Dear Rosaria,
I would agree wholeheartedly with your comments regarding
abcde96@....  I believe feminism is largely about the rights of
women to choose  how they wish to live though for many women this is
made impossible by our patriarchial society.  As I believe strongly in
feminism I must therefore believe that every womans opinion is as
important and valid as any others but I have wondered at times whether
our sister  - abcde96@... isn't secretly a male misogynist. Maybe
she would like to enlighten us about some other beliefs she has because
everything I have read by her makes me shake my head and wonder how she
could call herself a feminist.

From: Lorrienne Hepple <loz@...>

Dear Denise and co,
I would agree wholeheartedly with your comments regarding
abcde96@....  I believe feminism is largely about the rights of
women to choose  how they wish to live though for many women this is
made impossible by our patriarchial society.  As I believe strongly in
feminism I must therefore believe that every womans opinion is as
important and valid as any others but I have wondered at times whether
our sister  - abcde96@... isn't secretly a male misogynist. Maybe
she would like to enlighten us about some other beliefs she has because
everything I have read by her makes me shake my head and wonder how she
could call herself a feminist.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.

Hope this isn't a duplicate posting for too many.
--
in sisterhood and solidarnosc
Denise Tzumli
Mile End , South Australia
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+  From the Preamble:                                         +
+  "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (is) a common   +
+  standard of achievement ... that every individual and      +
+  organ of society ... shall strive to secure their          +
+  universal & effective recognition & observance."           +
+  I ask you: Are not corporations "organs of society" and    +
+  bound to uphold these rights?                              +
+  UN Declaration of Human Rights, article 23, pt 3:          +
+  "Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable   +
+  renumeration ensuring for themselves and their family an   +
+  existence worthy of human dignity ... "                    +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
January 6, 1999

A Film About Lesbians Stirs India

Ranjan Gupta

     I first heard of the film ``Fire,'' which explicitly depicts lesbianism,
when my son came rushing in to say that his schoolmate was appearing in the
film in the nude. ``It is embarrassing and to think I thought of her as a
sister,'' he said. I was shocked that he had seen a film on female
homosexuality. Few fathers and sons in India talk about lesbianism.
     It is not that lesbianism is not known in India but that the film had
brought it out in the open. ``Fire'' has provoked riots in India. Theaters
showing the film in Delhi and Bombay have been damaged by angry mobs. The
Indian Parliament has asked the Board of Film Censors to take another look at
the film to determine if it really is fit for screening. Leading film
directors have retaliated by condemning the request as cultural censorship.
Ironically, the controversy has followed an ideological pattern. The
protesters, mainly women, come from the right wing Shiv Sena Party. They
contend that the film will upset family values. Film supporters, generally
women in the communist and other leftist parties, say the film will lead to
female emancipation. Certainly lesbianism is about choice. It wouldn't
bother me if lesbianism is also about sexual equality – equality leads to
better sex. But it would concern me if lesbianism is about women being anti-
male.
Ignorance has raised more questions: Indian men are asking if a woman could be
lesbian and a good wife. Much of Indian sexuality is wrapped into the yards of
cloth that make a saree, the toga-like dress worn by Indian women. Desires are
never spoken about, indeed Indian women are not supposed to recognize their
sexual desire. That's why explicit expression concerns many Indian men.
     In India, a woman aspires to motherhood. A mother is a strong female: she
is benevolent, understanding, loving and compassionate – but never sexual. As
mother, or mother-in-law, she acquires status in the home. She can do no
wrong; her aura is almost divine. Sons, upon leaving home, touch their
mothers' feet and seek blessings. Mother is all.
     Hindu goddesses are depicted as mothers: the mother of learning is
Saraswati; the mother of virtue Durga; the mother of purification through
blood Kali. The Hindu concept of the female deity is close to the Roman
Catholic notion of the Virgin Mary. Sex has no place in the lives of
Saraswati, Durga and Kali, just as it had no place in the life of Mary.
Lesbianism flies in the face of this concept: sexual desire shreds the notion
of maternal purity. Many Indian men cannot reconcile sexuality with purity.
Others feel lesbianism is personal and should be dwelt with privately.
     Many think lesbianism will upset virginal purity associated with marriage.
There is a tremendous emphasis on virginity before marriage in Indian culture.
Would a lesbian have sexual knowledge that besmirches her virginal purity?
Does participating in lesbian sex make her less pure to her husband on the
wedding night? Does it lessen her maternal feelings? These are some of the
questions raised and, as of yet, remain unanswered.
     As an Indian man, I find it difficult to become jealous of my girlfriend's
female lover, but I would wonder if she is happy in that relationship, why she
would take another lover – male or female.
     Ultimately, I think the film ``Fire,'' is out of place in India because
lesbianism would only find societal acceptance if Indian society changes
completely. Where does lesbianism fit into a system of arranged marriages?
Would the marriage value of a woman who is a lesbian increase or diminish? It
is fine talking about lesbianism, but where is its place in a conservative
society? In the closet – where it has remained so far.

Dear friends of GSN,
The following is a duplication of Janet Eaton's post to the mai-not list of
Vandana Shiva's message from January 4.
Janet has added the very informative biograph prepared on Vandana for  the
1995 Peoples Summit  in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Most, if not all, GSN
subscribers are familiar with Vandana's scholarship, but importantly, the
1995 confirms the feminist focus of her outstanding research and activism
over the past decade.
At a global level, feminists and non-feminists have been appalled by the
vilification campaign mounted against Vandana by Professor Nanjundaswamy in
his efforts to "claim credit" for the anti-Monsanto resistance movement in
Karnataka. Predictably, Vandana responded to Nanjundaswamy's defamatory
accusations with dignity, but reminded him that his unfounded allegations,
while likely to bring smiles to the faces of the Monsanto establishment,
were a betrayal of the farmers [the majority of whom are women] whose
livelihoods are at the centre of the anti-Monsanto campaign in India.
Undaunted by Nanjundaswamy's attempts to sully her national and
international reputation, Vandana Shiva continues to illustrate that she is
a woman of her word, and an activist of unparalleled scientific, legal, and
political savvy!!
Privileged to call you friend Vandana!
With special thanks to Janet for her contribution via mai-not [this has
already brought a response from France offering Vandana hospitality in 1999
for the Indian farmer's delegation when in Paris], and with kindest regards
to all,  Lynette.
___________________________________
As >Return-Path: <owner-mai-not@...>
>Date: Wed, 06 Jan 1999 20:54:24 +0000
>From: "Janet M. Eaton" <jeaton@...>
>Subject: Letter from Dr. Vandana Shiva!!
>Sender: owner-mai-not@...
>To: mai-not@...
>Comments: Authenticated sender is <jeaton@...>
>
>Dear MAI-NOTS:
>
>The following January  4th Letter from Dr. Vandana  Shiva --
>contains her New Year's Greeting to all and an update on the
>Indian campaign against Genetic Engineering and patents on life.
>The campaign  is intensifying as they legally challenge Monsanto,
>while organising a national debate on the future of Indian science,
>and an international solidarity meeting in India for farmers
>organisations and citizen groups from around the world - clearly,
>global  solidarity is critical at this moment of human history and
>may prove to be a life-line for Indian peasants and  farmers.
>
>The number of posts on the mai-not list serve relating to the India
>Campaign and Genetic Engineering  bear witness to our  on-going
>concern,  interest and support !!
>
>Also for those  less familiar with Dr. Vandana Shiva and her
>tireless research and campaigning for the future of  the developing
>world, the common good, and the survival of this planet --I  have
>inserted at the bottom of this post,  a biography,  I recently
>found on the internet. It was used for introducing her during the
>1995 -  Peoples Summit  in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she
>was exploring the  choice the world faces between a
>community-based, life supporting, decentralized economy and a
>self-declared "global economy" which subjugates subsistence and
>environmental integrity to corporate interests!!
>
>all the best,
>janet eaton
>
>---------------------------------------
>Forwarded by Dr. Lynette Dumble,
>Sr. Research Fellow,  University of Melbourne.
>
>Dear Friends, 							 4 Jan 99
>
>I wish you all a happy New Year and look forward to further strengthening
>our campaigns against Genetic Engineering and Patents on Life.
>
>Tomorrow we are filing the legal challenge against Monsanto on its genetic
>engineering trials in India. Monsanto is also attempting to hijack the
>Indian National Science Congress, an important institution built through
>our Independence Movement. Over the next few days, we will be organising a
>national debate on the future of Indian science -- Will it serve the needs
>of Indian people or become an instrument for the profits of TNCs such as
>Monsanto?  In the midst of the tremendous energies unleashed among citizens
>on issues related to the future of agriculture and food security, I have
>had some disturbing news.
>
>A delegation of farmers from Karnataka, some still with KRRS and some who
>have left it, came to make a representation to me thinking that as in the
>past, I was involved in the exposure trip of KRRS farmer representatives to
>Europe in in May 1999. They had assumed that I was organising this with
>Third World Network (TWN) which has been the main collaboration through
>which the KRRS's international activity and exposure has been organised in
>the past.  They wanted me to know that since most Indian farmers are buried
>under debt and thousands have committed suicide over the past year due to
>indebtedness, no farmer can afford to pay Rs. 35,000 for travel to Europe.
>Most of the so called 500 farmers who will be travelling to Europe as part
>of the "Caravan" are basically Bank officials, pesticides and seed agents
>and commission agents.
>
>I informed  the farmers' delegation that I have nothing to do with the
>organisation of the "Caravan" and also promised to communicate their
>message to my friends in Europe so that people in Europe could make their
>decisions about hosting the "Caravan" with full awareness of the
>background. Hence, I am communicating this message as part of this promise
>to groups I work with.
>
>Over the next few months, we will be intensifying the Indian Campaign
>against Genetic Engineering and will keep you updated.
>
>Since we do feel that global solidarity between citizens is critical at
>this moment of human history and since real Indian farmers and peasants
>cannot travel overseas, we will work with the wide network of farmers
>organisations and citizen groups to organise a solidarity meeting in India.
> We will keep you informed about the dates of the solidarity meeting after
>our National Coordination Group meets in Hyderabad from 5 to 7 Jan 99.
>
>With best wishes,
>Vandana Shiva
>
>-------------------------------------------
>
>BIOGRAPHY
>The People's Summit Marquee Series Presents:
>Dr. Vandana Shiva,
>
>Vandana Shiva is a physicist and philosopher of science deeply
>engaged in the ecological, social and economic struggles of
>subsistence workers in India. She has stood beside people in their
>struggles against destructive forestry practices, large-scale dams
>and multinational dominated agribusiness. Her recent work, as
>director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and
>Natural Resource Policy in Dehradun - India, has concentrated largely
>on the protection of farmers rights to their own seed stock, and to
>exposing the threats to the world's farmers by the potent combination
>of global liberalisation of trade and patent protection of
>agricultural processes and products. She has been a global advocate
>for the legal and commercial rights of traditional farmers ( a
>majority of them women) who have over the centuries developed plant
>and animal breeds for their resistance to pests and climatic
>extremes, their superior flavour and nutitional value, and their
>appropriatness to local farming and cultural requirements. Dr. Shiva
>has been one of the most important figures in the development of
>eco-feminist thinking. She shows in often heart - rendering detail
>the ways in which this barrier has marginalised the vital
>continuation of women to production and economic wellbeing. One of
>Dr. Shiva's central areas of research and action has been to expose
>the modern trend to control reproduction. She approaches the topics
>from two focal points. One being, the move to control the right to
>use seeds freely for the reproduction of crops. This is mirrored in
>the second focal point, human reproduction. Shiva presents a
>surprising consistent parallel between the conversion of reproduction
>to production in the agricultural sphere and the human family.
>Women's role in generating human life, and nurturing it through to a
>new generation of healthy reproduction is being shackled by modern
>bio-medical technologies. The women's body becomes the somewhat
>expendible means of production of life increasingly tailored to meet
>specific standards and to support a large and powerful economic
>sector. The area that Dr. Shiva will be exploring during the P7 is
>the choice the world now faces between a community-based, life
>supporting, decentralized economy and a self-declared "global
>economy" which subjugates subsistence and environmental integrity to
>corporate interests. Her publications include: Staying Alive, Women,
>Ecology and Development, and Monocultures of the Mind.
>
>--end---
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>--
>For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and
>links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/
>
>

