The Lisbon Treaty is a positive step for the women of Ireland and will make Europe more open and equal, according to Labour Women’s International Officer Mary Flynn.
Speaking at the launch of the Labour Women Lisbon Campaign today, Ms Flynn said Europe would be more equal if the treaty was passed.
“The Lisbon Treaty has specific aims to combat social exclusion and poverty. It protects public service provision, and equality provisions are strengthened,” she said.
“Positive discrimination measures are allowed for under-represented groups. Finally, the Charter of Fundamental Rights is an equal part of the treaty strengthening our basic rights.”
Ms Flynn said if the treaty was rejected, the EU would have to operate under the Nice Treaty.
Dedicated to the women who have graced the pages of history, from ancient to modern times.
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Lisbon Treaty
Fortune's Top "Women" Lists
Fortune Magazine has released its "lists" for 2009:
- 50 Most Powerful Businesswomen
- 25 Highest Paid Women
- 10 Most Powerful Women in Washington
- Women CEO's
- 10 Global Leaders
Margaret Wade Labarge
Margaret Wade Labarge, a woman noted for her deep interest in medieval women, departed this life late August.
Lisa Fitterman @ the Globe & Mail, wrote this of Margaret:
Lisa Fitterman @ the Globe & Mail, wrote this of Margaret:
... Margaret Wade Labarge, author, lecturer and long-time volunteer, had the ability to bring even the smallest historical detail to life. Combining a love of storytelling with a scholar's precision, she pored over arcane records to shed light on the more domestic side of a time most know for violence, damsels in distress and Joan of Arc.
Books: Women & History
Some more interesting reads this week:
Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici.
Review: "Explains connection between the Great Witch Hunt of the 16th and 17th centuries and Marx's concept of Primitive Accumulation of Capital. Relates these to Kropotkin's disscussion of the rise of the state. And to the Marxist conception of the Epoch of Capitalist Decay (Imperialism)." - Not for the faint-hearted.
Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier.
Alyssa McDonald interviews the author for the Australian: "Like each of its predecessors, it's a historical work: this one set in Lyme Regis in the early 19thcentury, when an otherwise unremarkable English coastal town became the setting for some of the world's earliest and most important discoveries of dinosaur remains. Many significant fossils were found by Mary Anning, a working-class local woman who, along with Elizabeth Philpot, another fossil collector living in Lyme Regis, is the focus of Chevalier's story."
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
Elizabeth Renzetti interviews Philippa for the Globe & Mail: "In the same manner that she dusted off the historical figure of Mary Boleyn (in her 2002 bestseller, The Other Boleyn Girl), now Gregory turns her attention to Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen of the title. The wife of Edward IV (and mother to the poor princes in the Tower), Elizabeth was "an unpopular and controversial Queen," according to Gregory."
Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici.
Review: "Explains connection between the Great Witch Hunt of the 16th and 17th centuries and Marx's concept of Primitive Accumulation of Capital. Relates these to Kropotkin's disscussion of the rise of the state. And to the Marxist conception of the Epoch of Capitalist Decay (Imperialism)." - Not for the faint-hearted.
Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier.
Alyssa McDonald interviews the author for the Australian: "Like each of its predecessors, it's a historical work: this one set in Lyme Regis in the early 19thcentury, when an otherwise unremarkable English coastal town became the setting for some of the world's earliest and most important discoveries of dinosaur remains. Many significant fossils were found by Mary Anning, a working-class local woman who, along with Elizabeth Philpot, another fossil collector living in Lyme Regis, is the focus of Chevalier's story."
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
Elizabeth Renzetti interviews Philippa for the Globe & Mail: "In the same manner that she dusted off the historical figure of Mary Boleyn (in her 2002 bestseller, The Other Boleyn Girl), now Gregory turns her attention to Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen of the title. The wife of Edward IV (and mother to the poor princes in the Tower), Elizabeth was "an unpopular and controversial Queen," according to Gregory."
