Week in Review is a weekly post that highlights some of the major stories related to gender issues this week. Some of these stories may have already appeared in our News Feed or in the week’s Gender Checks. It includes longer analysis and/or commentary, as well as brings attention to stories that may have slipped through the cracks of the week’s news cycle.
Our Week in Review wanted to bring some attention to a smattering of stories that may not have been above the fold or scroll bar but still dealt with important gender issues:
Michele Bachmann‘s gender issues came back into play last week as several news outlets, including the Washington Post, and Jezebel, commented on her manicure during one of the GOP primary debates. One blogger for the Huffington Post even went so far as to contrast her ” youthful and natural” hairstyle to an “oh-so-fake” nails, balanced out by her makeup. The blog also linked to a slideshow focused on her eyelash lengths in various appearances this summer. This isn’t the first time Bachmann’s appearance has been a news item in this primary season. See our previous coverage here.
This week a unanimous vote by 16 British Commonwealths gave women an equal right to the British throne under the Royal Marriage Act. The constitutional changes would mean a first-born girl has precedence over a younger brother. Under the old succession laws, dating back more than 300 years, the heir to the throne is the first-born son of the monarch. Only when there are no sons, as in the case of the Queen’s father George VI, does the crown pass to the eldest daughter, as explained by the BBC. The change will only apply to children born in the future, and not applied retroactively. The outdated rule found newfound attention this spring after the marriage of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. The law is only an issue for the 16 commonwealths that recognize the Queen as their head of state. See Prime Minister David Cameron’s announcement of the change here.
This is the Gender Report’s Week in Review, a weekly post that highlights some of the major stories related to gender issues this week. Some of these stories may have already appeared in our News Feed or in the week’s Gender Checks. We’ll at times include a longer analysis of stories as well as bring attention to stories that may have slipped through the cracks of the week’s news cycle.
As upheaval continues across the Middle East, women have stayed in prominent positions in protests in many countries throughout the region.
As we’ve covered in earlier posts, women played crucial roles in political revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. Now as violence continues in other countries, women have followed suit and stepped into the spotlight. This week in Yemen, thousands gathered to march in honor of Tawakkol Karman, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize (along with two other women) for her work, the first Arab woman to receive the honor. Karman had played a key role as an Islamic journalist in Yemen’s political revolution. During the marches, dozens were injured as pro-government gangs attacked the women with rocks and batons.
According to CNN, female protesters marched in three Yemeni provinces –Taiz, Shabwa and Sanaa. The largest took place in Sanaa where at least 15,000 females marched down the capital’s Cairo Street. The marchers called for the United Nations to impose sanctions against Yemen’s ruling family as well as for Saleh to step down from power. Check out this CNN video for interviews with the women involved:
For more coverage of the Nobel Peace Prize Awards, check out these sources:
Washington Post: Hillary Rodham Clinton’s response to the awards
This is the Gender Report’s Week in Review, a weekly post that highlights some of the major stories related to gender issues this week. Some of these stories may have already appeared in our News Feed or in the week’s Gender Checks. We’ll at times include a longer analysis of stories as well as bring attention to stories that may have slipped through the cracks of the week’s news cycle.
News organizations and social networks were buzzing Sunday morning after Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud announced that women would be given the right to vote and to run in future local elections as well as join the advisory Shura council as full members.
This marks a significant shift for the conservative Muslim country where activists have been calling for further rights for women.
“Because we refuse to marginalize women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama [clerics] and others … to involve women in the Shura council as members, starting from the next term” (King Abdullah said in his speech, according to The Guardian)
Saudi writer Nimah Ismail Nawwab, in talking to the BBC, said activists have been campaigning on this issue and others related to women’s rights in the country for 20 years. In this report by Al Jazeera, Hatoon Al Fassi, a professor of women’s history at Saud University, comments on the decision and the long-term efforts for further women’s rights in the country:
Women in Saudi Arabia currently must have written approval from a male to work, leave the country or for certain medial procedures, and public segregation of the sexes is the norm. Women are also still not allowed to drive, though there is no specific law against it. This became the most recent hot-button issue as over the summer women protested by defying the ban and driving. Some women were arrested as a result. This issue was not addressed in the announcement.
The White House offered praise of the decision Sunday morning, with National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor saying the move recognizes the “significant contributions” that women make in Saudi Arabia, according to the AP.
Some commentators have suggested that the elections are meaningless and these elected positions don’t hold real power, as noted in this Christian Science Monitor story. But many are still acknowledging the symbolic importance of involving women.
This changes will go into effect after Thursday’s election. The next municipal elections will be in 2015.
This is the Gender Report’s Week in Review, a weekly post that highlights some of the major stories related to gender issues this week. Some of these stories may have already appeared in our News Feed or in the week’s Gender Checks. We’ll at times include a longer analysis of stories as well as bring attention to stories that may have slipped through the cracks of the week’s news cycle.
When the HPV vaccine became available in 2006, it was met with both enthusiasm and concerns. (In fact, I reported its arrival, and opposition, on our religiously affiliated college campus). Those concerns were brought back to the front page news cycle this week as the Republican candidates for president have questioned the vaccine’s safety and Gov. Rick Perry’s policies in Texas schools.
