BBC Accused of Belittling Florence Nightingale

From the Telegraph:

A group of nursing academics has written to Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC trust, claiming the corporation has made at least two films containing "unsubstantiated and fictional portrayals" of the founder of modern nursing.

They have written to bring up what they describe as "the BBC's persistent, hostile and greatly erroneous treatment of Florence Nightingale" in the films.

In the letter, they have asked the BBC to withdraw two films - Florence Nightingale: Iron Maiden (2001) and Reputations: Florence Nightingale (2008) - from distribution.

They have written that the two hour-long films "attack and belittle Nightingale" and make "misleading" claims about her.

Saudi Women Welcome Suffrage

From Voice of America:

Saudi women are hailing King Abdullah's promise of expanded political rights, with the hope it is another step toward equality in the ultraconservative kingdom.

The king's announcement that women may run for office and cast votes in the next round of municipal elections, set for 2015, is the latest in a string of reforms -- modest compared to most countries but domestically radical and long opposed by members of the Saudi elite.

The monarch's promises also include their appointment to the largely ceremonial Shura council, an advisory body. Women will not be allowed to take part in municipal elections this Thursday, however, and some Saudi women are continuing to push for other basic freedoms such as the right to drive a car or leave the country without a male relative's permission.

The initiative comes as leaders across the Arab world struggle to meet the demands of their people, or risk going the way of the ex-leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Already this year, King Abdullah announced a $130 billion program to boost salaries, build housing and fund other popular measures.

But Basmah Omair, director of the al Sayeda Khadija bin Khawlid Center at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce, says it would be a mistake to think the latest move is a result of only the Arab Spring.

"In recent years, you have seen women take leadership positions like the deputy of the ministry of education and vice mayor of Jeddah," he said. "So it's not something [new], but maybe the media is concentrating [on these events] now and that is why they are just thinking of the recent events of 2011."

Kenyan Nobel Laureate Dies

From Inside Africa:

Kenyan Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died Monday after a battle with cancer. She was 71.

Maathai, an environmentalist, had long campaigned for human rights and the empowerment of Africa's most impoverished people.

More than 30 years ago she founded the Green Belt Movement, a tree-planting campaign to simultaneously mitigate deforestation and to give locals, especially women and girls, access to resources like firewood for cooking and clean water. They have since planted more than 40 million trees.

"Professor Maathai's departure is untimely and a very great loss to all who knew her -- as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model and heroine -- or who admired her determination to make the world a more peaceful, healthier and better place," her organization said.

Forgotten Female Artists of the 19th Century

From the Epoch Times:

Although in Art History one hears a lot about artists from prior centuries, and recently more and more work is being done on women artists in general, there is one specific group of female painters that has been all but forgotten. The rare women artists who were Old Masters, such as Artemisia Gentileschi and Elisabeth Vigee-Le Brun, as well as painters from the Impressionist movement and forward such as Mary Cassatt and Georgia O'Keeffe have been given much acclaim. But what of female painters from the almost forgotten classical tradition of the 19th Century; names such as Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau, Elizabeth Southerden Thompson, Lady Laura Teresa Alma-Tadema, Evelyn De Morgan, and Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale? One does not often hear about these artists from this only recently reviving period of art, and this article will focus on these women and their accomplishments in paint.

Quakers: Burqa Wearers of the 17th Century

From the Guardian:

In 1630, a certain oatmeal maker was examined by the highest church court in England, accused of preaching without a licence. Before an audience of bishops, he kept his hat firmly on his head. Doffing it momentarily to a secular representative, he turned again to the bishops, crying: "But as ye are rags of the Beast, lo! – I put it on again." Refusal to observe "hat honour" – the custom of removing one's headgear in the presence of a social superior – was a way of saying, in the most confrontational manner: "I reject your authority." (In the case of the oatmeal maker, this was an especially radical rejection: the bishops were agents of Antichrist.) It was a gender-specific affront, since hat-doffing was a peculiarly masculine form of humiliation.

Hat dishonour and burqa-wearing are not, of course, the same thing at all. But they do both illustrate the symbolic power of head-covering, and its relationship to political "headship". Twenty years or so after the case of the oatmeal maker, following civil war and the collapse of traditional pillars of social stability (the monarchy, and the church courts), the early Quakers also famously rejected hat honour. This was a prophetic sign not only that unjust inequalities were being dissolved, but that men were subject to the authority of God alone. Keeping one's head covered was a provocative statement of dissent towards the entire system of deference and consent which apparently held together English society.

10 Stories of Inspiration

From Asian Scientist:

Women across the world have made remarkable contributions in the year 2011.

In politics, Yingluck Shinawatra of Thailand and Julia Gillard of Australia have made history as the first female prime ministers of their countries.

Christine Lagarde of France will take the helm at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as its new chairwoman, while Tu Youyou of China has won the 2011 Lasker Award for her discovery of the anti-malarial drug artemisinin.

The World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development and the World Bank’s Think Equal campaign launched in the past week has charted the progress – and lack thereof – toward gender equality.

Women are all too aware of these issues, which is why the Women: Inspiration & Enterprise 2011 Symposium (WIE2011) felt like an oasis in the desert, a place where women could find hope, inspiration, and opportunity.

Exhibition: Catholic Nuns in American History

From the Observer:

South Bend's Center for History is hosting the national traveling exhibition "Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America," an interactive tour through American history that chronicles the sisters' 300-year history in the country.

The exhibition details the stories of the nuns who pioneered the nation's religious, education, health care and social work systems. The South Bend Center for History, the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College brought the exhibit to South Bend.

Marilyn Thompson, the Center's director of marketing and community relations, said the attraction of the exhibit lies in the depth of information it provides.

"This exhibition is so significant because it not only looks at the history of Catholic sisters, but at how their story mirrors the history of America," she said. "It's moments like these which help us to know how much prevalence these women have had in so many people's lives."

Top 25 Women in Banking

From American Banker come a list of the top 25 women in banking. Nice collection of short biographies - well worth the read.

Saudi Women Have Right To Vote

From the New York Times:

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Sunday granted women the right to vote and run in future municipal elections, the biggest change in a decade for women in a puritanical kingdom that practices strict separation of the sexes, including banning women from driving.

Although political activists celebrated the change, they also cautioned how deep it would go and how fast, given that the king referred to the next election cycle, which would not be until 2015. Some women wondered aloud how they would be able to campaign for office when they were not even allowed to drive. And there is a long history of royal decrees stalling, as weak enactment collides with the bulwark of traditions ordained by the Wahhabi sect of Islam and its fierce resistance to change.