Online campaign gathers support for Myanmar's Suu Kyi

via edition.cnn.com

You can not be human and not fight for Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom. Maybe I'm setting the bar too high, based on the evidence of her imprisonment. But I refuse to believe that.

Posted via web from andragy's posterous

The Twelfth Down Under Feminists Carnival « Zero at the Bone

via zeroatthebone.wordpress.com

Incredibly stupid and mixed up of me! I blogged the wrong credit for carnival. I think I was reading In a Strange Land's intro at the time of my hasty mistaken post. Apologies to Chally and correction, finally.

12th Down Under Feminists Carnival is collated by Chally from Zero at the Bone, where much other good reading resides.

Good reading is also at In A Strange Land by Deborah.

Apologies are by Andra who doesn't spend enough time reading (and proofreading) blogs.

Posted via web from andragy's posterous

Go Grace Hopper!

via anitaborg.org

Go Grace Hopper! Yes, I know she's dead. Like Ada Lovelace. But can you name a woman philosopher? Without googling it. Let's get the names of great women in technology out there! Frequently. This sounds fantastic. Wish I was there.

Posted via web from andragy's posterous

Creating Change » Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology

We are changing the world for women and technology one woman at a time. The Anita Borg Institute:

• Offers workshops, publications and information aimed to develop leadership skills
• Celebrates and highlights the success of women who are changing the face of technology
• Provides programs that change the way technology is created, learned and taught
• Creates new communities to change the culture of technology
• Enables our sponsors to recruit, retain and develop technical women resulting in higher levels of technology innovation and better financial performance

via anitaborg.org

#feminismfail at #cua09 the Connecting Up Australia Conference. I loved the session with Jody Mahoney, the VP for Business Development of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. Like Cheryl Kernot in the opening address discussing technology and society at large, Jody had all the facts and figures about women's participation in technology.

But the thing that I HATE is that Jody was preaching to the converted. The audience at her session was the smallest I'd seen all Day One. 20 women and 1 man. I can add that I think 1 man was present rather than ZERO men because this was a conference about technology and social change. BUT WHY WASN'T THE ROOM FULL OF PEOPLE OF ALL GENDERS? Because this WAS a conference about technology and social change.

This was a support group for women in technology. I loved it. We need it. But for every support group there must be an equally effective group for social change. The onus is not on women to do all the changing. That is what I ardently disagree with the Anita Borg Institute on "We are changing the world for women and technology one woman at a time."

We should be changing the world for people and technology one person at a time, recognising that women a minority group. I believe that if the workshop had been titled "Minorities and Technology" it would have been packed to the rafters. From now on in fact, I think I am not a feminist. I have become a refugee from the patriarchy. I am a gender role dissenter. I am an authentic ethnic technology minority. 

Let's have another workshop on the topics covered in the Anita Borg 2009 research paper on"The Prevalence of Gender Stereotyping and Biases"only drop the word gender from the agenda and reflash with emotional decision making and modern neurological cognitive theory.

Posted via web from andragy's posterous

12th Down Under Feminists Carnival. With cake. « In a strange land

via inastrangeland.wordpress.com

Wouldn't mum be proud! Her birthday is also the 1st birthday of the Down Under Feminists Carnival hosted beautifully by Chally at in a strange land, who is not just referring to NZ.

Posted via web from andragy's posterous

Sex Strike - thinking outside the box

from SMH

Thousands of Kenyan women vowed on Wednesday to begin a week-long sex strike to try to protest their country's bickering leadership, which they say threatens to revive the bloody chaos that convulsed the African country last year.

Leaders from Kenya's largest and oldest group dedicated to women's rights, the Women's Development Organisation, said they hope the boycott will persuade men to pressure the government to make peace.

Eleven women's groups are participating in the strike. The groups have also called on the wives of President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to abstain. It was not clear how either wife responded to the request.

"We have looked at all issues which can bring people to talk and we have seen that sex is the answer," said Rukia Subow, chairman of the Women's Development Organisation.

