Venice becomes first major film festival to return after coronavirus lockdown
28/07/2020 - Festival reveals 2020 line-up, with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland one of eight films by female directors Expand
28/07/2020 - Festival reveals 2020 line-up, with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland one of eight films by female directors to compete for the Golden Lion Helen Mirren, Shia LaBeouf and Greta Thunberg are among the big names due to be on display at the 2020 Venice film festival, as it gears up to be the first major festival to stage a physical event in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Inevitably the lineup has a slimmed-down feel, with many films delayed or held back, meaning there is little in the way of Venice’s traditional dose of Hollywood glamour.Festival director Alberto Barbera announced the main list of titles on Tuesday, which drew together films by the likes of Alex Gibney, Chloé Zhao and Luca Guadagnino. Zhao’s film, Nomadland, is arguably the most prized: following her indie hit The Rider, Zhao has adapted Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction account of older Americans forced on to the road by economic crisis, with Frances McDormand acting as producer as well as taking the lead role. In a sign of the Collapse
Cheshire prison worker warned of problems before death of baby
27/07/2020 - Manager of mother-and-baby unit at Styal Prison wrote to politicians about her concerns for Expand
27/07/2020 - Manager of mother-and-baby unit at Styal Prison wrote to politicians about her concerns for pregnant inmatesThe former manager of a prison mother-and-baby unit warned just months before the stillbirth of a baby there that such a tragedy was likely to happen because of concerns about conditions for pregnant women at the prison, the Guardian has learned.Tamsin Morris, a lawyer, who previously managed the mother-and-baby unit at Styal Prison in Wilmslow, Cheshire, wrote to the MP for the area, Esther McVey, to the Ministry of Justice and to the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, in February of this year, raising concerns about conditions for pregnant women at the prison in the wake of the stillbirth of a baby at HMP Bronzefield last September. Continue reading... Collapse
Betty, Gloria and Shirley… we can learn so much from Mrs America's pioneers | Natasha Walter
26/07/2020 - As the TV drama shows, solidarity is forged by being in the room with rivals, not by cancelling Expand
26/07/2020 - As the TV drama shows, solidarity is forged by being in the room with rivals, not by cancelling themIf you try to learn what it’s like to be a feminist from many of the popular narratives you get right now, the books about “gutsy women” or “awesome women”, the films about black female scientists or white suffragettes, you might consider it a pretty straightforward life. A life characterised by a sense of destiny, which moves pretty swiftly along the clear road to progress. I’m sure – I hope, anyway – that many activists do recognise that rhythm to their lives.I, not so much. Particularly over the past few years, being politically active has often felt more like being lost in a dark field without a torch. Are we going forwards or backwards? Who the hell put that boulder in our path? Why is everyone fighting over the map? Does anyone even have the map? Continue reading... Collapse
Of course birthrates are plunging – the Tories have created a child-unfriendly society | Polly Toynbee
23/07/2020 - Austerity-era cuts to pre-school help, education and benefits have put parenthood out of reach for Expand
23/07/2020 - Austerity-era cuts to pre-school help, education and benefits have put parenthood out of reach for manyThe austerity decade has diminished us in many ways, and this week there came news of a new one: the birthrate is plummeting. The Office for National Statistics has revealed a fall of 12.2% since 2012. That’s a replacement rate of just 1.65 children per woman – lower in Wales.Cue panic. Who will look after the old? Who will do the jobs to pay for their pensions? Some think fewer humans are good for the environment, others that it signifies national decline: size means status and strength among wealthier nations. Continue reading... Collapse
Women took on bulk of childcare during British lockdown, study finds
22/07/2020 - ONS polls show impact of home-schooling on parents’ mental health, with women hardest hitWomen Expand