1940-1945, Erotic Years by Patrick Buisson
Review by Matthew Campbell @ Times Online: "An unusual history of the Nazis in France has trampled on one of the country’s most painful taboos by focusing on women who slept with the enemy during the occupation. Flouting a long-running convention of silence on what he calls “horizontal collaboration”, Patrick Buisson, the author, describes the Nazi occupation as the “golden age” of the French brothel, chronicling a dramatic growth in prostitution to satisfy German demand."
Review by Matthew Campbell @ Times Online: "An unusual history of the Nazis in France has trampled on one of the country’s most painful taboos by focusing on women who slept with the enemy during the occupation. Flouting a long-running convention of silence on what he calls “horizontal collaboration”, Patrick Buisson, the author, describes the Nazi occupation as the “golden age” of the French brothel, chronicling a dramatic growth in prostitution to satisfy German demand."
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Last Letter of Mary Queen of Scots
From BBC News:The last letter ever written by Mary Queen of Scots is to go on display for the first time in 30 years.
The 422-year-old manuscript - written six hours before her execution - will go on show at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh on 15 September.
The letter, which will be displayed for seven days, was written on 8 February, 1587 to the King of France, Henri III.
The Catholic Queen told her brother-in-law she would die a religious martyr and not for purely political reasons.
King Henri III was the brother of her late husband, Francois II.
The letter revealed that, just hours from death, Mary asked Henri to ensure her servants' wages were paid.
Women and their Shoes
From BBC News:
Nearly four in 10 women buy shoes knowing they do not fit, a poll of 2,000 reveals.
The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists found 37% would wear uncomfortable shoes as long as they were fashionable. And 17% of men admit buying shoes in the wrong size. Although 80% of the women said they suffered foot problems like corns or ingrowing nails, only four in ten of the men and women surveyed sought help.
Although "killer" high-heels can cause problems, slip-on shoes are one of the worst culprits, as they cause the foot to slide forward and cramp the toes.
Worst of all are court shoes, as they are low-fronted, giving no support to the foot, and tend to be too narrow in the toe.
Ms Jones said many people are wearing the wrong sized shoes on a daily basis without even realising it.
Celebrating Outstanding Women
From Tessa Prieto-Valdes @ Philippine Daily Inquirer:
You'll have to read Tessa's article to discover who her outstanding women are.
ASTOUNDING women leave remarkable imprints on places and people that they encounter. They leave their mark and sometimes even change the course of history.
How profoundly these women impact the lives of those they touch vary, of course. But it is still a privilege to write about the one or two who come into focus every now and then.
This week’s column is dedicated to some examples of extraordinary women I know. I’ll preface it by saying that this is not a ranking or an exhaustive list. Rather, it is just a series of feel-good anecdotes.
You'll have to read Tessa's article to discover who her outstanding women are.
The Plight of Afghan Women
From Katherine Butler @ the Independent:
One reason for the widespread public support for the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was genuine revulsion at the treatment of Afghan women under the Taliban. Shocking videos of women being flogged or executed by firing squads in football stadiums for "adultery" had been smuggled out by campaigners in the late 1990s. Many people assumed that with the disappearance of Mullah Omar and his extremist followers, women would no longer be regarded as lower in status than farm animals, fit only for household drudgery or reproduction.
Girls would be able to go to school, and their mothers or sisters allowed to work, or even just enjoy ordinary pleasures such as travelling in a taxi, singing, laughing in public, or venturing out of the home without a male relative or a heavy blue cloak covering every inch. Western leaders were eager too to play up the "liberation of the women" as one of the noble aims of the military engagement in Afghanistan.Pervez Kambaksh has now benefited from a behind-closed-doors act of clemency from the Afghan president. But the fact that the student must flee in fear of his life because he circulated an article questioning attitudes to women in Islam suggests that the supposed introduction of democracy and eight years of war have delivered scant progress.
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