"It does not know tribe, it does not have a (political) party and it happens in the lowest households."

Many men in Kenya are polygamous, as is allowed by law. Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua said he was unaware of the strike. The disputed election between Kibaki and then-challenger Odinga led to violence that killed more than 1000 people and left more than 600,000 homeless. The two were installed after a month of mediation, but infighting has threatened to break apart the fragile coalition.

CyberBullying, Feminism, Mean Girls, Queen Bees and Boys

"Remember the days of the old school yard? We used to..."

MIND THE REALITY GAP!

The memory of my school days is rising up my throat, threatening to choke me. I've just finished watching 4 Corners on Cyberbullying. Today, two young boys (10 and 11) have just been charged with attempted murder of two younger boys in the UK. Today, my daughter tells me she's the 2nd most hated girl in her year and she never has anyone to sit with at lunchtime. I hate to think what's happening for the most hated girl... but i've seen her. And the boy in my son's class that no-one will sit next to. And I'm scared that all of my children are treading close to the edge.

I think yearning for romance has more to do with a desire for the security of a relationship that keeps the schoolyard outside than about desire alone! Today, I'm reflecting on the entrenched antifeminism that is at the heart of navigating adolescence.

I'm halfway way through "Queen Bees and Wannabees" by Rosalind Wiseman, which was on the recommended reading list from Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, (see 4 Corners program above) and author of "Real Wired Child" and other titles (see previous post).

As it says in "Devil in the Daughters" (a fantastic review by Chloe Hooper):

Queen Bees and Wannabes is, by its own definition, an excruciating read. This is not to diminish Wiseman's skill at deconstructing the make-up of the teenage court in all its Byzantine detail. (Opening her handbook was like being kidnapped and taken to a dark-hearted land, where I soon realised unfortunately I spoke the language fluently.)

Today. My almost 10yr old girl is heading for puberty and says that everyone hates her. She's probably not the only one who feels that way but how would she know that? And what about my gorgeous gentle sensitive son? I've noticed that he's heading for the losers and nerd boys corner of the playground more and more, in spite of being on the soccer team.

The first people I talked to about this book and my fears said, "I've got boys. It's different. They don't bully like girls. They just have a fight and get over it." #FAIL

Getting past the personal though is why I'm getting passionate about Rosalind Wiseman and Empower.

The Owning Up™ program is based on the premise that social cruelty, degradation, and violence can be deconstructed and understood by examining how our culture teaches boys to be men and girls to be women. Further, the curriculum teaches children the skills to speak out against injustice and recognize that they have a responsibility to treat themselves and others with dignity.

I think that Queen Bees is a fine piece of feminist analysis, with racial and sexual prejudices opened up as well. Wiseman points out that she works equally with boys and girls, and that society's definition of masculinity influences boys away from strength, individuality and towards violence, bullying and groups in the same way that definitions of femininity trap girls.

Boys and men who speak out against sexism or publicly support girls and women run the risk of being ridiculed by their peers as "fags", "sissies", "pussies" or in some circles "sensitive new age guys". The often unexamined implication is that real men wouldn't willingly support sexual equality and justice. (Women and girls who challenge male power or assertively confront sexism are often labeled "dykes" or "male-hating lesbians," which effectively silinces many girls and women.)

This name-calling can have a powerful effect on boys' and men's willingness to break their complicit silence. They might have a well grounded fear that if they speak up, they too will be targeted for abuse."

Wiseman is quoting Jackson Katz from "More Than a Few Good Men" (also over at Huffington Post).

The irony, she points out, is that in living up to the male ideal, boys and men learn to act cowardly. SILENCE is KING. Wiseman asserts that the marginalisation of feminism is doubly damaging. Feminists are seen as being anti-male rather than protesting gender and therefore men are not constructed as being victims of gender violence - as most boys and men are.

Just for today, I believe that feminism cannot succeed without unpacking the violence of group dynamics and stereotypes both masculine and feminine.

