Uganda Bans Female Circumcision

Uganda has banned female circumcision or "female genital mutilation"/FGM, the practice that involves cutting off a female's clitoris.  I find it interesting that the articles says that most human rights activists decry FGM saying it poses major healthy risks.  I think in addition to focussing on health risk issues (which, from what I've read about the practice over the years is quite substantial), human rights activisits should also note that it's a way for men to control women.  If a woman does not feel any pleasurable sexual sensations during intercourse and, in fact, only feels pain because of FGM, the chances are slim-to-none that she will cheat on her husband:  

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/12/12/uganda.genital.mutilation/index.html

Brazilian Student Wears Short Dress to Classes, Gets Heckled and Then Expelled.

A 20-year-old Brazilian university student was heckled by her fellow students and then expelled by the university after wearing a short dress to class.  I heard that a school uniform might be required at the university but the attached article does not mention this fact.  I had to wear a school uniform when I was a young kid and if you didn't wear it, you were sent home, not expelled (not sure if the rules have changed since then or is different in other countries).  The university released a statement saying the student "disrespected 'ethical principles, academic dignity and morality'."  That's a pretty heavy-duty cross to bear for a female who merely wore a short dress. 

Sexism is alive and well in all parts of the world.  As a traveler, it's not that I needed this story to prove that. For instance, I don't know if I'd ever go back to Zanzibar after 2 men tried to physically accost me there (one per day on the island).  I was walking in broad daylight, modestly attired, about one building's length away from my hotel.  I think the message I was being given was that if I didn't want people to treat me like a "whore" then I should be walking with a man like all "non-whores".

When women "get out of line" like this university student did (sarcasm) isn't it good to know there are moralizers - like the heckling students at this university, the university, itself, and the 2 men in Zanzibar - who make sure we women get "back in line".   I might have to do a few more posts about what is considered to be cultural norms about women's clothing.  Would love your comments:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/08/geisy-arruda-brazil-stude_n_350217.html

Women Become the Majority of the U.S. Workforce

This month women will become the majority in the US workforce.  Women are also the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in 63% of U.S. families, according to the following article in Ms. Magazine.  Having said that, women are still discriminated against in terms of wages, benefits, pensions and social security. 

Perhaps as women become a larger and larger part of the workforce, they will use their collective voices to fix some of these discriminatory practices.  Obama having a women's issues czar doesn't hurt, either.

Read more, here:  http://www.msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?ID=11995

Great Article: Hillary Reborn

Great article by New York Magazine about how Hillary Clinton is supposedly lying low in her first 9 months as Secretary of State to be seen as a team player.  The author, John Heilemann, says that Hillary is doing what she did when she first became a junior Senator from New York, and putting her nose to grindstone, staying out of the spotlilght and creating alliances behind the scenes.  He also says that Hillary saying, recently, that she will never run for President of the United States, again, could be a ruse.  If she is doing all this, she's a more self-controlled woman than I am.  What do you think?  Here's the article:

http://nymag.com/news/politics/powergrid/60123/

The Person Who Screams the Loudest, Wins

Erica Jong wrote a great blog today on Huffington Post about how when you're arguing with someone who's insane and you try to argue logically, you're still going to lose (after all, an insane person does not understand logic).  She also espouses the "person who screams loudest, wins" theory of winning.  She is relating this to the healthcare bill but, honestly, her arguments relate to any issue, including women's desire to climb the corporate ladder:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-jong/dont-let-the-crazy-people_b_272337.html

From studies and anecdotal evidence, women are afraid to speak up and ask for what they want. We all used to think that people would recognize our brilliance and our worth. Well, they don't. They recognize the worth of the person who puts facts and figures in front of their faces and then asks to be acknowledged and rewarded.
I recently read an article where a female law partner said that when associates do their yearly self-reviews, the male associates talk about how, "I did this," and "I accomplished that".  She said that the female associates wrote about the success of the team.  She said that for female associates to get ahead, they will need to start boasting about their individual accomplishments.

Last week, I called the head of the company I work for and asked for a raise. I make the company a lot of money and I made some good arguments, backed by figures, about why they should give me a raise. I've also forwarded about 5 unsolicited email raves from clients in the past month to the folks at the top of the company chain, so they can see how the clients value me (even if my bosses don't).  At the end of the day, if I get the raise it will be because I'm a pain in the butt (or the person who "screamed" the loudest) about my "worth" and they want me to "shut up" not because I deserve it and it's the right thing to do.

Tell us about the last time you were the squeaky wheel.  Were you successful in getting what you wanted?

RIP Ted Kennedy

I've been glued to the TV for the past couple of days as folks say goodbye to Ted Kennedy. Who didn't tear up when Ted Kennedy, Jr. gave his very personal eulogy in the church or when the former staffers standing on the Capital steps sang, "God Bless America"? 

