feminist news round-up 11.11.12
Four more years thanks to feminism
This week (just in case you missed it) Obama won the US Presidential election against his Republican opponent, Mick Romney. A survey by the pollsters YouGov of 36,000 Americans in final week of campaign gave the incumbent president a 12 point lead among women, by 56 per cent to Mitt Romney’s 44 per cent. It seems that the binders full of women trick didn’t work for Romney. Dick Morris, a major talking head on Fox News, appeared on The O’Reilly Factor this week to explain why Obama won (despite his earlier predictions to the contrary). He said that ‘I undercounted the minority turnout and women and young people, single women’. So there you go, you can thanks the women and the minorities for this result. In other good news, the new elected Congress that convenes in January will include a record number of women: 20 senators and at least 81 representatives. New Hampshire will be the first state to send an all-female delegation to Congress. A woman was also elected to the South Carolina Senate, currently the only all-male state legislative chamber.
Anaesthetist infects women
Anaesthetist James Latham Peters pleaded guilty last week to 55 counts of negligently causing serious injury after infecting women with hepatitis C at a Victorian abortion clinic. Peters himself had hepatitis C and allegedly infected patients at the Croydon Day Surgery by using pre-filled syringes of anaesthetic drugs on himself before administering the remainder to the women. The Judge rightly said that the fact that the women were seeking abortions was irrelevant, saying that ‘the victims in this case are a group of the most highly innocent people who you could ever come across’. Peters committed his offences between June 2008 and November 2009.
Archbishop urges votes for women bishops
Justin Welby, the bishop of Durham in the UK, urged the Church of England’s General Synod to vote in favour of legislation allowing women to become bishops as his appointment as the next archbishop of Canterbury was confirmed by the prime minister’s office at earlier this week. Despite his relatively progressive stance on women bishops, Welby does not support marriage equality though he did say to media, ‘we must have no truck with any form of homophobia’ and that the government should be inclusive in defining and awarding rights to those in civil partnerships.
Women do the Christmas Shopping
Something to think about when you’re buying little Billy that lego kit: According to Carly Farragher of the National Retail Association, women buy 65 per cent of the household Christmas presents, and most of the food. A British brand, Asda, has recently used this gender imbalance at the local Westfield for marketing purposes. Their ad depicts a woman working through her extensive list of things to buy without getting any help. Discussions on the ad have ranged from, ‘is this realistic?’ to ‘is this more offensive to men or to women? (or both?)’ Tell us what you think!
Covered on Lip this week
American congressional nominee calls aborting rapist’s child ‘more violence’
Homelessness looms large after budget cuts
Pussy Riot members sent to prison camps
School district says ‘carelessness’ behind former student’s sexual assault
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