All the reasons why women can be the future of cryptocurrency

The future (of cryptocurrency) is female.

The majority of the (admittedly volatile) gains realized by bitcoin and crypto cousins like Ethereum this year however, have gone straight into the pockets of men. Estimates of the number of women investors and users of cryptocurrency vary, but most peg female participation at between 1% to 5%. “It’s tied to the larger issue of there being few women in tech and finance generally. Given that cryptocurrency sits at the intersection, this is exacerbated”.

“The bitcoin industry has been punished for the lack of women,” says Perianne Boring, founder of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a D.C.-based trade association for the blockchain industry. “Women are naturally better communicators and on a mass scale, people don’t understand what Bitcoin is. The perception is skewed and it won’t be accepted as a legitimate technology unless we find a way to get this imbalance sorted.”

https://moneyish.com/ish/all-the-reasons-why-women-can-be-the-future-of-cryptocurrency/

Silicon Valley hasn’t always been bro central—women pioneered tech too

The heart of America’s multi-trillion tech industry has occasionally seemed like Ground Zero when it comes to (mis)treatment of women. There were the shenanigans at Uber that forced out its hard charging CEO and allegations of harassment made against top venture capitalists; even seemingly innocuous TripAdvisor has come under fire for censoring reviews by survivors of sexual assault.

In this climate comes “Troublemakers,” a history of Silicon Valley in the 1970s from Stanford University historian Leslie Berlin. Out Tuesday, the book tells the story of seven individuals who embodied the Valley’s ethos when the likes of Apple and Microsoft were in their infancy. Among them are two women: Sandra Kurtzig, the first female to take a tech company public, and Fawn Alvarez, who went from factory worker to chief of staff at a ROLM, once a major telecoms company. “Women have been here pioneering alongside men all along,” Berlin tells Moneyish. “Women have had to be as good, while also contending with a lot of issues that men didn’t need to.”

https://moneyish.com/ish/silicon-valley-hasnt-always-been-bro-central-women-pioneered-tech-too/

Three Miss America officials resign after leaked emails reveal abuse of winners

Three leading figures in the Miss America Organization have resigned after leaked emails revealed how pageant officials ridiculed winners for their appearance, intellect and sex lives.

In late August 2014, the CEO of the Miss America Organization, Sam Haskell, sent an email to the lead writer of the Miss America pageant telecast, Lewis Friedman, informing him of a change he wanted to make in the script: “I have decided that when referring to a woman who was once Miss America, we are no longer going to call them Forever Miss Americas….please change all script copy to reflect that they are Former Miss Americas!”

Friedman replied, “I’d already changed “Forevers” to “Cunts.” Does that work for you?”

Haskell’s short reply came quickly: “Perfect…bahahaha.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/24/three-miss-america-officials-resign-over-abuse-of-pageant-winners?

Progressive ad – Stop the harassment and threats against Radical Feminists

Radical feminists have been an essential part of the broader progressive movement for social justice from the Second Wave of feminism in the 1960s through the present. Radical feminism puts front and center the question of female liberation, i.e., how to end female oppression and subordination by a patriarchal society, therefore raising important issues for the left.

We are therefore disturbed by recent demonization, intimidation, and threats of violence against radical and lesbian feminists by certain segments of the transgender community and their supporters who have attempted to silence feminist voices and have had a chilling effect on the ability to engage in open discussion and debate on complex issues of sex, gender, and sexuality, a debate that is sorely needed in order to build an effective and united movement.

http://www.oldandnewproject.net/Essays/Stop%20the%20Harassment%20ad.html

Apparently I’m married to a ‘unicorn husband’, and some people can’t cope

Feminism is about more than enabling women to “do it all”. As Prof. Gillian Triggs, the former Human Rights Commissioner, has recently pointed out, Australia is going backwards on many measures of gender equality, except education. We have the most educated women in the world, who are becoming less and less equal.

Because education doesn’t make it easier to get up in the night to a squalling baby. And education sure as hell doesn’t make 13 loads of laundry go faster. And education doesn’t make the thought labour of running a household easier. The active participation of men can achieve all those things.

https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/im-married-unicorn-husband-people-cant-cope/

About our new Minister for Women, Kelly O’Dwyer

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has appointed Kelly O’Dwyer our new Minister for Women in his latest Cabinet reshuffle.

So can we expect O’Dwyer to do a better job than her predecessor, Senator Michaelia Cash?

