Women's eNews

Saudi Women Test Reins Under an Aged, Liberal King | Womens eNews

The women and men of Saudi Arabia live with constant apprehension of meeting these enforcers of religious dictums, who enforce things such as the requirement that women not only cover their body and face, but every strand of hair, store closings at prayer time, the selling of alcohol and various other features of religious law affecting daily life.

A sanction could be as minor as a loud, embarrassing, reproach, “Cover yourself Madam in the name of God.” But the religious police have the authority to arrest and imprison Saudi residents without charges and they often do. One woman I met claimed her friend had bones broken by the religious police… (Read more)

Waitress’s Wages Leave Little to Take Home

Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC-United), a New York-based national nonprofit restaurant worker organization, wants to raise and index the federal minimum wage for tipped workers to 70 percent of the regular minimum wage.

They say the hike is needed to provide a livable income. Tipped workers, the group says, are more likely to fall into poverty than those who receive minimum wage. Servers rely on food stamps at nearly double the rate of the general population. (Read more…)

1,000 women still die every day in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications that are preventable with skilled clinicians, drugs and equipment. 80% of all maternal deaths globally can be attributed to 5 basic risks

Atlantic Runs Screed Against Working Families

via Womens eNews   
by Caryl Rivers 

In this sexist and highly inaccurate article, Nemko tells us,

“The media influences how men and women are treated, and how boys perceive themselves relative to girls. Whether in commercials, sitcoms or movies, even in non-fictional media, men are disproportionately characterized as sleazebags or doofuses shown the way by wise women.”

What about the media portrayal of girls and women? A major report on girls by the American Psychological Association in 2007 found the media emphasizing young women’s sexuality “to a stunning degree.” It said, “if girls learn that behaving like sexual objects gains approval from society and from people whose opinions they respect, they may begin to ‘self-sexualize;’ in fact, to become their own worst enemies as far as achievement is concerned.”…If men get short shrift, women are arguably treated even worse.

Nemko also makes assertions that fly in the face of facts, research and data.

“In honest conversation, most people will agree that, on average, men are more often willing to do the things it takes to get promoted, for example, to make time to take advanced technical courses by forgoing recreation such as sports or shopping,” he wrote. That contradicts his own premise of a female takeover of the economy. It also defies a study this month by the Pew Research Center that finds that young women express a higher degree of career ambition than male counterparts and earn 60 percent of master’s degrees.

(Read more)

Syrian Nun Plays Key Role in Medical Underground | Womens eNews

By Adel Mansur

DAMASCUS, Syria (WOMENSENEWS) — Dr. Fadi has a hero.

He calls her “Sister Nanique” and her name, like his, is changed to protect their safety.

Fadi, an activist doctor, says Sister Nanique has a stash of clean syringes, tetanus injections, surgical tools, serums, bags for collecting blood donations and lots of other medical supplies that have become almost impossible to obtain since the eruption of the Syrian revolution.

…

The government has shelled and raided protest hubs for months, sparking a humanitarian crisis and the flight of thousands of refugees across borders laced with land mines.

More than 12,000 lives have been lost in the bloodshed, according to the watchdog Syrian Network for Human Rights.

…

“Sister Nanique decided to go to Baba Amr when it was under fire, which meant practical suicide,” Fadi says, referring to one of the most devastated parts of Homs. “Getting to Homs was dangerous, let alone Baba Amr. It was the most violently bombarded region in Homs and was surrounded by the army.”

Fadi says he tried to discourage Sister Nanique from going to Baba Amr.

“I could not get her to change her mind, although she was fully aware of the hazard of her mission. There was only one thing she could think of: the fact that more and more people will die if she did not get there and give them the right medication.”

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