Schick: Mow the Lawn - laugh till you die

Die of horror! Thanks to the Bloggess over at GoodMomBadMom for driving my morning to distraction with this absolute jewel of antifeminism @ironyfail

Gen Y women achieve equality #aprilfool

The problem with this excellent article by Adele Horin in SMH is simply that if you only read the first 3 paragraphs it all sounds WONDERFUL. What happens after that?

Well earnings decline, glass ceilings kick in and all the evidence points to women earning 60% of similar male earnings over their careers. We all know why. Children and men. Forget that women are finally outnumbering men in professional areas (in junior ways I'm sure).

My question is why are so few women achieving in technological and scientific areas. As Pia Waugh, australian geek girl, says in her interview with stilgherrian for Ada Lovelace Day,

"There is a stereotype there. Because people see the majority of people working with computers are men, they assume it's masculine. But there's actually nothing masculine about using a computer. It's just typing away, it's not like carrying bricks!"

Gen Y women earn their fair share

Adele Horin
April 1, 2009

THEY are the first generation of women to experience true wage equality. And so they should.

Women in their 20s and early 30s, Gen Y, have outsmarted the boys for years. More of them finished high school than boys, more of them enrolled in university, achieved a bachelor's degree or higher, and more moved into the professions.

Their superior performance has achieved a first, says the managing director of AMP Financial Services, Craig Meller.

"Gen Y is the first generation where the wages of women are almost on a par with men."

But the question is whether these young women, as they grow older and have children, will suffer the same fate as their mothers.

Women a generation older, Gen X (aged 34 to 48), are paid 3.5 per cent less than men for similar work hours in similar fields.

Despite the progress women have made in education and in the workforce over the past 20 years, a 25-year-old man is likely to earn $2.4 million in his lifetime while a 25-year-old woman will earn $1.4 million, says the report, by AMP and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling at the University of Canberra.

A father with a bachelor degree or higher will earn $3.3 million over his working life, compared with $1.8 million for a similarly qualified mother, it says.

"While the gender divide has narrowed, particularly for Gen Y, the risk remains that as these women progress through their careers, particularly during their child-rearing years, they will still face the same dilemmas and glass ceiling as their baby-boomer mothers," Mr Mellor said.

The report, She Works Hard For The Money, reveals that for the first time women outnumber men in professional occupations. The increase in women's representation from 39 per cent in 1988 to 52.6 per cent in 2007 is very positive, said the study's lead author, Rebecca Cassells.

Ms Cassells, a research fellow, said young women had benefited from the feminist movement. There were 80,000 more women than men studying for bachelor degrees in university, and more women than ever were employed in highly skilled jobs such as managers and administrators.

But as men and women headed towards the end of their careers, it was likely that men reached top positions while women bumped their head on the glass ceiling, she said. "It could be that women aren't necessarily interested in these very demanding positions or it could be discrimination."

Among the young, 18 per cent of Gen Y men have superannuation balances of between $25,000 and $100,000, compared with only 14 per cent of women.

Denise Litchfield Knits Newtown!

Denise Litchfield (and Baxter) tagging in the May Lane Art Project, St Peters. (photo Sahlan Hayes)

Go Denise! I know Denise through Roomies Artspace. She's been a great champion for Clarrice Collien's amazing window wire and wool tapestries and I'll post on the upcoming Roomies Exhibition at Parliament House February 5th to 27th.

I love Denise's take on knitting: "It redefines street art and is also a reference to graffiti," the Stanmore woman said. "It's absurd and feminine and fun."

Knitta is the global outlier of guerilla knitting. As mentioned in the SMH article by Sunanda Creagh, January 14 2009. Which I'm quoting in full because... GO DENISE!

