feminist news round-up 17.04.16
Maley: the hypocritical reaction to child welfare cases
Jacqueline Maley writes for the Sydney Morning Herald on Australia’s response to two different cases this week – the 60 Minutes botched “child rescue” in Lebanon that has left the crew in jail and a mother charged with the death of her 14-month-old daughter in Melbourne. Why have politicians swung into action over the former, and done little for the later aside from be outraged? Maley notes that political action needs to be taken to help dysfunctional families, even if it is not politically popular or exciting.
Mockumentary promises to show a world without men
The trailer for Canadian mockumentary No Men Beyond This Point has been released. Yep, it’s about a world where men are going extinct, and are either in hiding or “ageing out”. Of course, there has to be a fight back but will it be a success? You can watch it here.
City of Perth introduce “female-friendly” car parking for “safety”
The City of Perth is trialling female-friendly car spots on Pier St in an attempt to make women safer. The spots are located near the entry/exit points of the car park, and are marked out with pink paint and signs. Men won’t be fined for parking in the area but are ‘encouraged to support’ the concept. One woman who frequently uses this car park described it as a useless measure considering the lack of current safety in the area, whilst others have applauded the initiative. Will this actually make it safer, though, or make things worse?
Bronwyn Bishop’s parliamentary career likely over
Bronwyn Bishop has lost the Liberal pre-selection ballot for her seat of Mackellar, meaning that her parliamentary career looks to be over. In a meeting that lasted over five hours, the preselectors voted 51 to 39 to pre-select former staffer Jason Falinski. Members of the Party had criticised the 73-year-old Bishop this week for recontesting the seat and not allowing ‘new blood’ to come through the party ranks.
Our women ‘jav chuckers’ in Rio
An amusing but exciting article by the Huffington Post on Australia’s women javelin athletes going to the Rio Olympics this year. Kathryn Mitchell, Kelsey-Lee Roberts and Kim Mickle talk about why they’re javelin throwers (Kathryn: ‘there’s no money’ and you’ll end up using a walking stick in your old age), seeing people hit by the spears and the power you need to be able to throw a javelin. Go girls!
