America: Women of the Year 2008

From the Chicago Sun-Times:
"The year 2008 was a bangup one for many women. A woman ran for vice president; a woman nearly ran for president, and in the next administration, women will head the State Department and Homeland Security Department, serve as ambassador to the United Nations and advise President-elect Barack Obama."

So - who's on the list?? You'll just have to read for yourself ....

Female Firsts: Tunisia

From allAfrica:
"Following its 17 th congress, held in Gammarth, North of Tunis on Sunday, the Tunisian Writer's Union elected its Executive Board and at its head, Mrs Jamila Mejri, who becomes the first woman to occupy this function.

Forty three candidates ran for the 10 positions of Chairman of the board and board members. Mrs Mejri and the 9 other members were elected for a three year mandate. The new Chairman of the Union, is a poet and a teacher, her publications include "Memoirs of a bird", a collection of poems in Arabic. She is also the recipient of several literary prizes in Tunisia."

Yummy Mummy Syndrome

From the Sydney Morning Herald:
"The yummy mummy phenomenon inspires passionate responses, from lust and admiration to approbation and contempt. But does it help or hinder women?

It is now more acceptable for women to invest more time in themselves. Martyrdom is not as chic as it used to be. It's OK to take time out for a manicure, a spa treatment, shopping or an exercise class. All of this means that women do not necessarily lose their former selves upon having children - motherhood is no longer only about being devoted to your family.

But reports of "pregorexia" - striving to stay thin during pregnancy - remind us of the dark underbelly of these positive changes. And pregorexia is not the only alarming trend surrounding the yummy mummy phenomenon. "Mummy makeover" is the term used to denote the set of radical cosmetic surgical procedures that women increasingly undergo post-birth. Some mothers claim to find a mummy makeover liberating but both pregorexia and the mummy makeover aim to eradicate the maternal body."

Female Bishops in England

From the Times Online:
"The Church of England has reached an historic agreement on the consecration of women bishops.

After years of struggle to avoid schism, bishops have agreed a formula that enshrines the principle of equality for male and female bishops while appeasing opponents of women’s ordination. The first women bishops could take their place in the Church of England within three years.

The deal, published in a new report yesterday, provides for a class of “complementary” traditionalist bishop for parishes that refuse to accept a woman diocesan bishop."

Bad Hair Day

I know it's a silly question - but have you ever had a bad hair day. One when all you want to do is just cut the whole lot off. I have and, to be honest, frequently do. And, just for something different, today was one of those days.

I have really long hair - but its mutant hair - it literally has a life of its own. Its thick, curly (or straight as it pleases), and frizzes out by two inches when there is rain in the air. You know the look - like you've just had electric shock treatment!.

I grew up with Shirley Temple blonde curls which changed into wavey orange / chestnut and eventually blonde then brunette. One summer it went nearly black. And no, I have had no treatments, colouring, bleaching, straightening, curling, perming, or any other type of hair treatment / conditioning whatsoever. In fact I haven't been to a Salon since I was 14yo - when I asked for two inches off my long hair and came out looking like a recruit for the army! I kid you not.

Anyway, the mutation that calls itself my hair is at the present quite long (I can sit on it) and slightly wavey - and slightly light brunette. And frizzy as rain is in the air. I have been really vain about the length of my hair, growing up as I did with constantly short hair (courtesy of the home haircut by Mum). But today I just really had enough.

So, I proceeded with the "comb over", put the hair in a pony tail (attached to my brow / forehead) and reached for the nearest pair of scissors and cut off three inches (7.5cm). Most of which, I might add was really just split ends. Upon consulting the dust bin, I decided to cut off another three inches - so in total, 6 inches (15cm or half a ruler!).

It was strangley cathartic! And quite liberating. And as I sit here relating this to you, I feel quite pleased with myself. And besides, I've got another week to go before I return to work and I seriously doubt that anyone will really notice!

Safe New Year to you all!

Education To Die For

From The Australian:
"The Taliban has ordered the closure of all girls' schools in the war-ravaged Swat district of Pakistan and warned parents and teachers of dire consequences if the ban is flouted.

In an announcement made in mosques and broadcast on radio, the militant group set a deadline of January 15 for its order to be obeyed or it would blow up school buildings and attack schoolgirls. It also told women not to set foot outside their homes without being fully covered.

