[sunnykerr]

It's the same old crap, isn't it?

Bill O'Reilly is probably a smart man in real life. Smart enough to know that common sense and logic don't sell on his network.

So he starts up this nonsense about there being a downside to having a woman president... like that hasn't already happened all over the world already.

[canflam]

I found out about it while watching ''The Colbert Report''. Why do you think though that more women haven't ran for U.S. President?

[quaist]

Originally Posted by canflam (View Post) I found out about it while watching ''The Colbert Report''. Why do you think though that more women haven't ran for U.S. President?

Well, that's actually a really good question.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that women still tend not to trust in their own abilities in a predominantly male environment as is the field of politics?

[sunnykerr]

I don't have the mind-reading powers to know why one woman may choose to not run for higher office.

I would argue that the presidency is one job, and there are plenty of women in Congress and in the Senate, so it's not like there's an vaccuum for women in higher office in the United States.

And who knows what any one individual may weigh for or against going for any particular job?

How would you even begin to formalize a general enough opinion to satisfy the minimum requirement of speaking for women as a whole in terms of the presidency?

I will say this, though. My feeling is that it may have less to do with women fearing the old boy's club and more to do with that old boy's club itself.

[sunnykerr]

Mumbai, India gang rapes: Two cases, five convictions NEW DELHI -- An Indian court convicted five men Thursday for raping a photojournalist and a call-centre operator last summer inside an abandoned textile mill in the financial hub of Mumbai, cases that renewed calls to wipe out the scourge of sexual violence in India. The rapes happened about a month apart in the same abandoned mill in the Lower Parel section of Mumbai, where luxury malls and condominiums stand alongside sprawling slums. Three of the men were convicted in both cases. "(I) hope this verdict will act as a deterrent," said Maharashtra Home Minister R. R. Patil, saying the cases were tried in the "fastest possible time." The men face 20 years to life in prison, prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said. Sentencing was expected on Friday. Two minors are being tried separately by a juvenile court. In the first case, a call-centre operator was gang-raped on July 31 inside the abandoned textile mill. Nearly a month later, a 22-year-old photojournalist was on assignment with a male colleague when several men approached and offered to help them get permission to shoot photos in the abandoned mill. Once inside, the male colleague was beaten and tied up while the attackers took turns raping the woman. The photojournalist stunned the nation after her attack by telling local media that "rape is not the end of life" -- a groundbreaking statement given that many rape victims are often shunned by their families, fired from jobs or driven from their home villages. The women cannot be identified under Indian law. The men convicted of the crimes range in age from 19 to 26, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. In the weeks after the attack on the photojournalist, Mumbai police said the suspects had little to no education and lived in the slums near the abandoned mill. Both trials were held by a fast-track court in a country where the judiciary is notorious for delays. But rape cases have taken on a sense of urgency since December 2012, when a 23-year-old medical student was fatally gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi. Rape, rarely talked about in India's deeply conservative society, became front-page news, with demands that police do more to protect women. Pledging to crack down, the federal government created fast-track courts for rape cases, doubled prison terms for rape, and criminalized voyeurism and stalking. Four men have been sentenced to death in the New Delhi gang rape case.

I think the only way this verdict will act as a deterrent to further rapes and gang rapes is if most rapists get caught and brought before justice, and are then found guilty (if they are guilty).

Because, so long as a majority of these criminals get away with it, why should a few tough verdicts here and there deter them in any way?

[sunnykerr]

Angelina Jolie praises Bosnia's breaking ground on warzone rape SARAJEVO -- Bosnia's decision to include preventing sexual violence in military training is "groundbreaking" and should become the standard for UN peacekeeping missions, British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Angelina Jolie said Friday. "Warzone rape has been a taboo subject in all countries. You are helping to break down those taboos and redefining soldiering in the 21st century," Jolie said as the two addressed a conference on sexual violence in war organized in Sarajevo by Bosnia's Defence Ministry. Hague said rape was a devastatingly effective way to terrorize and displace a population and is being used currently in Syria, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Jolie said the training was especially important for peacekeepers as their patrols "can mean that women no longer have to face a choice between going out for firewood and water and being raped or seeing their children go hungry." Hague promised Britain will support a planned training centre in Sarajevo for future military and police peacekeepers from the region. Jolie and Hague launched a global campaign two years ago to fight sexual violence in armed conflicts, end impunity for the perpetrators and provide support for victims. So far, 141 countries have supported the initiative. Up to 50,000 women were raped during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. The victims later sued at the UN war crimes tribunal, which resulted in wartime rapists being put behind bars for the first time in history. Jolie and Hague later met widows and mothers of genocide victims in Srebrenica -- a Bosnian town where Serb forces killed over 8,000 Muslim men and boys in 1995. Jolie came out of the meeting crying.

