Here’s a tentative new feature, a feminist rev-up on the notoriously dour “suicide Tuesday” (nine out of ten scientists agree this is a far more serious condition than Mondayitis). Sometimes all it takes is a kickass song to send you on your merry way and psyche you up for the day ahead, so let’s begin with one of my favourite accidental songs of empowerment, Lesley Gore’s You Don’t Own Me, performed live by the awesome Ms. Gore on ’60s television:
The song’s writers, John Madara and David White, had an inkling that it would be a groundbreaking song (particularly when you consider the sexual politics of 1963), but had no idea it would be embraced as widely as it has been. Said Madara:
Our original intent was to write a song with a woman telling a man off: ‘Don’t tell me what to do, don’t tell me what to say.’ Though we didn’t realize it at the time that it would become a woman’s anthem, it definitely was our intention to have a woman make a statement.
Salon.com’s Stephanie Zacharek wrote a great piece, It’s Still Her Party, back in 1999 about Lesley Gore’s back catalogue and the enduring legacy of songs like You Don’t Own Me and It’s My Party, which I highly recommend as coffee break reading. I would love for Miley Cyrus or someone similar to release a cover of You Don’t Own Me and remind this new generation of girls that it’s okay to assert your identity separately from that of the hot dude you hope to snare.
With Australia being the only OECD country other than the United States that doesn’t have some form of compulsory paid-parental leave, one could be forgiven for thinking that Parliamentary debate on the topic has been pitifully slow. Well, presently a number of reports have indicated that such a scheme is needed in Australia (a nation says, “duh!”), and the Productivity Commission has put forward a proposal that would see working couples (both hetero and same sex, which makes a nice change) who have a baby given up to $11,854 in paid leave, rather than the existing $5000 baby bonus. The bonus would be remodelled as a “maternity allowance” for stay-at-home mums.
The 18-week scheme would be at the adult minimum wage of about $544 a week, and would be expected to benefit about 140,000 mothers a year. Mothers would be able to share the paid leave with their partners, but only if they were deemed the primary carer. An extra two weeks of paid leave would be available to fathers or same-sex partners.
Only those who have been in the workforce for at least 12 months would be eligible for the proposed scheme, which would cover the self-employed, contractors, and part-time and casual workers. Employers would be “paymasters” of the scheme, initially making the payments and then being reimbursed by the Government.
Women who are not in the workforce would be eligible for a $5000 “maternity allowance”, replacing the baby bonus. They would also get family tax benefit B and their partners would still be eligible for the two weeks’ paid leave reserved for fathers.
Both Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull have flagged their support for the proposals, but many – including Liberal families spokesman Tony Abbott – have suggested that the proposals are skewed towards working mothers, with stay-at-home mums getting a bum deal.
“I would have very serious reservations about a government-funded scheme that isn’t matched by equal government benefits for mothers who aren’t in the paid workforce,” Mr Abbott said.
You might recall a few years back that “Joan Jett” sent an outraged letter to Rolling Stone in light of their “women in rock” issue; the letter turned out to have been penned by a New York-based writer and performer; though Jett alerted fans to the impersonation, she also mentioned that she “loved” the content of the letter.
So, one imagines this open letter to John McCain – allegedly written by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart (in reality, Seattle’s The Stranger merely extemporised upon Heart’s existing calling out of McCain), regarding his campaign-trail use of their hit Barracuda (specifically, used to introduce Sarah Palin) – will follow “Joan’s” letter to the Snopes bin, but either way, it’s pretty kickass:
We can but dream. In any case, have a celebratory airing – with no McCain or Palin! – of Barracuda to perk up your afternoon:
TED is a technology and innovation conference that’s held every year in Monterey, California. Lots of great thinkers like Al Gore, Eve Ensler, and Richard Dawkins have all presented (strictly under 20-minute) talks. It costs around $6000 bucks to attend, assuming of course that they deem you worthy of a ticket. I would sell my decaying grandmother to go at least once in my life. But until I find a bidder I am forever thankful for the TED website.
Every talk ever filmed at the conference is available to view, and it’s all for free! With the number of hours I have spent on this site I’m sure I could have completed a PhD in astrophysics. But no mind, at least I’m doing something towards enriching my noggin.
Below is a link to one of my favorite talks by writer Isabel Allende. In it she talks about, among other things, her definition of feminism.