_________________________________________________________________

                           Le Monde diplomatique

                              english edition

                               January 1999

   'THE SECOND SEX' 50 YEARS ON

   De Beauvoir in retrospect

       by Sylvie Chaperon

      On 15 December 1998 the French parliament passed a bill writing
      the principle of "equal access" for both sexes to elected
      positions into France's constitution. Gender equality, both in
      politics and society at large, is now a major topic of public
      debate in France. Women have come a long way from the days of
      fighting for the right to vote or to choose whether or not to
      have children. Simone de Beauvoir played a key role in this long
      fight for equality.

                                                   Translated by Ed
                                                   Emery
---------------------------------------------------------------------
--

GOOD NEWS!! I am not pregnant--started my period today, and it is
quite a relief. However,  i am so grateful for everyone's support. You
girls have been wonderful.

Everyone seems to be discussing issues in other areas of the
world--aside from the united states? What about my area? What is going
on here that I should know about? What websites can i log on to to
find out about women's issues in my country?? Somehow I feel as though
I've been neglecting my own 'home.'  :-)  Very intrigued by everyone's
discussions, though. Keep sending them in!!

your sister
renae




==
The Crazy Bush Girl

i want no frontline - for anyone

women are already on the frontline whether countries are at war or not

they are not immune to being killed, by the 'enemy' or their own 'soldiers'
nor are they excluded from fighting for their survival

rape has recently been declared a war crime which proves that women are
already on the frontline - just not paid by a service/force to be there -
they live there!

this frontline has men vs women and children on it, not men vs men mainly
through technology as in 'bona fide' paid for warfare

it is a crock to say women are not already involved, they are just not in
uniform meaning they are not paid but they certainly bear the cost

'our' war hasn't progressed from methods of the first world war
- it is still hands on!
- it is guerilla based - public or private
- it is domestic terrorism
....

couldn't go on with this one :(

cheerless
susanne
webweave@...
http://www.isis.aust.com
PO Box 1 Annandale NSW Australia 2038

Dear friends of GSN
Another UN, IMF, World Bank scandal - originally reported in the Washington
Post, but rerun in today's Times of India - part of the present-day migrant
[most, of course, women] enslavement in the US!!
In solidarity, and with best wishes to all, Lynette.
__________________________________
THE TIMES OF INDIA, January 8, 1998
America's `modern-day' slavery

By WILLIAM BRANIGIN

WASHINGTON: Thousands of domestic servants are being
brought into the United States from impoverished countries and
then severely exploited by foreign employers, many of whom
work for embassies and international organizations in the
Washington area, according tohuman-rights groups, immigration
attorneys and former domestics.

Despite occasional publicity about such cases in the past, the
abuses have persisted with relative impunity and appear to be on
the rise, the domestics' advocates and others interviewed by The
Washington Post say.

A federal ``worker exploitation task force'' formed by Attorney
General Janet Reno is investigating some of the worst alleged
offenders as part of a broader crackdown on labor abuse. The
task force, which includes members of the Justice Department's
Civil Rights Division, the FBI, the Immigration and Naturalization
Service and the Labor Department, is aimed at rooting out what
Ms. Reno has called ''the serious problem of modern-day
slavery'' in the United States.

But in concentrating their efforts on the most egregious cases
involving the suspected illegal confinement of servants, federal
agencies have skipped over others that fall short of that standard,
even when they include apparent violations of federal labor,
immigration and tax laws.

The domestic servants, most of them women from poor
backgrounds in Africa, Asia and Latin America, are typically
imported under a provision of immigration law that allows foreign
diplomats, embassy employees and officials of organizations such
as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and United
Nations to bring in personal household workers with the
understanding that the employers will abide by U.S. labor laws.
There is, however, virtually no oversight into whether they
comply.

The World Bank, the IMF and the United Nations say they
cannot be expected to monitor their staff members' private lives.
In any case, they say, few complaints have come to their
attention.

Yet, over the years, hundreds of servants have run away from
their employers to escape abusive treatment, excessive hours,
low pay or no pay at all. Some have filed lawsuits in U.S. courts
for back wages and damages.

Their cases illustrate the exploitation being alleged in Washington
  area homes: An Ethiopian woman who was brought to the United
States in 1990 by an IMF official says she toiled for more than
eight years in a Silver Spring, Maryland, apartment until she
escaped in May. She says her employers forced her to work
seven days a week, isolated her from other people and hit her if
she complained.

Another Ethiopian says she received no pay for more than six
years of work in the Rockville, Maryland, home of an
Ethiopian-born couple who arranged for her to come to the
United States on a tourist visa. She says her duties included
caring for the couple's sick child on 24-hour call. A nanny from
the Philippines says three other Filipinos - her employers and a
friend of theirs -- arranged to bring her in fraudulently under a
visa for servants of embassy employees, then put her to work in
Fairfax,Virginia, for 41 cents an hour. For more than a year
before she escaped, the nanny said, she had to work 16 hours a
day and received only one day off during the entire period.

So far this decade, more than 30,000 domestics have been
brought to the United States under special work visas.

In part, the servants are hostage to intimidation by their
employers, lack of knowledge about where to turn for help and
the restrictions of their visas, which bar them from working for
                anyone else.

According to the State Department, about 3,800 domestic
servants come to the United States each year under two types of
temporary employment visas to work for foreign diplomats or
non-U.S. staff members of international organizations. The
servants may be brought in from any country. About a quarter
come from the Philippines.

Guidelines published by the World Bank and IMF say their staff
members who wish to employ domestics - defined as ranging
from butlers, valets and maids to gardeners, grooms and
chauffeurs - must pay at least the minimum wage, allow two days
off a week, pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, buy
workers' compensation insurance and pay federal and state
unemployment taxes. ``This all looks lovely on paper, but there's
absolutely no monitoring'' by the World Bank or IMF to insure
that staff members meet their obligations, said Martha Honey, a
fellow at the Institute for PolicyStudies, a Washington think tank
that is mobilizing a campaign to protect the domestics' rights.

(WP Svc)

The Washington Blade
January 1, 1999

Culture clash

Michael Bronski explores straight America’s love-hate relationship with the Gay
community

by George De Stefano

Has the American melting pot frozen over?

Cultural critic Michael Bronski says he wrote The Pleasure Principle: Sex,
Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom (St. Martin’s Press) to explore why
American culture is still giving Gays the cold shoulder, despite the
increasingly warm reception some aspects of Gay culture have received in recent
years.

"Lots of culture created by Gay and Lesbian people has been crossing over and
has been accepted by straights," Bronski says. "The drag queen movies, like
Birdcage and To Wong Foo, are the most obvious examples, but it’s happening in
many other ways, too."

Bronski notes that Gay culture, in addition to its indisputable impact on the
arts, also has deeply influenced American cultural attitudes towards sexuality,
gender, and social institutions such as marriage and the family.

"I thought that the more Gay culture became assimilated into the dominant
culture, the more Gay people would be accepted," he says. "I bought the classic
myth of American assimilation, in which the Irish or the Italians come to
America, bringing their cultures, which become flavors in the melting pot. They
bring us wonderful gifts, are accepted as Americans, and everybody is happy.

"I used to think this would happen with Gays and Lesbians," he continues. "I
thought we were near the point where straight people enjoyed and wanted our
culture, and that when that happened, they would admit that we are Americans,
too."

But Bronski says that exactly the opposite has happened.

Fantasy and fear

"From the late 1970s onward," Bronski notes, "there has been a whole new wave of
attacks on the political and social advances made after Stonewall. This backlash
has simply gotten worse and worse, to the point where today it is a hallmark of
American conservative politics. So we are faced with a situation where straights
want Gay culture and enjoy it, yet are acting worse toward Gay people."

Bronski claims that although many heterosexuals fear homosexuality, they may
also envy the freedom and pleasure that Gay culture represents. He says that an
early Gay liberation slogan perfectly captures the ambivalent relationship
between the Gay and straight worlds: "We are your worst fear. We are your best
fantasy."

Bronski maintains that this contradiction has its roots in Western culture’s
conflicted attitudes toward pleasure and sexuality. Homosexuality, he observes
in his book, "offers a vision of sexual pleasure completely divorced from the
burden of reproduction: sex for its own sake." Bronski argues that because
homosexuality is by definition non-reproductive and "justified by pleasure
alone," it "strikes at the heart of the organization of Western culture and
societies."

