feminism

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Gender pay gap still growing – of course

Written By: - Date published: 12:18 pm, March 7th, 2015 - 42 comments

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day. In New Zealand the gender pay gap is growing – perhaps because National abolished the Department of Labour’s Pay and Employment Equity Unit.

New blog – Edge Times

Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, February 22nd, 2015 - 45 comments

Karol, ex of The Standard (and sorely missed), has started a new blog covering a mix of politics and popular culture. Please head on over and visit!

Revolutionary Spain, Revolutionary Syria, and the Bastards We Vote For.

Written By: - Date published: 3:36 pm, February 11th, 2015 - 63 comments

It seems that just as the 30’s offered the chance to turn dreams into reality, Syria is offering that chance up to ‘the left’ today. Suddenly, for me, the recent travel bans and the passport confiscation laws etc make sense since we are potentially looking at an international influx of non-nutters and non- psychopaths as happened during the Spanish Revolution of the 30s.

We need to talk about the F word… closely followed by the V word.

Written By: - Date published: 1:43 pm, December 19th, 2014 - 70 comments

Feminism is a reaction. A position. A belief that women should, by right, be entitled to all the same ‘privileges’ as men: fair pay, high quality free education, control of their own money (and bodies), freedom to choose who to love and how to act. Freedom of movement, association, dress, beliefs. Respect as an equal. Opportunity. Equity in decision-making. A voice.

The tweets are alive….

Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, September 19th, 2014 - 5 comments

… with pre-election day fervour. It’s an election that’s going down to the wire.  The energy is there for the left to keep talking to people, and to encourage as many as possible to get out and vote. It’s Suffrage Day – reporting via the telegraph in 1893 to the internet today. On-going updates

New Zealand women, first to vote

Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, August 14th, 2014 - 3 comments

New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote – and this year all New Zealand women have an opportunity to honour that achievement by voting in the general election.

Re-writing 2nd Wave Women’s Movement: Pat Rosier – h/t Hand Mirror

Written By: - Date published: 1:02 pm, July 19th, 2014 - 8 comments

A must read Hand Mirror post acknowledges the passing of Pat Rossier. She played a significant role in NZ’s 2nd wave Women’s Movement.  Misinformation about feminism fails to represent its diversity & socialist underpinnings. A full chronicle of the NZ 2nd wave is needed.

Murray McCully must go

Written By: - Date published: 12:17 pm, July 10th, 2014 - 65 comments

Tania Billingsley’s public comments and her suggestion that Murray McCully should resign as Minister of Foreign Affairs are cogent and compelling. For his failure to look after New Zealand’s interests and for his inept handling of issues for Tania he should resign as Minister.

Rogernomics, income inequality & gender politics

Written By: - Date published: 12:22 pm, April 3rd, 2014 - 22 comments

All of us, in our diversity, can make a big impact this election year. Time to end the “neoliberal” tyranny!  Crime stats are celebrated masking the continuing impact of income & social inequalities. Rogernomics fractured gender politics & rape crisis intiatives.

Happy International (Working) Women’s Day!

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, March 8th, 2014 - 28 comments

The official theme of International Women’s Day this year is “Inspiring Change”. It’s a little vague, a little aspirational, not too confrontational – fairly typical for this kind of awareness-raising exercise. But it is 2014, and it’s an election year, and the way we talk about women, and women’s work, does have the potential to […]

Poverty, women & rape culture

Written By: - Date published: 12:32 pm, November 19th, 2013 - 132 comments

In our highly gendered socio-economic system that has institutionalised poverty, gendered violence, sexual violence and rape culture, low income women are multiply disadvantaged.  Trigger warning: This post addresses some difficult and sensitive issues about poverty, women and rape culture. Subsequent comments will be tightly moderated.

Shhh! It’s the ‘P’ word.

Written By: - Date published: 5:01 pm, November 18th, 2013 - 340 comments

You don’t have to be white and male and financially wealthy to assume a prominent position within systems of patriarchy, but it helps. And you don’t have to be financially strapped and black and female to feel the full weight of patriarchy always pressing down on you, but it helps.

National Day of Action Against Rape – today (16 Nov)

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, November 16th, 2013 - 13 comments

Today there are actions planned around the country in protest about the rape culture that is part of our mainstream culture.  This post and comments are in support of the day of action.  Have a good day everyone. [Update: impact on/silencing of survivors]

National day of action against rape culture: 16 Nov (&15th)

Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, November 15th, 2013 - 197 comments

Tomorrow is A Day of Action Against Rape Culture.  There are a couple of actions starting today. Actions listed here, plus the reasons for the actions & demands/proposed solutions.  Will update with info on any further actions as they become available. [Update: warning – the discussion under this post contains some challenges to the day of action]

What the Waitakere Myth says about pundits’ attitudes to the working class

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, November 13th, 2013 - 99 comments

I finally found the words, in a comment at The Standard, to explain something I’ve been feeling for years about the Waitakere Man thesis: I keep thinking about how to express this exact idea: that the whole Waitakere Man myth says way more about Chris Trotter and Josie Pagani’s attitudes towards the working class than […]

National day of action against rape culture: 16 Nov

Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, November 8th, 2013 - 96 comments

Important day of action against rape culture, 16th November.  The distressing Roastbuster case set off very important discussions, in-depth examination of the issues, & possible ways to dismantle the rape culture that is embedded in our mainstream culture. [Updates of demo locations & links on-going]

Suffrage Day

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, September 19th, 2013 - 8 comments

It’s 120 years since women got the vote – what are you doing to celebrate?