Far from a done deal yet, obviously.

But something like this needs to happen all over the world, as far as I'm concerned.

[sunnykerr]

Tunisia policemen jailed for rape of 'Meriem' Two Tunisian policemen have been sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a young woman in a case that has triggered angry protests. The woman, known as Meriem Ben Mohamed, said she was attacked after officers stopped her in a car with her fiance. The policemen denied the charges, saying they found the couple in an "immoral position". Attempts to charge the couple with indecency led to public outcry. Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki offered a state apology to the woman, who was 27 at the time of the attack. Hundreds of people have gathered outside a series of court hearings in Tunis to voice their support for her. The case comes amid renewed focus on women's rights following the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power. 'They insult me' The two policemen were convicted after being accused of raping the woman in a police car. A third officer tried to extort money from her fiance at a bank cash machine, according to reports. He was given a two-year prison sentence. The woman is said to have broken down in court on Monday after the policemen claimed she had tried to seduce them. Lawyers for Meriem Ben Mohamed told reporters they were disappointed with the verdicts, saying they were too lenient. Meriem emerged from the courtroom crying on Monday afternoon, saying: "When I demand justice, they insult me", according to AFP. Tunisia's public prosecutor had earlier tried unsuccessfully to bring indecency charges against Meriem and her fiance, sparking a storm of protest. Activists outside the courtroom on Monday held placards saying: "Stand up for Meriem, stand up for Tunisian women". A psychologist's report, seen by AFP, said the ordeal had caused Meriem to suffer "depression aggravating a state of post-traumatic stress". Secular Tunisians, especially women, are worried about the growing influence of ultra-conservative Islamists since the uprising. Following a tense campaign, the country's new constitution includes a clause guaranteeing gender equality in legislative assemblies and puts a burden on the state to protect women against violence.

I understand that there are all kinds of different ways to look at the world, and it's not for me to tell any country how to run things.

But I find very objectionable that blaming the victim is understood by the police to be an acceptable tactic.

I find it profoundly abhorrent that police would try to blackmail and bribe their victims into silence.

[sunnykerr]

Obama signs executive orders targeting gender wage gap US President Barack Obama has issued two executive orders aimed at erasing gender disparities in pay among the government workforce. One directive signed on Tuesday bars federal contactors from retaliating against employees for discussing pay. The other requires such contractors to provide compensation data by race and gender to the Department of Labor. The Democrat also rebuked Republicans for blocking equal pay legislation, as both sides vie for female voters. Even playing field "Pay secrecy fosters discrimination, and we should not tolerate it, not in federal contracting or anywhere else," Mr Obama, citing Census Bureau data indicating that on average, women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn. The executive actions covering federal contractors will reportedly affect nearly one-quarter of the US workforce. A similar bill forbidding companies from punishing employees who share salary information has been introduced in the US Senate, but Republicans are expected the block it. Conservatives have rejected similar legislation in the upper chamber of Congress in 2010 and 2012. "This is about Republicans seemingly opposing any efforts to even the playing field for working families," Mr Obama said as he signed the executive orders on Tuesday. Republicans however have argued that such moves would hurt women by restricting merit pay and job flexibility. "We all know workplace discrimination still exists, [but] we need real solutions that focus on job creation and opportunity for women. Not more regulations that cut flexibility and cut bonuses," the Republican National Committee wrote in a statement. Both political parties have fought to attract women voters as they approach the mid-term elections in November. Those elections will determine which party controls the US Senate and House of Representatives for the final two years of Mr Obama's presidential term.

Pay equality is a first-world problem in many ways, though of course every other country out there is affected by it in its own way.

