The internet has been flooded with articles and commentary on the Ohio kidnapping rescue story that broke Tuesday AEST. While many articles simply recap the events, other pieces have surfaced that reflect the underlying issues of sexism, racism, and discrimination against the mentally ill that pervade the media. The story itself is captivating, and it…
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A recent study by global charity organisation Save the Children has produced a ranked list of the best and worst countries in the world to be a mother. The results in the State of the World’s Mothers report show that the best country to be a mother is Finland, followed by Sweden, Norway and Denmark….
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By now, you would have heard about the intense tragedy of this Bangladesh garment factory’s collapse. Rana Plaza was an eight-storey building in Dhaka’s manufacturing zone, housing multiple factories where clothes for Western brands were manufactured. The owners and managing director of the complex allegedly ignored safety warnings and employees saw cracks in the walls…
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If you see plenty of women wearing white shirts today, it’s because it’s White Shirt Day. White Shirt Day was launched by OCRF in 2011 (with help from Witchery, and madison editor Lizzie Renkert), in order for all Australians to show their support for women suffering from ovarian cancer. And why? One woman dies of…
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Before Twitter was as omnipresent as it is now, the concept was regular fodder for the writing of op-ed columnists. Experts, journalists and technophobes started philosophising about what this latest social networking site meant for privacy, intimacy, and communication. Globe and Mail writer Ian Brown even theorised that Twitter’s appeal had something to do with…
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It seems as though one old chestnut is still flourishing in Australia, and that’s the male breadwinner—female homemaker dichotomy. Recent research has found that, in comparison with other countries of similar economic standing, Australia has the more “traditional” statistic of men being more dominant in the full-time workforce. This is somewhat surprising given that the…
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It is feared that a girls’ school in Takhar province in northern Afghanistan has been hit by poison gas, causing up to 74 girls to be hospitalised over the weekend, with some in a critical condition. Events like these, causing mass illness and forcing girls to stop attending school, are not uncommon even in post-Taliban…
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A Catholic high school in Columbus, Ohio fired physical education teacher Carla Hale last month, days after her mother’s obituary “outed” her. Hale had been teaching for 19 years. An anonymous parent identified Hale’s partner as a woman (Julie) mentioned in the obituary. Within days, Hale was fired. She told reporters: ‘Bishop Watterson [High School]…
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Last week, a story about A Current Affair journalist Tracy Grimshaw was featured online at The Age. It “revealed” that the notoriously private Grimshaw once got so drunk that she accidentally walked naked into the hallway of Melbourne’s Crown Casino. The readers’ comments on the story reflect the misogynist culture of internet trolls, while also…
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Tunisian Woman Vows to Bare Breasts Again. Tunisian woman Amina Tyler, who sparked controversy last month when she exposed her breasts online in protest and was subsequently committed to a psychiatric facility by her family, fled captivity this week and vowed to continue to use her body as a symbol of protest. In a video…
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Famous social rights activist Desmond Tutu once said: ‘Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.’ While it’s easy to declare these sentiments on a Facebook status, it can be difficult to integrally act it out. Little bits of good have become…
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There were jubilant scenes throughout New Zealand and across Australia last night as NZ became the 13th country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. The legislation, which passed 77-44, redefines marriage as a union between two people, and opens the door for adoption by same-sex couples. Labour MP Louisa Wall, who introduced the Bill,…
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Businesses such as Vodafone and Dove are up in arms after being alerted that their advertisements were appearing on vicious Facebook pages such as “Drop kicking sluts in the teeth” and “Raping!” UK charity Shelter, which fights against homelessness, has contacted Facebook to complain over the positioning of its advertisements. Facebook is notoriously slow in…
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The award-winning Coolum-Peregian RSL is calling for ex-service women to lead the ANZAC Day march to the Cenotaph on April 25. Reports suggest it is the first time such an honour has been bestowed on female service personnel. This year marks the 99th anniversary of the start of World War I. It is hoped that…
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