Category: Inequity

The fraught quest to account for sex in biology research

As more and more women entered the research arena in the mid- to late twentieth century, some of them began to notice that many clinical studies neglected to include two sexes.

The dearth of female participants resulted in part from a reaction to a tragedy: the use of a sedative called thalidomide during pregnancy had been found to cause congenital anomalies. One upshot was that in 1977 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that almost all women who could become pregnant be excluded from early-phase clinical trials — those that test the safety and efficacy of therapies in healthy volunteers. A policy meant to protect women ended up leaving a vacuum of information on how drugs affect them.

It began to dawn on researchers and funders that excluding a large proportion of the population from these studies or blending the sexes for analyses would have clinical consequences. In response, in 1990, the NIH established the ORWH, and three years later began requiring that women be included in clinical research.

When women are included in trials, it is often in proportions that do not tally with the real-life prevalence of certain diseases in that group. A 2020 review published by Clayton and her colleagues found that of the 11 disease categories the authors analysed from 2014 to 2018, women were under-represented in 7, including liver and kidney diseases9.

Despite the bumpy ride, the federal guidelines that were put into place in the early 1990s have led to some important medical discoveries, perhaps a signal that key revelations could emerge from basic research in a few years.

For instance, there are sex-based differences in the heart’s electrical response to several classes of drug, including antidepressants and antibiotics. As a result, sex-based dose adjustments are now recommended for some drugs2.

Source: The fraught quest to account for sex in biology research

NRLW 2022: Caitlin Moran punishment lashed by RLPA

Newcastle NRLW player Moran caused a stir over online comments she posted about following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Despite taking down the post, the NRL announced a proposed sanction of a one-match suspension and a suspended fine equating to 25 per cent of her salary.

Knights coach Ronald Griffiths came to the fullback’s defence, telling AAP: “The relationship between Indigenous people and the monarchy is a complicated one.”

“The RLPA believes a fine equivalent to 25 per cent of Caitlin’s salary, although suspended, is far too severe. Caitlin’s proposed financial punishment is another example of the inconsistent and disproportionate penalties handed down to players.

Source: NRLW 2022: Caitlin Moran punishment lashed by RLPA

The Difference Between Male Criminality, Female Criminality: NZ Over-Incarceration of Women – Women Are Human

NZ | Aotearoa: Over-incarceration of women – 6.25% average not as bad as 7.25% female imprisonment rate of Australia but still 2/3s higher than UK at ~4%.

That sex-differential in the makeup of prison population is not only a numerical difference in prison populations of a historically and globally consistent 5% | 95%. That sex-differential must include the understanding that male criminality is predominately violent offending and female ‘criminality’ is primarily economic and often consequent to male violence committed against them, which means that the female prison population is more seriously offended against than offending.
In New Zealand / Aotearoa, the Department of Corrections within the Ministry of Justice records the prison population data (latest release March 2022). Figure 1 shows that, while the New Zealand female prison population average of 6.25% is lower than the 7.25% of the Australian penal system [LINK], it is considerably higher than the 4% of that of the prison system of England and Wales.
While the original stimulus for (27 Aug 2022) Australia: Over-Incarceration of Women confirmed – comparison of detailed Govt Statistics [LINK] was the 2018 academic paper “the over-incarceration of women” in Australia by Anna Kerr (Principal Solicitor at the Feminist Legal Clinic NSW) & Professor Rita Shackel (University of Sydney Law School), it seemed a pity not to take in the relatively simple ‘spreados’ (Excel spreadsheets) of the Department of Corrections within the NZ | Aotearoa Ministry of Justice too.
[W]hen anyone thinks about biological sex, they default to a 50:50 position unless it is made explicit that 50:50 does not apply, which it definitely doesn’t in the 5% : 95% ‘rule of thumb’/ default we should be using for prison population.
Thus, lawyers, advocates & campaigning organisations have to work against the fact that unwittingly undoubtedly conscientious statisticians, defying all mathematical reason have male norm-referenced the immediately accessible statistics such that they reflect male ‘criminality’ and conceal the very different female ‘criminality’. Indeed, male ‘criminality’ and female ‘criminality’ are so different that they almost need a completely different word to describe them.
There is a constant need for all commentators such as Kerr and Shackel (July/Aug 2018) to reiterate that “Prison populations have always reflected an unpleasant truth – that men commit the overwhelming majority of crime,” because it is the one over-arching reality that statisticians of the Anglophone nations leave out.

Source: The Difference Between Male Criminality, Female Criminality: NZ Over-Incarceration of Women – Women Are Human

Reimagining the systems of incarceration and punishment. — WESNET

The number of women being incarcerated in Australia has been exponentially increasing in the last decade, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women accounting for much of the growth.

Consider this, between 2009 and 2019, there was a 64% increase in women’s incarceration compared to a 45% increase in men’s incarceration. And even during the lockdowns, back in 2020 and 2021, there was a 5% increase in the female population, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women comprising 10% of the total female prison population.

Moreover, evidence suggests that an overwhelming majority of women in prison are victims of domestic violence, with 70-90% of them experiencing some kind of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse as children or adults.

We talked with Debbie Kilroy, OAM, abolition activist, lawyer, and CEO of Sisters Inside, about the importance of including lived experience perspectives and voices – especially in any work related to the criminalised community; how the criminalised community is being actively discriminated against when advocating for their rights; how the intersecting oppressions feeds the incarceration cycle of women and how the women’s specialist services could do more. And lastly, Debbie invites us all in reimagining the carceral system of punishment and incarceration and advocate for a future focused on healing and love instead.