Homosexuality and Gay culture also tap into "heterosexuals’ discontent with
their lives," he writes, "and envy over the perceived freedom of gay people to
organize their lives in ways more fulfilling than traditional ones." In other
words, homosexuality is "at once a threat and a temptation."

The Pleasure Principle ranges far and wide in its exploration of Gay culture’s
relationship to the so-called mainstream. Bronski finds parallels to the Gay
experience in the Jewish ghettos of medieval Venice. He delves into the theories
of Sigmund Freud and of legal theorist Lani Guinier. He draws on the legend of
the Pied Piper, and the contemporary stories of TV star Pee Wee Herman and
Covenant House founder Bruce Ritter, to expose heterosexual hypocrisy
surrounding sexuality and youth.

Bronski says he chose this expansive focus because he wanted "to place Gay and
Lesbian people in a broad panorama of Western and particularly U.S. history and
culture."

"We have tended," he says, "to conceptualize Gay and Lesbian history as a
distinct entity, much the same way people talk about Jewish or Italian American
history. But it became clear to me that this is shortsighted. It doesn’t bring
us far enough."

His reading of American history convinced him that Gay culture was more akin to
that of African Americans than to that of European immigrants. Although the
latter experienced varying degrees of bias and discrimination, he says, most
eventually were accepted as assimilated Americans. But racism, he argues, has
denied African Americans the full rights that citizenship was supposed to
confer. Black culture, therefore, has tended to emphasize racial identity and
resistance to racism.

What comes next?

While noting that "racism and homophobia are structured very differently,"
Bronski argues that homosexuality, like racial difference, is regarded by the
dominant white and straight culture as a barrier to "an authentic American
identity." Gay culture, like black culture, tends to reinforce group identity
while offering a critique of mainstream values. And both minority cultures offer
"enticing alternatives" that are simultaneously threatening and appealing to the
mainstream.

Bronski acknowledges that "tons" of Gay people actually want to be assimilated
or "integrated."

"They don’t want to be queer or revolutionary or outsiders," he says. "My answer
to that is, ‘But ya are, Blanche!’ as Bette Davis would say. The most upright
and uptight investment counselor can be bashed coming out of a Gay bar. I still
think that anything that raises the specter of homosexuality is viewed as a
serious threat to mainstream culture. And I believe that this threat will never
be mitigated by trying to be like straight people, by following this classic
mode of assimilation."

The key to increased Gay acceptance, he argues, is not changing Gay culture, but
changing straight culture.

"Gay people are never going to be free and full citizens until heterosexuals
change," Bronski insists. "It’s not we who have to change, but them. And in fact
they have been changing tremendously."

But as the current anti-Gay (and anti-feminist) cultural backlash shows, he
says, many straight Americans still resist social change.

"The world heterosexuals found security in, and the lies they were told, such as
‘the family is the best place for women and children,’ ‘children have no
sexuality,’ ‘real men don’t eat quiche’ -- all this has been challenged," he
says. "And they like it! But they’re also frightened, because these changes
destabilize the world they knew.

"Heterosexuals," Bronski says, "are deeply confused about what to do next."

This is a weird piece of language - what they mean is that while taking
the pill women risk their health. -- That can't be new info.

Or is it meant to be a joke ?

MichaelP


===================
BBC _ December 8 1999

THUMBS UP FOR PILL
    A 25-year study into the effects of the contraceptive pill concludes
there is no long term health risk once women have stopped taking it.

Ooops I got the date wrong for this BBC headline/ should haVE BEEN JANUARY
8

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 22:02:06 -0800 (PST)
From: MichaelPwsort <papadop@...>
Reply-To: globalsisterhood@onelist.com
To: globalsisterhood@onelist.com
Subject: [globalsisterhood] Weird BBC headline

From: MichaelPwsort <papadop@...>

This is a weird piece of language - what they mean is that while taking
the pill women risk their health. -- That can't be new info.

Or is it meant to be a joke ?

MichaelP


===================
BBC _ December 8 1999

THUMBS UP FOR PILL
    A 25-year study into the effects of the contraceptive pill concludes
there is no long term health risk once women have stopped taking it.



------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.

Dear All,
Further to the early December GSN post on the endemic female infanticide in
Tamil Nadu,  "Scanning for death", a number of other articles in the Indian
media have highlighted the issues underpinning the killing of girl babies
in recent weeks [see below].
The increasing discovery of female infanticide in India may be partly the
result of feminists taking up the issue, but it may well be due to
prevailing conditions of under-development in many pockets of the country
today.
Together with my colleague Jamuna from the Gramya Women's Source Centre, we
have commenced working in the Nalgonda district, an extremely
under-developed region of Andhra Pradesh, among a tribal group - the
Lambadas - who traditionally gave a rightful place to women.  Here we have
found that due to uneven development - i.e. girl's illiteracy,
unemployment, and so on - the  Lambadas have aped other Indian communities,
introducing dowry practices as a substitute for their former custom of
setting a bride's price at a nominal  few cattle.  Now with extravagant
dowry demands, parents feel it is simpler to kill baby girls in their
infancy. Last week we found a case where a teenage boy, forced to work as a
bonded laborer, was insisting that his newly born sister should be killed.
The boy's logic was that he had been employed as a bonded laborer to raise
Rs.5000/- a year to repay the debt created by one sister's marriage - if
more sisters arrived he would remain in permanent bondage.
Adult men in the tribe often become alcoholic because they are unable to
find employment, or their despair from the hopelessness of toiling for
extremely long hours for inadequate wages.
The women feel absolutely helpless when the both their family and their
community pressurizes them to either kill girl babies or to sell them.
Last week, the sale of one girl child  for Rs.2,100/-, [about $US45] was
prevented by several village women Jamuna and I had reached with our
campaign. In the last few months we have managed to rescue 10 girl babies
from similar sales. This is however, a truly desperate situation - one that
requires the AP government, the village elites from the region, and
international agencies to focus on the underlying reasons for the changed
Lambada attitude to girl babies.
Over the next few months, we plan to strengthen our work in the Nalgonda
area in what has become an ongoing struggle - already we have established
schools, which with official government resources, will be run by the
village community . We are also planning to set up special schools for
girls so they can live with us before we enrol them in Government Hostels
next summer; arrange small payments to mothers who have just delivered
girls to ensure they get nutritious food; and, in the long-term, undertake
land development work so that these poverty-stricken communities become
self-reliant by providing their own food security. Details of our
fund-raising efforts for these initiatives will appear shortly on the
Global Sisterhood Network homepage [http://home.vicnet.net.au/~globalsn/],
and I look forward to keeping you posted on our progress.
With warm regards to friends of GSN, Rukmini.


Dr. V. Rukmini Rao,
Deccan Development Society,
Hyderabad, AP, India.
____________________________________
THE HINDU, Tuesday, December 08, 1998
SECTION: Regional

Female foeticide on rise in Usilampatti taluk

Date: 08-12-1998 :: Pg: 05 :: Col: b

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, Dec. 7.

A two-day consultation programme of NGOs in Chennai has brought to light
increasing instances of female foeticide in Usilampatti taluk of Madurai.

This has been seen as a direct consequence of misuse of pre- natal sex
diagnostic
techniques. Mushrooming of scan centres and unethical practices by doctors
have
been identified as the root causes for the spurt in the number of female
foetuses
being aborted in the Usilampatti taluk. With technology seeping into the
rural and
semi-urban locales in and around Usilampatti, the gruesome practice of female
infanticide had been dropped in favour of a more `sophisticated' method of
doing
away with girl children. Around 14 scan centres have come up in the area,
some of
which also perform abortions.

Briefing presspersons on the proceedings of the consultation programme,
representatives of the Society for Integrated Rural Development (SIRD), which
organised the programme, said failure to implement the relevant laws had
led to this
state of affairs.

The State Advisory Committee was constituted in 1996, after the Pre-Natal
Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994, had
failed to execute its role. Ultrasound units have come up not only in
Usilampatti, but
also in urban and semi-urban areas all over Tamil Nadu. If measures were not
evolved to address this problem directly, it would result in an alarming
imbalance in
sex ratios.

It was also decided to launch a broad-based social mobilisation campaign and
press for implementation of the 1994 Act. An awareness campaign would be
launched that would not only target the public, but also aim at countering
ignorance
about the Act among bureaucrats, government officials and medical
professionals.
Filing cases against the violators of the Act and conducting an independent
surveillance of births in select districts in Tamil Nadu, were the other
strategies to
be set in motion next year, throughout the State, SIRD members said.

A preliminary charter of demands were drawn up over the two- days, the salient
features of which included democratising power and responsibility of the
appropriate regulatory authority, stringent implementation of the Act,
monitoring
any population policy that might have had an effect on the phenomenon.
Attention
was also drawn to punitive action prescribed in the Act, which actually
victimises
the mother and a revision was called for.

Representatives from the National Commission for Women, National Law School,
SNDT University, Mumbai, AIDWA, Voluntary Health Association of India,
Christian Medical College were among the participants at the programme.
_____________________________________
THE HINDU, December 27, 1998

Plea for special body to check atrocities on women

Date: 27-12-1998 :: Pg: 04 :: Col: e

By Our Special Correspondent

DHARMAPURI, Dec. 26.

The National Federation of Indian Women has urged the State Government to
constitute a special body in every district to prevent atrocities on women,
including
female infanticide.

This was one among the major resolutions passed at a conference on Female
Infanticide organised by the Federation recently at Pennagaram, according to a
press release.

It pointed out that female infanticide continued in Dharmapuri, Salem and
Madurai
districts even now.

As per the 1991 census, the female male sex ratio was 948:1000 in the
State. In
the 41 blocks in the districts where female infanticide had been found
rampant, the
ratio was as low as 900:1000.

In Dharmapuri district at least 130 of the 1,000 female infants born were
killed
within six days as against the State average of 24.

Of the 18 blocks in Dharmapuri, female infanticide had been recorded in 17
during
1997 and female mortality had been going up year by year. Especially, in
areas like
Pennagaram, Nallampalli, Palacode and Karimangalam, this pernicious practice
was rampant.