"Female education is against Islamic teachings and spreads vulgarity in society," Shah Dauran, leader of a group that has established control over a large part of Swat district in the North West Frontier Province, declared this week.

Teachers said that they had little choice but to comply. The Taliban have destroyed more than 125 girls' schools in the area in the past year.

Mullah Fazlullah - also known as Mullah Radio for his sermons broadcast through his illegal FM radio stations - has long been exhorting people to stop sending their daughters to schools, which "inculcate Western values". Hundreds of girls and women teachers have quit schools as a result.

Since the start of the government offensive, girls' schools have been targeted increasingly by Islamic fundamentalists. The district has 842 boys' and 490 girls' state schools for 300,000 children aged three to nine; only 163,645 boys and 67,606 girls are actually enrolled at state and private establishments, according to official figures.

According to the local authorities, 50 per cent of girls have stopped attending school because of the militants' threats. Hazir Gul, a teacher, said the inability of the authorities to provide protection against attacks had emboldened the Islamists, who burned schools "whenever they want".

Attacks on girls' schools are not confined to the Swat district. In the past two years a further 100 schools have been burnt down in Waziristan and other tribal areas, leaving tens of thousands of children between the ages of five and 15 without education. In many areas, hardliners have established sharia, or Islamic law, and introduced public executions for those who break it."

From the BBC News:
"Taleban militants in the Swat valley in north-west Pakistan have threatened to kill girls who attend school.

This year alone, Taleban militants have destroyed more than 130 schools in the Swat valley. They want to bring in Islamic sharia law in the region. Militant attacks on schools in the region have deprived more than 17,000 students of education.

Although schools for girls have come under attack on numerous occasions in the past, this is the first time Taleban militants have issued a complete ban on girls attending them, the BBC's Ethirajan Anbarasan says.

A Taleban spokesman said the prohibition would remain in place unless and until Islamic sharia law was fully implemented in the region. State-run schools are seen by the insurgents as key symbols of the government. Now the militants have threatened to destroy private schools as well.

These schools are not Islamic religious institutions and the students are taught courses based on the government syllabus.

Locals say the ongoing attacks on schools have dealt a severe blow to education of girls and young women in the Swat valley. Those who can afford it have already moved out of the region, but the poor have no other option than keeping their daughters at home, our correspondent says. "


Read the article by Helene Gayle in the Press Democrat regarding the attack on Afghan girls on their way to school.

Saudi Child Bride

Further to my post "No Divorce for 8yo Girl" comes the following from CNN:
"A group fighting for women's rights in Saudi Arabia condemned a judge Wednesday for refusing to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man.

The group's co-founder, Wajeha al-Huwaider, told CNN that achieving human rights in the kingdom means standing against those who want to "keep us backward and in the dark ages."

The Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, in a statement published on its Web site, called on the "minister of justice and human rights groups to interfere now in this case" by divorcing the girl from the man. "They must end this marriage deal which was made by the father of the girl and the husband."

On Saturday, the judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed a petition brought by the girl's mother. The Saudi Justice Ministry has not commented. The Saudi Information Ministry forwarded CNN to the government-run Human Rights Commission."

Eartha Kitt

From The Age:

"Eartha Kitt, the versatile American singer and actress who died aged 81, mesmerized audiences worldwide for over six decades with her sultry voice and sensuality on stage and screen.

Kitt, whose outspokenness was a mainstay of her career but also led to a self-imposed exile to Europe in the 1960s and 70s after her stinging critique of the war in Vietnam, won two Emmy television awards and was nominated for two Tony awards and a pair of Grammys."

Olga Lepeshinskaya

From the Telegraph:
"Olga Lepeshinskaya, who died in Moscow on December 20 aged 92, was the Bolshoi Ballet's prima ballerina in the 1930s and 1940s and Josef Stalin's favourite performer – rumoured to be her lover, he would bring red roses to her dressing room after performances, and he decorated her four times with the Stalin Prize.

In 2000 Olga Lepeshinskaya was awarded a Soul of Dance prize by the Russian magazine Ballet. She also received various honours from Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Albania and the Philippines.

She was a deputy on the Committee of Soviet Women, and later chairman of the Central House of Art Workers. She regularly chaired the organising committee and jury of the celebrated Moscow International Ballet Competition and withdrew from her public activities only in the last decade of her life. "