WHERE other graffiti artists use spraypaint, Denise Litchfield uses wool. Litchfield is part of a growing global movement of guerilla knitters, who stitch their handmade creations onto trees, poles, street lights and other objects in the public domain.
"It redefines street art and is also a reference to graffiti," the Stanmore woman said. "It's absurd and feminine and fun."
Using recycled or cast-off yarn, Litchfield has attached her creations to poles and trees in Newtown and Rozelle and her long-term goal is to knit cosies for fire hydrants and bollards.
Ms Litchfield also pokes fun at the notion of a graffiti "tag" by creating cardboard swing tags similar to those attached to items in a boutique.
"I write messages on them and put them on bikes and dogs. One friend said she was walking down King Street and saw a tag that said 'All your problems have been taken care of' and thought, 'Yeah, I needed to hear that,' " Litchfield said.
"I have been doing it for about six months and I don't know of anyone else doing it in Sydney. I haven't been intercepted by a council ranger yet but often when I put them up people stop to ask what I am doing and to have a chat," she said.
Litchfield has won the support of a Marrickville councillor, Peter Olive.
"I'd be only too happy for her to do some knitting in the Marrickville local government area," he said. "I see it as a form of art and it's not harmful or anyone else's property or the public space. I think it should be encouraged."
Emily Howes, an expert from University of Technology, Sydney, and author of a PhD thesis on "indie craft", said guerilla knitters operated in Scandinavia, the US, Japan and South Africa. She thinks Litchfield might be Sydney's first.
"I think there is a groundswell of activity. The really big guerilla craft group is a collective called Knitta, which has outposts around the world," she said. "They see craft as a subversive and politically motivated act - a way of jolting people out of their comfortable reverie."

Dr Who? Matt Smith who?

As Kat comments on the Times Online:

You know women, or people of colour can be Drs too. Perhaps the people at the BBC don't know this.

The BBC's response is clear.

My hopes are dashed. Again. I fear that the sexy young thinging of the Doctor is an irreversible decline of standards, however the more I read about Matt Smith, the more I think he has interesting acting chops. And I'm kind of getting used to the face.

I remember thinking that Peter Davison, the former youngest doctor ever, was a lot unbelievable but I got over it.. No, actually he still looks like a complete prat. And I also don't think a time lord needs to look wizened and twisted. Let's extend!

1. William Hartnell (1963-1966)

2. Patrick Troughton (1966-1969)

3. Jon Pertwee (1970-1974)

4. Tom Baker (1974-1981)

5. Peter Davison - pictured (1982-1984)

6. Colin Baker (1984-1986)

7. Sylvester McCoy (1987-1996)

8. Paul McGann (1996)

9. Christopher Eccleston (2005)

10. David Tennant (2005-2010)

11. Matt Smith (2010 - ?)

Professor River Song for President!

Vale Helen Suzman 1917- 2009

Leading South African anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman, who for decades served as a lone voice of parliamentary dissent against white minority rule, died on Thursday at the age of 91. Full SMH article.

Amazing story. I am discovering a lot of interesting women in politics and the arts recently. Like Clara Haskil, the great 20th century pianist, or Shirley Chisholm, Geraldine Ferrera and Barbara Lee - less well known in American politics than Hilary Clinton and Condoleeza Rice.

Helen Suzman was a privileged young Jewish white woman in South Africa who dropped out of university to marry and live the good life. She then got tired of horse riding, dancing and parties, went back to university and became politicized.

From 1961 to 1974, she was the Progressive Party's sole representative and the lone liberal voice in the white-only Parliament and used her debating time to rail against forced removals, racial inequalities, the erosion of the rule of law, capital punishment, torture, censorship, police abuses and other trademarks of white minority rule.

Her two main targets became segregation - which saw about 3.5 million blacks removed from their homes - and the laws that allowed the state to detain political opponents without trial for 90 days.

An apartheid minister once told her in Parliament: "You put these questions just to embarrass South Africa overseas", to which she replied: "It is not my questions that embarrass South Africa, it is your answers."

so black it's read - xkcd

I love xkcd and laser-scope your loved ones is right up there with my all time favorite cartoon from the 80s...

"So many men, so few bullets."

google credits the quote to Adrienne Gusoff. ABC reckons a female politician from 80s had the poster in her office. I remember it as a cartoon.

