Women's Views on News

Demand for public inquiry into racism and sexism in Canadian serial murder case investigation

Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter  has demanded a public inquiry into the year-long investigation of Robert Pickton, who was convicted of second-degree murder of at least six women in Downtown Eastside, Vancouver (Canada). The organisation alleges that the laxity shown by the police in this case underscores systemic racism and sexism in Canada’s judicial and social system.

Since the victims were Aboriginal women from Downtown Eastside, supposedly all of them 'drug addicts' and 'sex workers', they were "...not 'perfect victims' in the eyes of police and the courts", Lana Holland of Vancouver Rape Relief told the Metro Vancouver.

Pickton was alleged to have confessed to an undercover cop that he was one kill short of 50 only because his last murder attempt got 'sloppy'. The police refused to take seriously initial reports of women missing from Downtown Eastside in 1997, allowing Pickton to reach this huge number before finally arresting him in 2002.

Needless to say, the victims' relatives are furious and are demanding a public enquiry. Read the story in the words of those close to the scene of crime here.

It is extremely painful to learn how even being recognised as a 'victim' can be a matter of privilege which not all of us are entitled to.

US bail bondsman forced woman to perform sexual favours

A South Carolina bail bondsman has been charged with forcing a woman to cook, clean and do sexual favours for him in exchange for getting her out of jail, reports Associated Press via Google. 

Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said yesterday that 51-year-old Curtis Maroney told the 39-year-old woman he would revoke her bond if she didn't obey his commands.

After five days, investigators say Maroney drove the woman to visit her children at her father's home and she called deputies.

Maroney is charged with blackmail and trafficking in persons. He remains in the Lexington County jail. Bond has not been set and it's not clear if he has an attorney.

Metts says the woman had been arrested for driving under the influence and spent 12 days in jail before Maroney posted her $16,000 bond.

Thanks to Emine Dilek for this story. 

Welcome Baby Cameron - but what about Britain's other babies?

Following our coverage of the birth of Baby Cameron yesterday, Laurie Penny at the New Statesman (yes, I am her number one fan) asks if David Cameron will be moved to reconsider his party's budget in light of the devastating impact it will have on babies, children, families and communities across the country.

Laurie particularly highlights the impact of the coalition budget on the 700 babies born into poverty every day in Britain.

"The austerity cuts imposed by Cameron's coalition government will hit these newborns' families hard," writes Laurie Penney. "Their parents may not be able to afford to feed them a healthy, balanced diet... they will attend whichever local school can afford to take them, including some two hundred state schools whose promised funding for badly needed building restoration has just been withdrawn by the Coalition. After the signalled cuts to housing benefit come into force, many of them will grow up in cramped, unhealthy, sub-standard accommodation far from local amenities..."

She continues, "they will be less likely to achieve their potential at school, less likely to be able to afford to attend university or further education, and more likely to suffer from mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and panic disorder than those born to wealthy families. Before the 24th of August 2012, these poorer babies will already be significantly more likely to exhibit lower levels of attainment and wellbeing than children from better-off families; by 2016, less able children from families like the Camerons will have overtaken more able children from lower-income families...The children who were born today in inner Manchester are already likely to die six years earlier than babies born to families in the Camerons' London district of Notting Hill."

"Child poverty and inequality were not eradicated under Labour, but the austerity cuts imposed by David Cameron's government could spell disaster for the hundreds of children born today into less fortunate households - particularly those born to single parents, over whom the axe of economic judgement is casting a long shadow."

I would pay a substantial amount of money to trap David Cameron in a lift with Laurie Penny and a film crew, and firmly believe that this would be one of the best YouTube videos, ever.

Men want women whose waist measures 70% of her circumference, allegedly

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or so the saying goes. But anthropologist Barnaby Dixson thinks otherwise, according to studentbeans.com.

Having studied what the sexes found attractive over different cultures and time periods, Dixson found that the same formula for what men favoured in women, came up almost every single time: a waist that measures 70 per cent of the hip circumference.

If a woman possesses this waist-to-hip ratio, then Dixson has said that other factors are not considered by men.

'It is likely that perfect 0.7 ratio sends a biological signal to men that that woman is most fertile and most likely to produce a healthy offspring, no matter what size that woman is,' said Dixson.

The research also suggests that women preferred leaner men with less muscle 'as they equate those physical traits with being more caring and gentle and therefore a better prospect as a partner.'

And who are the lucky ones with these perfect measurements? The Times of India cites Jessica Alba, Marilyn Monroe and Kate Moss, among others. 

Given the number of studies we post up on this blog, I think I'll treat this one with the usual health warning. Which is that there's probably another study on its way which shows this isn't true. 

Thanks to Emine Dilek for this story. 

Mark Steel: Is Sarah Palin 'militant jihadist'?

Writing in today's Independent, Mark Steel posits that the opposition to an Islamic Centre (it's not a mosque, though it does contain space for prayer) being built 2 blocks from Ground Zero is based on anti-Islamic fears and prejudices, and has nothing to do with protecting the memory of those who died in 9/11.

The centre will include a swimming pool, gym, performing arts centre and will host a range of interfaith and secular programmes. It will be open to everyone and is part-funded by the Cordoba Initiative, an organisation that aims to improve relations between Muslims and western cultures by creating programmes of active engagement between individuals and communities. Surely this is exactly the spirit that should be promoted in the years following 9/11?

