women's rights

"At the time, it was better to be a man than to be a woman, because women were on the same level as animals" explains Pashe Keqi in a recent article in La Stampa about an old Albanian custom (original article on page 17 of La Stampa from June 29th, 2008). What Pashe means is the history of the "sworn virgins", woman who vowed to essentially become men. The tradition first started about 500 years ago, and today there are still 40 women living who went through their whole lives with all the rights and duties of a man.

In a country rife with conflicts and wars, families were often left without a male to fend for them. But since the women had no rights and thus could not take on the jobs needed to sustain a family, a man was needed as the head of family.

On a recent episode of Real Time With Bill Maher on HBO, retired general Wesley Clark said that the vast majority of women enjoy wearing the burka and choose to live in "those" societies.

The conversation over the burka started when Bill Maher pulled out a photo of Laura Bush sitting in between two women dressed in burkas. She was recently on a tour in middle east as part of her breast cancer awareness campaign (which brings up the point of why she isn't involved in a domestic violence awareness campaign this month, which is an important issue in that part of the world, obviously) but instead the panel focused on if Laura Bush should be speaking to women in burkas about breast cancer at all, that it was missing the obvious point. Wesley Clark jumped in and commented that women like wearing the burka, that polls have been done showing the vast majority of women in these countries like wearing the burka and even went further by saying that these women are choosing to live in these societies.

Its official, the FDA has approved Plan B for sale over the counter. However, unlike some other over the counter medications, plan B will be kept behind the counter under lock and key. Only women over the age of 18, with state issued IDs will be able to purchase the drug. Women under the age of 18 will be able to access the drug, but only with a prescription from their doctor.

The reasons why women under the age of 18 cannot get Plan B, according to the director of the FDA, without a prescription are confusing to say the least. He claims that although their own studies showed the drug was safe for women of all ages, they believed women under the age of 18 would not be able to follow the directions for use of the drug. He continued to attempt to back that opinion up, by saying that we have lots of laws which exclude teens from adult activities. I find this interesting coming from the director of the FDA. Is he unaware that doctors frequently give medications tested only on adults to teens and pre-teens? Is he unaware that physically a woman IS an adult by the time she reaches her teens?

We, as AGA bloggers and by virtue of our age, have never lived in a country without Griswold and the right to access to birth control. We've never lived without Roe and the right to choose abortion. And it's easy to forget that not so very long ago these rights were greatly restricted or withheld altogether. We must remember the work of our foremothers; and the times when we forget, there is one group of women who never fail to remind me.

Before the Feminist Majority Foundation, Before NARAL Pro-Choice America, before NOW--

Heather Booth made her first referral.

Continuing on from an earlier discussion on sexism and other forms of oppression, here is another very good example.

Sometimes when I go to parties with my best friend, I introduce her as my girlfriend or significant other. If I'm introducing her to men (or more appropriately in this case, boys) their immediate reaction is to ask us to kiss.

This annoys me on so many levels. As a woman, I am so tired of being seen as part of the entertainment. My relationship is not for the purpose of your pleasure and should I decide to express my love for another woman, I should not be made to feel like an amateur porn artist.