SRHR Situation Report: The UN’s Gender Mainstreaming Project
Call for Writers for Gender Across Borders
Are you a writer? Have you ever wanted to write for a feminist blog? Well, here’s your chance! Gender Across Borders is always looking for new writers, but in our push to live up to our global feminist tagline (read more about this here), we are looking for writers all around the world–especially writers from outside North America and writers from diverse backgrounds.
We’re encouraging you, as our readers and as global feminists, to make pitches/submissions to us. For more information on what we’re looking for in a pitch/submission, go to the Call for Writers webpage. GAB editors will work one-on-one with you to publish an article on Gender Across Borders.
And please feel free to spread GAB’s call for writers announcement around the web–that means we are giving you permission to post our call for writers directly on your blog, forum, or any web platform.
So, what are you waiting for? Write away and spread the word!If you have any questions about the submission/pitch process, feel free to email info@genderacrossborders.com.
Global Feminist Link Love: August 16-22
Hey Global Feminists!
Here are a list of links about what other global feminists were up to this past week. We also want to know: What have you been reading/writing this week? Don’t forget to spread your own link love in the comments!
Click Image for link
Africa
Unlocking the puzzle: HIV in East Africa (femonomics)
A New Publication: ActionAid: “Her Stories, Leurs Histoires” (in English and French) (Action Aid) Highly recommended.
Asia
Young Visionaries Project: Women’s Health Clinic in Rural Nepal (Akimbo)
Turning The Wheel Of Interfaith Dialogue In India (Counter Currents)
Old Bombs Shatter Laotian Women’s Lives (Women’s eNews) “War-era ordnance kills and maims hundreds of Laotian villagers each year. Eighty-five percent of victims are men, leaving numerous women to fend for their families.”
Not All Working Women Are Equal (IPS)
Europe
Why we lack a Julia Gillard in Britain (NewStatesman) “Australia could have a female prime minister by the end of August. So, what’s stopping women reaching the top table again over here?”
State of the (Superhero) Nation: Faiza Hussein in British Comics (Muslimah Media Watch)
Latin America
Argentina: Guarantee Women’s Access to Health Care (Human Rights Watch)
Can Soccer Reduce Brazil’s Domestic Violence? (Ms. Magazine)
Middle East
Nothing is worse for a Saudi man than imagining himself a woman (Saudiwoman’s Weblog)
Israel: Jewish Women Take On the Orthodox (AWID)
Northern America
America has a Nativism problem, not a “Muslim Problem” (Sepia Mutiny)
Fighting for Prison Health Care Above the Norm (The Body) “On June 10, 1993, I was released from Albion State Correctional Facility for Women. “91G1505,” as I had been called for the last three years of my life, was no longer property of the State of New York…. During my incarceration, I was a victim of medical neglect due to policy and procedures.
Of opprobrium and cavemen: slightly updated (Hugo Schwyzer) “At the Good Men Project site, there’s a lot of affirmation of the good that men do, and that’s fine. We all need reminders of our essential decency. But where I think Tom and I disagree is about the nature of masculinity itself.”
Oceania
Five days, done and dusted. Reflections on a 93p/day diet (Musings of an Inappropriate Woman)
Global
International Indigenous Women’s Environmental and Reproductive Health Symposium Declaration (INCITE! Blog)
New Blog I’m digging: The Feminist Poster Project “This website archives and shares feminist posters, postcards and stickers for you to print and paste. It offers a space for inspiration and a network for feminist poster artists.”
See more global feminist news on our facebook page, twitter and tumblr. If you ever have suggestions for GFLL (whether they are your posts or someone else’s), feel free to email becky@genderacrossborders.com.
Calling all writers, calling all writers!
Are you a writer? Have you ever wanted to write for a feminist blog? Well, here’s your chance! Gender Across Borders is always looking for new writers, but in our push to live up to our global feminist tagline (read more about this here), we are looking for writers all around the world–especially writers from outside North America and writers from diverse backgrounds.
We’re encouraging you, as our readers and as global feminists, to make pitches/submissions to us. For more information on what we’re looking for in a pitch/submission, go to the Call for Writers webpage. GAB editors will work one-on-one with you to publish an article on Gender Across Borders.
And please feel free to spread GAB’s call for writers announcement around the web–that means we are giving you permission to post our call for writers directly on your blog, forum, or any web platform.
So, what are you waiting for? Write away and spread the word!If you have any questions about the submission/pitch process, feel free to email info@genderacrossborders.com.
