Gender News:
Each week we scan the world’s media to find the most interesting, insightful and informed stories about women and gender equality for you. This week: why some corporate leaders have failed to learn from #MeToo while Australia’s legal fraternity says it’s time to call out male lawyers with straying hands; the fractious ideological battle between trans rights activists and feminists; what if breast feeding was included in GDP; a mind-blowing photo shoot with the magnificent Tayla Harris and the sublime Gloria Steinem.
1. The case for maintaining free childcare – Australia’s “Pink Collar Recession”. Canberra Times. 9 July.
Maintaining free childcare, at least for now, is just as vital to the recovery of the Australian economy as ambitious infrastructure projects.
2. Why some companies continue to be slow to learn the lessons of #MeToo. Forbes. 8 July.
In a post #MeToo world, some senior leaders are learning the hard way that the world has changed as employees rise up against corporate platitudes that are not followed by meaningful action.
3. It’s 2020, not 1970. Men in law call time on sexual harassment. SMH. 8 July
Men in the legal profession have spoken out against the culture of silence that has protected perpetrators of sexual harassment and pledged their support for new measures to stamp out misconduct.
4. Trans rights have been pitted against feminism, but we’re not enemies. The Guardian. 7 July.
As trans and gender diversity has become a regular topic of public debate and a favoured target of right-wing attacks, feminist critics have joined the fray.
5. From a kick to a punch: Tayla Harris photo essay. Women’s AFL.
Award-winning AFL photographer Michael Willson was in Tayla Harris’ corner to capture her recent boxing bout. It’ll blow your mind.
6. Breastfeeding isn’t free. What if that work was included in the GDP? The Lily. 6 July
Yet unlike formula, breast milk production is not included in gross domestic product, our primary measure of “the economy.” According to economists Nancy Folbre and Julie P. Smith, it’s not a trivial omission.
7. Why so many women still take on their husband’s last name. The Conversation. 6 July.
Our names lie at the heart of our identity. But in Britain nearly all married women – almost 90% in a 2016 survey – abandoned their original surname and took their husband’s.
8. AXA’s fund arm sets 33% gender diversity target on company boards. New York Times. 8 July.
AXA Investment Managers will set a 33% target for gender diversity on listed company boards in developed markets and may vote against companies which fail to meet this mark.
9. Low-paid, young women: the grim truth about who this recession is hitting hardest. The Conversation. July 7.
When a recession hits, no group of workers is immune. But low-paid, young women are among those being hit the hardest.
10. Education Minister Dan Tehan makes emergency changes to childcare for Melbourne families. Herald Sun. 7 July.
Melbourne’s new six-week lockdown has prompted the Federal Government to make an emergency change to childcare funding rules as the free care initiative ends this weekend.
11. Gloria Steinem: Unless you are going too far, or you are not going far enough. The Guardian. 4 July.
The feminist activist, 86, on worldwide sisterhood, Spaceship Earth, sexual harassment in the 1970s and being bitten by rats.
12. Promotions of women hit ‘critical mass’. AFR. 3 July.
Almost half of the partners appointed at Australia’s top law firms in the latest promotion round were female, as a talent pipeline dominated by women continues to transform the legal profession.
Added extras:
Podcast: What’s left of Roe vs Wade. Slate