Conscience exceptions are for people with a conscience

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, July 14th, 2013 - 63 comments

The ability of doctors to refuse to provide proper healthcare if God says it’s bad is again in the spotlight, with a Blenheim GP refusing to prescribe the Pill to a patient because he decided she needed to have babies, and her views on the matter don’t mean shit.  But are we seriously going to label that as an act of “conscience”?

A problem of “masculine” values

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, July 7th, 2013 - 121 comments

The MSM coverage of the Labour Party remit, led by right wing propagandists, is riddled with sexism and the same traditional masculinist values that marginalise the poor and those with least power. I repeat my post that critiques a speech on gender & politics at the 2012 Labour Party Conference.

ManBan!

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, July 6th, 2013 - 221 comments

Would it kill our journalists to add just the tiniest bit of fact into their Labour-scandal-obsessed feeding frenzy?

Man ban – Geddis on DPF

Written By: - Date published: 4:09 pm, July 4th, 2013 - 108 comments

Labour is proposing female-only candidate selection in some cases. Andrew Geddis has indecent fun as he schools DPF on his “man ban” spin. Extracts below but go read the whole thing on Pundit.

“Women of Influence” awards: from the left or the right?

Written By: - Date published: 12:11 pm, June 27th, 2013 - 11 comments

There’s something to be said for Fairfax and Westpac’s launch of the Women of Influence NZ awards. Many women do not receive social recognition, or a fair financial reward, for their valuable contributions to society. The Fairfax-Westpac, right-leaning, individualistic awards foreground money, profits, leadership and business.

Sunday Reading

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, June 23rd, 2013 - 5 comments

My semi-regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere.  This week: mastery of the internet means mastery of us by the NSA, feminist statistics, some interesting people and popularity lists.

The policing of women’s bodies

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, June 6th, 2013 - 116 comments

(Socialist) feminism seems to be on the rise internationally, exposing how threats to “old boys” corporate-aligned power are countered by policing women’s bodies. Sue Bradford highlights the contradiction between Owen Glenn’s paternalistic corporate capitalism and the feminist-aligned participants in his Inquiry. Jan Logie addresses the gender pay gap.

Review: Fighting to Choose by Alison McCulloch

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, May 8th, 2013 - 61 comments

Abortion has a long and dramatic history in NZ, but it’s not a history we talk about, or remember.  And remembering that history is vital to our continuing push for reproductive rights today.  That’s where Alison McCulloch comes in, with a new, brilliant, history of the struggle so far.

The disconnected: the future of the left?

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, April 18th, 2013 - 42 comments

The current direction of Key’s government, and the challenging circumstances of the 21st century create a need for urgent attention to the form of a new left politics; one that embraces the working class, trade union solidarity, gender, diversity & the emerging “precariat”.

I thank Margaret Thatcher …

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, April 9th, 2013 - 314 comments

… for her major contribution to my political education: of the need to combat the extensive, destructive power of the “neoliberal” elites.  I lived in London during the entire time Thatcher was prime minister.  It was a time of major change; of political activism; of hope; of disillusionment.

This is rape culture: Steubenville verdict

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, March 19th, 2013 - 60 comments

Rape culture is a culture in which rape and sexual violence are common, and in which prevalent attitudes, norms, practices, and media normalize, excuse, tolerate, or even condone rape. (Thanks, Wiki!)

And if you want a really clear example of it, look no further than Steubenville, Ohio.

THM: Questions that were never asked

Written By: - Date published: 1:03 pm, February 14th, 2013 - 89 comments

Stargazer at The Hand Mirror has a unique take on the Prosser affair. Prosser claims to have been motivated by concerns for his daughters’ rights and freedoms – which raises some interesting questions…

Gender, politics & NZ LP conference 2012

Written By: - Date published: 10:38 am, November 22nd, 2012 - 140 comments

The Labour Party are giving serious attention to the unacceptable gender inequalities in MP numbers and in pay.  The Greens are leading in tackling the underlying masculine framework of politics and employment, and, along with Mana, unpaid work.

Towards an inclusive, democratic left

Written By: - Date published: 10:53 am, November 16th, 2012 - 46 comments

The left needs to develop a new direction, not merely react to the ruling neoliberal discourses and policies. Under NAct there has been a resurgent masculinisation of politics, and the undermining of democratic processes.  How do we work towards a more inclusive, diverse participatory democracy?

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