Ormai non conto più le volte in cui ho letto che le religioni, tutte le religioni sono oppressive nei confronti delle donne. Tutte? Ma siamo cosi' sicuri? Può ad esempio essere considerata misogina la Chiesa Evangelica Luterana del Venezuela che ha eletto la reverenda Guillermina Chaparro come sua presidente?

http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/2357.EN.html

The new president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Venezuela (Iglesia Evangélica Luterana en Venezuela - IELV) Rev. Guillermina Chaparro says her election as the head of the church is an indication of the IELV’s steady growth, especially in the rural areas.

The first woman to head the church, Chaparro was elected and installed on 6 February at the IELV’s 12th general assembly in Caracas, Venezuela. She said her election was the “culmination of a process that has been in gestation within the church.” She succeeds Rev. Akos Puky who has served as church president since 2002.

The Lutheran church is growing steadily in communities in the provinces, “thus it is logical that leaders emerge in these areas to contribute to church leadership,” Chaparro explained in an interview with Lutheran World Information (LWI). “I come from a grassroots community in a poor part of the (western) State of Barinas,” she said.

Nella vecchia europa, in Germania, la nazione che ha dato i natali a Lutero, Ilse Junkermann è stata eletta vescovo della Evangelical Church in Central Germany.

Oberkirchenrat Ilse Junkermann of Stuttgart has become the first woman bishop of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany (EKM). In the third round of secret balloting, the church synod in Wittenberg on 21 March elected the 51-year-old theologian by more than the required two-thirds majority.

Junkermann thus becomes the fourth woman bishop in the history of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), after present bishops Maria Jepsen from Hamburg and Margot Kässmann from Hanover, and Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter from Lübeck, who retired last year.

http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/2354.EN.html

http://www.ekd.de/english/News-news_090327_first_female_bishop_east_germany.html

 

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Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir è la nuova prima ministra islandese. A seguito delle recenti elezioni, svoltesi lo scorso 25 aprile, la Sigurðardóttir è stata eletta a capo di una coalizione di sinistra. La sua elezione è doppiamente storica. In primo luogo si tratta della prima volta che l'Islanda elegge una donna come suo leader; inoltre per la prima volta in tutto il mondo viene eletto un capo di stato dichiaratamente gay. La neoeletta leader non ha mai concesso interviste a proposito della sua sesssualità, ciononostante nella sua biografia si dice apertamente che la sua partner è la sceneggiatrice e giornalista Jónína Leósdóttir. 

La prima ministra gode di grande popolarità avendo già ricoperto questa carica ad internim. Ciò che è importante notare è che gli elettori non le hanno certo tolto la fiducia per il fatto di essere una donna nè lei ha dovuto nascondere il fatto di essere gay.

"Johanna is a very private person," said an Icelandic government source. "A lot of people didn't even know she was gay. When they learn about it people tend to shrug and say, 'Oh'. That's not to say they are not interested; they are interested in who she's living with – but no more so than if she was a man living with a woman."

"In opinion polls Johanna has repeatedly been chosen as the most popular politician in Iceland," said the government source. "She is a good choice, because one of the problems the government is facing is lack of trust. Getting Johanna to become Prime Minister was a way of saying trust is an issue. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/world-gets-its-first-gay-head-of-state-1519068.html

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1875032,00.html

Di seguito riporto la foto della prima ministra

Sotto la foto della di lei moglie Jónína Leósdóttir

Ho inserito le foto giusto per sconvolgervi un pò. Magari vi aspettavate due bruttone dall'aria truce coi capelli rasati. E invece, mi spiace tanto, abbiamo due belle ed eleganti signore.

con l'occasione riporto una interessante analisi scritta per la rivista islandese di lingua inglese The Reykiavik Grapevive:

http://www.grapevine.is/Features/ReadArticle/what-is-the-significance-of-johanna-sigurdardottir-being-the-worlds-first-openly-gay-head-of-government

Sempre in campo islandese, anche se non attualissimo, segnalo questo articolo che riferisce della prima unione benedetta in chiesa per una coppia di lesbiche.

http://www.grapevine.is/Features/ReadArticle/Happily-Ever-After

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Per la prima volta nella storia una donna ha ricevuto il titolo di Poet Laureate.

La poetessa Carol Ann Duffy è inoltre la prima persona dichiaratamente gay a ricevere tale onore.

Britain on Friday awarded the role of national poet laureate to Carol Ann Duffy — the first woman to hold a post that has been filled by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Ted Hughes.

Duffy is also the first openly gay laureate.

The laureate is officially appointed by the queen on the advice of the government. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called Duffy "a truly brilliant modern poet who has stretched our imaginations by putting the whole range of human experiences into lines that capture the emotions perfectly."

Duffy has published more than 30 books — plays and children's stories as well as poems that mix accessible modern language with traditional forms such as the sonnet. Her work often displays a sly, feminist take on history and contains a strong vein of social commentary.

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieItEBK-U3u7s51LDR7bbNlp2onAD97TFJ4G0

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/world/europe/02poet.html?_r=2&emc=eta1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8027767.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8029388.stm

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Si è parlato delle recenti elezioni in Sudafrica ma quanto si sa di come è andata per le donne la recente tornata elettorale? Direi bene nel complesso se si considera che sono in aumento sia le donne elette che le donne ministro e che è stata annunciata la formazione del nuovo Ministry for Women and Children.

A new ministry has been created to focus on women, youth and children, including people with disability, President Jacob Zuma announced

http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/09/09051017551001

Fourteen Ministers and 11Deputy Ministers are women, putting the representation of women in the new Cabinet at almost 40%.
 

There was an increase of women by about 45 percent, putting South Africa third in the global women in Parliament rankings, behind Rwanda and Sweden.

This puts the country firmly on course to achieve the Southern African Development Community (SADC) target of 50 percent women in political decision-making by 2015.

Gender Links spokesperson Kubi Rama told BuaNews last week that the increase in women's representation in the National Assembly was the largest seen in South Africa since the first democratic election in 1994.

http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/09/09051109351001

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Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations have uncovered an unusual ceramic plaque of a goddess in male dress, suggesting that a mighty female "king" may have ruled the city. If true, they say, the plaque would depict the only known female ruler of the region.

We may have found the 'Mistress of the Lionesses' who'd been sending letters from Canaan to Egypt.

Tel Aviv University archaeologists say that the new finds might turn the interpretation of pre-biblical history on its head. 

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles^l2543&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Culture&

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Un'ottima notizia dal Golfo Persico. Dopo aver ottenuto, dopo lunghe battaglie, il diritto di voto, le donne finalmente sono riuscite ad essere elette. Si aspettava l'elezione di una, ce l'hanno fatta in quattro. Ottima anche la perdita di consensi della formazione politica islamista.

 

"It's a victory for Kuwaiti women and a victory for Kuwaiti democracy," Ms Awadhi told AFP news agency.

"This is a major leap forward," she said. The right to vote and stand for election to Kuwait's parliament, the oldest in the Gulf, was extended to women in 2005.

"Men don't have credibility anymore. We're fed up with crises." Ibrahim al-Attar told AP news agency after casting his vote for four female candidates.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8053088.stm

 Young and middle-aged women gathered at the Women's Cultural and Social Society headquarters on Tuesday evening. It was time to celebrate Kuwaiti women's historic achievement, with four women elected to represent Kuwaiti citizens in the National Assembly.

Women gathered at the hall, looking visibly excited. A few men could be spotted among the crowd. Many of the women present were veterans in the women's rights movement and continued to fight for equality in the conservative Arab society.

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NzY4ODYzNzIw

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A renderle omaggio c'erano MIchelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi e tante altre donne influenti a Washington.

Sojourner Truth, suffragista afro-americana, ha finalmente il posto che le spetta.