22/07/2020 - ONS polls show impact of home-schooling on parents’ mental health, with women hardest hitWomen carried out significantly more daily childcare duties than men during lockdown, for an average of more than three hours a day compared with just two hours for men, in households with children aged 18 or younger, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.The study also found that one in three women with school-aged children said their mental health had been negatively affected as a result of home-schooling, compared with 20% of men, although the ONS said women generally were more likely to report their wellbeing had been affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Continue reading... Collapse
IMF urges swift action to protect women from Covid-19 economic hit
21/07/2020 - Pandemic could reverse progress for women all over the world without governments taking powerful Expand
21/07/2020 - Pandemic could reverse progress for women all over the world without governments taking powerful measuresCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageGovernments around the world have been warned by the International Monetary Fund to take swift action to limit the economic damage for women that has been unleashed by Covid-19.Sounding the alarm over the disproportionate impact on women amid the worst global recession since the 1930s Great Depression, the Washington-based organisation said the pandemic threatened to roll back gains in women’s economic opportunities, widening gender gaps that persist despite 30 years of progress. Continue reading... Collapse
‘The guys were waiting for me to fail’: Annie Nightingale on battling the BBC
19/07/2020 - Still doing a Radio 1 show at 80, the veteran DJ tells Desert Island Discs about Beatles secrets Expand
19/07/2020 - Still doing a Radio 1 show at 80, the veteran DJ tells Desert Island Discs about Beatles secrets and breaking down a ‘wall of no’Veteran DJ Annie Nightingale, the first woman to do the job on Radio 1, has spoken of her suspicion that the BBC wanted her to mess up at the beginning of her career with the station in 1970.“I think the BBC wanted it to fail,” Nightingale said. “They thought, OK, we have got this woman DJ now … but they would have been quite happy if it had not worked out.” Continue reading... Collapse
Abbie Chatfield is the best thing about Bachelor in Paradise. Don't make her the villain | Matilda Boseley
15/07/2020 - The franchise was never a feminist masterpiece but it’s infuriating that funny, confident women Expand
15/07/2020 - The franchise was never a feminist masterpiece but it’s infuriating that funny, confident women are still portrayed as evil and badOne skill every modern woman learns is the ability to briefly lock her feminist ideals away in a dark cupboard to enjoy a good hour of TV.It’s a tactic I picked up somewhere between seasons two and three of Game of Thrones and, let me tell you, it comes in handy during Australia’s Bachelor months. A glass of Aldi rosé in my hand and that show can reinforce all the outdated romantic stereotypes it wants. Continue reading... Collapse
Women speak out about Warren Ellis: 'Full and informed consent was impossible
13/07/2020 - Scores of women are publishing details of their relationships with the Transmetropolitan writer, Expand
13/07/2020 - Scores of women are publishing details of their relationships with the Transmetropolitan writer, who they say offered mentorship in exchange for sexual contact. But they don’t want him cancelled – they want a conversation‘Stories are what make us human,” comics writer Warren Ellis told an audience on 28 April 2005, as that year’s Toronto Comic-Con began. “They’re an advanced form of play. Cats have play. Sometimes very sophisticated, dramatised forms of play. But they’re not communicated or externalised. So far, only humans use stories to dramatise the way they see the world.”Two days after that, on 30 April, a 23-year-old woman flew to the convention to surprise Ellis, whom she believed was her boyfriend. The pair had spoken on video chat and email regularly since they first met online in 2004, with some of their conversations lasting through the night. She alleges that Ellis, then 37, never told her that he had a long-term partner, and that he had asked her to keep their Collapse
|
Free pads and tampons now available to all Victorian public school students in Australian first
28/07/2020 - The initiative aims to boost inclusivity and break down ‘the stigma of periods’Victorian public Expand
28/07/2020 - The initiative aims to boost inclusivity and break down ‘the stigma of periods’Victorian public schools are the first in Australia to offer free pads and tampons to students as part of an attempt to boost inclusivity and break down “the stigma of periods”.The initiative is aimed at “reducing discomfort and embarrassment around periods for girls” at school, and will provide pads and tampons for free in bathrooms at the more than 1,500 government schools in Victoria. Continue reading... Collapse
Council of Europe 'alarmed' at Poland's plans to leave domestic violence treaty
