Author: fem4admin39
Security Council Briefing on the Visiting Mission to Colombia: Gender-Sensitive Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reintegration in Colombia
The 11-14 July Security Council visiting mission to Colombia co-led by the United Kingdom and Peru. (Photo: United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia @MisionONUCol)
On Friday 19 July 2019, the United Nations Security Council held sessions and closed consultations to report back from the 11-14 July visiting mission to Colombia co-led by Peru and the United Kingdom.
Building on recommendations from meetings in Colombia with women-led civil society, government authorities, and community leaders, the discussion highlighted the importance of holistic and accelerated implementation of the peace agreement and action to address rising violence against human rights defenders and peacebuilders.
With 14 of the 15 Council representatives on the mission being men, if Council Members are to be taken seriously on gender equality, they must also strengthen women’s leadership within their own missions.
Source: https://www.peacewomen.org/node/103614
Implications of sex-change act amendment have not been fully explored
The question for Victorians – and indeed for all Australians, given that half of our states have now introduced this legislation – is what we want the law to protect when it comes to sex.
Despite the fact that this bill changes what it means to be a person of a particular sex in law, and despite the fact that sex is a protected attribute in both the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act and the Australian Sex Discrimination Act, the group that faces the most sex discrimination – namely female people – have not been consulted about the bill, and the implications of the bill on their legal protections, if any, have not been adequately acknowledged or explored.
A Podcast of One’s Own with Julia Gillard on Apple Podcasts
Tasmania’s Upper House on track to pass landmark legislation to make gender optional on birth certificates
- The amendments will make gender optional on birth certificates and allow 16-year-olds to change their registered gender without parental permission
- The bill was introduced by the Liberal Government to ensure state marriage laws were in line with federal marriage laws, but opposition parties added contentious amendments
- The bill will go through a third formal reading in the Upper House before returning to the Lower House for a tick of approval
But the Tasmanian Coalition for Kids expressed “dismay” at changes it described as “radical”.
“Teenagers as young as 16 will be able to change their gender and name without parental consent and without any medical certification,” spokesperson Ben Smith said.
“This step goes well beyond community expectation.”
Mr Smith said the changes had been “rushed” and went against the advice of senior figures including the Solicitor-General and the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
“On top of that the Legislative Council has ignored the will of the 70 per cent plus of the Tasmanian people who we know from publicly released polling are against these changes.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-04/gender-birth-certificate-tasmania-upper-house/10972020
[category Aust, trans]
Australia to refuse visas for domestic violence offenders
Visitors to Australia can be refused entry or kicked out if they have been convicted of domestic violence, under a new federal government directive.
Immigration Minister David Coleman’s decision came into force on Thursday, barring anyone who has committed violence against women or children from the country.
Minister Coleman referred to two cases in particular where the department’s visa decision had been overturned by the tribunal.
“There is a case of a person who was guilty of assaulting his young son, who was denied a visa. The administrative appeals tribunal overturned that.
“There was a case of a person who was applying for a student visa who was guilty of assaulting his wife, who was denied a visa. And the administrative appeals tribunal overruled that.”
Current laws only allow the government to revoke the visas of foreigners who fail a character test or who have spent 12 months in jail.
www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-to-refuse-visas-for-domestic-violence-offenders
[category Aust, domestic violence]
Why some doctors don’t take women’s pain seriously – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
A systematic review in 2018 by Anke Samulowitz was titled “Brave men” and “Emotional women”, confirming that doctors’ perceptions of and interactions with patients were different dependent on their gender.
Men are viewed as stoic and heroically carry on in the face of pain: when a man says that the pain is a problem, he is more likely to be listened to, physically investigated and effectively treated.
Research shows that men are more likely to receive pain relief, whereas women were more likely to be prescribed antidepressants or referred to a mental health service. The “emotional woman” in pain.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-30/why-are-women-in-chronic-pain-given-antidepressants/10945368
[category Aust, inequity]
Call for review of gun licence laws
Australia’s gun laws need an urgent review because rapid-fire weapons like the one used by the alleged Christchurch shooter are legally available to hunters and sport shooters.
Gun Control Australia says the existing firearm categorisation system is outdated and has led to high-powered guns flooding the recreational hunting and sport shooting market.
“These firearms pose a significant risk to community safety as they are capable of causing multiple fatalities within a short period of time,” the lobby group’s president Sam Lee said on Tuesday.
“Most Australians don’t realise that our world-leading gun laws are being strategically dismantled as a result of decades of pressure from the well-funded and powerful gun lobby.”
www.sbs.com.au/news/call-for-review-of-gun-licence-laws
[category global, struggle for peace, violence]
‘Massive implications’: when working families fall off the Hinch Cliff
Families are dropping out of daycare, women are cutting back on work and children are beginning school before they are ready as a result of high income-earning families losing access to childcare subsidies.
Government statistics from Senate estimates show 14,000 children dropped out of childcare in the year between September 2017 and 2018, an unusually big fall that many blame on cuts to subsidies for non-working parents or high-income families.
About 15000 families fell off the so-called “Hinch Cliff”, the $350,000 income point at which parents lose access to any government subsidy. It was named for the independent senator who insisted on the cut-off, Derryn Hinch.
[category Aust, inequity, reproductive rights]
Japan’s #KuToo Wants Jobs to Stop Requiring Women Wear Heels
While #MeToo has taken off in parts of Asia, notably finding its own unique forms in South Korea and China, the movement hasn’t quite had its moment in Japan. But a snowballing #KuToo campaign shows women in the country are pushing back against what they see as major inequality in the workplace. Following the surprise popularity of her comments, Ishikawa launched a petition on change.org calling on the country’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to explicitly forbid employers from requiring women to wear certain types of shoes.
http://time.com/5548873/japan-kutoo-high-heels-metoo/
[category global, inequity, workforce discrimination]