daily feminist news: 03.10.13

Best: First female AFL club president.

Richmond Football Club has appointed Peggy O’Neal as the first female president of an AFL club. On her appointment, O’Neal stated that ‘to be the first woman elected to this role, in the history of the competition, is deeply humbling, and I think it says much about the Richmond Football Club’s progressive attitude, broad commitment to diversity, and in this instance, the important role females play in the game at all levels.’

Worst: Pregnant asylum seekers neglected.

Asylum seeker advocate, Sophie Peer, has told SBS that pregnant asylum seekers are being moved from Christmas Island to Darwin where they are ‘crammed into inappropriate and over-crowded accommodation.’ Women are giving birth in such environments daily, under conditions where vital maternity items such as nappies and maternity wear are in limited supply. There are no specific women’s health or maternity health workers employed in these areas and issues of language and cultural barriers are not adequately accounted for.

Norway’s gender quota law makes boards more professional.

Back in 2003 (woah! Ten years ago, guys!) Norway became the first country in the world to impose gender quotas on 500 companies, making them raise their percentage of women on their boards to 40 per cent. Before you jump on the bandwagon and denounce quotas because they’ll just give silly, incompetent women with no skills jobs over super productive, intelligent menfolk who need to support their families, guess what? The head of Norway’s largest domestic investment fund said that since introducing quotas, company boards have become more professional and globally focused. Boom. Ladies. Getting shit done.

Dating site, OK Cupid charges $4.95 to filter by body type.

OK Cupid, dating site has recently introduced a search filter by body type, so users can focus on the physical features they are attracted to ‘just like they would in a bar in the real world.’ However, the site is now charging $4.95 a month for the filter, with the possibility of this price varying according to age, body size and how long you have been a member. So not only does this feature allow users to actively discriminate and categorise people according to their body shape, but the site itself discriminates against certain body types. And I bet we can guess what size would be discriminated against most…

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