The centre has been opposed most vociferously by Sarah Palin, who has called upon 'peaceful Muslims' to oppose the centre.

"So, as she's asking Muslims to oppose a centre open to everyone," writes Mark Steel, "That commemorates the victims of 9/11, it seems likely she's a militant Jihadist who thinks the building will be a betrayal of true radical Islam. She's certainly got experience of being filmed with rifles so she's probably sat by one while making a video up a mountain right now, leaning into the camera and booming 'The front crawl is the agenda of the infidel, my friends.'"

Critics have also stated that the centre would breach the 'sombre tranquility' of the Ground Zero and Mark makes an interesting point:

"So instead of this centre there should be more buildings such as The Pussycat Club," he asks, "Which is next door to where the towers were, and boasts of being the area's premier strip joint. But that must be in keeping with the sombreness, presumably because the girls start their slide down the pole in a fireman's uniform in honour of the heroic firefighters of that fateful day."

Budget will hit the poorest hardest says IFS

Chancellor George Osborne called it a progressive budget, the Fawcett Society for equal rights argues it is not lawful, and now the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) reports the proposals by the millionaire politician will hit the poor - and so women who are the lower paid - the hardest.

Reuters says the findings by the IFS are embarrassing for the Coalition Government and will make it harder to gain public support for the proposed cuts of between 25 and 40 per cent. The unions say the proposals will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Low-income households of working age lose the most as a proportion of income from the tax and benefit changes. Those who lose the least are households of working age with no children in the top half of the income distribution, according to the IFS.

The Fawcett Society has told WVoN that the Government had a legal obligation to conduct an equality impact assessment of all proposed budgetary cuts - which it has yet to prove it has done - and that the budget as it stood was massively unfair to women (and see previous WVoN coverage).

Woman who put cat in wheelie bin has now been identified

The story about a Coventry woman who was filmed putting a cat in a wheelie bin has made its way to the US, the LA Times reports.  Here in the UK, the story has been followed by a number of papers including the Daily Mail.  

The woman was filmed by a private CCTV camera as she walked along a suburban street in Coventry. She stopped to stroke the cat (called Lola) before grabbing it by the scruff of the neck and throwing it into the bin. She then shut the lid and walked away. 

The cat's owners, Stephanie and Darryl Mann, alerted by her mewing, found her 15 hours later, very scared and covered in her own mess. They posted the video from the camera on Facebook and YouTube in an attempt to track the woman down. 

The Guardian has reported that the woman has now been identified and is to be interviewed by the animal protection charity, the RSPCA. She has not, however, been arrested as she has not committed a criminal offence. 

Much as I love cats (I am the proud owner of a particularly beautiful one), it's just a pity that films taken on mobile phones showing women being abused (for instance in Afghanistan) aren't received with the same level of outrage. 

Thanks to Emine Dilek for this story. 

Manchester police log 28,500 incidents of domestic violence in six months

Reports of domestic violence in the Greater Manchester area have dropped by 9.1 per cent but there were still 28,500 incidents reported in the first six months of the year - that's 157 per day on average - plus the unqualified number which go unreported.

Particular trigger points were the day England went out of the World Cup - 304 incidents, and the day after New Year with 466, reports the Manchester Evening News. 

Greater Manchester Police came under fire in March for for ‘shocking and inexcusable’ failures after a mum who begged them for help was murdered by her former boyfriend.

Chief Constable Peter Fahy says the force is improving risk assessments of vulnerable domestic violence victims with a new 27-section form for officers to complete.

US attorney general tells Craigslist to remove its adult services section

US Attorney General Martha Coakley wrote yesterday to online advertising site Craiglist, calling on the web site to remove its “adult services” section as state attorneys general nationwide also stepped up the pressure.

Coakey said the “harmful role” of the site’s sex ads contrasts “sharply” with its purported community-driven mission (see earlier WVoN story).

“The incongruity between your claimed mission and your insistence on promoting ‘adult services’ is startling,” Coakley wrote. “You cannot reasonably lay claim to a public service mission yet turn a blind eye to the link between adult services ads and illegal conduct and exploitation.”

After last week’s jailhouse suicide by accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff - before he could be tried for the murder of erotic masseuse Julissa Brisman - Coakley reversed her earlier stance against interfering with the Web forum and demanded that Craigslist take down adult ads (see WVoN story). 

Coakley said the only reason for running the sex ads is to make money. “Craigslist should end the hypocrisy between its words and its practices,” Coakley wrote.

And if he doesn't, what then? Let's hope Ms Coakley can't be accused in turn of hypocrisy between her words and her practices. 

Read the full story in The Boston Herald. 

Thanks to Emine Dilek for this story. 

Dispute over baby boy highlights gender disparities

Dawn.com the English language news site covering Pakistan has an interesting editorial about entrenched gender disparities.

The issue is highlighted because of a dispute in a maternity ward in Faisalabad where one mother gave birth to a baby girl, another to a son, and both mothers said the son was theirs.

Pakistan has legislated to promote equality, but the dominant mindset which still prefers males - as seen in the maternity case - still needs a radical shift, says the editorial.