But I do believe it is a serious issue. One that will require stronger measures than these, I'm afraid.

In 2014, it is simply not acceptable that a woman should make roughly three-quarters of a man's salary for the same job.

[sunnykerr]

Well, isn't that special?

US Senate Republicans block 'Paycheck Fairness Act' Republicans in the US Senate have blocked a Democratic bill aimed at closing the gap between what men and women are paid. The Paycheck Fairness Act fell seven votes short of the 60 required to advance in the chamber. Republicans dismiss the bill as an election year ploy that would invite frivolous lawsuits. But Democrats cite Census Bureau data indicating women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn. "Republicans in Congress continue to oppose serious efforts to create jobs, grow the economy, and level the playing field for working families," President Barack Obama, a Democrat, said in a statement. "That's wrong, and it's harmful for our national efforts to rebuild an economy that gives every American who works hard a fair shot to get ahead." The bill needed 60 votes to proceed to a final up-or-down vote for passage. It failed 53-44, with Senate Democratic Majority Harry Reid changing his vote from yes to no at the last minute in a procedural manoeuvre enabling him to bring the bill up for debate again. 'Good politics' The bill would have barred employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information and limited the factors businesses can cite for paying women less than men. But Republicans have argued that would increase frivolous lawsuits against companies. "It's time for Washington Democrats to stop protecting trial lawyers and start focusing on actually helping the people we were sent here to represent," Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said. Conservatives have rejected similar legislation in the upper chamber of Congress in 2010 and 2012. The bill's failure came a day after Mr Obama issued two executive orders aimed at reducing gender disparities in government workforce pay. The bill was the latest battle waged by the political parties to attract crucial women voters as they approach the mid-term elections in November. Those elections will determine which party controls the US Senate and House of Representatives for the final two years of Mr Obama's presidential term. Polling suggests women voters trend significantly toward the Democrats. In 2012, women backed Mr Obama 55% to 44% for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

I think the gap between women who vote Democrat versus women who vote Republican is about to widen.

At any rate, that is the only reaction that would make sense to me.

This is to stop frivolous lawsuits, they say?

My foot!!!

[sunnykerr]

Woman accused of slipping roommate drugs and forcing into sex trade Calgary police have laid nine charges against a woman in connection with an elaborate scheme to force an 18-year-old roommate into the sex trade. On January 11, police were contacted by the RCMP who was in contact with a family member concerned over the welfare of an 18-year-old woman they believed was in Calgary. Officers soon located the woman at a bus station, where she told them she was being held against her will and forced to work in the sex trade for the past several months. Police say she arrived in the city in October 2013 for work and was seeking a female roommate. She soon met a woman who was offering an apartment with inexpensive rent and accepted the terms. After a period of time, police say the woman began slipping her drugs in the drinks they shared together. Once the victim was incapacitated, the woman then took inappropriate photos of her and used these to extort the victim and force her into the sex trade. A police investigation also turned up another victim of voyeurism and extortion, and managed to connect the two cases to the same suspect. Amanda Kathleen McGee, 31, is facing nine charges: trafficking in persons administering a noxious substance to aggrieve or annoy live on the avails of prostitution keeper of a common bawdy house sexual assault with a weapon forcible confinement procure a person to become a prostitute extortion voyeurism She is expected to appear in court on April 15, 2014.

You know, when it comes to the sex trade, there is never any good news.

And, the world being what it is, there probably isn't too surprising that the perpetrator here would be a woman.

But, honestly, the feminist in me bristles every time I read a story like this.

Bad enough that things like this happen every day in our world, why do we have to do this to ourselves?

[sunnykerr]

