feminist news round-up 10.12.15

Myer CEO says young workers want flexibility, not penalty rates
In a speech at the Australian Financial Review Workforce and Productivity Summit, chief executive of Myer, Richard Umbers, claimed that millennial workers ‘don’t really differentiate between a Saturday and a Sunday’. Umbers also believes that young people aren’t as fearful of losing entitlements such as penalty rates as conventionally reported. Sure.

Keneally: It’s not just Islam that needs reformation, Tony
Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally’s opinion piece for The Guardian  criticises Tony Abbott for his comments on the need for Islam to ‘reform’ whilst ignoring what’s in his own Christian backyard. Keneally points to Christianity’s views in 2015 on same-sex attracted people and contraception, as well as its covering up of sexual abuse within the church, as examples of Christianity’s need for reform. Abbott’s comments were made on Tuesday night in an interview with Sky News, in which he claimed that Islam needed its own enlightenment and that ‘all cultures are not equal’.

Rosie Batty ‘stunned’ by Baden-Clay charge downgrade
Anti-domestic violence campaigner and survivor Rosie Batty has criticised the Queensland justice system after it downgraded a convicted murderer’s charge to manslaughter. Baden-Clay was convicted of the murder of his wife, Allison, in 2014, and will now be resentenced early in 2016. Batty said that the ruling ‘sends the same message that I’m saying all of the time, that we undermine, disregard a victim in a violent relationship’.

Angela Merkel named ‘Person of the Year’ by Time Magazine
Time Magazine has named German Chancellor Angela Merkel its Person of the Year. Merkel, who has been Chancellor of Germany since 2005, was awarded the honour by Time for her ‘steadfast moral leadership’ in the refugee and European financial crises, as well as dealing with tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Salon: Carrie Fisher’s refreshing media circuit for the new Star Wars film
With the new Star Wars filmThe Force Awakens coming out next week, the witty 59-year-old star of the franchise, Carrie Fisher, has been slaying the necessary media rounds. She’s given out advice on how to explain the concept of Slave Leia to your children, introduced her dog Gary (who apparently panted the entire time while watching the new film and had her say on the difficulties of being an older woman in Hollywood.

New Matilda cops backlash for ‘mansplaining feminism’ article
An article on New Matilda by Jack Kilbride criticising the confrontational approach to online sexual harassment by Australian feminist commentator Clementine Ford has faced backlash for telling women how to be feminists and playing respectability politics. New Matilda has backtracked to some extent, posting six response articles, as well as an editorial promising a full apology ‘when it’s ready’. The editorial also proclaimed that it was ‘time to move on’ from the ‘public flogging’ of Kilbride.