"I hope that Sojourner Truth would be proud to see me, a descendant of slaves, serving as first lady of the United States," Obama told the crowd of more than 1,000 in Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitor Center. She added that she was glad that African American children touring the Capitol -- "boys and girls like my own daughters" -- could now "come to Emancipation Hall and see the face of a woman who looks like them."

The predominantly female crowd roared its approval to both lines.

 The idea began with the late C. DeLores Tucker, former chair of the National Congress of Black Women, a nonprofit advocacy organization devoted to advancing the causes of African American women. Tucker originally wanted to add Truth's likeness to the eight-ton "Portrait Monument" statues of the heroines of the suffrage movement: Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/28/AR2009042803936.html

http://www.now.org/issues/legislat/052109truth.html

 

 

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Xerox's announcement today that CEO Anne Mulcahy will retire on July 1 and transfer control to her president, Ursula Burns, marks two firsts: the transition of power from one woman to another at a large public company, and the first to be run by a black woman.

The women's partnership earned them media attention--partly, perhaps, because a female tandem at the top is so unusual. 

Several years ago, when she was asked on a women's panel how she gained the confidence to be ambitious, Burns quickly responded, "I came from a very poor single-parent household, but [had a mother] who was extremely confident and had nothing but outstanding expectations of me and my siblings. There was no expectation that I would be anything but great at whatever I did."

http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/21/xerox-ceo-mulcahy-burns-forbes-woman-leadership-tech.html

http://www.women-omics.com/951-0-woman-to-woman-succession-at-xerox-as-mulcahy-steps-down.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/technology/companies/22xerox.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=new%20ceo,%20xerox&st=cse

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Decisamente una bella differenza rispetto al predecessore George. Posso dire che Obama è un bravo ragazzo! Sicuramente è anche importante il fatto che sia una donnalatina, oltre che, ovviamente, una giudice competente.

President Obama has named Sonia Sotomayor, the federal appeals judge, as America’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, a woman with a remarkable personal story that began on a housing project in the south Bronx.

In making the first Supreme Court nomination by a Democratic president in 15 years, Mr Obama has said that the most important quality he was looking for was someone with empathy for ordinary citizens. Announcing his choice in the White House he said: “Even as she has accomplished so much in her life she has never forgotten where she began, never lost touch with the community that supported her. What Sonia will bring to the court is not only the experience acquired over the course of a brilliant legal career but the wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life’s journey.”

Judge Sotomayor said that Mr Obama’s decision to pick her was “the most humbling honour of my life” and that “never in my wildest childhood imaginings did I ever envision this moment”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8068637.stm

 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6368289.ece

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/01/sonia-sotomayor-supreme-c_n_194470.html

 

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Eva Brunne è stata eletta vescova della diocesi di Stoccolma. La Brunne che sostituirà l'attuale vescova Karoline Krook, è la prima vescova dichiratamente lesbica al mondo. Attualmente svolge la funzione di decano e la sua partner è anche lei prete nella Chiesa di Svezia, di confessione luterana.

A female Lutheran pastor who is in a registered partnership with another woman was elected May 26 to be the next bishop of the Diocese of Stockholm in the Church of Sweden.

According to the diocese, Eva Brunne, 55, was elected by a vote of 413-365 over Hans Ulfvebrand in the second round of voting. A first round of voting by clergy of the diocese and an equal number of elected lay people was held in April. There are 13 dioceses in the Church of Sweden.

 http://www.pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=18182

http://episcopalchurch.org/81808_108348_ENG_HTM.htm

http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?di=248784

http://eurout.org/2009/05/28/god-bless-sweden-eva-brunne-worlds-first-lesbian-bishop

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Her name is Hosne Ara Begum and she has been in the police force since 1981. Human rights activist Khushi Kabir: A very important fact for a chauvinist and Islamic society such as Bangladesh.

Women first entered the country’s police force in 1974.  Then there were only 14, now  there are 1,937, and among them 1,331 police constables. Contacted by AsiaNews, Begun said she is “really lucky to be the first female Office-in-Charge and to be a positive part of history in Bangladesh. I have been given the chance to prove my commitment to the nation once more”.

For Khushi Kabir, a prominent human rights activist, Begun’s appointment is an important sign for discrimination against women. 

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15319

http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/05/22/1821s486760.htm

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India's parliament has elected its first woman Speaker after a sweeping victory for the Congress party in recent general elections

Observers say her election improves the Congress party's image as pro-women and a supporter of the lower castes. 

It also projects Congress as a party which is concerned about the welfare of the lower castes who have faced discrimination from upper-caste Hindus for centuries.

Ms Kumar joins other women and members of minorities in positions of power in India.

The posts of president and leader of the country's governing Congress party are both held by women - by Pratibha Patil and Sonia Gandhi respectively.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8080474.stm

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This year’s prestigious Alice Award, named after Alice Paul, founder of the National Woman’s Party, will be presented to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton for putting "eighteen million cracks" in the glass ceiling. 

Riporto una parte del discorso della Clinton, sotto potrete leggerlo nella sua interezza.

So giving heart and support to women who are willing to take steps to have their voices heard, to really take the risks that go with speaking out, running for office, starting a business, defending the rights of others, is so important. And it means so much. I sometimes think we don’t give enough weight to what it means to just reach out person to person and say we’re with you, we care about you; to look for ways to support projects, by setting up foundations and going even on to a website like Kiva, K-i-v-a, and helping a woman who wants to start a business in El Salvador or who wants to create a better opportunity for her community somewhere in Africa. We have so many tools at our disposal that Alice Paul never had. And each of you here today has a unique ability to carry that message.

So I am deeply honored to receive this award named for one of the real giants of American history. But I know how much more we have to do, and as Secretary of State I see it every single day. But I am more encouraged than discouraged. I am more optimistic because I think history is on our side. We can see the tectonic plates shift. And I know that each of us want to see more progress on behalf of more women and girls, and together that’s exactly what we will help to bring about.

http://www.sewallbelmont.org/mainpages/AliceAward.html

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/06/124457.htm

 

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Malgrado la buona notizia collegata alla sconfitta degli estremisti islamici di Hezbollah, la rappresentanza femminile in politica continua ad essere scarsissima.

Lebanese women were granted suffrage in 1953, yet to this day they face considerable obstacles entering politics in a country where political dynasties and patriarchy rule. Most women who do enter politics do so "wearing black", filling a position made available by a deceased male relative. 

out of 587 candidates only 12 were women, a figure that translates into a mere two percent. Even more deplorable is the fact that out of those 12, only four – Nayla Tueni, Bahia Hariri, Strida Geagea and Gilberte Zwein, each of them hailing from political dynasties – were elected to Lebanon's 128-member parliament.

So long as Lebanon continues to hinder women's rights and prevents women from entering the political process, the country cannot enjoy true democracy. Men and women alike must work to encourage female parliamentarians. If Lebanese women have had the right to die as part of their country's army for the last 18 years, they should also have the right to help formulate the laws that govern every Lebanese citizen, man or woman. 

http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=25698&lan=en&sid=1&sp=0&isNew=1

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Joe Biden continua il suo lodevole impegno nel campo della lotta alla violenza contro le donne.

Vice President Biden, the author of the landmark Violence Against Women Act, announced today the appointment of Lynn Rosenthal as the new White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. Ms. Rosenthal is one of the nation’s foremost experts in domestic violence policy, and has worked at the local, state and national levels to create an environment where violence against women is not ignored and perpetrators are held accountable. This is a newly created position at the White House, dedicated specifically to advising the President and Vice President on domestic violence and sexual assault issues.

"President Obama and Vice President Biden could not have named a more qualified, visionary leader to advise the White House on violence against women," said Sue Else, President of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. "Lynn Rosenthal is a pioneer in the movement against domestic abuse and sexual assault. Her expertise will help to shape federal policies that will serve countless survivors of domestic and sexual violence."

