The War Against Women: The US, Australia, and Pakistan, and beyond
Last Sunday evening was Dean Edwards speaking at the ALP Kooyong FEA forum on the U.S. elections followed by the fairly good film By The People, more of a following rather than a documentary; I did a fair bit of the organising for this, so was pleased that it went well. Of course, it is not exactly smooth sailing for the US Democrats with the Romney campaign making some headway in the polls. I find this rather extraordinary given that the U.S. Republicans have far too many crazies - especially of the anti-woman variety - in their midst. Of course, there is always a dissenting view.
In Australia, the Prime Minister came out against the leader of the opposition in one of her best speeches on the issue of sexism and misogyny, and issue which Mr. Abbott apparently has some issues with, among other things. Of course, it doesn't look that good for the PM when single parent benefits are being cut at the same time. In Pakistan, a notable event this week was the shooting of a Pakistani schoolgirl by a member of the Taliban. She had brought attention to herself by campainging for girls' education and hosting a 'blog which reported Taliban atrocities and whilst people have responed with appropriate outrage, action is not yet forthcoming.
The thing is, there is good empirical measures of the structural and systematic effects of sexism; maternal deaths, income and wealth ratios, schooling, & etc. (and with greater degrees of accuracy than some claims). The systematic effects are those which directly prevent women from controlling their own body, and their participation in public life. The structural effects are the replication of cultural norms which arise from system discrimination, and can persist even after those barriers have been removed. But one cannot even begin to remove those structural effects without targetting their systematic origins - and thus we also find some good news this week. Women can now inherit in Botswana. So begins a slow and steady much to equality - based on the outrageous assumption that half the population also matter and therefore are deserving of the same rights and sense of fairness that the other half may take for granted. This entry was originally posted at https://tcpip.dreamwidth.org/144820.html.
In Australia, the Prime Minister came out against the leader of the opposition in one of her best speeches on the issue of sexism and misogyny, and issue which Mr. Abbott apparently has some issues with, among other things. Of course, it doesn't look that good for the PM when single parent benefits are being cut at the same time. In Pakistan, a notable event this week was the shooting of a Pakistani schoolgirl by a member of the Taliban. She had brought attention to herself by campainging for girls' education and hosting a 'blog which reported Taliban atrocities and whilst people have responed with appropriate outrage, action is not yet forthcoming.
The thing is, there is good empirical measures of the structural and systematic effects of sexism; maternal deaths, income and wealth ratios, schooling, & etc. (and with greater degrees of accuracy than some claims). The systematic effects are those which directly prevent women from controlling their own body, and their participation in public life. The structural effects are the replication of cultural norms which arise from system discrimination, and can persist even after those barriers have been removed. But one cannot even begin to remove those structural effects without targetting their systematic origins - and thus we also find some good news this week. Women can now inherit in Botswana. So begins a slow and steady much to equality - based on the outrageous assumption that half the population also matter and therefore are deserving of the same rights and sense of fairness that the other half may take for granted. This entry was originally posted at https://tcpip.dreamwidth.org/144820.html.