news round-up: friday may 15, 2015

Coalition drops ‘double dippers’, ‘rort’ rhetoric in paid parental leave discussion
The Coalition has vowed to phase out its use of troubling language to describe parents, namely women, accessing both government and employer paid parental leave schemes to fund time off work with their children.

The revelation comes as both the Abbott government’s Assistant Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Matthias Cormann have explained their wives ‘double dipped’.

Want more news on the Federal Budget? Check out Katie Coulthard’s analysis here, or read our summary of 2015 budget replies.

 

Rosie Batty points out domestic violence is ‘family terrorism’
Australian of the Year and domestic violence survivor, Rosie Batty has contextualised domestic violence and violence against women for the government.

Calling domestic violence ‘family terrorism’, Batty highlights the disproportionate $1.2 billion allocated to defence in the 2015 Budget in comparison to a meagre $30 million scheme to raise awareness of violence against women.

 

Army Chief David Morrison retires

Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison has retired from the Australian military after 36 years of service.

Lieutenant General Morrison’s career is memorable for encouraging women to join the ranks of the Australian army and condemning the sexist culture among recruits.

His belief in gender equality culminated in a passionate video to the army in 2013, where he urged misogynists to ‘get out’ after images of female cadets during sex were broadcast without their consent.

The Lieutenant General told the Sydney Morning Herald he is looking forward to reading more, with feminist literature a staple in his literary diet.

 

Virginity tests for women entering Indonesian military under fire
With the International Committee of Military Medicine’s world conference drawing near in Bali, human rights organisations are calling for this year’s host, Indonesia, to remove virginity testing from medical screening for female recruits.

It’s not the first time the country has come under attack for these violating ‘two-finger’ hymen tests, which The Guardian reports Indonesia has in place to determine whether cadets are ‘naughty’.

The tests have also been aimed at girls entering their final, non-compulsory stages of secondary education.

 

Cave-people thought to be egalitarian

Next time you go to call a misogynist a ‘caveman’, reconsider your phrasing: anthropologists from University College London have found early hunter-gatherer societies exemplified gender equality.

By women having an equal footing in these groups, members were able to establish better social networks so as to share innovations and inbreeding was less of an issue.

They say patriarchal structures of inequality began to emerge with the development of agriculture and the ability to store resources.

 

Fosters beer boss says it’s time to end sexist marketing
Alan Clark, Chief Executive of SAB Miller who own Australian brand Fosters and Italian brewer Peroni, says marketing campaigns that are either ‘dismissive’ of or ‘insulting’ to women must go in accordance with the growing number of female consumers.

The adage of ‘sex sells’ has been analysed this week on Lip.

 

Also in the news:

Petition to ban Zoo from Woolworths and Coles gains more than 22,000 signatures,

Californian judge bans abstinence-only education,

and Fox News blur breasts on Picasso painting.