In this new position, Ms. Rosenthal will serve as an advisor to the President and Vice President on domestic violence and sexual assault issues; be a liaison to the domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy community; coordinate with the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) on implementation of Violence Against Women Act programs; coordinate with the Department of Health and Human Services on implementation of Family Violence Prevention Act services (including the National Domestic Violence Hotline); coordinate with the State Department and USAID on global domestic violence initiatives; and drive the development new initiatives and policy aimed at combating domestic violence and sexual assault with advocacy groups and members of Congress.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Violence-Against-Women

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E poi raccontano la favoletta che tutte le religioni sono oppressive alla stessa identica maniera nei confronti delle donne. Certo, come no. E la terra è piatta. E il sole gira attorno alla terra. Attualmente sono quattro le donne vescovo nella chiesa anglicana del Canada: Linda Nicholls, vescova suffragana della diocesi di Toronto, Susan Moxley, vescova della diocesi di Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Jane Alexander, vescova della diocesi di Edmonton, e la neo-vescova Barbara Andrews. Rev. Barbara Andrews, executive director of the Sorrento Retreat and Conference Centre in B.C. for seven years, has been elected suffragan bishop for the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI). ““I’m very excited and somewhat scared at the moment,” said Bishop-elect Andrews. “It is certainly a great privilege but it comes with even greater responsibilities.” She will leave Sorrento to be based at St. Paul’s cathedral in Kamloops and said resigning as director of the Sorrento Centre after her election was “heart-wrenching….. I have loved being the director at Sorrento Centre…. but I’ve tried to be faithful to what I believe God is calling me to next. And so it’s nice to have had such a good time here and I’ve been in a privileged position to get to know the people of APCI who have been my neighbours.” http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/sorrento-director-approved-as-apci-bishop/?cHash=7d5e0b2590 http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/anglican_communion/barbara_andrews_bishopelect_in.html

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Les protestants de Genève ont désigné une femme à sa tête. Lors de sa dernière séance, le Consistoire à élu la nouvelle présidente de l´Eglise protestante de Genève, (EPG), en la personne de Charlotte Kuffer, âgée de 57 ans.

http://www.bonnenouvelle.ch/200907011035/breves/geneve-une-femme-a-la-tete-de-l-eglise-protestante-de-geneve.html

Non solo ma una donna pastore è stata eletta membro del Consiglio sinodale della Chiesa Riformata del Cantone di Vaud.

 Line Dépraz, 42 ans, de la paroisse Chailly – La Cathédrale à Lausanne, est élue au second tour. Une autre première, puisqu’aucune femme pasteur avant elle n’avait été membre du Conseil: «Outre le dialogue à l’interne, je veux améliorer la communication avec l’extérieur. Plutôt que d’être réactifs, nous devons être proactifs et mieux devancer les débats de société.»

http://www.bonnenouvelle.ch/200907011027/22-juillet-aout-2009/vie-de-l-eglise/un-conseil-synodal-tout-neuf.html

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As expected, lawyer Tsetska Tsacheva was elected as Speaker of the 41^st Bulgarian Parliament hours after its 240 MPs were sworn in on July 14 2009.

Tsacheva was elected by a unanimous vote. She is a representative of the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (abbreviated as GERB in Bulgarian), who won the biggest share of votes at the July 5 2009 elections.

"What people expect from us is more work and, most of all, self-discipline," she said, addressing the hall. Tsacheva is a lawyer from the central town of Pleven where she was on the municipal council.

This was her first election to Parliament.

http://sofiaecho.com/2009/07/14/754673_lawyer-tsetska-tsacheva-elected-speaker-of-41st-parliament

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She will become the third woman to sit on the nine-member bench that serves as the final arbiter of the US constitution. Her appointment will be for life, giving her the opportunity to shape issues like gun rights and abortion for a generation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5985478/Sonia-Sotomayor-confirmed-as-first-Supreme-Court-Hispanic.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/06/sonia.sotomayor/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32312026/ns/politics-white_house/

Sotomayor replaces retiring Justice David Souter, a liberal named by a Republican president, and she is not expected to alter the court's ideological split.

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Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan has been appointed director for Unity, Faith and Order for the Anglican Communion.

Ms. Barnett-Cowan is currently director of faith, worship and ministry of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, a post she has held since 1995

 “It means that the Communion is willing to have ordained women in positions of responsibility,” she added. “I feel that I’ve put my head out into the wind and it’s blowing strong there now.”

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/100/article/canadian-woman-priest-appointed-to-prestigious-communion-position/?cHash=77742646ac

http://aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/8/14/ACNS4645

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V-Day’s latest V-Moment comes to us from eight Congelese who are working every day to end violence against women and girls in the DRC. We are honored to have Jeanine Gabrielle Ngungu, Justine Masika Bihamb, Kongosi Onia Mussanzi, Chantal Moboni, Drocele Mugomoka, Nounou Booto Meeti, Lydia Masimango and Kenneth Enim Ampi share their words of strength, determination and faith with us.

http://www.vday.org/vmoment/congo

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Si è parlato molto delle recenti elezioni in Giappone e del cambio avvenuto in termini della formazione politica al potere. Nulla è stato detto invece su un dato importante. L'ultima tornata elettorale ha visto per la prima volta nel paese del sol levante un aumento importante nel numero di donne elette.

A RECORD 54 women won seats in Japan's weekend election but female parliamentary representation still remains low by developed world standards at 11 per cent. 

 Female lawmakers held just nine per cent of seats in the outgoing House of Representatives, giving Japan the developed world's lowest level of female representation in politics, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Women secured 43 seats in the 2005 elections - a record at the time - when then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi won a landslide victory by tapping women candidates in a media-savvy campaign.

This time around, the DPJ deployed a group of female candidates the media dubbed the
"Princess Corps" against heavyweights of the LDP and its sole coalition partner New Komeito, which also experienced big losses.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26008082-23109,00.html

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Diane Sawyer will take the helm of “ABC World News” in January

After graduating from Wellesley College in 1967, Sawyer scored her first TV gig, working as a "weather girl" at a Louisville station.

"That was literally the only job held by a woman at the station at the time," she told the Times in a 1994 interview.

 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/09/diane-sawyers-journey-to-abc-world-news.htm

l

 

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Testone, a 33-year-old out lesbian, becomes the first woman to head the center and one of the youngest leaders of a major LGBT organization. The center, founded in 1983, is the second-largest LGBT community center in the world, following the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, led by Lorri L. Jean.

http://www.advocate.com/printArticle.aspx?id=98566

“At a time when the opportunities and challenges faced by our community are limitless, the Center is a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of LGBT people,” said Testone.  “I am honored and excited to lead the Center in providing the kind of thriving, nurturing community that we all want to come home to.  It is an ambitious goal, but my commitment to serving the LGBT community, the passion of the people involved and the possibilities for this institution are also limitless.”   

http://www.gaycenter.org/press/20090915

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President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals today:

Chai R. Feldblum, Nominee for Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Chai Feldblum is a Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where she has taught since 1991. She also founded the Law Center’s Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic, a program designed to train students to become legislative lawyers. Feldblum previously served as Legislative Counsel to the AIDS Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. In this role, she developed legislation, analyzed policy on various AIDS-related issues, and played a leading role in the drafting of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and, later as a law professor, in the passage of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. She has also worked on advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and has been a leading expert on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. As Co-Director of Workplace Flexibility 2010, Feldblum has worked to advance flexible workplaces in a manner that works for employees and employers. Feldblum clerked for Judge Frank Coffin and for Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and B.A. from Barnard College.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-More-Key-Administration-Posts-9/14/09/

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/facinfo/tab_faculty.cfm?Status=Faculty&ID=251

“We commend President Obama for his nomination of Chai Feldblum to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Professor Feldblum’s commitment to protecting the civil rights of all Americans makes her eminently qualified for Commissioner of the EEOC.”

http://www.hrc.org/13536.htm

On Monday, President Obama announced his nomination for Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and I couldn't be happier about his pick: Chai Feldblum, Professor of Law at Georgetown, who also happens to be an out Jewish lesbian. 

http://jwablog.jwa.org/chai_feldblum

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Per la prima volta la polizia di Tampa ha al suo vertice una donna e, per la prima volta, una persona gay, visto che la Castor è apertamente lesbica.

