Women Are World News: February 2018
This is the first edition of Women Are World News, brought to you by the Ladies of Steemit initiative, sharing the journeys and voices of women on the Steemit platform and beyond.
Every day, women across the globe are impacted by developments in women's rights, societal opinions on gender and sexuality, cultural and religious proclamation, and in industry-specific decision-making. Collecting reputable news articles and sources for the greater spread of information on Steemit is our first expansion to the Ladies of Steemit initiative.
Each month, we're curating notable developments and news for women on a global scale.
We're reporting on Business + Industry, Arts & Entertainment (including Sports), Politics, Culture & Society, and Health + Hygiene.
It's our hope that one or all of these articles inspire your discussion in the post's comments. Each of these articles was chosen to be relevant, diverse, thought-provoking, and to be an opportunity for further connection to one-another on the Steemit platform. This is a safe space to share your opinions, criticism, hopes, and further research. Please be respectful of each other and choose your comments from a place of inspiration and heartfelt discussion.
Have an article you believe we should broadcast to our rapidly-growing community of women? Please share it with us in the comments below!
Lack of women in energy ‘holding back fight against climate change’
Adam Vaughan • 11 February 2018
Article excerpt:
The lack of women in energy companies is holding back the sector’s efforts to tackle climate change, a leading industry watcher has warned.
Catherine Mitchell, a professor of energy policy at the University of Exeter, said poor gender diversity meant the industry was less open to new ideas, in particular, the move to a lower-carbon energy system.
“I absolutely do think that the fact that the industry is so dominated by men and particularly older white men it is slowing down the energy transition,” said Mitchell, who has worked on energy issues for more than 30 years and advises the government, regulators and businesses.
Industry is still tremendously gender-dominated, though equality improvements are being rapidly implemented. This article gives a relatively unbiased culmination of quotes from women in the energy industry, specifically focused on Britain, and their experience fighting for more progressive developments in conservation and alternative energy technology.
Read the full article at The Guardian.
100 Women: The Afghan women celebrating Valentine's Day
Staff writer, 14 February 2018
Article excerpt:
In the centre of Kabul I come across multiple shop-fronts decorated in a style which has become familiar to us in the past few years, writes BBC Pashto journalist Shafiqa Khpalwak.
There are bouquets of red and white roses, heart-shaped balloons and empty boxes beautifully wrapped and placed on top of each other.
Yes, Valentine's Day is just around the corner and love is in the air.
For a moment it all looks surreal. Kabul has witnessed multiple terrorist attacks during the past month, with more than a hundred killed and many more injured.
Yet among all this fear and hopelessness the people of this ancient city, as they have often been forced to do in recent years, just get along with their daily lives.
Valentine's Day is one of the few occasions when young people in Kabul give themselves a reason to celebrate - and to love.
Too often, especially in the United States where the Ladies of Steemit curation initiative was created, Afghani-women arecharacterizedd by their garb and their religion. It's truly a shame, and this article does a small amount of justice highlighting the normalcy and day-to-day experiences for Afghan women, specifically on a day that has become characturized in itself: Valentine's Day.
Read the full article at BBC.
Should self-identifying trans women be on all-women shortlists? Our writers discuss
Shaista Aziz, Susanna Rustin, Shon Faye and Sonia Sodha, 8 February 2018
Article excerpt:
Shaista Aziz: True feminism gives a voice to the most marginalised women
Last year I was selected to stand as a candidate on an all-women shortlist in Oxford city council’s 2018 election in Rose Hill and Iffley ward. I put myself forward after taking part in a year-long political mentoring programme run by the Fabian Women’s Network to increase the representation of women in politics. This scheme totally demystified power and politics for me, and helped me understand even more clearly why women with intersectional identities are still missing from the hallways, corridors, rooms and chambers in the House of Commons. We are locked out from these spaces because of structural inequalities that exist in wider society.
Conversations on trans-inclusion and the now-floundering concept of gender-specific lists and identifiers is becoming more important as the world (finally) adopts and accepts evolving gender-norms. This conversation between four different authors takes various perspectives and highlights numerous examples of the trans-persons' experience in being awarded accolades alongside various professionals in their industry and how industry is responding to the changing ways we acknowledge one another.
Read the full article at The Guardian.
Women poorer and hungrier than men across the world, U.N. report says
Amanda Erickson, 14 February 2018
Article excerpt:
The report, called “Turning Promises Into Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” looks at how women around the world are faring in several key areas.
It is pegged to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which lays out several global benchmarks, such as eliminating extreme poverty and hunger and getting all children into school. Significant progress has been made on the targets overall (though many probably will not be met). This study looks at how well women, specifically, are doing, and it finds that in nearly every category, they do worse than men.
A sad but unsurprising study that further illustrates the challenges women in developing nations face when they lack fundamental liberties and human rights. India is a polarized nation for these studies, though hundreds of nations (and their internal communities) exhibit similar if not more dismal findings. The encouraging notion behind this study is evidence that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is in some way beind exemplified - if only through more lip-service studies that prove the obvious.