Nigeria unrest: Fate of abducted schoolgirls unclear Mystery surrounds the fate of more than 100 teenage girls who were abducted from a school in the remote north-east of Nigeria. The military says all but eight of the 129 girls have escaped, but the BBC's Will Ross in Abuja says there is no independent confirmation of this. It is thought the Islamist militant group Boko Haram took the girls to a forest near the Cameroonian border. The group is waging a campaign for an Islamic state in the north of Nigeria. The militant group's name means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language. Also on Wednesday, 18 people were killed in an attack in the Gwoza district of north-eastern Nigeria, local officials told the AP news agency. Soldiers 'overpowered' Our correspondent say that the Nigerian military's statement that most of the girls had escaped contrasts sharply with other information available to the BBC. The raid on the boarding school will be a great source of embarrassment for the Nigerian authorities who say their military campaign against the militants is succeeding, he adds. Hours before the military issued its statement, the governor of Borno state, Kashim Shettima had said the vast majority of the girls were still missing. He offered a reward of 50m naira ($308,000; £184,000) for information in the case. The air force, army, police and local volunteers have all been involved in the search for the schoolgirls. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the "shocking" mass abduction and called for the girls' immediate release. "The targeting of schools and schoolchildren is a grave violation of international humanitarian law," he said in a statement. "Schools are, and must remain, safe places where children can learn and grow in peace." The BBC's Hausa Service says Boko Haram has kidnapped civilians in the past - usually women to work as sex slaves. Gunmen reportedly arrived at the school in Chibok, a remote area of Borno state, late on Tuesday, and ordered its teenage residents on to lorries. A local politician said about 50 soldiers had been stationed near the school ahead of annual exams, but were apparently overpowered. Local residents reported hearing explosions followed by gunfire. "Many girls were abducted by the rampaging gunmen who stormed the school in a convoy of vehicles," local education official Emmanuel Sam told the AFP news agency. A girl who managed to escape and did not want to be named told the BBC that she and fellow students were sleeping when armed men burst into their hostel. The girl said she and her schoolmates were taken away in a convoy, which had to slow down after some of the vehicles developed a fault, at which point 10 to 15 girls escaped. "We ran into the bush and waited until daybreak before we went back home," she said. Nigerian media reported that two members of the security forces had been killed, and residents said 170 houses were burnt down during the attack. The militants know the terrain well and the military has had only limited success in previous efforts to dislodge them from their forest hide-outs. Boko Haram militants frequently target educational institutions. This year, the group's fighters have killed more than 1,500 civilians in three states in north-east Nigeria, which are currently under emergency rule. The government recently said that Boko Haram's activities were confined to that part of the country. However, bombings blamed on the group killed more than 70 people in the capital city of Abuja on Monday.

I understand that this doesn't seem to be a women's right issue at first blush.

But the attack on so-called "Western education" coupled with the targeting of schoolgirls leads me to believe that, once again, we're dealing with a group objecting to the education of girls period.

And that's not even taking into account the fact that, whatever their motivations here, they are still victimizing these girls.

And that's just not acceptable.

[sunnykerr]

Iran President Rouhani urges equal rights for women Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has urged equal opportunities and rights for men and women, and condemned sexual discrimination. In a speech marking Women's Day, Mr Rouhani criticised "those who consider women's presence society as a threat" and said Iran still had "a long way to go" to ensure gender equality. Mr Rouhani, a religious moderate, was elected to office in June 2013. Foreign activist groups argue that Iran's laws discriminate against women. Speaking on Sunday at the National Forum on Women Shaping Economy and Culture in Tehran, Mr Rouhani said: "We will not accept the culture of sexual discrimination." "Women must enjoy equal opportunity, equal protection and equal social rights," he said in comments that were broadcast live on television. "According to the Islamic rules, man is not the stronger sex and woman is not the weaker one," he said. 'Biggest mistakes' However, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, said in comments on Saturday that gender equality was "one of the biggest mistakes of the Western thought". "Justice is a right. But equality is sometimes right and sometimes wrong," he said, according to his personal website. He added that he did not oppose women's employment, but that it should not conflict with "the main issue", which was women's role in the "family environment and household". The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said in its 2013 report on Iran that women there "faced discrimination in law and practice in relation to marriage and divorce, inheritance, child custody, nationality and international travel". In May 2013 a constitutional body in Iran ruled that women could not run in presidential elections. However, women have served as lawmakers in parliament. In 2012 several Iranian universities introduced rules banning female students from nearly 80 degree courses, drawing criticism from campaigners.

So long as the Ayatollah is opposed to legal equality, it's just not going to happen, no matter what the president says.

It was still refreshing to hear that kind of talk coming out of Iran, of course.

Still, if the Ayatollah concedes that women should be "allowed" to work, then perhaps there is the possibility of seeing improvement in this sphere in Iran.

