If you squint your eyes and turn your head to the side, the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is everything a feminist aspires to be. She was strong and unwavering; determined to succeed in spite of a league of “old boys” fighting against her at every turn. She was the first (and only) female…
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The French senate passed an article of the bill to legalise same-sex marriage on Tuesday night, redefining the union as between “two individuals of different sex or of the same sex”. The article is a key element of the bill that also legalises adoption by same-sex partners. After lengthy debate, the article was passed with…
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Last night I was informed that Margaret Thatcher, the ‘Iron Lady,’ had died of a stroke, aged 87. I rushed to the Internet, the fountain of all knowledge, to make sure it wasn’t just a hoax – and found that Google was inundated with articles about the remarkable woman who was Prime Minister of the…
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A full-page ad placed in The Times of India by an Indian multi-millionaire seeking a new wife has caused some reaction in the media, ranging from guffawing to head-scratching. Reported by The Age, the ad, placed by Dinshah Vimadalal – a 69 year old retired widower living in Mexico – outlines his many attributes and…
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My Mum used to tell stories at bedtime, and one of my favourites was Upside Down World. Visitors to this realm would sip donuts through straws and slide backwards up slippery dips; the laws of our universe were reversed. In The Age this week, Amrit Dhillon explores a society that sounds like a real Upside…
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For the first time ever, a woman will be contesting a parliamentary seat in Pakistan’s Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA). 40-year-old Badam Zari will be running in the elections scheduled for May 11. She appeared on television on Sunday to launch her political career, wearing a full veil revealing only her eyes. In an area…
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Days after visiting Tunisia and praising the Islamist government’s efforts towards gender equality, feminist author and activist Nawal El Saadawi has been condemned in an article published by the State’s newspaper. Al-Fajr, the African nation’s ruling party’s paper, labelled the activist a ‘promoter of prostitution and homosexuality’. She had been in Tunisia to meet with…
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Amina is a 19 year old Tunisian woman who risked imprisonment and corporal punishment for baring her breasts in defiance. Reports suggest she has been committed to a psychiatric hospital by her family after she appeared on Tunisian television explaining her decision to join the radical feminist group, Femen. A video posted on Free Thought…
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CNN’s coverage of the Steubenville rape trial is drawing the ire of viewers and non-viewers alike. The report on the conviction of Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, 16, for the rape of a 16-year-old girl last August was sympathetic to the plight of the rapists, wondering what was to become of their once “promising”…
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An alleged rape victim from the remote Feydhoo Island in the Maldives has been sentenced to 100 lashes for engaging in pre-marital sex. It is alleged that the 15 year old was subjected to repeated rape by her stepfather, and that she gave birth to his child, whose death in 2012 is currently under investigation….
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A Middle-Eastern company, Eurostar, has finally filled the technology void that has threatened delicate women for too long. The recently released “ePad Femme” is ‘the world’s first tablet made exclusively for women’. It’s pink, and comes complete with apps for cooking, clothing size conversion, yoga for women, and perfume. Announced in October 2012, the ePad…
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The theme for International Women’s Day earlier this month was ‘The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum’ and it could not be more apt given the recent horrific attacks on women in India and South Africa – attacks that are not unprecedented and are prevalent in too many countries around the world. These acts of violence against…
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In a recent episode of British period drama Downton Abbey, viewers watched with horror as the beloved character Lady Sybil Branson died in childbirth. She was a strong, independent female character, well loved by her husband and family, and had an otherwise healthy and normal pregnancy. However, she suffered from eclampsia and met her untimely…
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