Alleging that this was a singular testimony to the slavery of women folk, and
identifying illiteracy, dowry, male domination and lack of economic
emancipation of
women were the major reasons for such a condition, the resolution alleged
that the
women welfare schemes had not reached the intended at all. Even the Cradle
Baby
scheme floated by the previous regime had failed.

The women police stations meant to support the women had been acting against
them, it alleged.

Women illiteracy had been ignored and due to poverty in the families of
labourers
and poor farmers, female infanticide had been detected. Unless there was a
change
in the environment which extricated women from male domination, it would
not be
possible to put an end to this practice.

Hence, it pleaded for establishing a special statutory body in every
district in which
service organisations, women's associations and educationists should be
represented.

The State Government should come out with an white paper every year on the
atrocities on women including dowry harassment.

In all the 46 panchayat unions in the State where female infanticide had been
detected, education and health care should be made compulsory.

Another resolution suggested a modification in the marriage assistance
scheme of
the State Government with special reference to Dharmapuri. Instead of
stipulating
that only those girls who had studied upto eighth standard would be
eligible for the
scheme, even those who had studied upto fifth should be made eligible.

Pleading for doubling the allocation for women's education, it sought
inclusion of
lessons against infanticide in the school syllabus.

In order to ensure economic emancipation of women, they should be extended
loans by the nationalised banks without security. Local bodies should allot
special
funds for prevention of female infanticide and organise awareness campaign.

The law against foeticide after finding out its gender through the scan
should be
implemented in earnest.

In case of female babies dying within a month of their birth, government
inquiry
should be ordered.

The conference decided to launch signature campaign in Dharmapuri district
from
March 8, International Women's Day, demanding prevention of female infanticide
and implementation of women welfare schemes.

AUSTRALIA
National AIDS Bulletin November 1998

For all Australians?

Rodney Junga-Williams

  In a time when many are hailing the advances in HIV/AIDS treatments, and
lauding Australia's response to HIV as exemplary, just how proud of our record
should we be? Gay, Indigenous and HIV positive, Rodney Junga-Williams tells a
different story. For Aboriginal Australians, he writes, it's a question of: What
access? Whose equity?

  My name is Rodney Junga. I come from the Narrunga and Kaurna nations of the
York Peninsula and Adelaide plains of South Australia. I am one of two
Indigenous spokespeople on the National Association of People Living with
HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) Executive Committee.

  I have been an activist in one form or another for some time, involved with
HIV/AIDS for a decade. My involvement has [ranged] from peer support to the
establishment of needle exchange programs: in particular, advocacy and lobbying
for the further inclusion of Indigenous peoples and our issues.

  In general, Australia is and has been at the forefront in its response to the
HIV/AIDS pandemic. If you are an educated or articulate person, normally white,
male, gay and or middle-class, vital life-saving and enhancing [HIV] information
and treatments are accessible and affordable. Access and equity continue to be
high on agendas for those of us who do not fit in the aforementioned groups.
This is certainly the case if you are an Indigenous Australian ' although much
has been and continues to be done by a small group of dedicated peoples.

The sociopolitical landscape

  It is hard to talk about AIDS and sexual health without giving an overview of
the social and political climate we as Indigenous peoples live in daily. I am
one of the first generations born in the city. My mother was one of three
generations born on what is commonly called a mission or reservation.
Missionaries and/or government officials ran these places. To leave, you had to
get permission from the manager and be labelled an 'honorary white'. This system
stayed like this until 1967, when the government held a national referendum and
white Australians voted to give us the privilege of becoming Australian
citizens. I was five years old at the time. This referendum was supposed to be
the first step in empowering us to social, economical and cultural equality.
Thirty-one years later, most of us are still struggling for these, our basic
human rights.

  Prior to colonisation there were approximately four million Aboriginal people,
possibly more. Now there remain around 380,000 ' two percent of the national
population. We spoke over 500 different languages and lived in perfect harmony
with our surroundings. But then as now the introduction of many diseases took
its toll. There is now in Australia a huge influx of immigrants. Vietnamese
people alone make over four percent of the national population. We as the
Indigenous peoples are still at the bottom of the so-called socio-economic
ladder.

  I was the first Aboriginal to come out publicly as HIV positive, almost ten
years ago. My family has a high profile nationally due to their political work
within our communities and organisations. So it is safe to say my choice to come
out caused a bit of controversy. For some time I remained the only out HIV
positive Aboriginal on the AIDS scene, and for me it seemed an eternity.

Aborigine must be free

  Aborigine Must Be Free, [published] in 1992, was the first HIV/AIDS information
and educational booklet of its kind in South Australia ' both culturally
appropriate and sensitive. It was soon distributed nationally and eventually had
three editions published. The process of putting it all together came from
Aboriginal people both infected and affected, young and old, straight and gay.
Supportive non-Aboriginals, AIDS organisations and agencies worked with
Aboriginal NGOs [non-government organisations]; HIV/AIDS was finally on the
Aboriginal health and social agenda. Our issues as Aboriginal PLWHA were finally
being put on the agendas of relevant agencies, organisations and groups. For the
first time I didn't feel alone as more and more people were coming out. We also
had a unique team of dedicated people working together, with one common goal: to
not let our own people continue to live and die in isolation and shame. Most of
us that have survived from the team are still functioning in some way or another
within the AIDS world. These people were part of my immediate social circle.
Many of us had been friends for many years but together now faced new challenges
'working together to empower our communities to face yet another disease,
perceived by many within our communities to be yet another Whiteman's disease.
The challenge of bringing so many different peoples together, to work
effectively, sensitively and to hopefully learn from one another, had been met.
This became the start of a dynamic era.

  Since the publication of the booklet we have had many successes. We have had
many advances in each State and Territory, but the most beneficial responses
have come from our national forums, committees and working parties. Australia is
so large and we are few. Coming together on a national level makes
decision-making and networking easier. This also has not-so positive issues,
like funding for us to meet, and the ever-increasing concern of just how do you
get things happening at a local level, where usually you are under-resourced and
have little support.

  As was the case in many communities around the globe, the initial response to
the pandemic came from our gay, lesbian and transgender peoples. This response
also changed the way gay, lesbian and transgender people were treated within our
communities ' the result being a new found respect. Often, PLWHA were treated as
lepers or untouchables, largely due to the early scare campaigns and ingrained
prejudices which exist in many AIDS-illiterate communities.

Reluctance

  In the history of international AIDS conferences only at three have there been
Indigenous Australian representation. In Amsterdam an Aboriginal woman affected
by HIV presented a paper. Her HIV positive then-partner was present. In Berlin
[1993] and Vancouver [1996], I was the only Aboriginal person present, both as a
keynote speaker and participant. Pretty appalling when there have been at least
eighty-odd white Australians present at each conference. Few of whom, I must
add, were PLWHA. The search for funding to attend these conferences is vast,
with few organisations both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal making funding
available and when or if they do it remains tokenistic. There seems to be a
general reluctance for us to attend. Even the conferences hosted by GNP and APN+
[Asia-Pacific Network of Positive People] have not supported or promoted the
continual inclusion or input of Indigenous Australians. Within Australia, if it
were not for both AFAO and NAPWA, who have been and are continually supportive,
I fear the inclusion of Indigenous peoples and our issues in the AIDS world
would be scarce and largely devalued.

  In the past, non-Aboriginal Australians have had little or no understanding of
our protocol, etiquette or cultural diversity. So our issues have been put in
the ìtoo hard basket'. Although many are supportive of our input and issues, due
to cultural ignorance, people are scared they'll say or do the wrong thing.
Rather than offend us, often the choice is made to do or say nothing. For
example, Aboriginal people prefer to be invited to go anywhere outside our
language area, due to our varying cultural beliefs, protocol and etiquette. You
can get not only yourself but also your family and community into major trouble
if you misbehave, or disrespect certain places or people [such as] elders, or
sacred sites/places. Slowly, individuals and groups are becoming aware of our
protocol, but there still remains much work to be done.

  In regards to health, housing, education and the many social issues affecting
us, we have a holistic attitude and approach. Culturally, men's business is
men's and women's is women's and very rarely do they mix. This has been an
often-difficult issue, especially in regards to the often complex and sensitive
issues within sexual health education.

  Our life expectancy on average is ten years less than other Australians and in
many communities, our people are dying of diseases wiped out in less developed
countries: glaucoma, TB, measles, leprosy, smallpox. Diabetes, heart disease and
hepatitis B are common. Hep C is rampant amongst [injecting drug users].

  We make up the major portion of jail populations, and often for petty crimes,
with a high proportion of unexplained deaths whilst in police custody. Millions
of dollars have been spent on Royal Commissions, supposedly to find answers '
but the majority of money is being spent on building 'new and improved' jails.
Over 75 percent of Aborigines are unemployed or live below the poverty line,
often institutionalised and welfare-dependent. Many of our communities don't
have running water, appropriate sewerage or sanitation. We have the highest
incidence of youth suicide in the world. Seventy-three percent [of our people]
have at one time contemplated suicide, with 37 percent successful. There is a
high incidence of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, proving
there is not a culture of safe sex amongst sexually active youth and in
particular heterosexuals. It wasn't that long ago STD clinics worked under the
notion that if a white person tested positive for syphilis, it was safe to
presume they'd had sex with an Aboriginal or Asian person.

The alienation effect

  Aboriginal people and the media have always had a volatile relationship. Very
rarely does the media report on issues pertaining to us unless it is in a
derogatory fashion. We are continually portrayed as bludgers, drunks and
criminals.

  Often, Aboriginal people are reluctant to come forward and talk publicly about
many issues, and this is so when it comes to sexual health, HIV/AIDS and
discrimination, whether in accessing services (either Aboriginal or
non-Aboriginal) or at a community level. There remains the real fear of
persecution and alienation. In many places AIDS is seen as a Whiteman's disease
or something relevant to homosexuals and drug users, even though there is a high
incidence of male to male sexual activity ' often associated with high levels of
alcohol and drug misuse. There is a vastly growing and strong drug culture in
most communities. Alcohol has long been detrimental. It has and remains a
predominant factor to the breakdown of the Aboriginal family unit and continues
to have devastating effects within our cultural, social and spiritual customs
and beliefs.

