From ABC News Online:There is mounting concern about a vaginal plastic surgery procedure more and more Australian women are having.
Each year more than 1,200 Australian women undergo surgery on their genitalia in a procedure known as labioplasty.
Doctors and surgeons fear that some women may be having the operation unnecessarily and there are concerns about operations being done by unqualified medical professionals.
In Britain, where the procedure is equally popular, medical experts are warning of a shocking lack of information about the risks and long-term impact.
It is controversial surgery but it is booming nonetheless.
For some, labioplasty is an exercise in Hollywood-style vanity, while for others it is a transformative procedure that trims, sculpts and restores a woman's genitalia.
But there have been no studies to prove its long-term safety and doctors are worried about its ballooning popularity.
New book on Master Potter Marguerite Wildenhain:
The Bauhaus, the most famous art school in history, began in Germany in 1919. Among its studio areas was ceramic art or pottery, where one of the first students was a smart, young French-born woman named Marguerite Friedlander (1896-1985), now known by her married name of Marguerite Wildenhain.
In time, she was designated a Master Potter, married Bauhaus potter Franz Wildenhain, designed award-winning porcelain pieces, and, after her dismissal as a teacher for being Jewish, left Holland in advance of its invasion by the Nazis. She immigrated to the US, where she joined an artists' community called Pond Farm in the hills above the redwood trees in northern California. For much of her remaining life, she ran her own pottery school, taught hundreds of gifted students, and secured her reputation as one of the century's most influential teachers, craftspersons and artists.
This monumental effort is astonishing in its richness. It was painstakingly brought about through the selfless contributions of dozens of international scholars, artists (many of whom were Marguerite Wildenhain's students), schools, museums and other institutions.
Conceived of and compiled by Dean and Geraldine Schwarz (founders of South Bear School), this is a vivid, compelling account—both heartrending and amusing—not only of the life and work of an extraordinary artist and teacher, but also of the historical roots of the European concept of Handwerk; the role of pottery at the early Bauhaus; the establishment of Pond Farm by the Herr family; and the continuing, prospering legacy of the Bauhaus pottery tradition in such diverse places as (in Germany) Dornburg and Halle, and (in the US) Decorah, Iowa (South Bear), Fairbanks, Alaska (North Bear) and Spring Green, Wisconsin (Adamah).
This is a phenomenal archive of more than 800 Bauhaus-related images, both historic and contemporary, interwoven with essays, memoirs, diaries, letters, interviews and other candid written texts (often first-person, eyewitness accounts), many of which are published here for the first time.
From the Guardian:Ninety years on from the founding of Walter Gropius's legendary art, craft and design school, the female students of the Bauhaus appear to have been as liberated as young women today.
At least they do in the photographs in Bauhaus Women, a book by Ulrike Muller, a "museum educator" in Weimar, the German town where the Bauhaus opened in 1919, declaring equality between the sexes. Where German women had once received art education at home with tutors, at the Bauhaus they were free to join courses.
Yes, the world's most famous modern art school accepted women. But few became well known. While the men of the Bauhaus – Gropius, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, László Moholy-Nagy and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe – are celebrated, names like Gunta Stölzl (a weaver), Benita Otte (another weaver), Marguerite Friedlaender-Wildenhain (ceramicist), Ilse Fehling (sculptor and set designer) or Alma Siedhoff-Buscher (toy maker) mean precious little.
From China Today:The number of female army applicants has surged by 300 percent, with many women saying they were inspired by the National Day parade.
Ding Zhengquan, the spokesman for the recruitment office of Beijing municipal government, said more than 3,000 women from Beijing had applied to join the army.
About 1,200 girls had passed preliminary screening and begun medical examinations as of yesterday.
Speaking to METRO, Ding said the surge is linked to the performance of the women's squad during the Oct 1 military parade in Tian'anmen Square.
China is under tremendous pressure to find jobs for its 6.1 million college students that graduated this year. Of the 1,200 candidates in the medical exam yesterday, 90 percent were university students.
