On March 8, 1917 hundreds of thousands of men and women chose IWD to flood the streets of Petrograd, Russia, and demand an end to food rationing, the end of World War I and the end of the Tsarist regime. After eight days of pressure created by this female-led ‘bread and peace’ movement, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated allowing for a provisional government that granted women the right to vote. One hundred years later, this is still considered one of the most significant milestones of IWD history.
http://www.mamamia.com.au/first-international-womens-day/?
Considering that approximately 130 million girls worldwide are not attending primary through upper-secondary school and that women represent nearlytwo-thirds of the world’s illiterate, we must ask: how many other innovations and inventions – great and small – have been lost to the world because so many minds are idle on the sidelines of human progress?
March 8th is International Women’s Day and we’re raising our voices on behalf of young girls around the world. Meet the global team from Endangered Bodies who tell the CEOs of Apple, Google and Amazon why they need to ensure harmful cosmetic surgery games do not target children. Because no nine-year-old should be dreaming of liposuction.
https://www.change.org/p/apple-stop-cosmetic-surgery-apps-aimed-at-kids-surgeryisnotagame-2e366caa-1317-483e-90cb-b3ecf6f8d89e/u/19624202?
Nevertheless, it had been possible in 1944 to bring together 200 women from 90 organisations throughout Australia (despite travel restrictions), including representatives from traditional women’s organisations, feminists, and unions. This conference agreed on an Australian Women’s Charter which called for equality in opportunity, work and pay, better health services, child care, pensions and welfare, and supported the need for better Aboriginal welfare through federal government controls, and land rights for tribal Aborigines.
http://www.isis.aust.com/iwd/stevens/50s60s.htm
The commission released new data on Tuesday showing thousands of people have alleged they were abused as children in government-run institutions.
The figures come as commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan urged state and territory governments to sign up to the $4 billion national redress scheme to support victims of child sexual abuse.
State and territory governments have failed to agree on a nationally consistent scheme to screen and share information about people applying for jobs with children despite making a commitment to do so in 2005, the commission heard.
The founder of child advocacy organisation Bravehearts says the group has been inundated with victims of the Family Court system wanting to tell their stories and join the push for a royal commission into the institution.
The organisation’s mission is to prevent child sexual assault and Hetty Johnston said the court was failing to act on the information put before it by parents trying to protect their children.
She said the first premise upon which judges based decisions was often an archaic, dangerous and wrong presumption that allegations were false.
“This is despite the fact that we know one in five kids are sexually assaulted before they turn 18. But the courts won’t accept it, they see it as one parent trying to get an advantage over the other parent by coaching their children to tell lies.”
THE ABC’s controversial man-ban, that will mean all TV and radio programs will be presented by women for a 24-hour period, has been billed by the broadcaster as an opportunity to “celebrate the achievements” of its female talent.
Meanwhile the ABC’s youth radio network Triple J will go one step further than having all female presenters – it will only play songs by female artists.
Over in Melbourne, meanwhile, traffic lights are being used to promote gender equality. As of today, new pedestrian traffic lights flashing female-looking figures will be installed across the city’s CBD, as part of a 12-month trial from VicRoads. (We’re wondering what could go wrong during the trial, could they be found to be too distracting).
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/traffic-lights-turn-female-abc-boots-off-men/http://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/tv/2017/03/07/abc-international-womens-day-presenters/
http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/abc-female-talent-takes-back-seat-to-ringins/news-story/eef6f4922cf04c62c0abf2c1f08c1f3f
So her institute commissioned more research: this time, a global study of gender in film in the 10 biggest film markets (including Australia) in the world. The findings were “bleak”, she said: of those characters seen to be holding a job, 77.5% were male and 22.5% were female.
This lack of onscreen depiction contributes to symbolic annihilation, she said, by which those that don’t see themselves reflected on screen believe they are unimportant. She quoted damning statistics that show the more hours of television a girl watches, the fewer options she thinks she has in life.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/mar/06/how-geena-davis-became-a-champion-for-women-on-screen?
Nearly a decade after the UN Human Rights Committee agreed that a Peruvian woman’s rights were violated for having been denied an abortion – and recommended that the Government compensate her . . . Peru has said it will pay compensation for having refused her access to a legal medical procedure.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?