 

Source: Reimagining the systems of incarceration and punishment. — WESNET

New exhibition explores what mops, vacuums and snakes and ladders have to do with the value we place on motherhood – ABC News

Vee Malnar’s Canberra exhibition The Mother Expectation features overlooked household items, drawing parallels between the similarly unsung duties and expectations of motherhood.

Artist Vee Malnar jokes that she has created the world’s first portrait of a vacuum and a mop.

“I saw a mop, and I thought ‘Isn’t that beautiful?’,” Malnar said.

“Because I realised that domestic objects haven’t been given the same status as a grand piano or crystal glass — and that’s often the way that people have status.”

She added that household items, which had traditionally been associated with so-called ‘women’s work’, were overlooked and undervalued.

One of Malnar’s paintings, titled Women in a Wash Basket, seeks to tackle that complex decision.

“She is a young woman, and she was contemplating whether or not to become a mother,” Malnar said.

Maternal scholar Dr Joan Garvan said Malnar’s exhibition had helped to lift private and gendered experiences in the home into a public space, encouraging discussion.

Source: New exhibition explores what mops, vacuums and snakes and ladders have to do with the value we place on motherhood – ABC News

Dual Olympian Deborah Lovely-Acason says Q+A trans episode lacked balance

The ABC was forced to hurriedly adjust its line-up of guests on last Thursday’s Q+A discussion on transgender athletes in sport, after a dual Olympian contacted the broadcaster to alert it to the lack of diversity on the panel.

Queensland weightlifter Deborah Lovely-Acason, who is a dual Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, said she was made aware last Tuesday the upcoming Q+A episode would be discussing transgender athletes participating in sport, but not a single female athlete was slated to appear on the program.

Source: Dual Olympian Deborah Lovely-Acason says Q+A trans episode lacked balance

Yes, the gender pay gap is real, and probably worse than you think

It’s an attempt to quantify the phenomenon that when women get out of bed in the morning, put on their suit (or scrubs or high-vis vest) and go to perform their full-time job – they bring home less money for the work that they do. About 14 per cent less, as it turns out.

Part of the reason is that women tend to work in industries which pay below-average wages, including aged and child care. In its issues paper for this week’s Jobs and Skills Summit, Treasury estimates that: “Industrial and occupational segregation explains around a quarter of the pay gap among full-time workers.”

It’s also true that when women go off to work, they are less likely than men to be employed in senior positions. He’s the CEO and she’s the secretary (although it’s worth noting the pay gap as calculated by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency excludes some positions deemed as “junior”).

Quite why traditionally female work is so undervalued by society and why women fail to progress up the career ladder are worthy questions in themselves and something the gender pay gap helps to highlight.

But even after taking into account these compositional effects from industry segregation and seniority, researchers keep striking upon a stubborn bedrock of pay difference which is harder to explain away.

So far, I have only been discussing the pay disparity between male and female workers who work full-time.

This overlooks the important fact that women also tend to cluster in part-time work, largely due to those caring and other home responsibilities. Indeed, women are twice as likely as men to work part-time.

So, when you measure the total returns to employment across all employees – full and part-time – the gender pay gap blows out to about 30 per cent.

The ability to generate an income – an ability eroded by time spent out of the workforce – is a key factor in not only women but anyone’s ability to live independent lives, to leave unsuitable jobs or relationships where necessary.

Source: Yes, the gender pay gap is real, and probably worse than you think

A-G: ‘I will do what I can to ensure that funding goes where it is intended’ – Lawyers Weekly

n a recent address, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus promised to ensure integrity in the courts and family law system, as well as make sure “women in crisis get the support that they need” moving forward.

“A key part of our government’s vision for a better future was returning to the principles of transparency and integrity. We are already acting to restore integrity in the judicial appointments process, with a return to a transparent, merit-based process,” he said.

“I am also a longstanding supporter of a federal judicial commission to deal with complaints against serving judges. The recent report of the Australian Law Reform Commission on judicial bias endorsed the need for a judicial commission. And we will be legislating this year a powerful, independent and transparent National Anti-Corruption Commission.”

The Attorney-General also addressed the issue of funding for Women’s Legal Services falling short — as only a fraction of the $129 million funding for Women’s Legal Services announced by the previous government in last year’s budget went to Women’s Legal Services.

Moreover, the Attorney-General promised that a comprehensive review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership will commence early next year to ensure the legal assistance sector is equipped to deal with future challenges.

Source: A-G: ‘I will do what I can to ensure that funding goes where it is intended’ – Lawyers Weekly

‘Unfair’: Stage three tax cuts for highest income earners to give men double the amount as women

Costings by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office for the Greens show the tax cuts – which would provide major income tax relief to high-income earners and are supported by both Labor and the Coalition – will cost $243 billion by 2032-33.

Men will get $160.6 billion of that money, while $82.9 billion will go to women, according to the new analysis. This is because men are typically paid higher than women, and comes amid growing concern that the gender pay gap has stagnated.

 

Source: ‘Unfair’: Stage three tax cuts for highest income earners to give men double the amount as women

The ‘Peach Dad’ meme that’s dividing the internet.

Mary Catherine Starr is an artist, mother and yoga teacher. She has built a following of over 225,000 people on Instagram through comic-book style illustrations that depict married life and motherhood.

Last week however, Starr began receiving abuse and death threats after some of her comics found a new audience on Twitter.

Many of her pretty illustrations have been widely shared on all corners of the internet and according to the Know Your Meme website, her most popular post to date from January 2022 depicts a dad buying fast food and being labelled as a ‘fun dad’, versus a mum labelled as a ‘lazy mum’.

Source: The ‘Peach Dad’ meme that’s dividing the internet.