She is the first woman in Tampa's history to hold that title.

Castor will oversee the department's $133 million budget and 1,300 employees, 981 of them sworn officers.

Only two years after getting hired, she was prepping to become an academy instructor. Two years after that, she told her supervisors she wanted to get a master's degree.

"She clearly is a born leader in her demeanor," Iorio said. "I have total confidence in Jane."

Castor credited Hogue and Iorio as visionaries and thanked them for their tutelage.

She stopped short of reflecting too much on her gender.

"The significance of being the first female is certainly not lost on me," she said, before citing Iorio as another strong female leader in the area. "Frankly, I'd rather be known as a good chief than the first female."

There are nine female police chiefs in Florida, including Pinellas Park Chief Dorene Thomas, according to the Florida Police Chiefs Association.

Nationwide, about 300 out of 18,000 police chiefs are women, according to women-in-policing expert Dorothy Schulz of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Castor's promotion had added significance for another reason. Openly gay, she has served for more than six years as a liaison to Tampa's gay and lesbian community.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/article1036669.ece

 

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"I'm thrilled to finally get into the office and get to work," she said Tuesday shortly after the confirmation was announced. "There's a lot going on, from this new round of terrorism investigations to the ongoing targeting of financial crimes."

The U.S Attorney's job involves overseeing the Justice Department's efforts west of the Cascades, including overseeing federal criminal investigations and defending the federal government in court.

Durkan is the second woman to hold the job and is likely the first openly gay appointed federal prosecutor in the country.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2009969288_durkan30m.html?syndication=rss

http://www.mombian.com/2009/09/30/lesbian-mom-named-u-s-attorney/

 

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Over the years, Ms. Shaheed has played a key role in promoting the need to integrate cultural appropriateness with all human rights and fundamental freedoms. While she has done this with particular reference to Muslim contexts, she has also worked closely with rights advocates from diverse cultural and religious traditions. In 1995 Ms. Shaheed was an expert delegate at the landmark Muslim Women Parliamentarians Conference and provided significant inputs to the Islamabad Declaration on the Role of Muslim Women Parliamentarians in Promotion of Peace, Progress and Development of Islamic Societies.

She has written extensively on issues of citizenship and culture, including recent works such as “Citizenship and the nuanced belonging of women” (2007) and Gender, Religion and the Quest for Justice in Pakistan (UNRISD: 2009). Furthermore, she is a founder member of the national women’s lobby, Women’s Action Forum that spearheaded the movement for women's equality during a decade of martial law (1977-88) in Pakistan.

http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd[157]=x-157-565487

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Ostrom becomes the first woman to win the prize in its 40-year history.

The award was a "great surprise... I'm still a little bit in shock," she said by phone at the news conference announcing the prize.

Ostrom, a professor of political science at Indiana University, was praised "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons."

Ostrom's work shows that local communities often manage common resources -- such as woods, lakes and fish stocks -- better on their own than when outside authorities impose rules, the committee said.

"Bureaucrats sometimes do not have the correct information, while citizens and users of resources do," she said to explain the significance of her work.

The committee highlighted her research on a dam in Nepal as an example, saying her research has moved analysis of nonmarket institutions "from the fringe of economic analysis to the very center."

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/12/nobel.economics/index.html

Her work -- inspired by her mother's "Victory Garden" during World War II to feed Allied troops -- challenged the notion that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatised, the jury said.

"If we want to halt the degradation of our natural environment and prevent a repetition of the many collapses of natural-resource stocks experienced in the past, we should learn from the successes and failures of common-property regimes," it said.

She conducted numerous studies of user-managed fish stocks, pastures, woods, lakes and groundwater basins, and concluded that the outcomes are "more often than not, better than predicted by standard theories," it added.

Ostrom told a news conference at the university: "I have been studying how local people as well as government officials have attempted to solve very difficult problems," such as deforestation and loss of fisheries.

"When individuals have this way of working together officially and can build trust and respect they may be able to solve problems."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091013/bs_afp/nobeleconomy

 

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Dalla Germania un'ottima notizia. Congratulazioni alla neo-eletta! Con l'auspicio di vedere più donne vescovo tra i luterani tedeschi.

Hannover Bishop Margot Käßmann became the first woman to lead the Protestant church in Germany on Wednesday after the majority of the synod voted in her favour.

Following the vote in Ulm, Käßmann, who has been at the helm of Germany’s largest regional church for more than 10 years, will lead all of Germany’s 25 million Protestants for the next six years.

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091028-22863.html

 

 

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Bernice King, the youngest child of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., has been elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a spokeswoman for the group said Friday.

King, 46, was elected as the SCLC's first female president, said Renee Richardson.

King is a minister at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia. She also is a motivational speaker and author.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/10/30/sclc.king/index.html?eref=time_us

http://sclcnational.org/net/content/go.aspx?s=85803.0.0.2607

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La notizia, sicuramente positiva, nasconde però una situazione fortemente negativa riguardante il numero di donne elette nella nazione.

The appointment of Margaret Nasha as the first woman to occupy the post of Speaker of the National Assembly in Botswana signals another step towards gender equality in southern Africa.

However, the low number of women who made it into Parliament in the recent elections is a setback in a region committed to reach 50 percent parity in decision-making by 2015, in six years time, following just one more election.

Out of a total of six women who took part in the parliamentary elections on 16 October, only two women won seats in Parliament.

Dr Nasha believes her elevation should lay the foundation which the country can build on and allow more women to assume high positions in society.

"I feel elated, honoured and humbled to be the first woman to assume the position of Speaker of the National Assembly," she said. "This shows that people have confidence that I can lead the House."

She urged women, the electorate and political parties to work together to ensure the gains made by Botswana in the field of women representation in politics and gender equality is not reversed.

http://www.sardc.net/Editorial/Newsfeature/09351009.htm

 

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Pour la premi�re fois, les femmes repr�sentent plus de la moiti� des personnes figurant sur la liste �lectorale en C�te d�Ivoire. Marie-Paule Kodjo, pr�sidente de la Coordination des femmes pour les �lections qui a �t� � la base de la forte mobilisation des femmes lors de l�op�ration d�enr�lement, en donne les raisons dans cet entretien.

Les 50,87% de femmes au niveau de l�affichage de la liste provisoire, c�est du jamais vu et c�est un record. Nous sommes sereines car nous savons que c�est le travail que nous avons fait sur le terrain qui porte ses fruits. Et nous sommes tr�s fi�res. Nous avons fait un travail de fourmi, du porte-�-porte et les zones o� il n�y avait pas d�enr�lement, nous y sommes all�es. Nous avons suscit� l�engouement en mettant tout le monde ensemble. Notre objectif, c�est qu�il faut imp�rativement un scrutin populaire, gage d��lection apais�e. Donc si les femmes, frange de la population la plus importante, comprennent ce que c�est que l�enr�lement, ce que c�est que des contentieux, nous aurons un scrutin populaire et par cons�quent, une �lection apais�e.

http://news.abidjan.net/h/345596.html

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Mère de trois enfants, Raya al-Hassan a fait irruption dans le paysage politique libanais dominé par les hommes au Liban en décrochant le portefeuille des Finances, une première pour un poste de cette envergure.

Mais, soulignent les organisations de défense des droits des femmes, ce grand pas en avant reste insuffisant dans un pays où l'inégalité des sexes reste bien présente dans les lois.