Approximately 20 million people are currently infected with HPV in the United States. As many as half of these infections are among adolescents and young adults, ages 15 through 24 years of age, according to the CDC. Most HPV infections are asymptomatic, but four of the 40 types of the STD cause cervical cancer, which kills 4,000 women in the U.S. each year. Other types can cause genital warts in both males and females. More than 35 million doses of HPV vaccine have been distributed in the United States as of June 2011.
The topic was first brought up in the September 7 debate, the first in which Perry participated since announcing his candidacy. At that time, he defended his 2007 mandate of the vaccine for 11 and 12 year old girls in Texas schools, saying he would “always err on the side of saving lives.” Other candidates said he should have let parents opt in to the vaccine, rather than opt out of the mandate. Other candidates, and conservatives, have said the vaccine encourages promiscuity. In May 2007, the Texas legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill vacating the governor’s executive order by a veto-proof margin. Perry, however, still supported the executive order in his 2010 re-election bid for the governor’s office. Currently, Virginia and the District of Columbia require the vaccine for girls entering the sixth grade. Both jurisdictions offer liberal opt-out policies that allow parents to decline to have their daughters vaccinated. (As of April 2011, only 22 percent of sixth-grade girls in D.C. public schools were in the midst of or had completed the vaccinations; Virginia has also tried to repeal the mandate.)
In Monday’s debate, Perry was again criticized for his support of the mandate, and by the end of the week he had reversed his position, telling a GOP event in Virginia that “We should have had an opt-in instead of an opt-out.”
But the bigger story became one of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s attacks on Perry, telling him she had met a mother whose daughter became mentally retarded after receiving the vaccination. She also accused the governor of “crony capitalism” and receiving financial incentives from Merck, the drug company that produces the Guardasil vaccine. (GlaxoSmithKline also produced an HPV vaccine, Cervarix, but this variety only protects against two types of HPV; Guardasil protects against four and is usually the variety in question during debates over the vaccine). Sarah Palin, in what was seen by some as her first attack on Perry, supported Bachmann’s statements in a Fox appearance the next day. Many, including Perry, questioned the factual basis of Bachmann’s statement. Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson: “It is possible that Rick Perry encouraged HPV vaccinations in the wrong way or for the wrong reasons. But it is Bachmann, not Perry, who would put girls and women at greater health risk based on moral confusion and public health illiteracy.” Bachmann’s former campaign manager said she’d “goofed,” as described by the Christian Science Monitor.
No research at this time shows a connection between the HPV vaccination and mental retardation. One bioethicist went as far as to challenge Bachmann’s statement by offering to donate $10,000 to charity if she can prove and verify a single case. Published side effects of Guardasil are similar to other vaccinations, including pain, swelling, itching, bruising, and redness at the injection site, headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and fainting. Gardasil works against HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18. These four types cause 90 percent of genital warts and types 16 and 18 cause 70 percent of cervical cancer, according to the CDC.
The vaccine is administered in three doses and is recommended by the CDC to start in girls around 11 or 12 because it is most effective when administered before a girl becomes sexually active; the vaccine is approved for women up to 26 years old.
Here are some resources to learn more about HPV and the vaccine:
Guardasil: site for the vaccination includes parent information, side effect information, and funding assistance programs.
This is the Gender Report’s Week in Review, a weekly post that highlights some of the major stories related to gender issues this week. Some of these stories may have already appeared in our News Feed or in the week’s Gender Checks. We’ll at times include a longer analysis of stories as well as bring attention to stories that may have slipped through the cracks of the week’s news cycle.
Countless special reports related to 9/11 have been released thus far leading up to Sunday’s 10-year anniversary, including The New York Times’ “The Reckoning.” One project, however, places special emphasis on the women – “Beyond Bravery: The Women of 9/11“by CNN’s Soledad O’Brien.
In the Reporter’s Notebook for the piece, O’Brien states that the documentary aims to address the question of a little boy during a visit of a female firefighter from 9/11 to his classroom: He asked her “how she could be a ‘fireman’ if she was a girl.” The documentary aims to tell the stories of 9/11’s women and give voice to their heroism and their challenges.
The project includes a look at the book “Women At Ground Zero” written by Susan Hagen and Mary Carouba. Here’s a sample segment from the documentary:
The documentary is set to air at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Sept. 11. More sample segments can be viewed along with the reporter’s notebook and a link to an educator and parent guide here.
In addition to this documentary on CNN, a number of other news outlets have provided stories about women’s experiences including the following:
Did you find other 9/11 coverage of women? Share your findings in the comment section below.
In other news
The New York Times‘ first female executive editor, Jill Abramson, stepped into the position on Tuesday. Several posts related to the beginning of her tenure as editor circled the web, including a memo announcing her leadership team.
Abramson herself sent out a tweet Tuesday regarding her new role:
The announcement that Abramson would succeed Bill Keller came in June, making her the first woman to hold that title in the paper’s 160-year history. Read our post following that announcement here.
This is the Gender Report’s Week in Review, a weekly post that highlights some of the major stories related to gender issues this week. Some of these stories may have already appeared in our News Feed or in the week’s Gender Checks. We’ll at times include a longer analysis of stories as well as bring attention to stories that may have slipped through the cracks of the week’s news cycle.
The Gender Report 