  Now drugs such as marijuana, speed, petrol sniffing, pills and heroin are
totally decimating our people. For young people, some of whom have had little or
no connection to our traditional beliefs, values and lifestyles feel completely
lost, unable to assimilate into mainstream Australian society due to issues such
as racism, often low, if any self esteem, poverty and poor education. They also
feel unable as city-born and bred to connect with their Aboriginal spirituality
or culture: the so-called ìlost generation'. Some as young as eight have a
history of drug and alcohol abuse, with many also involved with the sex for
favours street scene. Many are now third or fourth generation welfare dependent
and or third or fourth generation alcoholics.

  Of fifty young [injecting drug users] I spoke to in the past three months who
are injecting drug users forty came out as hep C positive. Only five came out as
HIV positive. Three who came out also identified as gay and also had dual
infections, hep C and HIV. The other two identified as straight but had on
occasions had sex with other guys and also shared dual infections. There was
also a disease hierarchy prevalent and in particular when people were forced
into a situation where they had to share injecting tools. If you had no known
viral infection you would use injecting tools first. If you had hep C, you would
go next and if you had HIV, you would go last. This culture was also prevalent
in jails. This disease hierarchy also existed within the sexual activity of this
group of people. 'Who had what' impacted on the various degrees of sexual
activity, most preferring not to use condoms.

  Most of the people diagnosed with hep C were tested in jail with no pre or
post-test counselling. Two of the five people who were HIV positive were tested
in jail. When they were informed of their status they were immediately placed in
isolation. A common occurrence so I was told. They were outed due to being
placed in isolation. From the many discussions I've had with IDUs and PLWHA,
involuntary testing in hospitals and institutions was quite common.

  There is a general reluctance within our communities to have HIV tests. Many
feel they would rather not know, as they are contending with the issue of
multiple deaths within their family and communities. Or either they or a close
family member are already contending with life threatening issues and or serious
health problems. Many also feel their families are over-burdened, and do not
want to contribute to an ever-increasing family load. Many young people shared
the belief: ìWhy worry about AIDS because if the cops don't kill me, the drugs
will'.

  Another common trend with Aboriginal PLWHA is they find out about their status
once hospitalised with an opportunistic infection. This has often been too late
and hence [led to people] dying prematurely. In the past, many of the drugs
available seemed to shorten lives as opposed to enhancing. Often death is
imminent within weeks of starting treatment.

Cultural bias

  In general, our people won't take treatments: 'early intervention' and
'compliance' are foreign languages. Treatments are seen as not conducive to us
maintaining our often-nomadic lifestyles, as the majority of Aboriginal people
maintain strong links to rural communities, often encompassing long journeys and
in extreme and harsh environments. People are often outed by having to carry
around large quantities of drugs and many are drug and alcohol dependent and or
malnourished. Many feel there is little or no relevant information about
treatments and their interactions with other medications like insulin.

  Every state and territory has an AMS [Aboriginal Medical Service], often
staffed by relatives or close friends. This makes confidentiality a major
concern. The AMS are usually under-staffed, under-resourced and expected to do
everything. Given the range and complexities of health issues, HIV/AIDS doesn't
have a very high profile or it's not seen as a priority.

  Aboriginal people often feel uncomfortable accessing mainstream services like
hospitals, surgeries or clinics, as there is a real sense of cultural bias,
insensitivity or blatant discrimination. Given the history of diseases, the
drugs that have been given out and taken without clear advice or information and
often without consent. There is a real perception of mistrust for those who are
supposedly there to help.

  We have all grown up hearing the horror stories passed down from generation to
generation. Each one of us has our own to pass down. More recently,
Depo-Provera: Family and Community Services encouraging sexually active teenage
Aboriginal girls to have an injection they knew little about, which is still
causing horrific deformities to babies and has been the cause for many women too
not only miscarry but become sterile. To this day, there has never been a treaty
signed or an apology from any Australian government. Our people have felt alone
and abandoned by the world. With United Nations [UN] organisations hiding behind
the statement Australia is a developed country. Developed ' but by whose
standards? Amnesty International and the Anglican church have tabled human
rights violations to the UN. Australia is compared to South Africa time and time
again. But Indigenous Australians' issues are dismissed because we have access
to an Equal Rights Commission and a so-called democratic legal system,
supposedly designed to protect us all as Australians. The bottom line is: unless
you are white or an educated or wealthy person, it really doesn't work
effectively for those of us living under the poverty line.

  At the moment in Australia there is a huge debate over Aboriginal rights to
negotiate access to traditional lands. The government as part of their policy
development is now deciding what you must do and be to be regarded as an
Aboriginal. This forms part of the Native Title Bill. There seem to be these
huge issues which continually overshadow all the other issues like health,
housing and employment etc. At times it feels like a conspiracy to keep us
disempowered. It keeps us physically, spiritually and mentally exhausted.
Meanwhile we become more ill, and die prematurely: a modern form of genocide, so
we will just die off and the government can't be blamed.

Just another lie

  PLWHA are still dying and being banished from their communities or simply
vanishing off the face of the earth. Being forced to live in isolation, still
dying alone and in shame. Sadly, there are many that believe PLWHA get more
benefits and receive better treatment. Basically if you get AIDS you're better
off ' what a way to have to find out it's just another lie.

  Now as we reach the millennium many of our elders believe we will not survive
the next century. We too will become extinct, as many of our animal totems
already have. Time and time again, human rights watchdogs make statements that
we are the most impoverished peoples in any of the so-called developed world.
Monies are made available for us to produce some very good documents and health
strategies. There just never seems to be enough monies available to implement
them or train the appropriate people to put the documents to use.

  We as PLWHA are seen as the passive recipients of treatments, care and support.
Out gay males remains the most AIDS-literate group even though there isn't a
strong or consistent culture of safe sex. Women partners of men who have sex
with men and the female partners of IDUs, whether they use or not, remain the
highest risk group. Even if the women know about homosexual activity within
their community or home they are not empowered to promote or enforce safe sex.
In a drug-using environment they will always use the needle after the male
partner. Sex for favours is common within our community; sex is given for food,
clothing, alcohol, drugs or just a bed for the night. Condoms are rarely used no
matter how available they may be.

  The World Health Organisation recognises Indigenous Australians are at extreme
risk of the next wave of HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths. But we remain a
small group of people under-represented and under resourced.

  Rodney Junga-williams is an Indigenous Spokesperson for the National
Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS. He has been a HIV activist for many
years. This is an edited version of his Country Report, written for and
presented at a Hong Kong Human Rights and PLWHA Training Workshop, held in May
this year.


AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION OF AIDS ORGANISATIONS INC. Level 4, 74 Wentworth Avenue,
Surry Hills NSW 2010 PO Box 876 Darlinghurst NSW 2010 Phone +61 2 9281 1999 •
Fax + 61 2 9281 1044

Please note that all content contained within is © to AFAO

The Mail & Guardian newspaper.
South Africa.

• Third of SA schoolgirls sexually abused

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 8th January, 1999.

ONE in three South African schoolgirls are victims of sexual abuse,
according to a study published on Thursday by a non-government organisation,
Community Information Empowerment and Transparency.
Of the victims, two out of three had never previously spoken of the abuse,
the study of 1 500 black and white youths aged between 14 and 18 and from a
cross-section of Johannesburg suburbs, the CIET study found.
Among the boys, 12% admitted to having had sex with a girl without her
consent. Half of the boys interviewed said they thought that when a girl
said "no" she usually meant "yes". A third of the boys thought that girls
who were abused "were looking for it" and one out of 10 believed the victims
enjoyed the experience, according to the study, which was conducted with
Canadian funding.
"South Africa is a very sexually violent society with very high levels of
child abuse and sexual violence at home," said Professor Neil Andersson,
executive director of CIET Africa and head of the project. "Part of the
story is that we had a very violent and oppressive regime," he said. "Young
people see their heroes glorifying sexual violence and not being punished,
and develop the model themselves."
The study showed that these attitudes are as entrenched among white South
Africans as among blacks, who bore the brunt of the violence of the
apartheid regime.
A CIET Africa study last year showed that more than half of South African
women said they had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of somebody close to
them.
Since last year the organisation has been conducting awareness programmes in
schools around Johannesburg to sensitise youths to the problem of sexual
violence.

•  Meanwhile, visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday
announced his country's financial support for programmes aimed at preventing
violence against women in South Africa. Blair made the announcement during a
visit to the dirt-poor Johannesburg township of Alexandra, saying Britain's
Department for International Development will donate up to R19-million (more
than  US$3-million) to fund a mass media initiative on violence against women. –

AFP

• Sexual abuse backgrounders
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/links/sa/rape.html

Dear Michael,
Hmmm... a joke? NO.
Confirming long-held suspicions about the risks of oral contraceptives? YES
More interesting from a women's health perspective if you take look at the
article which prompted today's media on the pill:

BMJ 1999; 318:96-100 ( 9 January )
"Mortality associated with oral contraceptive use: 25 year follow up of
cohort of 46 000 women from Royal College of General Practitioners' oral
contraception study" [http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/318/7176/96]

As the title implies, a large number of women were studied over a
considerable period of time, at the end of which the authors concluded
"oral contraceptives seem to have their main effect on mortality while they
are being used and in the 10 years after use ceases. Ten or more years
after use ceases, mortality in past users is similar to that in never users".

The second sentence of that conclusion, and this what the media has taken
up, whitewashes the key findings of the study.
First, that women who used oral contraceptives for 10 or more years had a
significant excess mortality from lung cancer and cervical cancer, and
excess mortality [deemed to be slight!!!] from breast cancer.
And second, that  women who were current "pill" users, together with those
who had only stopped taking the "pill" in the past five years, had a
significant excess of all circulatory diseases [heart attack, thrombosis
etc]  and cerebrovascular disease [stroke].

What ISN'T SAID anywhere in the article, or in any media that I've read, is
that women with the predisposition to develop cervical cancer, heart
disease, stroke, and perhaps breast cancer, appear to die earlier rather
than later if they use oral contraceptives - so of course, in a group of
women who haven't taken the pill for ten years or more, you won't see
increased death rate from these diseases BECAUSE those who had these
diseases in their "cards" will already be DEAD.