Dans un pays qui se vante d'être à l'avant-garde de la libération des femmes dans le monde arabe, elles demeurent sous-représentées.

Le Liban est même derrière certains de ses voisins plus conservateurs, avec seulement quatre femmes au Parlement (sur 128 sièges).

Au gouvernement, elles ont été encore moins représentées.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/international/moyen-orient/200911/16/01-922037-premiere-au-liban-une-femme-au-ministere-des-finances.php?utm_source=bulletinCBP&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=retention

 

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The Rev. Canon Diane Jardine Bruce became the first woman elected a bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles on Dec. 4, pending the required consents.

A former Roman Catholic, she joined the Episcopal Church in 1986. Bruno designated her an honorary Canon of the Cathedral of St. Paul in 2003.

She is married to Gregory Stephen Bruce. They have two adult children and reside in Irvine, California.

With 70,000 members in 148 congregations, the Diocese of Los Angeles includes all of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and part of Riverside County.

The Diocese of Los Angeles is one of 110 dioceses that form the Episcopal Church, located in 16 nations and territories and part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

 http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_117534_ENG_HTM.htm

The 114th annual convention of the Diocese of Los Angeles made history for the second time in as many days on Dec. 5, electing an openly gay candidate, the Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool, as bishop suffragan, pending the required consents from the majority of the church's other dioceses.

Glasspool is the second openly gay partnered priest to be elected a bishop in the Episcopal Church. The first was Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who was elected in 2003.

Ordained to the diaconate in 1981 and the priesthood in 1982, Glasspool has been active at local, provincial and national church levels. She has served as a three-time General Convention deputy, a Province III representative and as president of the diocesan standing committee.

The daughter of a priest, Glasspool was one of two openly gay candidates on the Los Angeles slate but maintained that her sexual orientation was "not an issue" in the election.

 http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_117538_ENG_HTM.htm

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Jewish Women International's 12th annual Women to Watch gala Monday afternoon at the Hilton Washington. She joined fellow honorees Rabbi Sharon Brous, Yanina Fleysher, Laurie Ann Goldman, Ruth Marcus, Julie Morgenstern, Estee Portnoy, JJ Ramberg, Melissa Arbus Sherry, Ellen Stovall and Jillian Copeland for a girl-power celebration, equal parts light-hearted chatter and insightful rumination.

“Success is not luck,” she said. “It’s believing you are lucky.”

Most astonishingly (at least for this reporter) was the assertion by Marcus, the Washington Post, Pulitzer Prize-nominated columnist, that she did not initially believe she had opinions worth sharing in print every week.

“It is not possible to get an A every week,” she acknowledged.  “Some of [my columns] are a B-plus, but it’s very important for us as women to get over the notion that we have to deliver perfection in everything we do. We need to learn to swagger, or at least get comfortable pretending to swagger.”

After listening to the 10 accomplished honorees get personal and introspective, show emotion and humility, I left the JWI luncheon reflecting on the “pearls of wisdom” that I also wear -- each one given to me by an experience or an encounter that shaped my life.

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/12/08/1009604/girl-talk-pearls-of-wisdom-at-women-to-watch-gala

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Annise Parker made history Saturday as Houston's first openly gay mayor.

Parker's election also makes her the second woman to become mayor of Houston. Other cities such as Providence, Rhode Island, and Portland, Oregon, have picked openly gay mayors. Houston is the fourth-largest U.S. city.

"Houston is a multiracial, multicultural, international city. And I think my election will send a message to the world that Houston is a city that might surprise a lot of folks," Parker said before the runoff.

Parker, 53, has never shied away from, nor made an issue of, her sexual orientation. She has been with her partner for 19 years and they have two adopted children.

"I have always stood up for the fact that I am gay. It's part of the resume that I bring to the table, but it's just a piece of the package," she said.

 http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/13/houston.mayor/index.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6803974/Houston-elects-openly-gay-mayor.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BC06920091213

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Durant sa session d'hiver, le Parlement a élu la démocrate-chrétienne (PDC / centre droit) Doris Leuthard présidente de la Confédération. La socialiste Pascale Bruderer Wyss devient quant à elle président de la Chambre basse et la libérale-radicale (PLR / droite) Erika Forster-Vannini présidente de la Chambre haute.

Désormais, la Suisse est l'un des pays au monde où il y a le plus de femmes présentes dans les institutions politiques. En fait, ce sont surtout les pays scandinaves qui font mieux, car ils ont été pionniers en la matière.

Mais avec 29,5% de femmes élues au Parlement fédéral, la Suisse se place devant des pays comme la France, le Royaume-Uni, l'Italie ou l'Autriche. La Suisse est donc relativement bien placée en comparaison internationale.

Mais la parité est aussi une question culturelle. Il faut donc changer l'ensemble de la culture, ce qui est également assez lent. Remarquons toutefois que la parité est déjà allée relativement loin dans le domaine de la politique en comparaison avec l'économie.

Mais c'est justement parce qu'il s'agit d'un processus culturel qu'on ne peut pas l'imposer. C'est avant tout en sensibilisant l'opinion publique et en mettant le doigt sur le problème que l'on peut faire évoluer les choses.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/index.html?cid=7780884

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Ms. Crowley is the network’s senior political correspondent, having covered campaigns and elections for two decades. Starting on Feb. 7, she will succeed John King, who is taking over Mr. Dobbs’s former time slot, weekdays at 7 p.m., later this month.

“Give me that hour, and let me make it the best I can possibly make it,” she said in an interview.

Ms. Crowley will be the only woman currently anchoring a Sunday political talk show

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/business/media/01cnn.html

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Un plauso alla Bolivia!

'My great dream has come true: half of the members of my cabinet are women, and half are men,' said a visibly moved Morales when he presented his new team of ministers Saturday, the day after he was sworn in to a second term.

'This was an impressive surprise,' Jimena Leonardo, one of the heads of the Bartolina Sisa federation of peasant women of La Paz, told IPS.

Three of the 10 female members of the cabinet are indigenous social activists.

Bolivia has thus become the second country in Latin America, after Chile, to have a cabinet with gender parity, said Mónica Novillo, head of advocacy and lobbying for the Coordinadora de la Mujer, a Bolivian umbrella organisation of more than 200 women's groups.

The new constitution, which guarantees equal rights for men and women, empowers both women and the country's historically downtrodden indigenous majority.

The proportion of women in the new parliament - in which the total number of legislators was expanded under the new constitution - will be double what it was in the previous Congress: 46 out of 166 seats (28 percent), compared to 22 out of 157 seats (14 percent).

When he announced his new cabinet, Morales also said that Bolivian women's social conscience, patriotism and dedication to defending national interests, as well as the respect he feels for his mother, sister and daughter, were factors in his decision to break with a long history of discrimination against women.

http://www.globalissues.org/news/2010/01/27/4330

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Chinchilla won 46.8 percent of the vote

She became vice minister of public security in 1994, and the first female minister of public security from 1996 to 1998. Chinchilla was elected member of the Legislative Assembly in 2002 and in 2006 she became vice president for incumbent President Oscar Arias.

Chinchilla campaigned on a platform promising more jobs, better living standards for children and senior citizens, crackdown on drug trafficking and other crimes.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/database/2010-02/08/c_13168113.htm

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Un esempio positivo quello di Emma Watson. Contrariamente ad altre sceme o finte sceme che pensano solo a cambiare vestito ogni giorno e fidanzato ogni settimana ci sono anche giovani attrici che, oltre ad essere carine, sfruttano la fama per delle giuste cause.

Emma has become the first poster girl for eco-chic and has designed a new range for People Tree, the pioneering Fair Trade and sustainable British fashion brand founded by green campaigner, Safia Minney, in 1991.

