feminist news round-up 17.03.16

Significant gender wage disparities in staff of presidential campaigns
Yikes. Jezebel have analysed the campaign finance data for the current six biggest presidential campaigns to look at gender disparity, and it doesn’t look good.Some will be surprised to find that Bernie Sanders’ 10 highest paid staffers are all men, although on average, women in his campaign are paid $1,000 more than the men. Hillary Clinton’s campaign was fairly equal, whilst surprisingly Marco Rubio’s campaign pays women the best.There are some interesting statistics here.

Nguyen: why I’m wary of male feminists
Gizelle Au-Nihen Nguyen writes a very relatable article forDaily Life on why she is wary of men who call themselves feminists. Nguyen conceptualises the Manic Pixie Dream Feminist, ‘brogressives’ fantasy of an intelligent and progressive sexually active woman, although they never call out male feminists for their behaviour of course. It’s sad to read of how common these experiences are for women.

Matildas make it to the Olympics
The Matildas, Australia’s national women’s soccer team, have qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 2004. They finished on top of the table for Asia, becoming Asia’s number one team for the first time,after a rapid-fire four games over ten days. The highlight of the tournament perhaps has to go to their 9-0 scoreline against Vietnam.

Models of colour speak out about their experiences in the fashion industry
Naomi Campbell and Bethann Hardison have opened up to Teen Vogue about working with stylists who know little about styling natural hair texture and complementing darker skin tones, instead being forced to conform to Eurocentric beauty standards. Both admitted to bringing their own products to photoshoots early in their careers, noting that many technicians lacked the experience in working with women of colour. As a result, they’ve created the Balance Diversity initiative with Iman to promote diversity in the industry.

Xena: Warrior Princess reboot to feature lesbian relationship
This year’s reboot of ’90s TV series Xena: Warrior Princess has promised to explore the lesbian relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, which was implied in the original series. Executive producer and screenwriter Javier Grillo-Marxuach announced this in a Tumblr Q&A, describing the exploration of their relationship as a necessary addition as well as a great opportunity in updating the show.

Index to measure Australian sporting codes’ LGBT+ inclusivity
The Pride in Sport index has been launched to score Australian sporting codes based on their treatment and support of LGBT+ staff, players and fans. The index was prompted by the recent Out on the Fields study, which found that 9 out of 10 young people felt they couldn’t be honest about their sexuality. Results of the index will be published annually, along with a ceremony to recognise the highest ranked organisation.