26/07/2020 - Rights body condemns move to withdraw from treaty aimed at stopping violence against womenThe Expand
26/07/2020 - Rights body condemns move to withdraw from treaty aimed at stopping violence against womenThe Council of Europe has said it is alarmed that Poland’s rightwing government is moving to withdraw from a landmark international treaty aimed at preventing violence against women.Poland’s justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, said on Saturday that he would begin preparing the formal process to withdraw from the Istanbul convention on Monday. The treaty is the world’s first binding instrument to prevent and tackle violence against women, from marital rape to female genital mutilation. Continue reading... Collapse
UK working mothers are 'sacrifical lambs' in coronavirus childcare crisis
24/07/2020 - Exclusive: Survey reveals lack of childare played role in almost half of female layoffsCoronavirus Expand
24/07/2020 - Exclusive: Survey reveals lack of childare played role in almost half of female layoffsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageWomen are being treated as “sacrificial lambs” as the UK economy contracts, with half of working mothers unable to access the childcare they need to return to work, according to a survey exposing the scale of the UK’s childcare crisis.As the government was accused by MPs from both sides of the political divide of ignoring and sidelining women in its response to the coronavirus pandemic, the survey revealed a lack of childcare played a role in the job losses of almost half of the women made redundant since the pandemic hit. Continue reading... Collapse
Covid-19 threatens access to abortions and contraceptives, experts warn
23/07/2020 - Unplanned pregnancy rates have fallen globally, report finds, but coronavirus could endanger Expand
23/07/2020 - Unplanned pregnancy rates have fallen globally, report finds, but coronavirus could endanger access to servicesRates of unplanned pregnancies have fallen around the world, according to new data published by health research organisation the Guttmacher Institute and the UN Human Reproduction Programme (HRP) on Wednesday.Global rates of unintended pregnancies have fallen from 79 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49 in 1990 to 64 in 2019, thanks in part to a concerted effort to increase access to contraceptives, but there are concerns that decades of progress in reducing the numbers risk being undone by Covid-19, as lockdown restrictions hamper health services. Continue reading... Collapse
Women at Google miss out on thousands of dollars as a result of pay discrimination, lawsuit alleges
22/07/2020 - An ongoing 2017 case found that discriminatory practices may be pushing women into lower-paying Expand
22/07/2020 - An ongoing 2017 case found that discriminatory practices may be pushing women into lower-paying career tracksWomen at Google lose out on thousands of dollars each year compared to men as a result of discriminatory practices including pushing female employees into lower-paying career tracks, a lawsuit has alleged.The findings stem from an ongoing lawsuit brought against Google in 2017, which accused the tech company of gender pay discrimination between female employees – from coders to teachers in its in-house childcare department – and their male counterparts. More details about the extent of the pay disparity emerged in a memorandum filed in court on Tuesday to classify that lawsuit as class action, which, if approved, would mean it applies to 10,800 women who have been employed by Google at any time since September 2013. Continue reading... Collapse
Avon reports big surge in UK sign-ups to be cosmetics sellers
19/07/2020 - Number of new reps who sell products to people in their homes has more than doubledAvon looks set Expand
19/07/2020 - Number of new reps who sell products to people in their homes has more than doubledAvon looks set to be calling at many more UK homes after the cosmetics company revealed that the number of people signing up to be sales representatives had more than doubled in the lockdown.The company, which boasts 5 million “reps” globally, said it had seen a 114% “surge” in the number of new representatives joining its UK business since lockdown began. Continue reading... Collapse
The power of touch: I didn't hold my daughter until she was three days old | Salamishah Tillet
17/07/2020 - I was afraid my inability to breastfeed her or engage in skin-to-skin contact would harm her, but Expand