What worries me is that women who read the media hype about this red
herring study, probably costing a million bucks or more to perform, will
decide that it's OK to take oral contraceptives because 10 years after they
stop, the risks will have disappeared.
The bottom line is that women predisposed to develop the above mentioned
diseases will probably live longer if they don't use oral contraceptives!
But for both pharmaceutical companies and the medical fraternity cashing in
on women's reproductive health needs, and for men not wanting to share
reproductive responsibility, that is an unpopular line.
So thanks Michael for raising the matter.
With best wishes to all, and apologies if the answer is long-winded and
technical - put it down to spending too many years in medical circles,
Lynette.

Dear Sisters,

I just received this call for papers for the Asian Journal of Women's
Studies and thought I would pass it on for those who may be interested in
contributing

Amanda


CALL FOR PAPERS

Asian Journal of Women's Studies (AJWS) is an interdisciplinary journal,
publishing articles pertaining to women's issues in Asia from
a feminist perspective. The journal offers articles with
a theoretical focus, country reports providing valuable information
on specific subjects and countries, and booknotes containing
information on recent publications on women in Asia and elsewhere.

AJWS has the following objectives: to share information and scholarly
ideas about women's issues in Asia and all other regions of the world;
assisting a range of writing and experience in women's studies to find
a voice; and to publish translations and thus disseminate the work
of scholars who write in different languages to a wider audience.

The first edition of the journal was published in 1995 to commemorate the
opening of the Asian Center for Women's Studies at Ewha Womans University
in Seoul, Korea. As of 1997, the journal is being published four times a year.

AJWS is included in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Current
Contents/ Social & Behavioral Sciences of the Institute
for Scientific Information (ISI) as of December 1997.

Editors invite contributions of article-length research papers and
theoretical
position papers that might be appropriately published under the headings
of articles, personal narratives, review articles, reports, notes, letters
and book reviews, that have not been published in English, nor submitted
to other journals or to publishers.

All papers considered appropriate to this journal are reviewed anonymously
and
authors can be requested to make revisions. Manuscripts must be in English,
typed in double-space, and on one side of A4 paper only. In general, the AJWS
considers papers of no more than 30 pages in length. Contributors are
requested
to send a hard copy and, if possible, a copy on a 3.5" diskette, in MS WORD
or
WORD PERFECT or by e-mail. Manuscripts submitted are not returned
to the contributor.

Editors
AJWS
Asian Center for Women's Studies
Ewha Womans University
Seoul 120-750
Republic of Korea

Email: acwsewha@...
URL: http://acws.ewha.ac.kr

Thanks Amanda, Excellent thought, best regards etc., Lynette,

At 01:01 AM 1/9/99 +0800, you wrote:
>From: pthirdaj@... (Amanda Third)
>
>Dear Sisters,
>
>I just received this call for papers for the Asian Journal of Women's
>Studies and thought I would pass it on for those who may be interested in
>contributing
>
>Amanda
>
>
>CALL FOR PAPERS
>
>Asian Journal of Women's Studies (AJWS) is an interdisciplinary journal,
.....

Warm Greetings Sisters & Brothers:

Thank you Paul for all the excellent & helpful articles you post.
Esp., as of late - "For All Australians?", and "Third of SA school girls
sexually abused".  Please continue to keep me posted on the concerns of
my "Aboriginal" ( forgive the term) Sisters & Brothers.  I have been
following the struggles of my australian Indigenous Friends/ Sisters &
Brothers  for over 25 years. Thank you for bringing me closer.

In Gratitude & Solidarity -

Niaua
Director, Women's Program
SPR -Stop Prisoner Rape, Inc.

j and all - i find the e-mails re mai MOST important and appreciate their
being broadcast via this discussion list. i am sure many others do, too -
it is difficult to respond (intelligently), but the material is (rest
assured!) disgested and thought about, with possibilities for future/other
use, dissemination, etc etc a high priority.

please keep sending them (as you are able).

every good wish, jas

ps  i also appreciated the one re labelling. have just returned from a home
economics national conference in brisbane. this was a 'hot' topic and the
vast majority of participants were SOOOO strong and committed on this
issue, as well as CONCERNED and many vocal re the whole genetic engineering
issue in food. i am support of those working in home economics and believe
it is VITAL that we recognise this group/profession as strong and powerful,
with a great potential as a lobby group/lobbiests (spell???) etc etc. okay,
when i was at school i could not see the point of making tomato sauce out
of tomatoes (a task that was set for the domestic science (as it was then
called) students. i must also confess that when, in fourth year, i declined
to take this subject (it was compulsory in first, second and third year
(12-15 years) and noncompulsory in the final two years) my class teacher
was most concerned and said to me: 'oh, but jocelynne, this means you will
NEVER get MARRIED!' well, he was right. i didn't. do you think that had i
DONE domestic science my whole life would have been different???!!!!

but all that aside, these women (mostly - some men) are such a great group
in terms of KNOWING about nutrition, CARING about balanced diet, CONCERNED
about the 'goings on' in this field at present, and can be a most
significant power in turning around the genetic engineering madness that
currently rides supreme, or at least alerting all the upcoming students and
student teachers to the negatives.

at the conference, they had a representative of the australian food council
(title? - anyway, a private sector body that appears to take as its bench
mark an unremitting necessity of promoting and pushing in the most one-way
street way NON labelling, GENETIC ENGINEERING of crops, animals etc etc
(this, we were told, will be the 'saving' of the 'third world'! this was a
VERY GOOD choice of speaker, for then came a panel of two men - one a
philosopher, another a medical practitioner - and one woman (representative
of food manufacturer) - with the two men being constructively critical of
the whole genetic etc push and sadly the woman being supportive of major
paper giver's stance. still it really got the conference going and was a
catalyst for prodding them along toward (i think) recognising the need for
political action. jas

pps i realise that within any group there is a diversity of view, opinion,
position etc so reliase that within this large grouping 'home economists'
there will be some who do not share the views i have set out above, and
whose position may be antithetical to feminism, etc. this is so with any
group and does not mean the entire group should be 'written off' - in this
case, by any means! jas



At 11:21 AM 1/6/99 +0000, you wrote:
>From: "Janet M. Eaton" <jeaton@...>
>
>Sorry for the invasion of  non-relevent materials in regard to
>fascinating and informative dialogue on women and war  but  the
>following  posting represents for me  something hopeful which I
>thought perhaps others could glean insights from or use  in their
>public policy work for the advancement of women.
>
>All the best,
>janet
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
>From:          "Janet M. Eaton" <jeaton@...>
>To:            mai-not@...
>Date:          Wed, 6 Jan 1999 10:45:12 +0000
>Subject:       Can. [Social Policy 2000 - A hopeful Agenda ]
>
>Dear MAI-NOTS:
>
>A positive sign of hope for a more humane Liberal government in
>Ottawa with a greater sensitivity to past traditions and the social
>condition !
>
>Long-time Liberal party policy advisor, Tom Kent, who has
>played a key role shaping Liberal party policies in the past,  has
>just released a blueprint -- "Social Policy 2000 - An  Agenda"
>published by the well-respected Caledon Institute of Social Policy !!
>
>This kind of agenda seems in keeping with the words of Finance
>Minister Paul Martin  at last summers Couchiching Institute
>of Public Affairs  Conference 1998,  in his key note
>address - "Rethinking Canada for the 21st Century":
>
>"Let me repeat something I said in the last
>budget: globalization is a fact. It is a
>reality. But it is not a faith. It is not a
>religion. And we commit a very serious mistake
>if we ever come to believe that there is no
>role, no responsibility on the part of the
>national government to provide opportunity and
>security at home."
>
>For the Hon. Paul Martin's full speech see mai-not
>posting by jeaton August 7, 1998
>http://news.flora.org/flora.mai-not/6246
>
>je
>
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>http://www.southam.com/ottawacitizen/newsnow/cpfs/national/990105/n01
>0 541.html
>
>                     ACROSS CANADA
>                    Former social policy architect
>                    draws blueprint for reform
>
>                    NAHLAH AYED
>
>
>                    OTTAWA (CP) - More than three decades after he
>                    helped create and implement some of Canada's most
>                    beloved social programs, Tom Kent has some advice
>                    on how they should be reformed.
>
>                    Kent, who played a key role shaping Liberal party
>                    policies between 1957 and 1963 and later helped
>                    implement medicare during Lester Pearson's
>                    government, released a blueprint for reform
>                    Tuesday.
>
>                    In his report, published by the Caledon Institute
>                    of Social Policy, Kent outlines what he believes
>                    would put "meat on the bones" of stagnant social
>                    union talks between federal and provincial
>                    governments.
>
>                    His proposals could help repair damage inflicted
>                    in the two last decades of retreats in social
>                    policy, Kent said.
>
>                    During those years, he said, government spending
>                    and income weren't in line, resulting in tight
>                    monetary policies and eventually a depressed
>                    economy where people grew resentful of having to
>                    pay for social programs.
>
>                    "When times are tougher, there's more
>                    unemployment, people feel more uncertainty, they
>                    become less willing to help those who are in
>                    trouble," Kent said in an interview.
>
>                    "That was the psychological factor that provided
>                    the background to the increasing acceptance of
>                    what I'd call a neo-conservative, anti-social
>                    policy type of political attitude."
>
>                    The report, called Social Policy 2000: An Agenda,
>                    proposes:
>
>                    - A new funding formula for medicare that would
>                    increase Ottawa's share of costs to 25 per cent.
>
>                    - Broad-based income tax cuts by increasing the
>                    basic personal deduction and raising tax brackets
>                    to help the poor.
>
>                    - Taxation of capital gains and inheritances at
>                    the same rate as other income; using the revenue
>                    to pay down the debt.
>
>                    Kent emphasizes improving the lot of children by
>                    investing in their development.
>
>                    The problem of child poverty could be curbed with
>                    an increase in the federal child tax benefit to
>                    $4,000 a year, Kent suggests, to be restricted to
>                    pre-school children at first.
>
>                    He calls for a direct payment to parents of up to
>                    $7,000 a year per child to replace the current tax
>                    deduction he says is unfair to low-income parents.
>
>
>                    He also suggests that federal and provincial
>                    governments negotiate how to create child-care
>                    centres.
>
>                    Martha Friendly, a University of Toronto social
>                    policy and child-care researcher, said Kent's
>                    proposals might renew interest in a national
>                    children's agenda, a strategy promised by the
>                    Liberals to give children a good start in life, at
>                    least or plant the seed for new programs.
>
>                    "This actually puts out why we should do it. This
>                    is the kind of thing that's needed to get the ball
>                    rolling again.
>
>                    "(Governments) have a lot of catching up to do and
>                    somebody better come up with some kind of
>                    strategy."
>
>                    Social union talks, aimed at working out financial
>                    and political control between governments, have
>                    been slow going for the last few months.
>
>                    The 10 premiers had hoped to speed up the process
>                    and wanted to meet Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
>                    But Chretien said low-level talks between
>                    government officials should continue to lay
>                    groundwork.
>
>                                  c The Canadian Press, 1999
>
>--end--
>
>--
>For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and
>links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
>to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
>select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.
>

Dear Jocelynne,
All I can say is, "thank the goddess, you never learned to make tomato
sauce".
Interestingly enuf, neither did I, and nor have I ever "married" - do I
smell a Ph D here for some upwardly mobile feminist?
Kindest regards, Lynette.