A classic exercise in identifying minority humour. Is it funny if you change the object from men to women? No.

Modern versions include "So many terrorists, so few bullets" Darkly twisted.

But not as lightly twisted as xkcd.

AVOs - how to fix the broken system!

"If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!"

This is so depressing. Another woman killed after taking out an AVO. Melissa Cook took out an AVO. Her soon to be ex-husband shot her and then killed himself.

Last month the Herald revealed that at least 74 women and dozens of children die in Australia each year at the hands of violent men. Experts warn the real rates are even higher because of weaknesses in the way homicide data is collected.

Melissa's death will not be counted in these figures. As her husband is dead, he will not be charged. That's what is being counted here. How many men are charged. Not how many women and children are killed.

I've had some friends go through this recently and I was kind of involved in the recent campaigns against gender violence. It's not my favorite issue to get bent about but it's driving me crazy grumpy.

I have an idea. We should give everyone man, woman and child who applies for an AVO a mobile phone (or similar emergency beacon). Paint it bright yellow. Make the buttons big. Set it to contact emergency services only and the battery will last for about 3 months. They make pretty good location broadcasters too.

So, you ask for an AVO. While you're waiting for stuff to happen, you have an emergency beacon. Any time you set it off, police respond in person. There may be false alarms. Of course there will be! But imagine the deterrent effect!

If everyone expects the emergency AVO to be answered, then there will be far fewer attempts to threaten and harm. If we as a society agree that it is valuable to take an AVO seriously enough to provide some sort of real protection, then we start to change. The need for protection will decrease.

This would be totally cheap to set up from a technology point of view. A mobile phone will do it. The manpower to respond is the tough one. The NSW police force is trying to cut down on overtime due to extreme budgetary constraints. I also hear that more than 70% of police time is spent in court or on paperwork.

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence - Greens Stuff It Up!

In the last sitting day of Parliament, NSW Labor Party rushed through a bill that allows men with AVOs that have expired to have the AVO revoked if they want to purchase a gun. Previous law meant that once you had an AVO, you couldn't get or renew a gun license for 10 years. Seems reasonable.

 This is the same state government who recently back pedalled on the 28 day cooling off period for gun purchases. Now, if it's the same type of gun you already have or have had in past, there is no need for you to wait to purchase another.

I can see the rationale. I can also see a lot of big loopholes waiting to be exploited. Why is this so?

Thank you GREENS!!!! The Greens and Christian Democrat MP, Gordon Moyes, vote with the Opposition to block Government legislation. That means the NSW Labor Party needs the vote of the two Shooters Party MPs and the Reverend Fred Nile in the upper house to get legislation through.

That means a lot of pro gun legislation going through. Today marks the date that a lone disgruntled gunman massacred 14 female engineering students (injuring 14 others) in Montreal because "he was fighting feminism".

Beware the church of climate change!

Bloody good article actually. Imagine my shock when I discover the author is Miranda Devine, whom I love to hate. What that does prove however is that being female does not make you an authority on feminism. Perhaps it will encourage more men to become such. LOL.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/miranda-devine/beware-the-church-of-climate-alarm/2008/11/26/1227491635989.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Mary Poppins strikes fear into the heart of merely mortals

I am in supercalifragilistic organisational mode. I think this is something that all mothers hit once or twice a year. It's too late the week before school starts! Everything must be applied for and co-ordinated before December or you miss out.

There have been parallels with my whole life what with partners being overseas, parents downsizing, jobs being chucked, etc. etc.

insert chart here...

I am now officially OCD. I am color coding everything. I was pleased to find out that I"m not the only person who likes to have same color pegs grouped on the clothes line! Or sometimes I like different color combinations, like only orange and green in the front with blue and yellow at the back. Or blue is for me, yellow is for undies, etc. Ditto with push pins. If I'm in a yellow is for personal and blue is for school mood then DON'T jam a green pin on the board! I now offically hate blue and yellow. I have moved on.