It is the first year that the People's Liberation Army has recruited directly from the public. In the past, women had to be recommended to become recruits. The criteria for female soldiers is extremely high. It is open to women aged 18 to 24 and they must have at least a high school degree.
From the Mercury News:Their head wear displayed a full palette of colors and patterns, and symbolized different faiths. But the two dozen Sikh and Muslim women who gathered Saturday at a Fremont community center knew their turbans and scarves had a singular effect on many others in a country where their beliefs are in the minority.
They make the women stand out as different, and to some, threatening.
Organizers said local Sikhs and Muslims had never held such a multifaith forum to address shared concerns about discrimination and profiling, but decided to do so because it remains a daily concern. While the overt hostility that peaked shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Islamic terrorists has subsided, more subtle discrimination persists, they said.
Sikh and Muslim women are expected to cover their heads. In the Sikh faith, which traces its roots to 16th-century India, both men and women cover their hair, which they do not cut. In Islam, which began in seventh-century Arabia, women cover their heads as a sign of modesty.
Though the event was aimed at women who cover their heads in both faiths, a couple of Sikh men attended as well.
From the Guardian:A woman applied to the Leo Baeck (Rabbinic) College. The admissions committee decided that although the theological arguments were still raging, there could be no objection to her acquiring Jewish learning and let her in.
Five years later they realised that as she had finished the course and satisfied all requirements, they had no reason not to ordain her and in 1975 Britain had its first female rabbi.
However, there was another hurdle to overcome: the congregations. When the early female ministers came to preach, there were threats of splits and predictions of walk-outs. In the event, almost none of these occurred.
Today, around a third of congregational rabbis in Reform and Liberal Synagogues are female (though still none in the Orthodox). It is not that they have ousted male colleagues, but that they have plugged the gap that was already occurring as male applicants declined.
From the Telegraph:The Prime Minister is withdrawing childcare vouchers because he believes too many people who can afford to pay full costs on their own are using it. About 340,000 families claim childcare vouchers from about 35,000 employers. They save parents up to £2,400 a year.
Mr Brown plans to phase out the system from 2011, instead using the money saved to extend free nursery places to two-year-olds from the poorest families.
But Mr Brown's decision to withdraw the benefit has resulted in a number of senior female backbenchers, including Patricia Hewitt, the former health secretary, and Caroline Flint, the former Europe minister, who argue that many working mothers will no longer be able to afford to work if the vouchers are scrapped.
More than 60,000 people have signed a petition on the Downing Street website criticising Mr Brown's decision while almost 40 Labour MPs have signed a parliamentary motion in protest
.
From Angola Press:Women rights, as the key element of family and society are stipulated in three draft laws presented last week by the Constitutional Commission countrywide, said the MP Luzia Inglês.
Speaking to Angop, the member of National Assembly (Parliament) expressed satisfaction over the fact women rights are backed in the three draft laws of the Constitution.
Luzia Inglês, also National secretary of ruling MPLA party's women wing (OMA), appealed to all women to take part in future debates, aimed at defining a constitutional "matrix" for Angola.
She also pledged to do her utmost so that women are properly informed about the rights and duties in society.
The drafts of constitution were presented in all provinces, and now are being studied so that, within 15 day-deadline, integrate the process of discussion and presentation of proposals to Constitutional Commission for the future constitution.
From ABC New Online:A rally has been held outside Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's electoral office in Brisbane over a legislative amendment that protesters say will outlaw home births.
About 300 women and children and a sprinkling of men turned out in showery conditions outside Mr Rudd's Morningside office this morning.
Many waved placards, pushed prams or carried babies in their arms.
Speakers told the rally that women should have the right to decide how they give birth.
Those present say amendments to the Medicare for Midwives Bill will result in a medical veto over midwifery practice and home births.
They have challenged the Mr Rudd and Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon to stand up to the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and remove the amendment.
See also: The Age -
Women rally against midwife changes
