Jack Houghton of the Daily Telegraph writes:
Sexist police and judges are to blame for a sharp rise in women being arrested and sentenced for violent crimes.
Sydney University associate professor Dr Rita Shackel and Anna Kerr, principal solicitor at the Feminist Legal Clinic argued in a law journal article “the police and judiciary would appear to be delivering equality with a vengeance”.
The pair said that the number of women being arrested for domestic violence offences was increasing five times faster than male figures, blaming the increase on “pervasive systemic gender bias.”
Category: Inequity
Equality with a Vengeance
Anna Kerr and Dr Rita Shackel for Precedent magazine write:
The increased incarceration of women for violence-related offences in some Australian and overseas jurisdictions points to pervasive system gender bias and discrimination in the criminal justice process. Emerging anecedotal and recent research and court-related date are disturbing and suggest that women’s fundamental human rights and freedoms are under attack.
Equality with a Vengeance
Why Serena Williams was completely right
Tom Heenan at The New Daily writes:
Serena Williams was right.
She was far better behaved than many of her male counterparts in Sunday’s (AEST) US Open final against Naomi Osaka, yet paid a far greater price for challenging umpire Carlos Ramos.
And in doing so, Williams showed that women get a rougher deal than men on the tennis court.
The 23-time grand slam singles winner is no on-court angel, but she is no John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors or Ilie Nastase. She’s not even an Andy Murray or a Nick Kyrgios. And she’s certainly not a cheat.
Her ‘run-in’ with Ramos was the perfect example of the double standards between men’s and women’s tennis.
USTA president Katrina Adams told ESPN: “We have to have consistency, because when you look at what the women, in this case Serena, is feeling, we watch the guys do this all the time.
“They are badgering the chair umpires on the changeover. Nothing happens.”
The Women’s Tennis Association [WTA] has also declared its commitment to ensuring that “all players were treated the same”, regardless of gender. This was not the case in the women’s final, the WTA added.
Sure, Williams was angry and the incident did not look good.
But the double standards in tennis are staring us all in the face. And on that, Williams was completely right.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/sport/tennis/2018/09/10/serena-williams-completely-right/?
Are algorithms racist and sexist?
jimmyaajablog writes:
Artificial intelligence has recently been criticized for amplifying sexist and racist biases from the real world – these algorithms discriminate and go beyond the line, so we need to be able to hold those who create them to account.
I recently Googled ‘unprofessional hairstyles’ and was shocked by the results of how Google’s top searches were pictures of black women with natural hair. Then, when I searched ‘professional hairstyles’, the results were of white women.
The world-web doesn’t seem to reflect and consider that most of the global population is non-white. Our algorithms seem to consider the white race and white beauty standards as superior and they dominate our search results.
A computer program used by a US court for risk assessment was biased against black prisoners. The program, Compas, was wrongly flagging black defendants as likely to reoffend at almost twice the rate of white people (45% to 24%).
A 2016 study found that Google’s online advertising system showed high-income jobs to men much more often than women.
The National Bureau of Economic Research . . . found that Uber drivers are twice as likely to cancel on black customers. Black customers wait “significantly longer” for their Ubers and experience double the cancellation rates of white passenger .
If organisation’s don’t get rid of it, we will be relying on biased algorithms that create a feedback loop in which decisions are made that create more biased data, that algorithms will then analyse and use in the future, perpetuating and furthering the bias.
https://jimmyaajablog.wordpress.com/2018/08/29/are-algorithms-racist-and-sexist/
The awards for the most sexist remarks of the year are in
Women’s Agenda reports:
[T]here were plenty of sexist comments and actions to be shared from the past year, with 234 nominations in total.
Ernies founder Dr Meredith Burgmann (pictured) described it as a particularly “gruesome year” with numerous high standard entries.
There was also an “avalanche” of late nominations for the entire Liberal Party Room, for giving just 11 votes to its most popular candidate for leader.
Below are the ‘winners’ of the Ernie Awards.
Gold Ernie
Cricket Australia for sacking a female employee, Angela Williamson after she campaigned for abortion reform on social media.
Political Silver Ernie
Barnaby Joyce – referring to his daughters during the Equal Marriage campaign, “We know that the best protection for those girls is that they get themselves into a secure relationship with a loving husband, and I want that to happen.”
Media Silver Ernie
Tim Blair – “February 11: International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Frankly, wasn’t it better when they used rabbits.”
Celebrity Silver Ernie
Don Burke who used his self-diagnosed Asperger’s syndrome to excuse sexual harassment charges against him.
Sport Silver Ernie (The Warney)
Cricket Australia for sacking a female employee, Angela Williamson after she campaigned for abortion reform on social media.
Judicial Silver Ernie
Magistrate Michael Barko who described a domestic assault charge as “a lower-end allegation that happens in every second house” and accused the woman of “slapping the court in the face” for failing to turn up.
Industrial Silver Ernie – dead heat between
Coopers Hotel Newtown for posting on social media “Keep calm and slap a bitch as we approach the finals of this year’s NRL!”