The collection, for men and women, is youthful and sporty, with organic cotton separates, Breton knits and quirky touches such as a 'School of Fair Trade’ badge on a brushed fleece blazer, a 'daisy-chain necklace’ motif, which Emma painted and then had printed on a T-shirt, and a hand-drawn 'Union Jack’ for tops and bags. Prices range from £12 for a scarf to £115 for a cricket cardigan.

Her decision grew out of a real frustration. “It’s hard to know what is good and what is bad on the high street and equally hard to find fashionable or youthful ethical clothing. I don’t want to wear something on my body that hurts the environment or the people in it. I wanted to put together a collection I could be proud of in terms of both ethics and design. It shocks me that even today only one per cent of cotton produced in the world is Fair Trade and organic.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/hilaryalexander/7103320/Emma-Watson-models-her-range-for-People-Tree.html

http://www.peopletreefoundation.org/

http://www.peopletree.co.uk/

http://www.peopletree.co.uk/category/emma-watson/

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The Revd Dr Marjorie Lewis, who worked as a missionary at URC head office, is to be the first female president of the United Theological College of the West Indies.

Marjorie Lewis, who takes up her post on 1 August 2010, is best known to the URC in the UK through a three-year secondment to Church House between 1997 and 2000. She worked as part of the Racial Justice and Multicultural Ministry team, conducting an assessment of race relations within the church, and developing policies to foster racial justice.

Marjorie Lewis was ordained in 1980 by the Disciples of Christ in Jamaica, (now part of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands), and served as pastor for churches in rural Jamaica; as sub-regional officer for the Caribbean Conference of Churches; as a project officer for Oxfam UK and general secretary of the Jamaica Council of Churches. She has also published various academic articles and co-authored books on theology. 

http://www.urc.org.uk/news/2010/january/United_Reformed_missionary_to_head_Caribbean_college

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Shadi Sadr, Iranian women's rights activist, is amongst the winners of this year's International Women of Courage Award given by US Department of State, Office of Global Women's Issues. On March 10, Hillary Clinton will present the awards to the honorees at the Department of State. Shadi Sadr also won the Dutch "Human Rights Tulip" award and Lech Walesa human rights award last year.

http://www.iranian.com/main/news/2010/03/07/iranian-activist-winner-women-courage-award

http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/iwoc/2010/index.htm

Ms. Sadr was among 33 women arrested in March 2007 for gathering outside a Tehran courtroom to peacefully protest the trial of five Iranian women who were accused of “propaganda against the system” and similar charges. She was held in prison for over two weeks before being released on bail. In the midst of the post-election unrest, Sadr was arrested by plainclothes militiamen on July 17, 2009, as she walked to Friday prayers. She was released, after international outcry, 11 days later, and fled to Germany, where she has remained a staunch activist for women’s legal rights.

http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/iwoc/2010/bio/137495.htm

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The first woman elected as general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia has vowed to help heal wounds "not only in our societies, but also within our churches" in the world's most populous continent.

Hutabarat-Lebang takes up office in November at the Chiang Mai offices of the CCA after the term of outgoing general secretary Prawate Khid-arn ends in October.

She is a vice-president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and is a member of the Joint Working Group between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church.

WARC general secretary the Rev. Setri Nyomi said, "We in WARC have benefited from Dr. Hutabarat-Lebang's leadership skills and deep commitment to global ecumenism. We extend our congratulations and best wishes to her in her new appointment."
 

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=3994

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Tzvia Greenfield. Israel's first Haredi female to be elected to the Knesset, she is a fierce critic of her own community's attitudes to the peace process and modernity; describing the Haredi community as being "incapable of compromise." Yet she still lives in it, a resident of the Jerusalem suburb of Har Nof.

The irony is she believes Haredi women - who she says are so "subjugated' but do get at least some educational opportunities- can help bring about change. "The education at my strictly Orthodox Beit Yaakov school in Jerusalem was infinitely better than what my brother received," she says.

"I hope ultra-Orthodox women, who often work to support their husbands in their (Torah) learning will seize their greater opportunities," and presumably carry out a feminist revolution that will help to push the whole Haredi community into modernity.

Not that she can see that just yet: "They still have to take enough courage to make their input into society significant because they are still hushed down and still internalize that as a legitimate position. They are gathering power but they won't put it in front of society what they offer," she says.

"The big issue here is a very delicate one. That is children. Large families thirty years ago was six children; now there's 13 or 14 - from one wife. I believes the glorification of bringing as many children as possible is a definite way of ensuring women can?t bring their advantages into effect - subjugation.

It's inconceivable for a woman to say to her husband, 'I won't have more than three children'- a cause for divorce. Inconceivable and non-existent.'"

Do you think there should be Orthodox female rabbis?

I'm all for it. I think if women want to serve as rabbis in religious function they should be given the right to do so. The issue of depriving women a religious position is part of deprivation of women from positions of power. Women don?t have equal rights in Judaism because they never had them in any field of life- a general result of subjugation. 

What do you think about the issue of segregated buses.

Firstly, I personally participated in an initiative in Jerusalem in which women, and some men - about 100 of us - went up onto buses which separate women and men and the women in our group insisted on sitting at the back of the bus. We did it for the whole morning, getting much press. Of course that doesn't lead to the real results but something was done to turn the attention of the public to that.


Second, and it was part of my doctorate published several years ago. The last chapter was an philosophical analysis of the separation of women and men in response to an article written by an expert on jurisprudence in South Africa saying there was no problem in the separation of men and women in buses and it can be totally accepted if the community wants it.

I thought it was a shameful position- typical to a post-modern position which doesn't take into account women in these communities. It?s a reckless position and a big chapter in my doctorate was dedicated to a philosophical analysis of that rationale. We have to fight against segregated buses but we'll lose ground because instead of protesting people cooperate.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1163329.html

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Obama chose a nominee who has never been a judge, a factor the White House said had worked in Kagan's favor, giving her a different perspective from the other justices. Poised to put his imprint on the court for a second time, the president embraced Kagan's profile: a left-leaning lawyer who has won praise from the right, earned political experience at the White House and on the college campus, cleared one Senate confirmation already and served as the nation's top lawyer.

He wanted not just a justice who would thrive, but one who would lead.

At 50 years old and with lifetime tenure, Kagan could extend Obama's court legacy by decades. Her vote could be the difference on cases that shape American liberties and the scope of the government's power.

Mentioning Kagan's late mother, Obama said: "I think she would relish, as do I, the prospect of three women taking their seat on the nation's highest court for the first time in history — a court that would be more inclusive, more representative, more reflective of us as a people than ever before."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100510/ap_on_go_su_co/us_obama_supreme_court

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Somali-born rights icon Ayaan Hirsi Ali received a free speech award Wednesday from a Danish newspaper which sparked outrage by publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.

Hirsi Ali, a former Dutch lawmaker who was threatened with death for criticizing Islam, was named by Jyllands-Posten newspaper as the winner of its Prize for Freedom of Expression.

"The committee did not doubt for an instant that you deserved this award for your unshakeable faith that it was worth fighting for your points of view," editor Joern Mikkelsen said at the prizegiving ceremony in Copenhagen.

He said he was "proud" to give her the award, saying that "Hirsi Ali's fight for the freedom of expression is also our fight".

Now living in the United States, she was in Copenhagen for the publication in Denmark of her new book "Nomad".

The Jyllands-Posten prize, worth 50,000 kroner ($8,880 Cdn), was launched in 2006 at the height of anti-Danish protests in some Muslim countries after the paper published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Hirsi+wins+rights+award+from+Danish+cartoon+paper/2963014/story.html

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Congratulazioni!

When Kamla Persad-Bissessar shattered the glass ceiling to become this country's first female prime minister, she had her pick of splashy sites for her swearing-in: the stately presidential mansion, the multimillion-dollar diplomatic center or the gleaming new waterfront convention center.