17/07/2020 - I was afraid my inability to breastfeed her or engage in skin-to-skin contact would harm her, but I was also burdened by another historyWelcome to the Guardian’s Power of Touch seriesI had to wait three days after my daughter Seneca was born to hold her. She arrived punctually just before sunrise on her due date, a fact I have interpreted as her over-accommodating me, because it enabled me to drive to UPS and mail off my tenure dossier on time.Nine hours later, as my partner, Solomon, my sister, Scheherazade, and I drove to the hospital with a maternity bag filled with a lavender-scented eye mask, breastfeeding pyjamas and a white-noise machine, I noticed only a handful of cars on the highway, the glare of their headlights guiding us to the hospital, four suburbs and 30 minutes away from our New Jersey townhouse. Continue reading... Collapse
Mrs America depicts one of feminism’s toughest battles – the fight against female misogynists | Suzanne Moore
14/07/2020 - From Gloria Steinem to Shirley Chisholm, there were some brilliant women pushing for equal rights Expand
14/07/2020 - From Gloria Steinem to Shirley Chisholm, there were some brilliant women pushing for equal rights in the 1970s. In Phyllis Schlafly, they found a formidable foeI am lapping up Mrs America, from the opening 70s graphics and the soundtrack to the portrayal of difficult, clever women strategising to get the equal rights amendment ratified. Cate Blanchett, who plays their opponent, Phyllis Schlafly, with ice-cool precision may make her a little too fabulous (she is Cate Blanchett, after all) because Schlafly was the very kind of person feminists find hard to deal with: a woman who was an out-and-out misogynist, and who ultimately mobilised the Christian right and white supremacist groups who would pave the way for Trump. As ever, this was done in the name of “family values”.Gloria Steinem is surely less innocent than in this portrayal. She knew she was beautiful, and used it for the cause Continue reading... Collapse
The pro-choice movement is in tatters. Planned Parenthood is part of the problem | Jessa Crispin
13/07/2020 - The organization is a fundraising juggernaut but women’s practical access to abortion services Expand
13/07/2020 - The organization is a fundraising juggernaut but women’s practical access to abortion services continues to declineThe pro-choice movement in America is almost inextricable from Planned Parenthood. The non-profit is not only the largest provider of abortion services in the country, it is also its political leader. Planned Parenthood and its executives are who liberal politicians turn to for endorsement and support. They issue the talking points and they decide the agenda.Increasingly, abortion seems to be a thing progressives care about only whenever there’s an opening on the supreme court, or when a state we don’t care about or know anyone in closes another clinic, and that is pretty much it. (Even the New York Times, in a recent article about how irrelevant abortion rights seem to young feminists, seemingly couldn’t find anyone outside a major urban area to talk to, someone who maybe didn’t live a short Uber ride away from a clinic and have the $600 on hand to pay for the procedure Collapse
|
Egypt jails women for two years over TikTok videos
27/07/2020 - Court sentences Haneen Hossam, Mowada al-Adham and three others for ‘violating public morals’An Expand
27/07/2020 - Court sentences Haneen Hossam, Mowada al-Adham and three others for ‘violating public morals’An Egyptian court has sentenced five female social media influencers to two years in jail each on charges of violating public morals, a judicial source said.The verdict against Haneen Hossam, Mowada al-Adham and three others came after they had posted footage on the video-sharing app TikTok. The ruling, which can be appealed, included a fine of 300,000 Egyptian pounds (£14,600) for each defendant. Continue reading... Collapse
The fight to clear Johnny Depp’s name exposes an altogether nastier agenda | Catherine Bennett
26/07/2020 - Playing out at the high court is nothing less than a festival of misogynyTwo weeks into the Johnny Expand
26/07/2020 - Playing out at the high court is nothing less than a festival of misogynyTwo weeks into the Johnny Depp libel hearing, a subset of supporters arrived with a giant mobile Fathers4Justice advert reading, over a picture of the actor and his ex-wife Amber Heard: “Ditch the Witch”. Continue reading... Collapse
Jenni Murray to quit BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour
23/07/2020 - ‘It’s time to move on,’ says broadcaster after 33 years presenting the showDame Jenni Murray, Expand
23/07/2020 - ‘It’s time to move on,’ says broadcaster after 33 years presenting the showDame Jenni Murray, whose mellifluous voice has graced the airwaves as the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour for more than three decades, is to leave the programme.Murray, 70, who is the longest-serving presenter in Woman’s Hour’s 74-year history, would be “moving on to a new stage in her long and distinguished broadcasting career”, the BBC said. Continue reading... Collapse
