Stories about Women & Gender from January, 2012
Lebanon: Her Veil
“And when I made up my mind and ran to my mom screaming ”baddi it7ajab” [I want to wear the veil] she looked at me and said if you wear it now will you ever take it off ? I paused and asked her ”Are you ever going to take...
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Don't Blame the Women
“Every now and again politicians make comments that are mind numbingly stupid”: Abeni calls out St. Vincent's deputy Prime Minister for her plea to “Vincentian females not to dress in a manner that tempts men.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Joy in the Ordinary
West Indian Mother is combating indifference with a sense of wonder.
China: Prostituting to Defend Sex Workers’ Rights
After witnessing a police raid on a low-end brothel, one feminist activist has offered pro bono sex services in support of her sisters, using the experience also to make a statement about their equally impoverished clients.
Cuba: Prison Conditions
Pedazos de la Isla posts a letter by dissident Ivonne Malleza who, along with her husband and another citizen, have been imprisoned for over a month, ever since being arrested during a protest.
Trinidad & Tobago: Myomectomy, Explained
“Make a child and the cramps could get better. Could. If that was the sort of reason people were having children for then no wonder the country’s in such a state of hot messiness”: Suszanna.com shares her reasons for choosing to have a myomectomy.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Time for a Slutwalk?
CODE RED calls the comments of the deputy Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines “particularly dangerous in the context of such high levels of violence against women and murders of women…for the millionth time, clothing does not invite nor excuse violence against women.”
Guyana: All Kinds of Cowards
“I’s afflicted with the kinda cringing-minging-tiptoeing timidity that people don’t take seriously”: Guyana-Gyal “decide[s] to embrace [her] Inner Coward.”
Bahamas: Majority Rule
Blogworld is celebrating Majority Rule Day, “a day that made it possible for [her] father, mother…uncles and aunts to hold the positions they held in the late twentieth century, and for which basic freedoms our forefathers fought.”
Libya: A Letter from a Woman in Benghazi
A Libyan woman from Benghazi is criticizing her countrymen for marrying non-Libyans after the revolution. She states that Libyan women are not getting rights equal to those granted to men in an open letter posted on Facebook. Mohamed ElGohary provides a translation from Arabic.
Cuba: The Blogger Behind “Sin Evasion”
At Havana Times, Yusimi Rodriguez posts an interview with blogger Miriam Celaya, “to learn about her life, her ideas and how much of a mercenary, cyber-terrorist and pro-imperialist she really is.”
Philippines: Filipina Amazons
Vina Lanzona's new history book, Amazons of the Huk Rebellion, tells the many stories of Filipina women involved in the Huk Rebellion from the 1940s up to the 1950s. This is reviewed online at The PCIJ Blog.
Cuba: Reports of Repression
babalu reports on “another wave of repression against the island's peaceful human rights activists” here and here.
Libya 2011: A Seminal Year Through Citizen Media
Libya grabbed the headlines in 2011. Here is a summary of blog posts written by Libyan netizens in the year that was. Fozia Mohamed charts their disgust, fear, hope and dreams in a series of posts written throughout the year.
Lebanon: Nasawiya Call to March Against Rape Laws
Nasawiya, an initiative committed to gender justice and equality in Lebanon, is calling upon netizens to mobilise the “masses to join the march against Lebanon’s backwards rape laws on January 14 at 12pm from Ministry of Interior in Sanayeh.” “Please help us spread the word by blogging about the demo...
Bahamas: Storytelling
A Global Voices post gets Womanish Words “thinking about stories, how powerful they are, how the act of telling them is also incredibly powerful.”
Jamaica: Portia in Power
Jamaica Salt says of the outcome of the recent national elections: “It’s not surprising she won after the debacle of the one term Bruce Golding JLP government”, while B.C. Pires quips that God is the new Jamaican Prime Minister.
Brazil: Domestic Work in Transition
Brazilian society is seeing a transition in domestic work, a type of employment that is deeply connected to issues such as social inclusion, bad work conditions, social hierarchies, gender inequalities and empowerment. Catch a glimpse of this debate.
Bolivia: Women Weaving Hope in El Alto
In Americas Quarterly [es], blogger Cecilia Lanza praises the artisan women of El Alto who have created their own workshops and small businesses.
Cuba: Protest & Confrontation
Pedazos de La Isla reports on a New Year's Day protest by Cuban dissidents and the response by the authorities.
Cuba: Adios, 2011
Generation Y explains why she's relieved to see the end of 2011.