Sky News The Outsiders program – After criticism of the sexist attack on Sarah Hanson-Young, they sacked the junior woman producer who wrote the strapline, the only woman working on the show.
The Elaine (for remarks least helpful to the Sisterhood)
Minister Michaelia Cash – “If you want to start discussing staff matters, be very, very careful. Because I’m happy to sit here and name every young woman in Mr Shorten’s office over which rumours in this place abound. ”
The Good Ernie (For Boys Behaving Better)
Former Sydney Swans player, Brandon Jack – “The following statement is true: rape culture is real. If you roll your eyes at these words, dismissing the idea as an overreaction by hypersensitive feminists, then you are part of the problem. This is something we can no longer hide from – so please, don’t weep for your toxic masculinity.”
The Trump (for repeat offender)
Tony Abbott (again)
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/ernie-awards-winners-2018-sexism/
My wife works but she’s a great mother: Peter Dutton’s au pair comments so wrong
Angela Priestly for Women’s Agenda writes:
[W]e couldn’t help but gasp at comments shared yesterday by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.
Here’s what he had to say while talking to reporters.
“My wife works, but I can tell you she’s a great wife and a great mother. We never had an au pair, she never asked for one. We have never been in a situation to employ an au pair and made an active decision not to.”
The comment is patronising and judgmental, and carries the subtext that women need to ‘ask’ for au pairs, but only if they’re struggling at being a ‘wife’ or a ‘mother’, or are not all that ‘great’ at either or both roles. There are, as my colleague Georgie Dent tweeted last night, just two many shades of wrong to unpack in it.
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/my-wife-works-but-shes-a-great-mother-peter-duttons-au-pair-comments-are-so-wrong/
Family Court expert referred to Medical Council after parents lodge complaints
Emily Clark for ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) reports:
They’ve been described as the “gods of the court” — the report writers whose written assessments can affect the Family Court’s decision on which parent gets custody of their children.
For parents who say the report writer got it wrong, the choice is stark: pursue the legal “fight of your life” to overturn the report or accept losing custody of your kids.
Now, a group of parents has banded together to launch a challenge against one report writer in New South Wales, alleging his practices “place the public at risk”.
The group has accused him of a string of failures including “grossly inaccurate and incomplete” recording of interviews, “misdiagnosis”, and that he “applies unscientific theory”, particularly in response to allegations of child abuse and family violence.
Their campaign has resulted in the alleged problem practitioner being referred to the Medical Council of New South Wales, a body that has the ability to suspend the practitioner’s registration if it believes the public is at an immediate risk.
The group of parents hope their action will bring renewed scrutiny to the regulation of Family Court report writers, who critics say can operate “beyond the rule of law”.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-04/family-report-writer-used-in-court-referred-to-medical-council/10038516?
An inconvenient truth & the solution to 'having it all' we cannot ignore
Georgina Dent from Women’s Agenda writes:
Technology has enabled work to bleed into every waking moment. Progress has meant women are educated and working. House prices and the cost of living render two incomes necessary in many households. These factors have converged but it’s women who are carrying the “mother-load” to make it all work.
The global average is that women do three times more caring on a daily basis than men do. In some areas of the world Barker says it’s as high as six times as much while in others it’s closer to two times as much but it’s not equal anywhere.
There are only so many hours in the day and if the load isn’t shared women will break under the pressure. The reality is that if men did as much as women on the home front life would be infinitely easier for women. Sharing it all would make ‘having it all’ almost a cinch.
https://womensagenda.com.au/uncategorised/an-inconvenient-truth-the-solution-to-having-it-all-we-cannot-igno/
“How To Win A Grassroots Media Rebellion“ by Caitlin Johnstone
“The US political system is only there to give Americans the entirely illusory impression that they live in a democracy. It’s like the Wii remote with no batteries kids give their baby brother so he’ll stop whining that he wants to play.”
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/check-out-my-presentation-how-to-win-a-grassroots-media-rebellion-at-the-ron-paul-institute-6ea5e7ea985d https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1035160338176475137
The Parent Gift Gap: Spending more on Father's Day than Mother's Day
Angela Priestley for Women’s Agenda writes:
Research out today from the Commonwealth Bank reveals that its customers spent 15% more in the lead up to Father’s Day in 2017 than they did in the lead up to Mother’s Day.
Doesn’t really seem all that fair, given mothers already face their own gender pay gap.
One factor, as evidenced by the Commonwealth customer spending data, is a rise in spending on tech and gadgets for fathers.
Another factor, that wasn’t shared in the CBA report, could be that mothers are increasingly caring less about Mother’s Day and the commercial push to spend and give that comes with it.
They might just be over it.
As Jane Caro recently wrote on Women’s Agenda: “Mothers are among the most discriminated against people on the planet. They work harder, for longer, often in under-valued caring professions where employment is becoming more precarious, but for less pay.”
Making mothers feels special on one day a year is not going to make up for that.
Then there’s the 765,000 Australian families headed by single parents, the majority of whom are female, and the fact they’re often excluded from being celebrated on Mother’s Day
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/the-parent-gift-gap-spending-more-on-fathers-day-than-mothers-day/