When this gets too much for me, my answer is to give up hanging the washing out and revert to the drier. I've tried chucking tantrums and/or calling a strike and/or having a family meeting resulting in the Treaty of Versailles.

Previous result? Two lots of cleaners reducing me to nervous breakdown by their aggressive use of bleach and sugarsoap and scourers, scratching the surface off all of our stainless steel appliances and the bathroom cabinets and the glass doors. Even after I pointed this out, then left out paper towel and proper cleaning products. They still used their own whenever I wasn't there. They even carried them in brand name cleaning product canisters, but I checked - sugar soap and bleach.

Latest result? Sensitive new age partner (SNAP) reduced me to nervous breakdown by scratching the surface off all the new (ish) lino demonstrating his willingness to help and his complete inability to be instructed. My fault for talking wrong.

Agreement reached at the latest Yalta Conference? Clear color coded delineation of all roles in the family corporation. Regular meetings to report to the bored. Sackings are definitely on the cards if we don't meet our targets. Acknowledgement that HOUSEWORK IS THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE. There is no defeating entropy!

Second Law of Thermodynamics btw. as quoted below by Dr James Kranz

The heart of your question concerns the equilibrium state of the universe, and how the one of the laws of thermodynamics, that “entropy always increases”, seems to be defied by the buildup of a net charge difference between materials that shows up as static electricity. I need to spend a little time on thermodynamics. At its essence, the thermodynamics of a system really describes an energy balance; like balancing a checkbook, the energy going into a system or flowing out of a system is in balance with the rest of the world. (Money is a VERY good analogy to energy in a thermodynamic sense). Here is my favorite description of the laws of thermodynamics in a colloquial sense:

1) You can’t break even (i.e. entropy always increases).
2) You can break even, but only when hell freezes over (i.e. you can stop entropy from changing/increasing at absolute zero temperature).
3) Hell isn’t going to freeze over (i.e. though you can get close, you can’t get to absolute zero).

All changes of energy are in balance on the scale of the universe; locally
we can change the balance of energy in apparent defiance of the first law of thermodynamics. It takes substantial effort to roll a large rock up a hill; perched on the top of the hill, it retains potential energy that would be released if the boulder rolls back down the hill under the force of gravity. Static electricity is a lot like the energetic state achieved when the builder is perched at the top of a hill but has not begun rolling down.

Remember the Mirabal Sisters - Day 1 of 16 Days of Activism

Three Mirabal sisters, political activists from the Dominican Republic, "The Unforgettable Butterflies" were assassinated on November 25th, 1960 on the orders of Rafael Trujillo, then leader of the Republic.

Mirabal sisters 25th anniversary of their death stamp. Wikipedia

16 Days of Activism is a period of global campaigning during which thousands of people and organisations all over the world take a stand against gender-based violence. The period commences on 25 November with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and ends on 10 December, World Human Rights Day. On 25 November we remember the three Mirabal sisters, political activists from the Dominican Republic who were assassinated on that day in 1960.

The 16 Days event, now in its 18th year, was started by the Centre for Women's Global Leadership. The organisation choose the campaign’s beginning and end dates – 25 November and 10 December, Human Rights Day – to highlight that violence against women is a human rights violation.

Scores of diverse groups and individuals – including Amnesty International – now take part in 16 Days, together calling for an end to all types of violence against women. Each year they organise events in more than 130 countries across the globe, including demonstrations, conferences, exhibitions and performances.

This year, Amnesty is calling on people to take action by contacting your local MP and urging her/him to push for sustained and meaningful Government commitment to a National Plan of Action to eliminat

Stop the Violence - Women Speak Out

"If you're not outraged you're not paying attention!" is my favorite feminist t-shirt (outside of always thinking outside the box), so I don't know why I'm so shocked at the domestic violence figures recently released. But I am, because it is shocking.

Approx half of ALL homicides in Australia are women murdered at the hands of near and dear ones. It's apparently hard to get the figures because not all near and dear are married and sometimes death isn't immediate and if the perpetrator kills themselves then it doesn't count... statistically that is.