This talk is apt as my first post for The Dawn Chorus. Especially when Isabel talks about what she thinks is needed to improve the world for some of its most disadvantaged women:
We need to nurture the feminine energy in men for real change to happen.
Cheekily, she then notes that they must be men with young minds,
as old guys are hopeless, and we must wait for them to die off.
And as a man with a young mind, I couldn’t agree more.
One particular aspect of the abortion debate that is rarely discussed is that if performing-slash-undergoing an abortion should be deemed an illegal act, then what is due punishment for the woman who commits this “crime”? Last year, Anna Quindlen of Newsweek wrote a compelling article addressing this conundrum, titled “How Much Jail Time?”.
Quindlen is not surprised by the responses of pro-lifers to this question in a mini-documentary:
The man behind the camera is asking demonstrators who want abortion criminalized what the penalty should be for a woman who has one nonetheless. You have rarely seen people look more gobsmacked. It’s as though the guy has asked them to solve quadratic equations. Here are a range of responses: “I’ve never really thought about it.” “I don’t have an answer for that.” “I don’t know.” “Just pray for them.”
It poses questions to those who classify abortion as murder. What do you propose as punishment? You consider it murder, so the first step would be incarcerating the medical team that perform and assist in the procedure. Will there be a non-parole period? Should the sentence differ if the aborted foetus is 1 week old or 28 weeks old? Surely not if you believe that “life begins at conception”. What of the woman that seeks out the aborting of a foetus? She’s a willing participant – perhaps a lesser sentence of say, manslaughter?
It’s stupid for me to play the guessing game, I’m pro-choice and believe abortion should be legal – so you tell me the answers. I’m fairly certain there would an uproar if we started to see women put through our courts and flung into jail for a harrowing decision they have made about their own body and pregnancy. Read the rest of this entry »
The abortion debate, and specifically, debate surrounding its decriminalisation in Victoria, is always bound to stir up highly emotive responses, and none more notably than when religious beliefs become involved. So, it’s no surprise to hear that Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has thrown his two cents in.
What might be a surprise, however, is to hear the extent to which Hart will oppose abortion’s decriminalisation in Victoria – to wit, shutting down entire hospitals, if law reform makes providing either abortions or referrals for them (i.e. from medical practitioners and hospitals) mandatory.
Archbishop Hart said Catholic hospitals would not provide referrals for abortions — nor perform them — which would be mandatory under the law.
“In the worst-case scenario, if a government is determined to enforce such laws, we have no option. We might get out of hospitals altogether,” Archbishop Hart told The Age.
“Catholic hospitals cannot be part of any abortion. That has to be respected in the community. Even providing a referral is a co-operation in evil, and that impacts very strongly on us as Catholics,” he said.
He said the law would require Catholic doctors and nurses with a conscientious objection to abortion to break the law. “This poses a real threat to the continued existence of Catholic hospitals.”
To put that into perspective, Catholic hospitals in the Melbourne area include St Vincent’s (public and private), Mercy (public and private) and Cabrini, amongst others – roughly 15 in total – in other words, some of Melbourne’s major healthcare providers. And it’s safe to say that their general healthcare and emergency services provided would far outnumber abortions or abortion referrals, if the law reform comes through, no matter how much of an avalanche of terminations the pro-lifers always like to tell us will happen if abortion is decriminalised.
The excellent Lauredhel at Hoyden About Town has more on the topic.
I recently read in the UK’s Guardian newspaper about the gender issues of urban design as The Royal Geography Society’s recent annual conference found that UK cities are still being designed for the benefit of men.
This is despite the Gender Equality Duty [GED], a legal obligation which came into force in April 2007 in the UK through the 2006 Equality Act. The GED requires public authorities to promote gender equality and eliminate sex discrimination. Instead of depending on individuals making complaints about sex discrimination, the duty places the legal responsibility on public authorities to demonstrate that they treat men and women fairly. The duty affects policy making, public services, such as transport, and employment practices such as recruitment and flexible working.
Researchers at the conference found that urban cities are most commonly designed by men with a male’s perspective, failing to accommodate the differing needs of those who communte without a care, have a physical disability, care for children. I was surprised to read that almost all public spaces still accord the same number of square metres to male and female toilets, and because women can’t use urinals, they end up with half as many toilets in the allocated space. So why not double the allocation?
