Category: Herstory

Scientists call for convicted baby killer Kathleen Folbigg to be pardoned, released

Ninety medical and scientific experts are pushing for convicted serial killer Kathleen Folbigg to receive a full pardon, arguing she is not responsible for the deaths of her four infant children.
Folbigg is currently behind bars after she was convicted of the murder of three of her children and the manslaughter of another.

Genomic sequencing has found that two of Folbigg’s daughters, Sarah and Laura, had a genetic mutation, said Australian National University’s Carola Vinuesa.
“The team found a novel variant never before reported in a gene known as CALM2, which encodes for calmodulin,” Professor Vinuesa said.
“Calmodulin mutations typically are associated with cardiac arrhythmia that can cause sudden unexpected death in children and adults both while awake and asleep.”

The scientists also found Folbigg’s two boys also had a genetic mutation which has been shown to cause epilepsy in mice.
There was no physical evidence indicating she murdered the babies, but prosecutors pointed to a series of ominous diary entries.

Source: Scientists call for convicted baby killer Kathleen Folbigg to be pardoned, released

Women are (rightly) angry. Now they need a plan

If the lessons of second wave feminism are any guide, Australian women now need to not only get angry, they need to get organised.

In the 1980s, government policy was routinely audited for its impact on women. But in the 1990s, feminist policy “machinery” was steadily dismantled.

Today’s Office for Women has a tiny staff and a low profile. It was not consulted on any of the major COVID-related policy shifts, like JobKeeper or changes to superannuation.

If our parliament is full of men who ignore, belittle and disrespect women, and women who enable these men, it is because we, the voters, have put them there. But we can also vote them out.

A women’s candidate survey, ready to roll out at the next federal election, is just one strategy from the women’s movement of the 1970s that might be worth reviving today. Women need to maintain their rage, but they need to turn it into political action, too.

Source: Women are (rightly) angry. Now they need a plan

An Aboriginal activist and an advocate for migrant women are among the 2021 Australians of the Year

Four women have taken out this year’s awards, with 26-year-old sexual assault survivor and advocate Grace Tame named Australian of the Year.

Source: An Aboriginal activist and an advocate for migrant women are among the 2021 Australians of the Year

Few people knew female birds had unique songs—until women started studying them | Popular Science

For decades, scientists believed that only male birds sang. Then women entered the field and showed what their predecessors had missed.

Source: Few people knew female birds had unique songs—until women started studying them | Popular Science

The History of Women’s Public Toilets in Britain – Historic UK

We take single-sex public toilets for granted today. It is hard to believe that when public conveniences were first constructed, the vast majority of these toilets were just for men.

In Victorian Britain, most public toilets were designed for men. Of course, this affected women’s ability to leave the home, as women who wished to travel had to plan their route to include areas where they could relieve themselves. Thus, women never travelled much further than where family and friends resided. This is often called the ‘urinary leash’, as women could only go so far as their bladders would allow them.

This lack of access to toilets impeded women’s access to public spaces as there were no women’s toilets in the work place or anywhere else in public. This led to the formation of the Ladies Sanitary Association, organised shortly after the creation of the first public flushing toilet. The Association campaigned from the 1850s onwards, through lectures and the distribution of pamphlets on the subject. They succeeded somewhat, as a few women’s toilets opened in Britain.

 

Source: The History of Women’s Public Toilets in Britain – Historic UK

Major new cultural project to honour Scottish women persecuted as witches | The Scotsman

Women persecuted for witchcraft crimes in Scotland hundreds of years ago are set to be honoured in a major new cultural project being developed by two of Scotland’s leading traditional musicians.

Source: Major new cultural project to honour Scottish women persecuted as witches | The Scotsman