements and putting the entire blame on Pradeep as soon as he was arrested,” said an officer.

Also from The Siasat Daily:
Second Delhi child rape accused arrested from Bihar .....One more person allegedly involved in the rape of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi a week ago has been arrested, police said on Monday. Pradeep, the second accused, was apprehended from Bihar in a joint operation by Delhi and Bihar Police, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told PTI.

And this again from The Siasat Daily:

Delhi rape accused Manoj raped wife before marriage .....In another shocking revelation it has been reported that rape accused Manoj Kumar, who was arrested by police yesterday had also raped his wife before marriage.

From Huffington Post:
Women's groups here are hailing a new law, passed March 21, that stiffens punishments of sexual violence in the aftermath of the notorious gang rape last December that left a medical student dead.

And then this tragic story from The Siasat Daily:
A 22-year-old mentally challenged woman was raped allegedly by a ward boy at a nursing home whose doctors have been arrested on charge of trying to bribe the victim's kin to hush up the matter. The incident occurred at Walhekarwadi in Chinchwad town near hear on April 16 in the nursing home run by Dr Vishal Sonawane (34) and his wife Dr Varsha (31) where the victim was undergoing treatment, police said today. Police arrested the accused, identified as Subhash Modad (22), on the charge of rape and the doctor couple for trying to hush up the matter and bribe the victim's kin to not report the incident to police as it would bring bad name to their hospital.

From Opposing Views:

Gruesome footage surfaced today of four men relentlessly beating an Indian woman in Ludhiana, a city in the northwest Indian province of Punjab. The woman says she was beaten because she asked to be repaid a sum of money that she had lent to one of the men. The amount is reported to be 20,000 rupees, the equivalent of about $370 USD.

From CTV News:

But exotic ancient India has run headlong into the rapidly growing economic powerhouse, where women have stepped out of traditional roles, resulting in harsh questions about their treatment which is considered to be among the worst in the world. Rape is common. Sexual assault goes unreported. The victim is often blamed, which the perpetrator walks free.

Historic Newspapers

If you do not know already about this great service, then here is the lowdown.

Historic Newspapers offers you a selection of original newspapers dating back as far as the 1800’s. The archive is made up of of over 7 million editions from all over the world. To date the UK titles have been catalogued as far back as 1900 by date and title, there are also lots of US and regional issues, as well as many from the Victorian era.

These have proved to be popular gifts for milestone events, particularly birthdays and anniversaries, but also for historians and schools. In addition, Historic Newspapers offer free teaching history resource packs and also have a newspaper research facility with a dedicated team in place for special requests.

My copies arrived yesterday - thanks Thomas! 

• Times 18 August 1820 Trial of Queen Caroline
• Times 4 April 1913 Trial of Mrs Pankhurst (Suffragette leader)
• Times 5 July 1934 Death of Marie Curie

They were carefully wrapped and boxed for the long journey down under - and arrived in very good condition!

I urge you all, researchers and readers alike to avail yourselves of this wonderful service. And folks, the kind people at Historic Newspapers are offering readers a special discount on all purchases over £5.00 - just type in the code: 15TODAY when finalising your order.

Happy reading!

Herald's First Woman Editor

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

THE Herald has been published since April 1831, through depressions and wars into the internet age, but until yesterday afternoon never has a woman been its editor. Amanda Wilson is now the first.

Previously deputy editor, she has acted in the role since October, when Peter Fray was made editor-in-chief of the Herald and its sister paper, The Sun-Herald.

Wilson, a journalist for more than 30 years, said she had no idea why it had taken so long for a woman to be appointed to the role given the number of talented female colleagues with whom she had worked. ''We have always had brilliant women journalists at the Herald,'' she said. ''One of the people who helped me here was Lis Sterel and in my opinion she should have been the first woman editor.''

Balibo: An Australian Tragedy

From BBC News:

Indonesia has banned the film Balibo, which depicts the deaths of six foreign journalists in East Timor, the head of the foreign correspondents club said.

The club cancelled a screening of the film on legal advice that they could face charges.

The journalists died as Indonesian troops invaded East Timor in 1975.

Jakarta maintains they were killed accidentally in cross-fire. But an Australian coroner found in 2007 that the journalists had been executed.

The journalists - two Australians, two Britons and a New Zealander - were killed in the border town of Balibo as Indonesian forces entered East Timor.

A sixth Australian journalist was killed in Dili shortly after when Indonesian troops entered the city.

