Feminist News Round-up 8.1.12
Goldman Sachs: Rethinking Gender Pay Gap Would Boost Growth
Goldman Sachs chief economist Tim Toohey has said recently that closing the gender pay gap would add at least 13 per cent growth to the economy. This finding demonstrates how important it is for the private sector to implement reforms such as flex time and maternity leave internally. This is not just for equality, but for better economic outcomes in general. You can read more here.
Saudi Women Win Victory in Lingerie Shops
In Saudi Arabia, men shopkeepers used to sell lingerie. Aside from being anti-Islamic in nature, such an arrangement often resulted in women buying lingerie being uncomfortable as well as overtly harassed. Now, in what has been hailed a victory for Saudi women, it is now policy that only women can sell lingerie. In a nation where women are not allowed to drive and are subject to guardianship laws, this opens up a multitude of job opportunities for women in an industry where few previously existed. You can read more here.
Potential First-Wives Rolled Out in Public
In even more anti-feminist news from the upcoming US Presidential elections, the male Republican candidates have put their wives in the public eye in order to win votes. This is meant to appeal to conservative American values and, somehow, patriotism. You can read more (and watch the sickening campaign ads) right here.
Topless protesters ‘kidnapped, stripped’ by KGB
A Ukrainian feminist group which specialises in topless protests (ah, Europe) has claimed that three of their members had been captured and forced to strip naked by police in Belarus. The police then threatened to set them on fire and then with a knife, which they later used to cut their hair. Finally, they were abandoned in a nearby woodland without their identity papers. The women have allegedly been found 300 kilometers away from Minsk. The group claimed that this was in retaliation to a recent topless protest which made fun of authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko. You can read more about it here.
Egypt Reduces Charges Against Doctor Who Performed Virginity Tests
Last week, it came to lip’s attention that Egypt has banned forced virginity tests on female detainees in military prisons. This week, it has come to light that despite the ban, those conducting the ‘tests’ are not being heavily pursued. In particular, the charges against Dr. Ahmed Adil al-Mogy, who works in the military as a medical doctor and has been accused of performing these tests, have been reduced. He may only be fined $50 or sentenced to less than a year in prison for his crimes. Read more here.
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