She nixed them all. Instead, Persad-Bissessar will be sworn in at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the foreign ministry building across the street from a park where her supporters will be able to congregate.

Friends and family have watched for decades as Persad-Bissessar defied convention. Each time, it won her popular support. ``She needs to have people around her,'' said Ingrid Ismael, a longtime aid. ``That's her personality. She wanted to get to the people.''

Persad-Bissessar's victory bolsters a trend of women being elected to lead countries in the hemisphere.

Argentina's Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was elected three years ago, and Costa Rica's Laura Chinchilla won the presidency in February, becoming the first woman to be elected there. In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is backing Dilma Rousseff, his chief of staff, for the presidency of Latin America's largest country in October's elections.

``In Latin America, at one point in time, the military was used as a method of populace politics,'' said Derek Ramsarooj, who manages campaigns in the region. ``Now, we're seeing the gender phenomenon, from Argentina to Costa Rica to Trinidad and Tobago.''

Early this year, Persad-Bissessar stunned the nation when she announced that she would challenge her mentor for the party's leadership. In February, she won the election in a landslide, then later replaced him as leader of the opposition in Parliament.

And on Monday, she defeated Manning, Panday's longtime political rival.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/26/v-fullstory/1648772/kamla-persad-bissessar-to-be-sworn.html

 

 

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Ed Miliband has strengthened his pledge to promote women to senior political jobs by supporting a plan to ensure half of the party’s new shadow Cabinet team is female.

Labour’s acting leader, Harriet Harman, announced she would be campaigning for a change to the party’s rules that would see 11 out of the 22 shadow posts given to women. Current rules dictate that just four posts have to be filled by a female MP. The move would guarantee jobs for the likes of Yvette Cooper, Tessa Jowell and Caroline Flint.

Mr Miliband, who had already suggested a third of the shadow Cabinet would be women if he won the leadership, used Twitter to confirm his support for Ms Harman’s proposal. “Very sympathetic to what Harriet has said today on 50 per cent women in Shadow Cabinet,” he said yesterday. “[It] will ultimately be a PLP decision but I will be supporting it.”

He is enthusiastic about the idea as he is already working with some of the party’s rising female stars. It is understood he has been impressed by the likes of Rachel Reeves, the MP for Leeds West and Lisa Nandy, the MP for Wigan. Labour MPs have already agreed that the shadow Cabinet, which is selected by a vote, will not be decided until the next leader has been chosen in September.

Speaking at a conference of the Unite union today, Ms Harman said it was time for her female Labour colleagues “to step out of the shadows” and take top jobs, as Labour had 81 women MPs to choose from. “Labour is the only party in parliament which speaks up for women in this country. We have some excellent experienced women and some brilliant new women MPs,” she said. “We still do have twice as many men MPs as women. The Labour men are great - but they are not twice as good as the women.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ed-miliband-supports-50-female-team-1990749.html

 

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La notizia ha un rilievo particolare in quanto si tratta della prima volta in assoluto in cui la Chiesa luterana in Finlandia elegge una donna vescovo.

Pastor, Master of Theology, Irja Askola (born 1952), was elected as Bishop of the Diocese of Helsinki on the second round of the election with 591 votes. She is the first woman to be elected as bishop in Finland.

Irja Askola graduated as Master of Theology in 1975, and was ordained as priest in 1988. Her home parish is Alppila. She works now as the Special Assistant in Theological Affairs for Bishop Mikko Heikka.

http://evl.fi/EVLUutiset.nsf/Documents/1FFFA301B08034B5C225773700519633?OpenDocument〈=EN

http://www.irjaaskola.fi/vaali/

 

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The summit is the brainchild of Belinda Stronach, a former MP and now executive vice-chairman of Magna International Inc.

Stronach challenged the girls to become a voice for women in the international community as she spoke to the crowded room at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto.

"Girls have to recognize the value that they can contribute. We have to change the mindset of boys and men so they value girls worldwide," said Stronach.

Panellists, some shedding tears, spoke about violence, poverty and lack of education -- all identified as barriers to a woman's success.

The solution, according to the summit's mantra, is the "the girl effect."

It's similar to the old proverb: Give a man a fish he'll eat for one day, but teach a man to fish he'll have food for a lifetime. In this version, the woman gets the fishing rod.

According to Stronach, when a woman earns greater income, she ends up giving 90 per cent back to her children. This translates to healthier, educated children and in turn, a better society.

 The young women's policy conclusions will be sent to the world leaders attending the summit, which runs June 26-27.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100616/girls-summit-toronto-stronach-100616/20100616/?hub=TorontoNewHome

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Australia appointed its first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard, who vowed on Thursday to end division over a controversial mining tax, resurrect a carbon trade scheme and call elections within months.

"I asked my colleagues to make a leadership change because I believed that a good government was losing its way," Gillard told a news conference.

Bookmaker Centrebet made a Gillard Labor government outright favorite to win the next election over conservative opponents.

Gillard has long been one of the government's best performers in parliament with her ability to sell policies and deflect political attacks.

Gillard, 48, immediately offered to end a bitter dispute over a controversial "super profits" mining tax, which is threatening $20 billion worth of investment and has unnerved voters, saying she would throw open the door to fresh negotiations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65N00120100624

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Araújo is the first Angolan woman to set her sights on the country’s top job, held for the last 30 years by the same man, Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

While the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has more than 70 women among its 191 members of parliament, and several female ministers in government, there are few high profile women in opposition.

The second biggest party the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) has 16 seats in the National Assembly, of which four are held by women. The remaining three opposition parties, sharing 12 seats between them, have no women in parliament.

"I want to be president of Angola because I want change," Araújo told IPS.

"We have so much wealth through oil," she said, "Yet there is also so much misery and suffering. There is a lot of work to be done to improve conditions for people here."

Despite the large presence of women in parliament, the mass membership of the women’s wing of the MPLA, Organisation of Angolan Women (OMA) and the work of the ministry of women and family, Araújo does not believe enough is being done to help women.

She said: "This government is not interested in families otherwise they wouldn’t be leaving people living in such bad conditions." She called for more concrete women-friendly policies such as welfare subsidies for single mothers and victims of domestic violence.

Balbina Martins da Silva, from the campaign group Platform of Women in Action, said Araújo’s presence in politics was an important marker for gender development.

"It’s a valid, positive and necessary step to have a female presidential candidate."

Araújo believes the country requires more than that – a new president. "The situation right now is suffocating. To have one man in power for 30 years, it’s a very long time," she said. "We need someone new, someone with new vision who can think differently for Angola."

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51875

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The appointment of the first two women judges to Malaysia's Islamic courts was hailed Thursday as a move to address the gender imbalance in the country's religious judiciary.

Premier Najib Razak announced the appointments, made by the king in May, as an example of the government's commitment to transforming the Sharia judiciary.

"The appointments were made to enhance justice in cases involving families and women's rights and to meet current needs," Najib was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama last week.

Muslim pressure group Sisters in Islam welcomed the appointments as a "positive sign for Muslims" and a move that the group had been advocating for over a decade.

Women, family and community development minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said the move would eventually see "an equal representation of men and women in decision-making positions".

"Now we must maintain the momentum of such progress and I would like to see all states emulate this move by appointing women into various state Sharia courts," she added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Malaysian-Islamic-courts-appoint-first-women-judges/articleshow/6143097.cms

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The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to become the nation's fourth female Supreme Court justice, setting up a final confirmation vote by the Senate.

The committee vote broke down mostly along partisan lines, with one Republican joining the panel's Democrats in sending the nomination to the full Senate on a 13-6 vote.

"Elena Kagan is one of this country's leading legal minds, and has shown throughout this process that, if confirmed, she would be a fair and impartial Supreme Court Justice who understands how decisions made by the Court affect the lives of everyday Americans," President Barack Obama said after the vote.

