Sky’s Richard Keys and Andy Gray have a sexist rant about a female linesman – and complete it by whining about Karren Brady (barely) mentioning sexism in her Sun column.
Give yourselves a break, please. A permanent one.
Finally, the much anticipated judgement from the so-called ‘Case of A, B and C’ in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is here.
The three women, referred to as ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’, brought their cases to be heard in the ECHR in December last year. They were supported by the Irish Family Planning Association.
All three women traveled to the UK to access abortion services.
They had different reasons for their choice to terminate their pregnancies:
‘A’ had children in state care, and was hoping to regain custody. She felt that another pregnancy would lower the prospects of reunification with her existing family.
‘B’ became pregnant unintentionally, despite having taken the morning-after pill. She had been told by two different doctors that there was a substantial risk of an ectopic pregnancy.
‘C’ was in remission from cancer. While pregnant, but unaware of this fact, she underwent several tests in relation to her illness. On finding out about her pregnancy, she could not find a doctor in Ireland who would advice her on the risks the pregnancy posed to her own life and health, nor about potential risks the tests she had undergone could have had on the fetus.
Unable to find a doctor who would determine the level of such risks, she did not fulfill the criteria for the exceptions to the abortion ban in Ireland, namely the ‘real and sustantial risk’ to her life. She felt she had no choice but to go abroad for an abortion.
‘C’ wanted a medical procedure (termination induced by drugs). However, because such procedures require follow-up appointments, and she was a non-resident, she could not find a clinic in the UK willing to perform this. She therefore had to wait until performing a surgical abortion was possible, and underwent this procedure in the UK.
Today, it was announced that the Strasbourg court ruled that one of the women’s rights had been violated.
The court held that in the cases of ‘A’ and ‘B’, no violation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rightsand Fundamental Freedom had taken place.
However, it was found that ‘C”s right to a lawful abortion was breached, due to the lack of “effective or accessible procedure”.
Some argue that all three women suffered from ill-health, stigma and violation to their rights of privacy by having to travel abroad for the procedures. These are very important arguments which hopefully will lead to further debate on the issue.
On the positive side, the decision has raised awareness around Irish legislation on abortion, and particularly around the state’s unwillingness to implement legislation and procedures that take into consideration the (very limited) exceptions to the abortion ban.
Following the judgement in the X-case in 1992, abortions should be accessible in Ireland when a woman’s life is at risk. As illustrated by complainant ‘C’ in this case, the state has yet to follow up its’ legal obligations 18 years after this Supreme Court decision.
The ECHR has legally binding status in all the 47 states signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights; thus including Ireland. As a result of today’s ruling, the state is now obliged to provide a legal exception to the abortion ban.
The ECHR judgement has highlighted the state’s failure to implement this piece of legislation for the past 18 years, and hopefully this means that such legal exceptions to the abortion restriction will be implemented shortly.
Today’s landmark decision has been heavily discussed in the media, including in the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Choice Ireland, Catholics for Choice, the Anti-room (and not to forget their brilliant piece from yesterday), the Irish Family Planning Association, Journal.ie, the New York Times, the Guardian, and many, many more.
I have however received a tip via Twitter that the Pro-Life campaign has a ‘more informed and balanced’ take on the case than the mainstream media, and been referred to read up on it here and here.
Finally, I would like to thank these three fantastic women for their strength and bravery, and for their commitment to fight for the right to choice and the right to privacy to make personal decisions on private matters.
Tagged: Abortion, Choice, Health, Legislation, Women's Rights
Illustration from Flickr
PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of Ireland’s largest accountancy firms, have launched an internal investigation after male staff circulated emails where they rated the looks of women who had recently joined the company.
The email included pictures of 13 women, accompanied by names and the departments they work in. The subject line of the email was ‘this would be my shortlist for the top 10′.
According to the Irish Independent, a highly derogatory female description was used in one of the emails. The email started off as an internal office email, but has since been forwarded to numerous Irish businesses including finance companies, accountants, law firms, technology firms, state bodies and construction firms.
Many people would see this as a bit of innocent fun (I’m sure some would even say the women in question should be flattered), but it’s not. There is no reason for random people to be presented with pictures, name and workplace of women they’ve never even met and read other random people’s rating of their appearance. These women are not celebrities who have made a conscious effort to be in the public eye, they are business people who have made a great effort to get a good education and land a job in a respected company.
It’s highly inappropriate and unprofessional to reduce co-workers from skilled professionals to whether they are physically attractive or not. And there is no way this isn’t going to have some impact on the way these women are perceived in the company. Though most people would be capable of seeing beyond the comments circulated, the comments and ranking of these women will definitely be among the first thing that pops into their colleagues’ heads upon meeting them.
Despite probably being deemed harmless by many, this incident is an unfortunate product of the frantic focus on looks and beauty, and give fuel to the perception that the most important trait in a woman is being attractive.
Teacher students from St. Patrick’s College in Drumcondra, Dublin is organising a Mini Miss Ireland charity fashion show this week, in aid of Our Ladys Childrens Hospital and Aware . Promoting the event on the front page of Metro Herald, the girls are walking around one of the main streets in Dublin city centre. In underwear (and some strange, cropped jerseys). In November.
In usual MetroHerald style, the piece isn’t even an article, just a picture with two lines of text. There are no interviews, limited information about the actual event, and none of the girls are mentioned by name.
I have so many questions, including: Why aren’t they wearing clothes if they’re promoting a fashion show? What happened to their sport jerseys? Do they think this is a suitable way to portray themselves as future teachers? Aren’t they cold? Does stripping off make them good role models for the kids whom they’ll soon be teaching? Walking around in underwear in Coppers, a night club known by many as a bit of a meat market?
And again, can these young girls and women really not think of any other way to raise money for charity than organising for people to pay to watch them strip off?
Donating free grinds to children who are in hospital and therefore can’t attend school?
Campaign to implement Aware’s depression awareness programmes designed for students in secondary schools?
No?
Photo from flickr.com
The lack of female voices on Irish radio has been heavily debated in the media lately – with good reason. A large majority of presenters, DJs and general contributors (e.g. national experts on a subject) on Irish radio are men.
Margaret E. Ward, journalist and broadcaster, has now made it easier to find female expert contributors by compiling a list of women who are interested in, or are already taking part in, discussions in the media. The list includes experts on everything from religion to marketing to sports (and everything in between), and will be updated monthly.
That should rubbish all the washed-out excuses that women ‘don’t put themselves forward’ or ‘can’t be found’!
Tagged: journalism, media, radio, women
US- based feminist cultural critic Anita Sarkeesian regularly posts video commentaries on her blog Feminist Frequency. One of the interesting videos from her web series is ‘The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies’, a test about female presence in films. To pass the test, a movie has to pass 3 questions;
You can see the video here (Warning: very bad test result!):
Thankfully, news stories today tells us about strong female presence in other cultural areas; the US National Book Awards shortlist was announced today, having a majority of female authors. Thirteen of the twenty finalists are women, the highest number of women ever nominated according to the Irish Times.
Also, ‘ The Modern’, an exhibition opening next week at the Irish Museum of Modern Art , has dedicated two whole rooms to Irish women who were central in bringing modern art to the Irish audience.