You can't make this stuff up: Republicans' recent asssaults on women's rights

While we're on the topic of threats to women's human rights - and in light of International Women's Day coming up - I've posted the list below, courtesy of MoveOn. It lists the top 10 Republican assaults on women's rights in the US. If you're interested in the list of sources for these claims, let me know in the comments section, and I'll post those links.

1) Republicans not only want to reduce women's access to abortion care, they're actually trying to redefine rape. After a major backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven't.

2) A state legislator in Georgia wants to change the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to "accuser." But victims of other less gendered crimes, like burglary, would remain "victims."

3) In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. (Yep, for real.)

4) Republicans want to cut nearly a billion dollars of food and other aid to low-income pregnant women, mothers, babies, and kids.

5) In Congress, Republicans have proposed a bill that would let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to save her life.

6) Maryland Republicans ended all county money for a low-income kids' preschool program. Why? No need, they said. Women should really be home with the kids, not out working.

7) And at the federal level, Republicans want to cut that same program, Head Start, by $1 billion. That means over 200,000 kids could lose their spots in preschool.

8) Two-thirds of the elderly poor are women, and Republicans are taking aim at them too. A spending bill would cut funding for employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens.

9) Congress voted yesterday on a Republican amendment to cut all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers, one of the most trusted providers of basic health care and family planning in our country.

10) And if that wasn't enough, Republicans are pushing to eliminate all funds for the only federal family planning program. (For humans. But Republican Dan Burton has a bill to provide contraception for wild horses. You can't make this stuff up).

What will the Egyptian uprising mean for women's rights?

As Michelle wrote in the comments on the previous post, our discussion last night turned up some surprising facts: Liza pointed out that over 90% of Egyptian women are "circumcised" (or rather, have experienced female genital mutilation)*. This seemed very strange to me, because I had the impression that there had been strong women's movements in Egypt, and I assumed that FGM would be the kind of thing that women's movements would oppose.

Having looked around a little, it turns out that Egypt does have a history of important activism by women, including opposition to FGM. Nadje S. Al-Ali's The Women's Movement in Egypt, with Selected References to Turkey and Nadia Wassef and Nemat Guenena's Unfulfilled Promises: Women's Rights in Egypt both give good overviews of women's activism and key issues.

It's also important to note that this history of women's activism has had some significant results. For example, women's representation in parliament is guaranteed throughthe provision of a minimum number of seats, and women have a significant presence in Egyptian higher education.

At first media coverage of the recent Egyptian protests included very few images of women (Opinioness of the World gives a good overview of this, with plenty of useful links, and a number of news sources have noted that women have been present in significant numbers at the protests (see, for example, Lindsey's article on PRI and Topol's article on Slate).

I'm curious to see what happens over the next few months in Egypt. After last night's discussion, I'll be paying special attention to whether women's concerns are addressed (or even raised) at any stage during the elections and negotiations.

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* Nadia Wassef, an activist against FGM, discusses why she uses the term "female circumcision" rather than FGM in this article. It's worth a read.

Launch: Bluestocking Institute Discussion Group

The Bluestocking Institute is launching its discussion group and all are invited! Gatherings will be held on the second Sunday of each month. Participants are invited to discuss events, publications, movies and anything else linked to the pursuit of social justice.

The first session will be held on Sunday the 13th February at 5pm at the Moon Cafe (323 William St Northbridge). The central topic is ‘The role of the media in the Egyptian uprising’. The following articles and commentaries provide a starting point for discussion:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/an-arab-revolution-fueled-by-methods-of-the-west-1.340079
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-01-29/egypt-why-washington-cant-stop-the-revolution/?cid=topic:featured4

Please RSVP on our Bluestocking Facebook page or email Sky if you have any questions bluestocking@bluestockinginstitute.org.

Activist Campaign Tools (ACT) Course

Katrina writes:
"Did you ever feel concerned about an issue but feel like you didn't have the skills or connections to do much about it?

If so ... the Activist Campaign Tools (ACT) Course may be for you!

Designed for all activists, campaigners or anyone inspired about an issue, ACT is an 8 week, low cost, skills training course.

Learn practical skills to transform your next campaign or increase career prospects in the environment and social justice sectors.

The course is run by a series of specialist facilitators and includes topics such as - Campaign Planning, Marketing and Media, Communication and Meeting Skills, Event Management and Fundraising, Law for Activists, Lobbying and Sustainable Activism.

All ages, experience levels and pet issues welcome and you don't need to be currently involved in a campaign to come along.

6.30-9pm, Tuesdays 8 Feb-29 March 2011
Earthwise Subiaco

$100 waged - $60 unwaged - Bookings essential - numbers limited!

For bookings and more information, e-mail katrina73 at iinet dot net dot au with any questions or to request a free brochure or see http://acttraining.webs.com."

Videos for Lifecycle: Electronics

For those who missed the workshop, we've put a few short videos up on our YouTube channel.

The Story of Electronics is a good place to start:

Lifecycles: Electronics - Links and Resources

For those who didn't make it to the workshop, or who came and want to know more, here are a few places to start looking.

Karen Allen, 2009, The Human Cost of Mining in DR Congo

A short video and article about some of the consequences of militarised mining for people living in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

David Sullivan & Sarah K. Dreier, 2009, Electronics and Atrocities

This article discusses a new US government plan to map the areas of militarised mining in the DRC.

Basel Action Network

BAN works on the environmental and social impacts of toxic trade. While some sections of this website haven't been updated in a while, it has some good information on the Basel Convention and related issues. It's also worth having a look at the Basel Convention website.

Tanya Ha, E-Waste

A brief overview of some of the issues with electronics disposal, and potential solutions, from an Australian perspective.

Electronics Takeback Coalition

This coalition promotes green design and responsible recycling in the electronics industry. The website has some excellent resources, including an annual electronics recycling report card.

Greening Electronics

Information on how to reduce electronics waste at home, work, and school, and how to put pressure on electronics companies and governments to support greener electronics. This site has a US focus, but many of the ideas are relevant for Australians.

The Story of Electronics

Download 'The Story of Electronics' movie, read FAQ sheets, find out what you can do. Again, this has a US focus, but is still useful.


The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance

This project is "a voluntary system to independently verify compliance with environmental, human rights and social standards for mining operations." As well as providing an overview of the project and its members, it links to some useful information, including on Australia's Mining Certification Evaluation Project.

Aida Akl, 2010, Tracing DRC's Conflict Minerals a Daunting Task

More information on the difficulties involved in tracing conflict minerals.

Resolve Wiki

RESOLVE was commissioned by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) Extractives Workgroup to map the supply chain for key electronics components. This wiki provides example supply chains.

Lifecycles Workshop #3: Electronics

Wednesday, 10 November 6:30pm-8:30pm

The Edmund Rice Institute for Social Justice
24 High St, Fremantle

Entry by donation.

The Bluestocking Institute's Lifecycles workshops focus on helping participants to develop action plans around the issues that they care about.

Speakers at Lifecycles: Electronics will discuss the environmental and social costs of producing electronic goods, ways to prolong their usefulness, and how to recycle them ethically. There will also be time for you to ask questions and share your own experiences and knowledge.

You are invited to bring old mobile phones that you wish to recycle.

For more information or to RSVP:
• visit the Facebook event page at http://is.gd/g2BSZ or
• email us at bluestocking@bluestockinginstitute.org or
• call Sky on 0411 595 834.

Sponsored by The Bluestocking Institute for Global Peace and Justice