“If you want to know the true position of women in society look at the queue for the ladies’ loo,” says Clara Greed, professor of inclusive urban planning at the University of the West of England.
I’ve noticed myself that ladies loos are often furthest away from the central space of a shopping centre, which can mean walking down a dingy hall alone. it’s not necessarily scary, but it is a pain. And I can’t count the number of times I’ve waited in line for the loo, or struggled to hold onto the strap on a tram (I’m a bit short). And I don’t drive and like many cyclists am reluctant to cycle in city traffic – the latter issues are not solely women’s issues i hasten to add.
But how can we change all these things? One suggestion is that it is about architects, whether male or female, being open to these issues. More women in the industry would help too, because at least some of them would design in their own image.
“Designers see themselves at the end of their pencil – or their mouse,” says Davis. “Until about 15 years ago most architects and planners were men. They saw themselves moving through this environment. Because they were men and they were car drivers, they were interested in keeping commuters moving. It’s the same issue as with disability. They didn’t understand how a 15mm lip on a kerb could upset a buggy or a wheelchair. Not that they were being sexist – it just didn’t occur to them.”
So how do you think Melbourne fares? Besides our loos, is our city accessible in all senses of the word? I’m not an expert, so I’m interested in other people’s thoughts.
Of all the “online sensations” that the internets have birthed, few will be worthy of our attention in the years to come – hell, most are forgotten within weeks, destined to crop up in “Remember When…” features about YouTube superstars and people who penned angry bulk emails about the spaghetti stains in the office microwave and then sent it to the UN, or whatever. But there are some people who have been brought to our attention thanks largely to the wonders of ‘new media’, and for that we must be eternally grateful – one such “discovery” is Sarah Haskins.
I’ve written extensively about Haskins’ hilarious work with Target:Women, an offshoot of liberal media organisation Current TV’s news and culture magazine show, infoMania. In each episode, Haskins expertly skewers the idiocy-infused world of gender-targeted marketing, from yoghurt ads featuring women wearing grey hoodies (“It says, ‘I have a Master’s, but then I got married’”) to wedding shows (Bridezilla versus Momra) and slow motion time machines that come out of crockpots (“Wooooow!”). In short, in as-non-stalky-as-possible terms, she’s a superstar. A Chicago native who rose (and is rising) through the ranks of the comedy world, a proud feminist, and a generally kickass chick, Haskins makes us all feel that the future of the media is in safe hands.
So, who better to hit up for one of our regular Women We Love interviews than the woman herself? Sexy, clean, cool, fun, healthy, beautiful, large, UNDERPANTS, let’s Target: Sarah Haskins!
* * *
The Dawn Chorus: When did you decide you wanted to head into comedy writing? Did you have a formative comedy moment?
Sarah Haskins: “I did have a formative comedy moment, which is unusual. Normally I just stumble into things.
“I started doing improv in college and during the winter of my freshman year I went home to Chicago and saw a show at the Second City. (I am not sure if your readers know about Second City – it’s a comedy theater that creates social and political satire through sketch comedy and many of its alumni end up doing cool things: Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Chris Farley, etc, etc.) The show was so smart and funny I loved it and wanted to perform on that stage.
“Also, on a more embarrassing note, I loved the first Austin Powers movie and thought it would be really fun to work on a project like that.”
The Victorian parliament is currently debating the Abortion Law Reform Bill 2008. There is overwhelming public support for a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion, but it is still a crime under Victorian legislation.
This meeting will discuss why women should have control over their bodies at all stages of pregnancy and the right to safe, accessible, and legal abortion.
6.30pm, Thursday September 25
Trades Hall – New Council Chambers
Cnr. Victoria & Lygon Sts, Carlton South
Ph: 03 9639 8622 for more info
Speakers:
Colleen Hartland (Greens Victoria), Anne O’Rourke (Liberty Victoria), Prof Roger Short (Reproductive Biologist) and Mary Merkenich (Socialist Alliance).
The Dawn Chorus will be growing bigger and better over the next month, and we’d like to know what you want to see on the site (and what you don’t!) and a whole mess of other information about you, so we can tailor the site to keep our readers happy.
So, we’d like you to take a few minutes to answer some survey questions about the site, the feminist web, and yourself. Don’t worry, we don’t want to know how much you earn, where you live or what dunny paper you use, and we’re not going to sell your 0s and 1s to any corporations; we just want to know who you are and why you come here!