Tackling sexual misconduct in universities isn't optional – it's essential | Michael Arthur
23/07/2020 - As a university leader, I’ve come to understand how widespread sexual misconduct on campus is – Expand
23/07/2020 - As a university leader, I’ve come to understand how widespread sexual misconduct on campus is – and why change is urgentLast year, members of my senior management team were asked to publicly describe our most recent consensual sexual experience. All around the room, jaws dropped, eyes darted to the floor and we shifted uncomfortably in our seats.The hypothetical question was posed during a Rape Crisis South London workshop and was deeply humbling. While we, as university leaders, felt deep discomfort at the prospect of sharing our recent consensual sexual experiences with our colleagues, we could not begin to understand how traumatic or excruciating it would be to recount non-consensual experiences such as sexual harassment and assault. Continue reading... Collapse
Reni Eddo-Lodge and Emma Watson to redraw London tube map with women's names
21/07/2020 - Suggestions sought for public history project inspired by similar map of New York led by Rebecca Expand
21/07/2020 - Suggestions sought for public history project inspired by similar map of New York led by Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-SchapiroLondoners Reni Eddo-Lodge and Emma Watson are spearheading a project to reimagine the city’s iconic tube map, by renaming all 270 stops after the women and non-binary people who have shaped the history of each pocket of the capital.Eddo-Lodge, author of the bestselling Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race, and the actor and activist Watson, were inspired by a similar project in the book Nonstop Metropolis by Rebecca Solnit and geographer Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, which featured a New York City subway map with all the stations renamed after great women. Both Solnit and Schapiro are working with Eddo-Lodge and Watson to help create the City of Women London. Continue reading... Collapse
I forgot how to cry as a man. HRT gave me a range of emotions I never thought possible | Cadance Bell
19/07/2020 - While many focus on the physical aspects of gender transition, for Cadance Bell, the greatest Expand
19/07/2020 - While many focus on the physical aspects of gender transition, for Cadance Bell, the greatest benefit was existential, like putting the right fuel into an engine for the first timeI forgot how to cry as a man. Laying in an economy box at the end of the funeral home was my departed grandmother. Flowers my mum had chosen hung from a borrowed vase. I sat with my family, numb. I knew I should feel something about her death, but I was empty.A celebrant was riffing from a lectern. “Sharon, I hear, was a lovely woman,” she said. “It’s Shirl,” came a hesitant voice from the audience. I cringed. “Sorry, Shirl. And now, she’s up there in the Lord’s kingdom in a great big room, with all of the friends who got there before her, and they’re so happy. They’re laughing with Sharon and they’re smiling, and they’re all eating her favourite cake!” Continue reading... Collapse
The power of touch: Having sex with another woman shook my brain and restarted my heart
15/07/2020 - I had known her for a month or so, and ending up in bed seemed inevitable. The experience elevated Expand
15/07/2020 - I had known her for a month or so, and ending up in bed seemed inevitable. The experience elevated touch to a whole new levelEveryone’s “first time” is different: a drunken, messy affair; a gentle experience with a committed partner; a huge disappointment; a satisfying endeavour – or a combination.But some people, myself included, have had more than a single loss of virginity. (The description of “losing” your virginity is quite odd, isn’t it? As if it has been left on a train seat. Though, doubtless, that will have been the case for someone out there.) Continue reading... Collapse
US judge rules Georgia’s six-week abortion ban violates constitution
13/07/2020 - Governor Brian Kemp has vowed to appeal the ruling against HB481, which bans the procedure once Expand
13/07/2020 - Governor Brian Kemp has vowed to appeal the ruling against HB481, which bans the procedure once cardiac activity is detectedA federal judge on Monday permanently blocked the state of Georgia’s hardline 2019 six-week abortion ban, finding that it violates the US constitution.US district judge Steve Jones ruled against the state in a lawsuit filed by abortion providers and an advocacy group. Jones had temporarily blocked the law in October, and it never went into effect. The new ruling permanently enjoins the state from ever enforcing House Bill 481. Continue reading... Collapse
|