Six Degrees of Separation: Naomi Campbell’s Cream Suit…Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone
Cream suit, a salient detail in the war crimes trial
The media was all atwitter this past week because THE miss Naomi Campbell, scary but gorgeous icon that she is, took the stand at the Hague in the war crimes trial against Charles Taylor. Never the willing accomplice, Campbell was subpoenaed to testify after it became clear she was the recipient of questionable diamonds at the home of ex President Taylor back in ’97.
Although Campbell’s mind-numbing ignorance – she claimed to have never heard of Mr. Taylor before the night she’d met him (OK, fine), had never heard the term “blood diamonds” (alright…), and had never heard of the country Liberia (wow) – was a sad testimony to just how far so many in the upper echelon of the developed world are from the reality of others, the “demure cream suit” that she wore was an unlikely boon for the fight against war crimes writ large.
Why? Ironically, much more of the world sat up and noticed. In fact, the trial is now being “widely followed” thanks to Campbell. Although infuriating for many reasons, if Campbell’s cream suit made just one person go back to the Wikipedia page to read up again (or for the first time) on the Sierra Leone civil war, or the long, curious reign of Charles Taylor, well then alright.
Not that the UN or the Hague are known for timeliness in trying war crimes (oh good, the first Khmer Rouge commander was just convicted and sentenced to 19 years for the mass killing of 14,000 people back in the 70’s?), but the issues at hand are ones of ultimate and essential importance to everyone, especially women. The aftermath of genocides and wars become far and distant memories to the public while the people most affected continue to live through the painful and slow recovery.
Taylor, a famously wicked and powerful rebel then elected to presidency in Liberia, is accused of dirty handiwork in Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war that killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. I thought it strange that Campbell would be so ten-foot-pole away from it all, given that she’s actually a global ambassador for the White Ribbon Alliance, a global network of celebrity advocates on issues of maternal mortality. Read more…
Hey readers!
No, we didn’t go away…we’re moving hosts and it’s taking longer than we thought. We should have the site up and running sometime tomorrow–so expect regular posting to resume sometime after then. Thanks again for your patience!
Sincerely,
the editors of Gender Across Borders: Emily, Carrie, Colleen, Jessica, Roxanne, Kyle, Amy, and Maria
Global Feminist Link Love: August 2-8
Hey Global Feminists!
Here are a list of links about what other global feminists were up to this past week. We also want to know: What have you been reading/writing this week? Don’t forget to spread your own link love in the comments!
Africa
- Rwanda’s elections: what to watch (Texas in Africa)
- Africa: African Women Entrepreneurs Honored at Agoa Forum (allAfrica)
- Africa: Developing More Top African Women Research Scientists (all Africa)
- Sudan sentences 19 men for wearing women’s clothes (MSNBC) A reminder that feminism is for everybody: “These people did not get a chance for justice…Public opinion and the media prejudged them and lawyers were too scared to come and defend them.”
- Interview with Author Shubnum Khan (Muslimah Media Watch) “Shubnum Khan is a young Muslimah from Durban, South Africa. Her book Onion Tears has been shortlisted for the Penguin Prize for African Writing. Her novel explores the lives of South African Indian Muslim women. I interviewed Khan about her book and her writing.” Read more…
The Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Situation Report is a monthly column devoted to examining policy changes and issues around these critical rights around the world.
This month’s column focuses on so-called “reproductive tourism,” the growing trend of women in the U.S. finding gestational surrogates in India. Gestational surrogacy is the practice of implanting a fertilized egg in another woman’s uterus. Through the miracle of modern science and hassle-free air travel, western women are traveling to India, where the medical infrastructure is good and most of the doctors speak English, to find a surrogate to carry their baby. Medical tourism has been around for a while, complete with travel agencies that set you up with the doctor and the spa/hotel where you’ll recoup after your nose job. This new twist, however, brings up a lot of problems. Read more…
HIV and Witchcraft in Papau New Guinea
Women in Papau New Guinea
Earlier this week, Papau New Guinea apologized before CEDAW (The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) for its inaction against the torture and murder of women suspected of witchcraft. Government officials did not deny that those alleged to practice witchcraft have been tortured and killed. According to the Center for Independent Studies, more than 500 women have been attacked. In 2009, there were more than 50 murders of those accused of practicing black magic, including one woman who was burned alive. Why are the people of this South Pacific island nation accusing women, and some men, of practicing black magic? They are blamed for the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, which is devastating the country’s population. Read more…