There was a time in my life about 10 years ago where my goal was to work for him (I'm from Massachusetts so he's been "my" senator my whole life). I'm sure my life would have been different had I done so - both good and bad, but I'd like to think, more "good", and more in line with my political values.  It has made me stop and think about the fact that we are only on this earth a short time and to stop putting off until tomorrow what we should be doing today (when I'm 77 as Kennedy was, will I look back and regret that I didn't do something? If so, I need to start doing it - whatever "it" is).

What are your thoughts about the events of the past couple of days?  What do you wish you had done in your life and can you still do it?

http://www.girleffect.org

Interesting home page video.  This is along the lines of what the NY Times Magazine was writing - which is that we need to focus on lending money to women in the developing world and to give them an education.  That, in turn, will greatly help raise the developing world out of poverty:

http://www.girleffect.org/


Shared via AddThis

Saving the World's Women

The NY Times Magazine today had a cover story, "Saving the World's Women: How changing the lives of
women and girls in the developing world can change everything" by Nicholas Kristoff and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn.  Research has shown that giving monetary aid to women rather than men results in improvement in children's health and education.  According to the studies, when men are given the money, the households' spending on prostitution, alcohol, sugar and candy rises. 

I was in Africa a year and a half ago.  My safari guide and interpreter took me to see the Hadzabe, an almost extinct tribe who live in the bush.  I hunted with them and then they sang and danced for and with me.  At the end of visiting with people, it is customary to give them a small amount of money (about $20 my safari guide told me).  He said, "We have to make sure we give it to the women."  When I asked why, he said, "If you give it to the men, they will spend it on mara-joo-wana.  If you give it to the women, they will spend it on food."  I asked my guide and my interpreter why the men wouldn't spend it on food when they knew people were hungry.  They laughed, uncomfortably and shrugged.

Very interesting:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23Women-t.html#

There are some other articles as well, incuding the sad story of, "Truck-Stop Girls" about girls in Swazilland between 14 and 24 years old who have sex with truckers.  1 in 3 people are HIV positive in Swaziland:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23lives-t.html?ref=magazine

Hot off the Press: Scottish Leader Defends Release

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, the NY Times just filed this article about 45 minutes ago re the Scottish government's decision to release Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber. Scotland denies that their decision was connected to British oil interests. What do you think?

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/23/world/AP-EU-Britain-Lockerbie.html?hp

FBI Director, Mueller, Writes Scathing Letter to Scottish Secretary of Justice

FBI Director, Robert Mueller wrote a scathing letter, yesterday, to Kenny MacAskill, Scotland's Cabinet Secretary of Justice regarding his decision to release Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, who is terminally ill. Mueller was the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and indictment of Megrahi in 1991.

The bombing killed 270 people (mostly Americans) in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Muammar Qaddafi's personal home. He mentions the grief of the families of the victims and personal effects of the victims such as a single sneaker of a teenager and the toys in a businessman's briefcase going home to spend Christmas with his family.

I've never seen a letter like this with all of its outrage from someone so high up in the federal government. I'm curious if he had to get Obama's personal okay or just his boss, the Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Dennis C. Blair. Maybe Obama asked him to write something as both he and Hillary Clinton have expressed strong disapproval for releasing al-Megrahi.

Here's the letter. You can feel Mueller's anger, disgust and pain.

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/mueller082209.htm

Man Carries Assault Rifle to Obama Gathering/Protest

I'm sure a lot of you saw this story this week. An African-American man showed up at an Obama event with an AR-15 slung on his shoulder:

Man Carries Assault Rifle To Obama Protest - and it's Legal: http://bit.ly/1m3i16

I think if someone wants to own a gun to go hunting or to protect themselves in their home, that's fine. However, I don't know that I want people walking the streets of the United States with automatic weapons on their shoulders. This is especially true as I live in NYC and, as those of you who live here know, every day in NYC brings constant irritating challenges. You don't want someone going off because someone elbowed them in the subway. Thankfully, NY does not allow "open carry" as it's called (openly carrying a visible gun).

What are your thoughts on this issue (and where are you from)?

Hillary's "Bad Hair" Day

I've been trying to decide what kind of tone I want to take in my new blog. I would like to balance fashion and politics, dining out and relationships. So here is me starting out with a BANG.

The news cycle was all about Hillary's response to a Congolese student's question about "What Mr. Clinton thinks". One of the blogs I read is by The Three tomatoes and they comment that Meredith Vieira asks Andrea Mitchell if Hillary Clinton was having a "bad hair day" and Andrea Mitchell agrees. They say that Colin Powell would never have been accused of having a bad hair day and I would have to agree:
http://www.thethreetomatoes.com/thethreetomates/2009archives/081309.html

Would love your comments on my inaugural post!