--PLEASE CIRCULATE--

From: Trudy and Rod Bray <ozbrays@...>

Hi everyone,

We have received a request from Bougainville.  Can you assist please?

WANTED

* 240 volt diesel powered Generator of any description to donate for
the administration office on Bougainville.  (Will accept petrol
powered also).

* Tacometer to measure revolutions per minute.

* Solar panels for Radio communications.

* Amateur Radios (even broken ones can be repaired).

Please spread the word.   If you can assist, please email
v.john@...
or telephone + 61-2-9558.2730

Thanking you in anticipation.
Vikki, Bougainville Freedom Movement.
PO Box 134, Erskineville.  NSW    2043  Australia.

Susanne wrote,
> it is a crock to say women are not already involved, they are just not in
> uniform meaning they are not paid but they certainly bear the cost
>
> 'our' war hasn't progressed from methods of the first world war
> - it is still hands on!
> - it is guerilla based - public or private
> - it is domestic terrorism
> ....
>
> couldn't go on with this one :(
>
> cheerless
> susanne

Aah but Susanne, we are slowly winning it. The pen is mightier than the sword
and suddenly the pen is a mighty powerful instrument.
The internet was established by the military as a tool to offset the
electromagentic pulse damage after a nuclear strike. And it's now in our hands.

Even in a drought in the desert after a brief squally thunderstorm widely
separated patches of sparse greenery spring up, flower briefly and then wither
away. But eventually the drought will break and the whole desert blooms and in
the pastoral lands life returns to normal.
I think we have gained. Now the widely separated patches of greenery are the
men's liberation groups and the women's liberation front has moved into the
pastoral lands.

We are achieving change, and doing so without guns (or poison).

--
in sisterhood and solidarnosc
Denise Tzumli
Mile End , South Australia
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+  From the Preamble:                                         +
+  "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (is) a common   +
+  standard of achievement ... that every individual and      +
+  organ of society ... shall strive to secure their          +
+  universal & effective recognition & observance."           +
+  I ask you: Are not corporations "organs of society" and    +
+  bound to uphold these rights?                              +
+  UN Declaration of Human Rights, article 23, pt 3:          +
+  "Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable   +
+  renumeration ensuring for themselves and their family an   +
+  existence worthy of human dignity ... "                    +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

January 9th, 1999

Dear All:

Belated Season's Greetings and VERY best wishes for 1999 to all!  Feliz y
Prospero An~o Nuevo desde Mexico!

... And another source on women's rights.

Sincerely,
Aida Maria Noval

NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT

'Rights of Women: A Guide to the Most Important United
Nations Treaties on Women's Human Rights' is an excellent
new publication that provides a comprehensive review of
women's human rights that are protected by international
law. Published by the International Women's Tribune Centre,
the manual provides a 'right by right' guide to issues such
as education, marriage, employment, refugees, sexual
exploitation and trafficking, and torture by providing a
global overview and then a description of relevant UN
conventions. Developing rights for women are also discussed.

A 'Taking Action' section offers effective strategies for
using international law to better women's human rights--from holding a
tribunal to building a human rights community via the Internet.

Written in simple, non-legal language, 'Rights of Women' is
an extremely user-friendly manual that is liberally
illustrated with line drawings, diagrams and charts. It is
designed to assist its readers, particularly those working
with grassroots or community groups, to develop their own
materials and undertake their own campaigns. Also included
are resources, charts showing which countries have signed on to the
conventions and the full text of key international human rights documents.

Orders and review copy requests should be sent to Women,
Ink., 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA.
Tel: (1-212) 687-8633; Fax: (1-212) 661-2704; E-mail:
<wink@...>; Web site: <www.womenink.org>. The cost
is US$15.95 plus shipping and handling (free to women's
groups in the Global South).

** Buying books from Women, Ink. helps support women's
publishing in the global South **

///end of message///

January 9th, 1999

Dear colleagues:

Something else of great interest and needs support.
Aida Maria

New Archive in Gender Studies Prague library   Women as a
targets of violence"

Dear friends,

It is a pleasure for me, to introduce you a new project
initiated by Gender Studies library in Prague. A new archive is being
formed as a part of the library and is called "Women as a Targets of
Violence". An incentive for this archive came from Network against violence
againts women based in Prague. As an urgent need of concetrating all the
relevant information in a comprehensive volume of articles, books,
brochures and relevant organization contacts. Gender Studies is one of the
members of the Network against violence against women and together with 5
Czech women organizations initiated the Network in 1995. Network against
violence against women is a voluntary corporation of non-governmental
organizations which focus on developing strategies to increase public
awarness of violence against women in Czech Republic.

The archive should gather materials produced by member
organizations dealing with different aspects of violence
against women, as well as all other relevant information
coming form outside. The Network members are: 1/ Rosa -
Provides support to divorced and widowed women, counsels
women survivors of domestic violence, and working to improve the support
and preventive systems for these
women. 2/ Elektra - psychological help for sexually abused
women 3/ La Strada - European-wide program against traffic
in women 4/ proFem - Central European Consulting Centre for
women´s Projects 5/ Gender Studies - sexual harrasment,
archive, other activities.

In the future the archive should be able to help everyone,
who is interested in this topic, students, journalists,
violence survivors and others.

I would like to ask you for sending some relevant
information concerning this topic / violence against women
worldwide / so the archive could be complete. Thank you very much for your
help, Best wishes Katerina Manova.

Please when sending articles pls. specify - Archive Violence & use the
address gender@...

Dear Friends of GSN,
The following from "Diverse Women for Diversity", via the Bol! List, is a
call for mailed and faxed letters to protest the vicious assault on Wangari
Maathai and others, when she and Greenbelt Movement Supporters were on
their way to plant trees in the  Karura Public Forest (an area that has
been destroyed by real  estate developers) in Nairobi, Kenya.
In solidarity [cheerless as I noted from one of Susanne's recent posts],
Lynette.




**************************************
from DIVERSE WOMEN FOR DIVERSITY
**************************************

From: Gaia Foundation <gaia@...>
Subject: Kenyan Ecologist Beaten as she attempts to Plant Trees


The Gaia Foundation London
Saturday 9 January 1999

Dear Friends,
Please find attached news from Kenya which we need to act upon
immediately - on Friday 8th January 1999 Wangari Maathai, Greenbelt
Movement Co-ordinator, and other supporters were attacked as they
attempted to plant trees in the Nairobi forest.

It is vital that we publicise this shocking act of violence by writing
letters, sending faxes to the appropriate people listed below.  The
letters need to express shock and outrage that the police did not
protect the concerned citizens from the gangsters.  It is a fundamental
democratic right that people should have free and safe access to public
property.  The forest involved is one of many public forests, including
Mount Kenya, which is being appropriated by private and commercial
interests.  Those Kenyans who are courageously standing up against these
gangsters should be protected.

The police had been requested to accompany the Green Belt Movement
supports to the forest.  They did not arrive and it is believed that
they informed the gangsters.  When  the supporters reached the police
station to report the incident and to get the police to return to the
forest to identify the attackers, the police actually ran away.

This incident, and the struggle that Kenyan citizens are having in
getting a government response, indicates a dangerous breakdown in
responsible democratic governance.  We call on President Daniel Arap
Moi, Chief Justice Chesoni, and Commissioner  of Police Duncan Wachira
to protect the democratic rights of its citizens and to prevent the
disintegration of the rule of law in Kenya, through hooliganism.

We also call upon Prince Bernard of the Netherlands to revoke the Golden
Arc Environmental Award given to President Moi in the mid-nineties, it
is a disgrace that he should remain the holder of the award after his
violations against the environment and democracy.  This is a critical issue,
and Moi, by failing to protect democratic rights, is colluding with the
gangsters.

Warm wishes


Charlotte Aldridge
on behalf of Liz Hosken



WANGARI MAATHAI OF THE GREEN BELT MOVEMENT, KENYA
CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT
FROM HER HOSPITAL BED

Saturday 9th January 1999
11am Kenya Time
Liz Hosken




On Friday afternoon, 8th January, Wangari Maathai and many
Greenbelt Movement Supporters were pounced on by thugs in the
Karura public Forest in Nairobi, Kenya, as they were on their way
to plant more trees in the area that had been destroyed by real
estate developers.

Wangari was the first one attacked.  She has a gash in the top of her
head which is still bleeding.  Although doctors say her skull is not
damaged, she is on a heavy dose of painkillers and will stay in
hospital for the next few days.

Others were also badly beaten as the group tried to escape from the
gangsters through the forest.  Some cars were also attacked so they
could not escape easily.

Wangari requests that people publicise this violation of justice and
public rights widely and write letters to the people listed below -
President Moi, Chief Police Commissioner, Chief Justice and others,
and also to the Kenyan press.


For further information contact:

Mr. Makanga, a friend of Wangari's
Work : 00254 2 331 744
Cell Telephone: 00254 072 513910

Muta Maathai, Wangari's son
Tel: 00254 2 603 867
Fax: 00254 2 504 264

Hospital for information:
Tel: 00 254 2 722 160

Wanjira Maathai, Wangari's daughter in the USA
email: wmathai@...

Please write letters to:
His Excellency, President Daniel Arap Moi
Tel: 00 254 2 227 441
Fax: 00 254 2 211 660

Chief Justice Chesoni
Tel: 00254 2 221 221
Please contact for fax number (we are unable to obtain fax no.
at present ).