 

In Memory of Evelina Gavrilovic

Photo and Quote from Sydney Morning Herald article by Ruth Pollard

Symbol of protest ... after Evelina Gavrilovic died activists against domestic violence put red roses on the Parliament House fence.

"Our key concern is that the increased number that we are seeing is only the tip of the iceberg and that there are a lot more women dying in domestic violence-related fatalities than what we know about," said Betty Green, the co-ordinator of the NSW Domestic Violence Coalition.
Despite education campaigns, there were still significant misunderstandings about domestic violence in the community and in key services such as police, leading many to miss clear danger signs women and children were at extreme risk, she warned.
"Women do not die by accident, they don't die because of a mistake, they die because of a culmination of a repeated pattern of violent behaviour," she said. "There is no passion, there is no love in a domestic violence fatality. It is really, really important that we name it for what it is - in most cases it is premeditated, it is anger, it is revenge and it is the ultimate act of control."

from Shameful Secret of Our Family Murder Epidemic, SMH by Ruth Pollard

A review of the response to domestic violence by various agencies has been successful in implementing changes which reduce the death toll significantly. Victoria is the first state in Australia to establish a review although the NSW Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, recommended the establishment of a domestic violence review team in 2006.

The NSW Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, first recommended the establishment of a domestic violence review team in 2006, after reviewing police practice in response to domestic violence. Since then dozens more women and children have died, and NSW is no closer to finding out why.
"We can see that looking at … the way families and individuals interact with a range of different government departments and services providers … can give you the benefit, certainly in hindsight, of seeing what you could have done differently," Mr Barbour said.
"By trying to identify factors that continually crop up where you see fatalities in a domestic situation will help identify risks and allow you to intervene in a relationship earlier, with the obvious benefit of preventing a fatality."
The review would also help agencies to improve their capacity to respond to potentially fatal situations, he said.

Again an excerpt from another article in SMH by Ruth Pollard

Go Ruth Pollard! 3 SWORD AWARD!

Only this is serious folks. What can we do to prevent women and children dying in NSW? Petition the Hon Verity Firth MP, Minister for Women and chair of The Premier's Council on Preventing Violence Against Women. Only recently set up and still finding its feet mind!

Donate to the NSW Women's Refuge Movement directly. And lobby your Federal Minister for catch up funding - more information and letter templates here!

Finally, celebrate 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence! from November 25th to December 10th. I'm totally on board this one! Now, how to celebrate uniquely but ... ninjaly.

Family Life 1949 to 2009 - not so diffrent akshully

This exact same scenario dominated my weekend. Where was Educational Collaborator Florence King, M.S. Assistant Professor Home Economics, University of Illinois when I needed her 10 years ago! Our conclusions are eerily identical.



I love this video. And it is so 2009. Mere cosmetic differences. Women are in the paid workforce, self included occasionally, but I would argue that this is a class issue not a feminist victory. Women have always worked if the family has needed it.

My current meme is wondering if it was ever possible for gender to have the same method of revolution as class, race, religion, ethnicity or sexuality. All of which have revolutionised society far more successfully!

More on that one to come. Meanwhile address all correspondence to the Chief Executive Officer of The Family.

But wait, there's more..

"The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family: A Leadership Fable About Restoring Sanity To The Most Important Organization In Your Life"
Patrick M. Lencioni ISBN: 978-0-7879-9532-4

In this unique and groundbreaking book, business consultant and New York Times best-selling author Patrick Lencioni turns his sights on the most important organization in our lives—the family. As a husband and the father of four young boys, Lencioni realized the discrepancy between the time and energy his clients put into running their organizations and the reactive way most people run their personal lives. Having experienced the stress of a frantic family firsthand, he and his wife began applying some of the tools he uses with Fortune 500 companies at home, and with surprising results.

Perhaps hubby can get it as a business expense? I think he has some others by the same author. I've already watched Florence King, M.S.

Here's a great new reality show. One family, 2 gurus. Who will survive?