[sunnykerr]

The female 'confidence gap' is a sham Women's lack of confidence could be just a keen understanding of just how little society values them Despite an ongoing, glaring lack of equality for women in culture and in policy, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman's new book, The Confidence Code, argues that what's truly holding women back is their own self-doubt. In fact, Kay and Shipman dismiss the importance of institutional barriers upfront, writing in the introduction that, while there's truth behind concerns about sexism, the "more profound" issue is women's "lack of self-belief". Think Lean In meets The Secret. Yet, in just the past year, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a woman can be fired if her boss finds her attractive, a New York court decided that unpaid interns can't sue for sexual harassment, and the Paycheck Fairness Act was defeated by Republicans who claimed women actually prefer lower-paying jobs. So you'll have to excuse my guffaw when I hear what American women really need is more "confidence." It seems to me our insecurity is well-earned! It's true that there's a gendered disparity in confidence – American men overestimate their abilities and skills while women underestimate them. In fact, we've known this for some time: "imposter syndrome" – a phenomenon in which high-achieving women believe "they are really not bright and have fooled anyone who thinks otherwise" – was first written about in 1978. But the "confidence gap" is not a personal defect as much as it is a reflection of a culture that gives women no reason to feel self-assured. In girlhood, starkly-divided toy aisles teach us that engineering, electronics and science toys are for boys, that the futures for which we should be preparing are those of the Barbie Dream House variety. Adolescent girls - especially girls of color - are given less teacher attention in the classroom than their male peers. A full 56% of female students report being sexually harassed. Sexual assault on college campuses is rampant and goes largely unpunished, women can barely walk down the street without fear of harassment, and we make up the majority of American adults in poverty. The truth is, if you're not insecure, you're not paying attention. Women's lack of confidence could actually just be a keen understanding of just how little American society values them. While encouraging women to have more self-esteem is not a bad idea generally, there's no evidence that being more assertive will change the way women are perceived in the workplace. Confident women at work are still labeled "bossy" and "bitchy", to their own detriment – unless they can "turn it off". And despite all the gains women have made, most Americans – men and women – would still prefer a male boss. While Kay and Shipman give a nod to ambitious women who are judged more harshly than their male peers, they seem to have no solution – other than putting the onus on women to change. For example, when Kay and Shipman talked to young women participating in Running Start – an organization that trains college-aged women to run for public office – they heard from one woman worried about being labeled a "bitch" if she was too assertive. Another spoke up about the difference between going to an all-girls school – where everyone raised her hand – and her current school, where women didn't speak up in class. Kay and Shipman's response is to bemoan "what a waste of energy and talent all this agonizing can be". But where they see agonizing, I see identifying discrimination – a first step in taking action to end sexism. In the 1970s, this kind of consciousness-raising sparked a new wave of feminism. Now, decades later, women are perplexingly being advised to turn inward to solve external problems. As is often the case when talking about workplace inequities, there's also little talk in The Confidence Code about men's role in all of this. Last week, the Wall Street Journal announced the lineup for its first international technology conference – and it was all-male. How can we enact the power of women's confidence when there are no women in the room? Telling women to meditate, "be grateful," sit up straight and get good sleep (some of the book's confidence "quick fixes") might make us feel better – but it won't make the world better. You can't self-help away deeply-ingrained structural discrimination. Besides, our "insecurity" can keep us sharp – a reminder of the truth of what it means to be a woman in the United States. We can still value ourselves while never forgetting how little the rest of the world does. If we truly want women to be more confident – and for them to be able to express that confidence in a way that creates meaningful change – then we can start by creating a culture that values self-assured women. What's the code for that?

This is obviously an opinion piece, but (1) it contains a lot of real information and (2) I basically agree with all of it.

It's time we stop playing the blame game by making women responsible for how society is still limiting them.

[☆♥~Buffyverse_Lover16~♥☆]

Women should not be treated this way!

I agree with every single thing that article says!

[sunnykerr]

I do wonder why these myths persist, though.

I mean, I know that there's this whole fantasy that, if you work hard enough, anything is possible.

Obviously, the system is rigged.

I'm not saying there aren't exceptions, but that's the point. They're exceptions.

No one should have to work twice as hard to get half as much.