Commissioner of Police, Duncan Wachira
Tel/fax: 00254 2 333 641

The Kenyan Ambassador/High Commissioner in your country

Prince Bernard of Netherlands

Wangari also requests letters of support to be sent to
the following:

Press
… Daily Nation  fax: 00 254 2 21 39 46
… Sunday Newspaper fax: 00 254 2 21 40 48
… People Daily  fax: 00 254 2 22 33 44
… International Press: fax 00 254 2 21 07 54
… KTN (Broadcasting Line): 00 254 2 21 44 67

Law Society of Kenya fax: 00 254 2 22 39 97



  GREEN BELT MOVEMENT
PO Box 67545
Nairobi
Kenya
Tel: 00 254 2 603 867
Fax: 00 254 504 264


PRESS RELEASE

KENYAN ECOLOGIST BEATEN AS SHE ATTEMPTS TO
PLANT TREES DATE: FRIDAY JANUARY 8TH 08:43:48
CST 1999-01-09



NAIROBI, Jan 8 (AFP) - Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai
suffered serious head injuries when security guards beat her as
well as supporters and journalists when they arrived at Nairobi
forest to plant trees, her office said.

Maathai, the Green Belt Movement Coordinator, was
hospitalised after being hit on the head with a truncheon as
the guards, hired  by unidentified real estate developers, charged
at the group.

One foreign journalist was hit on the hand with a club, and a car
belonging to another reporter was damaged by the guards, some
of whom were armed with stones and bows and arrows.

Real estate developers are encroaching on Karura forest, on the
northern outskirts of the Kenyan capital, and Maathai has
vowed to fight corrupt developers by tirelessly replanting trees.

The destruction of the forest has provoked widespread
condemnation and generated debate on the government's
habit of quietly allocating prime land to key supporters
at little or no cost.

Last month some 50 riot police confronted Maathai and
supporters as they arrived at the 1,000 hectare (2,500 acre)
eucalyptus and cypress forest.

The forest nestles amid some of the Kenyan capital's most
affluent suburbs, and just beside the headquarters of the UN
Environmental Protection Agency (UNEP).

Swathes were quietly cut through the forest earlier this year,
with the public learning of the destruction only when ecologists
descended on it in October and set fire to the developer's
equipment.

Work stopped, and the Green Belt movement planted 15,000
saplings, aided by youngsters from a neighbouring shanty town.

*************************************
*********************************

Secretariat of Diverse Women for Diversity
Email: vshiva@...

* * * * * * *

Listserver of Diverse Women for Diversity:
Emainl:  beb@...

**********************************

Couldn't have put it better myself Denise!

Amanda

This story gets wide publication in the U$ because of the implied
difficulty of men acquiring women-as-desirable-commodities.

But the same kind of commodification-think surely implies that China will
return to matriarchy !!

Cheers

MichaelP

=================================
Friday January 8 4:28 AM ET

Report: China Male-Female Ratio Up

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - The lopsided male-female ratio in China is
worsening, pushed up to 120 men for every 100 women partly by the official
one-child policy, a government newspaper says.

The report Thursday by the Shanghai Express newspaper on statistics from
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences did not give an official
explanation for the disparity, but cited unnamed experts who blamed it in
part on attitudes that value boys over girls.

"This kind of imbalance also surely has something to do with the family
planning policy," the newspaper said.

Foreign groups blame the one-child policy for encouraging couples who want
sons to abort female fetuses or kill baby girls. The resulting shortage of
women has meant that tens of millions of men remain unmarried and
childless.

On average in the rest of the world, 106 baby boys are born for every 100
girls, but more boys die in childhood and the numbers tend to even out by
adulthood.

China has enforced the one-child limit since the early 1980s to slow the
growth of its population of 1.2 billion. But the number of people is still
expanding by 14 million people a year and is not expected to stop growing
until the mid-21st century.
_________________________________________________________________

** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes. **

By Edward Ameyibor

    KUMASI, Ghana, Jan 3 (IPS) - For 300 years, the weaving of kente - the
    rich, multi-coloured national cloth of Ghana - has been the preserve
    of men.

    In the village of Bonwire, 15 miles from the Ashanti regional capital
    of Kumasi in Central Ghana, the majestic cloth was woven only by men,
    because it was believed that the ''brain power'' needed for the design
    and the labour involved was beyond a woman's capabilities.

    Adages were created also to frighten women. For example, according to
    one saying, ''any woman who attempts to weave kente will die a strange
    and painful death, or become barren forever''.

    Women have moved into the trade, but fighting tradition has been a
    long, hard struggle. Four years ago, the women's forum of the Centre
    for the Development of People (CEDEP) in Kumasi broke into the kente
    trade. The December 31st Women's Movement, led by Ghana's First Lady,
    Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, also opened a centre for women to
    venture into the kente industry.

    The women's groups however, had to exert a great deal of pressure and
    mount educational campaigns to get the traditional authorities to
    relent and allow women to weave and market kente.

    In the kente-weaving village of Bonwire, women had a tough time
    breaking down the barriers. To pave the way, the traditional
    authorities were finally persuaded and poured a libation to ask the
    ancestors' permission "to allow their daughters to join the trade
    which they had bequeathed to the town".

    Last year, 10 women became a part of what was known as the Bonwire
    Women's Kente Project. Only three however, have survived. The men,
    despite the homage paid to the ancestors by the elders, taunted the
    women, and the slightest ailment the women complained of was traced to
    their being in the wrong trade and disobeying the wish of the gods.

    Kwaku Osei, employed by the CEDEP to train women in the art of weaving
    kente, said women have taken longer to pick up the technique, but not
    because of their intellect.

    At the moment, women take about a day to complete a strip of kente,
    while the men take about four hours. ''They take five to six days to
    weave a whole 12 yards, while the men do it in two days,'' Osei
    explained. ''The men are more experienced and with time, the women
    will catch up.''

    In the past, men claimed that the intricate kente designs were
    communicated to them by the ancestors, as a ruse to keep from teaching
    others. Now, they marvel at the designs created by the women who have
    quickly matched the men's design skills.

    Until Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah appeared at the United
    Nations in 1957 dressed in a splendid multi-coloured kente, the cloth
    was relatively unknown. He donated a piece to the world body, where it
    adorned the lobby of the General Assembly until it became torn and was
    replaced by the Ghanaian government.

    Kente cloth was originally linked only to Ghana, but now other West
    African countries like Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Niger and Togo, claim
    the cloth as theirs. Textile factories in these countries, and in
    China and Indonesia, are printing the design on cotton prints and
    selling them in West Africa at cheap prices.

    J.K. Yeboah, a Ghanaian lawyer, said that Ghana's kente weavers should
    patent their designs, since foreigners who have entered the trade are
    using Ghanaian traditional designs to produce cheaply to capture the
    West African market.

    "This is why patenting has become important and we need to educate
    our people about it and get them to register designs," said an
    official of the Copyright Society of Ghana. "The old designs have
    become part of folklore. Nobody can claim them, but the future ones,
    maybe something can be done."

    Kente is exported to the United States, Europe and now South Africa.
    Ghanaian women also have broken into handicrafts, especially the
    carving of traditional stools, drums and masks. Eugenia Asabea, 27, is
    known as the 'First Lady' at the carvers export village in Aburi on
    the Akwapim Hills, north of Accra.

    "Don't get confused. She is not the wife of a head of state,"
    Christian Sackey, an organiser at the village said. "She is the first
    woman to go through an apprenticeship as a carver and is on her own".

    Asabea is a member of the co-operative producing masks, drums and
    stools for export. "At first the men, and my fellow women, advised me
    to go and learn sewing or hair dressing. But I persisted and I am now
    very happy", she said. (END/IPS/ea/pm/98)
** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes. **

Jan Strout wrote:
>
> Just what we need when our bureaucracy seems too much?!  Have fun
>
> lots of love and sisterhood,    jan
>
> FEUDALISM: You have two cows. Your lord takes
> some of the milk.
>
> PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in
> a barn with everyone else's cows.  You have to take care of all the cows. The
> government gives you as much milk as you need.
>
> BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts
> them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken
> farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the
> chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and as many eggs as the
> regulations say you should need.
>
> FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care
> of them, and sells you the milk.
>
> PURE COMMUNISM: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of
> them, and you all share the milk.
>
> RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the
> government takes all the milk.
>
> DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots
> you.
>
> SINGAPOREAN DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. The government fines you for
> keeping two unlicensed farm animals in an apartment.
>
> MILITARIANISM: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts
> you.
>
> PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the
> milk.
>
> REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to
> tell you who gets the milk.
>
> AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: The government promises to give you two cows if you vote
> for it. After the election, the president is impeached for speculating in cow
> futures. The press dubs the affair "Cowgate".
>
> BRITISH DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. You feed them sheeps' brains and they
> go mad. The government doesn't do anything.
>
> BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you
> can feed them and when you can milk them.  Then it pays you not to milk them.
> After that it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down
> the drain.  Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing
> cows..
>
> ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your
> neighbors try to kill you and take the cows.
>
> CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
>
>  
> HONG KONG CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell three of them to your
> publicly - listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother -
> in - law at the bank, then execute a debt / equity swap with associated
general
> offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax deduction for keeping
five
> cows.  The milk rights of six cows are transferred via a Panamanian
intermediary
> to a Cayman Islands company secretly owned by the majority shareholder, who
> sells the rights to all seven cows' milk back to the listed company.  The
annual
> report says that the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
> Meanwhile, you kill the two cows because the fung shiu is bad.
>
> ENVIRONMENTALISM: You have two cows. The government bans you from milking or
> killing them.
>
> FEMINISM: You have two cows. They get married and adopt a veal calf.
>
> TOTALITARIANISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they
> ever existed. Milk is banned.
>
> COUNTER CULTURE: Wow, dude, there's like... these two cows, man.
> You got to have some of this milk.
>
> SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take
> harmonica lessons.
> LIBERTARIANISM: You have two cows. One has actually read the constitution,
> believes in it, and has some really good ideas about government.  The cow runs
> for office, and while most people agree that the cow is the best candidate,
> nobody except the other cow votes for her because they think it would be
> "throwing their vote away."
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> </HTML>