The good news is that she is actually a woman. So she looks set to do a better job than Tony Abbott did in the role, prior to Cash.

And we reckon it won’t be hard to top Michaelia Cash’s record on women, given her apparent lack of interest in the portfolio.

In her maiden speech, O’Dwyer spoke about the changing nature of work and the new pressures such change is placing on families, including the difficulties of balancing parenting and careers. She said governments should not discriminate against the differing types of family arrangements and systems of care that are in place, and that businesses should be flexible in accommodating a wide range of employees.

https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/about-our-new-minister-for-women-kelly-odwyer/

Changing the ending of Muriel’s Wedding was a betrayal of its feminist spirit

Marriage was, and still is, for many women, an expected social and legal milestone. For conservatives especially, it’s commonly viewed through the prism of paternalism: something that, in the words of the former prime minister Tony Abbott, “evolved many centuries ago to protect women and children”. Such attitudes are broadly reflected in state reliance on married unions and associated domestic unpaid labour to maintain economic growth, while carrying strong cultural implications. In film, female protagonists are more likely to be in pursuit of relationship goals than career milestones. Reinforced by the rating success of this year’s Bachelorette, the search for a husband is often deemed the loftiest height for women, especially when an audience is watching.

Refusing to capitulate to marriage, as Muriel and Rhonda did, defiantly bucked this trend. In doing so, the film exposed the narrow avenue for fulfilment within a traditionally patriarchal institution. In 1994, Hogan radically repurposed romantic comedy for feminist commentary, apparently supporting whilst actually sabotaging the genre. But now, in 2017, he serves up a moral staler than a wedge of wedding cake under a pillow. The goal is once again coupledom, albeit with your BFF in tow.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/dec/19/changing-the-ending-of-muriels-wedding-was-a-betrayal-of-its-feminist-spirit?

‘Obscenely high’: how family court costs are destroying parents and their children

Norton says as well as the repeated letter-writing, the case also involved multiple court applications and aborted legal mediations – all of which cost to launch and respond to.

It amounted to a form of financial abuse, she feels, and one that was able to happen in the current court system.

“As the family court system falls apart, all of the unethical, unscrupulous, bottom-feeding lawyers converge to extract money from the carnage,” she says.

Sarah Henderson, who sat on a parliamentary inquiry into the family violence and family law, told the ABC on Monday the inquiry found “many people were falling through the cracks”.

“The safety of children and child protection were key issues,” she said. “Some of the key recommendations were that family violence must be determined early in the proceedings. This ensures the right orders are made to protect children and too often that is not happening.”

Henderson said they recommended an initial assessment be made before any custody decisions and that shared equal parental responsibility should be abolished because it was being applied improperly and led to unsafe outcomes.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/20/obscenely-high-how-family-court-costs-are-destroying-parents-and-their-children?

Profession pushes for advancement of women lawyers

The “Gender Equitable Engagement and Instruction Policy” initiative, spearheaded by the New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) and the New Zealand Bar Association (NZBA), aims to have at least 30% of court proceedings, arbitral proceedings, and major regulatory investigations led by women lawyers with relevant expertise by 1 December 2018. The policy has received the support of top firms, and some clients have also come on board.

http://www.nzlawyermagazine.co.nz/news/profession-pushes-for-advancement-of-women-lawyers-244994.aspx

Sexual abuse of children still continuing in institutions, royal commission head warns

The chair of Australia’s child sexual abuse royal commission, Justice Peter McClellan, has delivered his final address before a room of hundreds of survivors and advocates, telling them: “The sexual abuse of children is not just a problem of the past.”

“The failure to protect children has not been limited to institutions providing services to children,” McClellan told attendees. “Some of our most important state instrumentalities have failed. Police often refused to believe children. They refused to investigate their complaints of abuse. Many children who had attempted to escape abuse were returned to unsafe institutions by police.”

The greatest number of abusers worked in Catholic institutions, he said. Power afforded to leaders and the trust placed in them by parents and other staff, and a desire to protect institutional reputations allowed and facilitated the sexual abuse of children. Aggressive lawyers were engaged by institutions to silence them, he said.

After the hearing, Francis Sullivan, head of the Catholic church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council, expressed his disappointment in the Catholic church. No senior church figures attended.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/14/sexual-abuse-of-children-still-continuing-in-institutions-warns-royal-commission-head?