Read the full article at The Washington Post
Shaun White refuses to answer questions about sexual harassment
WITW Staff, 14 February 2018
Article excerpt:
While Americans were eager to hail Shaun White’s remarkable gold-medal winning run in the snowboard halfpipe — the third gold medal of his career — the accomplishment has been tainted by the uncomfortable details of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him in 2016.
Lena Zawaideh, the drummer in White’s band, Bad Things, had filed a civil suit against White in August 2016, alleging that White had sexually harassed her, texted her photos of erect penises, and forced her to watch hardcore porn of a couple having sex on top of bear that had been shot dead and another video involving a priest, a nun, and feces when she was 17 or 18 years old.
As the United States pounds its chest, bearing its gold medals and failing to acknowledge victorious countries alongside their own contributors, we see yet another instance of a man who simply will not be transparent about alleged sexual misconduct. Whether the allegations are true, false, a complete grey area that's embarrassing and a total mistake, it's imperative that we stop silencing the allegers and stop allowing the alleged to skirt confrontation.
Read the full article at Women in the World.
Viola Davis on what it means to be ‘a black Meryl Streep’
Pip Cummings, 14 February 2018
Article excerpt:
Actress Viola Davis drew gasps and applause from the audience during an electrifying interview in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. In a powerful conversation with Women in the World CEO Tina Brown–that ranged from Davis’ traumatic childhood to her experiences in Hollywood as a woman of color–the actress did not pull any punches about how vulnerable her rise to success has been. Even now, with a 30-year-career behind her, including Emmy, Tony and Academy awards, she shared that she still finds herself “hustling” for pay parity and substantial roles.
“I have a career that’s probably comparable to Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver. They all came out of Yale, they came out of Juilliard, they came out of NYU. They had the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere near them. Not as far as money, not as far as job opportunities, no where close to it,” the 52-year-old actress observed, in a vigorous takedown of the inequities experienced by women of color in Hollywood.
Viola Davis could be one of the most under-appreciated actresses of our time. She's a powerful black woman who stands for equality, progressivism, and notoriety where its due. Her journey to 'stardom' is the rags-to-riches epitomized but she continues to be looked over for roles she's qualified for and is vocally calling-out an industry that still unnecessarily polarizes race.
When will we see an age where a role written for "a woman" can go to a woman of any color? And a role for a "woman of color" is not the only option for women of non-Caucasian origin?
Read the full article at Women in World News
Photo from TIME Magazine.
Article by Liz Clarke, 19 February 2018
Article excerpt:
The nomenclature of “ladies” figure skating is more than a century old, included in the Constitution and Regulations of the sport’s international governing body, the Switzerland-based International Skating Union, founded in 1892. And it has stood since, regarded as a designation worth honoring, in the view of many.
To others, “ladies” sounds increasingly archaic — especially given that male skaters compete in the “men’s” event rather than the equivalent “gentlemen’s.”And there are rumblings, albeit polite rumblings, that it’s time for figure skating to update its lexicon.
While this may seem like a fluff-piece, and it is, the deeper impacts of language are important to acknowledge. We are the Ladies of Steemit intiative. Not the Women or Gals or Females or any other identifier. This article delves a bit deeper into the naming of Olympic events between Women's and Ladies sports, and we see it as an important discussion because the term "Ladies" means something different to everyone.
What's your take on "Ladies" vs "Women" as a gender identifier?
Read the full article at The Washington Post.
Disaster Relief for Puerto Rico Must Accommodate Women’s Needs
Anusha Ravi, 19 February 2018
Article excerpt:
...However, even before Hurricane Maria hit the island, Puerto Rico exhibited several indicators of gender inequality, including higher rates of women in poverty than men—with women making up about 52 percent of Puerto Rico’s population. In the aftermath of a disaster, gender inequalities are merely exacerbated and women suffer from increased exposure to sexual and domestic violence; worsened access to reproductive health care and hygiene products; and increased caregiving responsibilities for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Overall, these factors significantly affect women’s ability to acquire recovery resources.
In order to accommodate the unique needs of women after disasters, it is important that President Trump’s budget proposal, set to release early next week, include adequate funding for disaster relief to areas where low-income women, women of color, and women with disabilities are disproportionately affected.
There is no excuse for it to be 2018 and for women's health and hygiene to still be a left-behind concept in the aid agenda. However, as we continue to support our fellow humans in Puerto Rico, who still have not yet recovered from Hurricane Irma, we must make sure that our plans include caring for the health and hygiene needs of women. Sanitary products, self-care and hygiene materials, and adequate safe structures for the utilization of such resources is imperative, and this article goes into great detail how we can make that an improved reality for the women of Puerto Rico.
Read the full article at Center for American Progress.
This has been the first Women Are World News curation by Ladies of Steemit.
We're standing for greater access, visibility, and transparency for women on the Steemit platform and beyond. In bringing you world news affecting women globally, we aim to increase awareness for the state of gender equality, challenges facing women culturally and critically, and developments we can contribute to as we lift our sisters high.
Header photo by Keletso Rabalao, graphic design by 
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