down the global feminist wire

Posted on May 23, 2007 by ruxi

Women’s Rights Activist Suspended from Afghan Parliament (5/22/2007)
Women’s rights activist and lawmaker Malalai Joya, a 29-year-old from the Farah province, was suspended from the Afghan Parliament yesterday after she described the Parliament as a barn full of animals…
Iranian-American Scholar Charged with Revolutionary Conspiracy (5/22/2007)
Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari was charged yesterday with conspiring to overthrow Iran’s government after being imprisoned two weeks ago when she tried to return to the US from Iran…
Renewed Efforts to Implement One-Child Policy Spark Protests in Rural China (5/21/2007)
Villagers in southwestern China have been protesting and rioting over the past four days in reaction to a recent crackdown on violators of China’s so-called one-child policy…
New Report Ranks Best and Worst Countries for Mothers and Children (5/11/2007)
In its annual “Mother’s Day Report Card,” Save the Children this week released a ranking of the best and worst countries for mothers and children…
[Romania is 38th out of 41 countries in its group ahead of only Albania, Macedonia and Moldova]
Amnesty International Increases Support for Abortion Rights (5/11/2007)
Amnesty International — a human rights group that had previously remained mostly neutral on abortion — has released a new policy on sexual and reproductive rights that increases the organization’s support for abortion rights…
Women Primarily Contract HIV from Their Husbands, Study Finds (5/10/2007)
Worldwide, marital sex is the leading cause of HIV infection in women, according to a new study by researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health…
Irish Teen Wins Right to Travel to England for Abortion (5/10/2007)
Ireland’s High Court ruled yesterday that a pregnant teen carrying a fatally deformed fetus can travel outside the country to obtain an abortion, after the motion was previously defeated by the lower and middle courts…

international summer school “Human trafficking”, Iasi, Ro

Posted on May 12, 2007 by Administrator

The European Law Students’ Association ELSA Iasi is proud to invite you to the international summer school “Human trafficking”

The event has its location in the city of Iasi, Romania (an old and beautiful city situated in the north-east of the country) and is scheduled between 19 to 26 August, 2007.

By organizing an International Summer School on this topic, ELSA Iasi is intending to treat in an academical manner the international impact problem that is human trafficking, in order to increase the degree of knowledge that students in general possess now. This happens in the context of Romania as a country with difficult issues to face in this domain, and we are willing to create a basis for future project of international cooperation. The project has as target group students both from faculties in Romania and the whole world and it contains 5 days of classes, presentations, workshops, trainings (about 6 hours per day).

The workshops will deal with:
– Definition (sociological, legal) and history of human trafficking
– Ways of trafficking
– Children trafficking
– The international adoptions’ phenomenon in Romania
– Human trafficking relating to the phenomenon of poverty in undeveloped and developing countries
– Prostitution: in countries where it is legalized (study case: Holland ) and in countries where it is illegal (study case: Romania )
– Institutions and other activities of fighting against human trafficking, both national and international
– Ways of financing youth programs (with emphasis on “Youth in Action”)
Continue reading →

call for submissions : women’s lives & gender relations in Eastern Europe

Posted on May 12, 2007 by and.

Collected Volume on Women’s Lives, Gender Relations and State Policy in Central and Eastern Europe under State Socialism

Deadline: June 15, 2007

Scholars working on gender and socialism in Central and Eastern Europe are invited to submit a 500-word abstract of an essay for a collected volume examining post-89 approaches to the study, research and analysis of women’s lives and issues of gender under state socialism.

The wealth of human and archival sources that have become available since the collapse of communism, combined with the increased use of cultural, social, gender, and oral history in studies of socialism, have provided crucial insight into gender in socialist societies — both as it was discursively represented and lived on an everyday level. This in turn has facilitated a more nuanced and complex understanding of women under socialism that challenges the bleak and homogenized portraits of women that were produced — in both feminist and non-feminist scholarship–prior to and immediately after 1989.

Continue reading →

on feminization of poverty

Posted on April 25, 2007 by ruxi

THE FEMININE FACE OF POVERTY
http://www.alternet.org/rights/50727/

Seventy percent of those living in absolute poverty in our world — that is starving or on the edge of starvation — are female. Not only that, in our wealthy United States, women and children are the mass of the poor and the poorest of the poor.

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wage gap news: April 24 was the 11th Equal Pay Day
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Various information and data on gender and economic status in Romania:

“Wage Determination and Gender Discrimination in a Transition Economy: the Case of Romania” (abstract)

Enlargement, Gender and Governance Report: Romania Summary 1

“The Feminisation of Poverty in Transition Countries: Evidence from Subjective Data”

“Gender and Political Periphery: The Romanian Case”

“Your Sex and Race Matter. Romani Women’s Employment in Romania: Fact Sheet 2006”; “Broadening the Agenda: The Status of Romani Women in Romania”

[ro]

“Raporturile de gen in contextul societatii romanesti”

Barometrul de gen 2000. Capitolul 5: Gen si economie

Anuarul statistic 2005 (INS): Piata fortei de munca; Veniturile, cheltuielile si consumul populatiei

campanie/info anti-trafic

Posted on April 18, 2007 by ruxi

anunt pentru o actiune in londra – este o idee buna:

Go on the town on Saturday, May 19, 11am – and help the fight against sex trafficking

These days more and more lads’ nights out end up at lap-dancing clubs, ‘massage parlours’ and brothels. But how many of those lads know what’s really going on in these places?

Thousands of women in the UK are manipulated and coerced into prostitution every year. Women like Ellen, who was abducted in Albania and sold to a brothel in London’s West End, where she was forced to have sex with up to 40 men every day. If she tried to refuse, she was beaten, raped and threatened with death. She was 15 years old.