Web Links:

• Balibo - Official Film Site
• Balibo Five - Wikipedia
• Shooting Balibo - Penguin Books
• Balibo - Review by Shirley Shackleton
• Balibo 5 - Liam Bartlett Sixty Minutes Blog
• Death in Balibo, Lies in Canberra - Review by Simon Philpott
• Justice Long Overdue - Article in Perth Now
• Balibo 5 Inquiry - IGIS
• We Killed Balibo Five - from news.com.au
  

Upcoming Events

October was a fairly busy month for articles and news on women - and November looks to be just as busy.

However, as I was collating things, it struck me that this month I have a number of events comining up that would be of interest to women. So .... if anyone has a local event coming up that you think would be of interest to or concerning women, please let me know as I would be happy to post an article here for you. If there is alocal group in your area that promotes women or women's issues, again, please let me know as I would be happy to feature them here.

Well, back to work for me - tonight's postings need sorting through!

And many thanks again to all who visit, leave comments and messages of support.

~~~ Melisende

Blog: Women's Page Editors

Came across an interesting blog and thought I would share it with you: Women's Page Editors by Kimberly Wilmot Voss.

A blog devoted to women's page editors beginning during World War II (when many women were hired by the newsrooms until the war ended) through the early 1970s when the women's pages were transformed into lifestyle sections.

Just a quick note ...

Just a quick note about the articles that are displayed here.

Many of the articles are excerpts gathered from the various newspapers and online sources worldwide. By clicking on the name of the source (ie: Gulf News, the Guardian, the Austalian), you will be able to read the article in full and see who the Author / Reporter is. You will also, in many circumstances, be able to address your comments directly to the Author / Reporter through a "comments" section.

Other articles are my own, but you should have no trouble identifying those.

Again, many thanks to all who visit and leave comments - I do read them - eventually!

Matilda Asante

From Ghana News:
"Currently, she is the Head of News at Joy FM, managing the over 50 journalists at the station and its affiliates country-wide. She anchors the station's prime news bulletin, JOY midday news, syndicated nation-wide and on the Internet.

In this position, Tilly has led a multi-disciplinary research team to define the frontiers of news, educational and developmental documentation, interrogating the depth of national and international affairs and giving voice to the voiceless.

Tilly also hosts a current affairs programme, AGENDA, on TV3 which has been adjudged the number one current affairs discussion on television.

Ms Asante has been an advocate for hard and delicate issues, including exposing and creating national and international awareness of such issues as persistent child slavery, female genital mutilation, defilement and other outmoded traditional practices that inherently permit diverse forms of gender imbalance and discrimination against women.

She confided in The Mirror that she had the desire to bring change to people's lives and was eager to undertake more social-related programmes that had an impact on people's lives."

New "pregnancy" insurance

This is a really sensitive topic and I have been giving it some thought before deciding to post - but decided I would as I would like others' views on the subject.

On 9th April 2008, Insurance giant ING launched a new insurance policy to "cover for babies and pregnancy – with the median age of new mums now nearly 31, (up from 27 in 1985), the risk of pregnancy complications and birth defects increases dramatically. For a women aged 35 or more the risk of stillborn is 1 in 440, as opposed to 1 in 1000 for younger women."

What this actually means is, for every birth-defect or stillborn child, you get a payout.

For example: "payouts of up to 50,000 dollars (46,640 US) for babies born with Down's syndrome, spina bifida or a cleft palate ....... a stillborn baby could get a 10,000-dollar payout while women who suffered complications during pregnancy or birth could also be awarded a pay-out."

There has already been some criticism in medical circles:
"This new insurance policy is drawing some criticism with New South Wales Midwives Association because it draws on the fears that pregnant women already have.

"It is making women think about the terrible things that can happen when the reality is there are very few mothers who suffer from complications during pregnancy," secretary Dr Hannah Dahlen told the Sun-Herald. "It is marketing fear and uncertainty when women are vulnerable during pregnancy." "

Whilst other are in praise: "some people will think it's not ethical but the cost of covering for a disability is monstrous and that’s why people will look at this," said Investment and Financial Services Association head Richard Gilbert. "Considering the high costs involved when babies are born with disabilities this insurance program could be a step in the right direction."


Yahoo News: "Mums can insure unborn babies"
Yahoo: "Mums can insure unborn babies in Australia"


My views on this are mixed - finally insurance companies are recognising "real" risks and complications associated with pregnancy; on the other hand ......

The jury's still out on this one.