The "vote by the (committee) is a bipartisan affirmation of her strong performance during her confirmation hearings."

"There is no question about Elena Kagan's qualifications," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California. "In my view, there is no good reason to deny her appointment." She is clearly among nation's "top legal minds."

 http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/20/senate.kagan.nomination/?hpt=T1

 

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Compiled by Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton and his friend Gary Ginsberg, this year’s Newsweek list had only six women on it — and most of them were on the bottom half of the rankings.

The results got us thinking about all the female rabbis whose influence cannot necessarily be measured by their national/international profile, their media presence or the size of their constituencies — some of the criteria on which Newsweek bases its rankings — but who, nonetheless, are playing important roles in shaping the Jewish story.

So we decided to select 50 of the most influential women rabbis in America, plus five in Israel, for this inaugural Sisterhood 50 list. These women span generations and the denominational spectrum; they are pulpit rabbis, teachers, academics, pastoral caregivers and organizational leaders. All of them have made it their life’s work to put Jewish values into action — and, as a result, are changing lives in and beyond their communities. This alphabetical list contains a lot of "firsts," which is evidence of just how much ground there’s been to break in recent years.

While The Sisterhood 50 has on it only three Orthodox women, many more hold key religious leadership roles in their communities — even if they lack a path to the Orthodox rabbinate because of their gender.

http://forward.com/articles/129451/

 

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Since the late 1990s, the 44-year-old mother of four (who also has the greatest number of children of all committee members) has been working with the UN in the realm of women's rights. She started out reporting on the status of women's rights in Israel for the UN, on behalf of the government. In 2007, she tells ISRAEL21c, her 10-year dream came true, when she was elected a member of the elite, predominantly female UN committee that analyzes reports submitted by the 192 UN member countries.

Recently, at UN headquarters in New York, Halperin-Kaddari was elected for a second term. She didn't expect to win this time around, she explains, because most of the UN's Moslem and Arab states tend to automatically vote against Israeli candidates, regardless of their credentials, and in addition the vote took place shortly after the Turkish flotilla incident which resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish citizens and several injured Israeli soldiers, which she anticipated would have an adverse effect on her chances.

But despite the politics and negative press for Israel, Halperin-Kaddari received 103 votes and was elected, beating out contenders from countries such as Chile, Bahrain and the Republic of Cameroon. "Happily, the success in this campaign was a lot of hard work coming together with respect for professionalism," she declares.

Involved in women's rights issues in Israel as well as international women's rights, in the late 1990s, Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, the chancellor of Bar-Ilan who was 90 years old at the time, asked Halperin-Kaddari to help establish a center for women's rights at the university. The result is the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women's Status. While she feels that, "It came at a stage a bit too early in my academic career... it was an opportunity that couldn't be missed," according to the professor. And it was the center that helped to enhance her status at the UN and it is still the base from where she champions women's rights in Israel.

Particular challenges that women in Israel face, she says, are the problems associated with marriage laws, and the fact that they're governed by religion and not the state. This is an ominous situation for both the Muslim and Jewish populations in Israel, she warns, with each religion having its own interests in preserving control over laws pertaining to marriage.

http://www.israel21c.org/201007268159/people/balancing-the-scales-for-women-worldwide

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Rainforest Action Network (RAN), one of the nation’s leading environmental action organizations, has named Rebecca Tarbotton as its executive director. As the first woman to head the organization, Tarbotton joins an exclusive club of women leaders in the environmental sector.

Tarbotton is used to taking on tough problems and winning – regularly standing down CEOs from Bank of America’s Ken Lewis to Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit. Under her leadership as Global Finance Campaign Director, RAN secured a sector wide policy to limit bank financing of coal-fired power plants. Prior to RAN, Rebecca worked as an international food and human rights activist, both in California and abroad, giving her a deep understanding of current global environmental challenges from international agribusiness to climate change.

“I’m thrilled that someone with Rebecca’s passion and skill is stepping up to lead RAN,” said Randy Hayes, RAN’s founder and first executive director. “The world may have changed in many ways since 1985, but the basic need to prevent corporations from destroying the world’s last rainforests remains as critical as ever.”

Called everything from “a mosquito in the tent” by Fortune Magazine to a “force to be reckoned with” by Canada’s McLean’s Magazine, Rainforest Action Network is one of the few national organizations to focus on the intersections between corporate greed, fossil fuel dependence, forest destruction and climate change.

 http://ran.org/content/rans-new-executive-director

 

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The Senate confirmed U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan on Thursday as the 112th justice to the Supreme Court, making her the fourth woman ever to sit on the high court.

On a 63 to 37 vote, Kagan became President Obama's second lifetime appointment to the court in the past year -- the vote was held a year after Sonia Sotomayor won 68 votes for her confirmation as the court's first Latina justice.

Five Republicans supported Kagan, 50, to succeed retired justice John Paul Stevens. One Democrat, Ben Nelson (Neb.), was opposed. Kagan, a self-described progressive, is not likely to tilt the balance of the court, given Stevens's role as a leading liberal jurist the past three decades.

After the vote, President Obama said he was confident Kagan will be an outstanding member of the court.

"After 17 hours of testimony during which she answered more than 540 questions, I'd say they got a pretty good look at Elena Kagan," he said. "Today's vote wasn't just an affirmation of Elena's intellect and accomplishments. It was also an affirmation of her character and temperament."

Obama said that he was proud of making history -- for the first time in history, three women sit on the nation's highest court -- and that he relished it as a father who wants limitless possibilities for his two daughters.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/05/AR2010080505247.html?hpid=topnews

 NCJW welcomes the confirmation of US Solicitor General Elena Kagan to sit on the US Supreme Court. The bipartisan vote by the Senate is a testament to her high qualifications for this most important post. Kagan has practical legal experience in government as an advisor and as the lawyer charged to represent the people of the United States before the nation’s highest court. She has demonstrated both her legal brilliance and, as dean of the Harvard Law School, her ability to bring contending parties together within a venerable institution not unlike the court itself. During hearings on her nomination before the judiciary committee, she demonstrated a broad command of the law and the constitutional parameters of our three branches of government. NCJW is confident she will be a strong voice on the court for core constitutional values.

http://www.ncjw.org/content_4589.cfm?navID=218

 

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A chunk of the glass ceiling came tumbling down Monday as veteran national security officer Letitia "Tish" Long became the first woman to head a major intelligence agency.

Long, who has spent 32 years in government service, including more than two decades in the intelligence community, was sworn in as director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the office responsible for collecting and analyzing overhead imagery and geospatial information.

The swearing-in took place at NGA's sprawling $1.7 billion, 2.4 million square foot complex in Fort Belvoir -- soon to the agency's new headquarters.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, said the installation of a woman to run a spy agency with a multibillion-dollar budget and thousands of employees is a key milestone.

"This is an important appointment, and I hope that she will bring a new and determined management ability to this agency," Feinstein said.

  Women have served as second-in-command in most of the major intelligence agencies. Long spent the last four years as the deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

John McLaughlin, the former CIA deputy director, who worked with Long while she was at the agency said Long was ideally suited for the job, because, "not only does she have a deep understanding of defense intelligence needs but assignments over the course of her career have given her a unique window into civilian intelligence as well."

He added: "A woman at the helm of one of our major intelligence agencies is a long overdue step recognizing that the contribution of women to intelligence success has long been equal to that of men."

According to the most recent figures available from the office of the Director of National Intelligence, women represented 39 percent of the workforce at the six major intelligence agencies during fiscal year 2009.

Women held 27 percent of the senior positions within those six offices.

And 46 percent of all promotions in those agencies went to women.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/09/woman.intel.chief/?hpt=T2#fbid=h-2CShfXYY9&wom=false

 

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