The Truth Isn’t Sexy is a campaign highlighting this brutal reality, using posters and beer mats, which we need to get into as many pubs and bars as we can. …

We’d love you to join us on Saturday May 19, when our teams will be blitzing the watering holes of central London, to see if they’ll put up our posters and/or have our beermats on their tables. It’ll be a great way to spend a Saturday, and should get our message out all over central London. …

www.thetruthisntsexy.com

foarte util si informativ: articol despre miscarea anti-violenta si anti-trafic in bulgaria, probleme general valabile in europa de est [en]

recent: “Autoritatile romane: Victimele traficului o duc bine!”

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lista lf-ro de resurse anti-trafic

reading on feminism(s) and rroma women

Posted on March 16, 2007 by ruxi

“Re-envisioning Social Justice from the Ground Up: Including the Experiences of Romani Women” by Alexandra Oprea, a paper that:

… centres on the exclusion of Romani women from mainstream feminist and antiracist discourses in Europe. This exclusion is explained through the lens of intersectionalism and problematic identity politics. It discusses their invisibility as perpetuated by programmes and reports from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It explains the absence of Romani women from Romani and feminist discourses, the uncritical view of Romani culture, and the vulnerability of Romanian Romani women to domestic violence. It emphasizes that analyses of social problems must be performed from the bottom up, looking at the experiences of those who are multi-burdened, such as poor Romani women. The paper concludes by discussing the value of recognizing privilege as the foundation for inclusive scholarship and discourse.

Several other analyses in addition to the sources here:

“The Erasure of Romani Women in Statistical Data: Limits of the Race-versus-Gender Approach” by Alexandra Oprea

“Child Marriage a Cultural Problem, Educational Access a Race Issue? Deconstructing Uni-Dimensional Understanding of Romani Oppression” by Alexandra Oprea

“Double Discrimination Faced by Romani Women in Europe” by Angela Kocze

“Breaking the Barriers – Romani Women and Access to Public Health Care”: European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia report

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Also discussing mainstream bias and reactionaryism to anti-discrimination work, the fact that “anti-Gypsyism is often combined with other types of discriminatory practices such as xenophobia, sexism and homophobia”…:

“Fourth arm of the state. Romania’s press becomes a willing partner in prejudice” by Valeriu Nicolae

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update sept. 2008; a few other good materials:

“Economic Aspects of the Condition of Roma Women”, Berliner Institut für Vergleichende Sozialforschung, 2006 [PDF]

“A Place at the Policy Table: Report on the Roma Women’s Forum”, OSI, 2004

“Broadening the Agenda: The Status of Romani Women in Romania”, OSI, Laura Surdu and Mihai Surdu, 2006

“Romani Women: Between Two Cultures” in Bending the Bow. Targeting Women’s Human Rights and Opportunities. OSI, Network Women’s Program, 2003 (thanks c.)

“The Situation of Roma/Gypsy Women in Europe”, Nicoleta Bitu, 1999 (thanks c.)

more: Roma Women Association, Romania: Reports

Prostitution… give them all a share of it!

Posted on March 12, 2007 by ioana

I was eagerly preparing to read an article entitled “Romanian Authorities promise to legalize prostitution”. I was comforted, somehow, to find that title, and amazed at how fast Romania is progressing in promoting Human Rights, even if it joined the European Union only 3 months ago. The topic of prostitution and whether it should be legalized in Romania has been brought up for discussion before. This generated heated exchanges between antagonist parties everywhere in the media, the Orthodox Church and its followers being the chief opponents of legalization. Well, I must say that in a society where sexuality is still not tackled enough as a subject of discussion even between partners; where sexual education in schools is still often approached in biological terms of how humans “breed”; where “sexual and reproductive rights” is a neologism that most people have never heard about; where sexual orientation is considered by many a “politically correct” disguise of “perversion”, and where a big part of the heterosexual population believe that they are immune to HIV because they aren’t gay – yes, Romania doesn’t seem to be ready for such a legislative “liberalization” of commercial sex.

Continue reading →

Despre 8 Martie ca zi de activism la nivel global

Posted on March 8, 2007 by Administrator

[Blogging against sexism]

“8 Martie – Ziua femeilor militante” (2006) [en version]

Greva Mondiala a Femeilor 2007

Tema Zilei Internationale a Femeilor 2007:
“Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls”

Pentru 8 martie, 2007: Continue reading →

new beginning

Posted on March 8, 2007 by ruxi

tracy chapman, “new beginning” (new beginning, 1995)

MAI promite legalizarea prostitutiei?

Posted on March 3, 2007 by ruxi

n-am cuvinte pt. cit de aiurea e pusa problema in stirea asta, de la felul in care e abordat subiectul de catre oficialitati (cum s-ar putea exploata mai tare prostituatele), la felul in care e discutat atit de ei, cit si in presa si in general: “vesti bune pentru romanii burlaci”! nu c-ar fi o noutate – a se vedea de ex. protestul din 2005 privind abordarea la nivel guvernamental a problemei prostitutiei.

parlamentarilor, lui v. blaga (care, vai, nici nu poate intelege cum de nu se trece mai repede la legalizare), ca si majoritatii populatiei, sigur li se pare chiar nastrusnica ideea ca prostituatele sint oameni si ar putea avea mai multe drepturi, sau ca daca prostituatele sint criminale si “burlacii” care cumpara servicii sint tot criminali… si sa poarte discutiile la acest nivel.

nu mai discutam poza, iresponsabilitatea presei cind e vorba de orice care perpetueaza exploatarea sexista in general.

– inca o analiza: “Fiinţele umane au preţ: 1% din PIB”

– pe site-ul lf, despre prostitutie: I si II

stiri, texte, resurse, actiuni feministe

Category Archives: economic justice