India not a good place for Women

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/15/indian-anger-over-media-footage-of-girl-being-sexually-assaulted/

Indians have reacted with anger and disgust over video footage of a young woman being sexually assaulted by a laughing mob of more than a dozen men in a busy street outside a bar in north-east India.
Not only did no one intervene for up to 45 minutes during the attack, but an off-duty TV journalist filmed the incident on his phone and called a cameraman to join him. The footage was then broadcast on news channels, prompting a debate on women’s safety in India and whether journalists have a duty to help in such situations.
In an interview with Indian media, the victim asked why the journalists did not help her. “They were only taking pictures. Why could they not help me?”

Local police have been condemned over their initial indifference towards the attack, which took place last Monday night just a few minutes from the nearest police station in Guwahati, Assam.
Frustrated at police inaction in the days following the assault, local residents put up “Wanted” posters of the men caught on camera and circulated the images on social networking sites.
The attack has highlighted the dangers of being a woman in the world’s biggest democracy. Writing in the Mail Today on Sunday, the novelist Palash Krishna Mehrotra said: “This ghastly episode has brought back in focus an old issue: our primitive attitudes towards women.”
A global poll last month voted India the worst G20 country for women, behind even Saudi Arabia.
Seven men have been arrested since Assam’s chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, on Saturday ordered detectives to arrest the culprits within 48 hours. A police official had also been suspended, according to Apurba Jabon Barua, a senior superintendent at Guwahati police force.
Over the weekend a delegation from the National Commission for Women arrived in the city to support the victim. The NCW’s Alka Lamba told reporters the teenager had suffered “animal-like treatment” and claimed that there were cigarette burns all over her body.

 

The victim told local media that the attack went on for “about 45 minutes” and that she would have been raped had the police not eventually come to her aid.
NewsLive channel, whose journalists filmed the attack, defended its staff for not intervening. “Some [media] questioned me as to why my reporter and camera person shot the incident and didn’t prevent the mob from molesting the girl,” tweeted its editor-in-chief, Atanu Bhuyan. “But I’m backing my team since the mob would have attacked them, prevented them from shooting, that would have only destroyed all evidence.”
Girija Vyas, an MP and a former president of the NCW, said: “No amount of criticism is enough for this incident … Is this the 21st century when we talk about equality? We can have a woman sitting at the post of the President of the country but the average woman on the street is not safe.”
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2012

Sunita Choudhary: From her rickshaw to a seat of real power

Andrew Buncombe meets India's vice-presidential hopeful who's now a driving force for women's rights

Andrew Buncombe

Friday, 20 July 2012

Besieged by thronging traffic at Delhi's Connaught Place, Sunita Choudhary does not hesitate. Her left hand releases the clutch, her right revs the throttle and her rickshaw zips past the honking cars. She makes it look easy.

For the past six years or so, Ms Choudhary has been steering a lonely route as the only woman rickshaw driver believed to be working in the North of India. During this time, she has endured beatings from police, harassment from male drivers and no shortage of surprised looks from the customers she stops to pick up.

Now, the 35-year-old wants to use her experience to benefit the people at the bottom of the pile by securing one of the country's highest offices. This week, Ms Choudhary, who as a teenager ran away from home to escape the strictures of village life and an abusive husband she had been forced to marry as a child, filed nomination papers for the vice-presidential election. Her campaign vow is to help the people she has met at ground level, on her journeys across the crowded city.

"It's love that brings people closer. I don't judge people, I try and speak to everyone," Ms Choudhary, who is originally from the state of Uttar Pradesh, says. "The politicians drive around in cars or else stop off at VIP guesthouses and think they are the upper class. I don't believe that; I believe in talking and communicating with the common person."

Ms Choudhary says she has helped dozens of Delhi's less-fortunate citizens over the years, especially poor women who have fallen through society's often-gaping cracks. She says that when she encounters a road accident she ferries the injured to hospital in her rickshaw for no charge. She has helped people secure government payments, file papers with courts and located places for them to live.

From her own raw experience she knows the difficulties to be confronted in a country that was recently said to be the worst for women among the G20 nations and the fourth most dangerous in the world for women after Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia. Violence, sexual assault and discrimination are commonplace, despite the fact that many women – Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Kumari Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee and Sheila Dikshit among them – have reached the country's highest political offices. "Men expect dominance in society and do not respect women enough," Ms Choudhary, who did not finish school, says. "But they must recognise women and realise they need respect in society."

Among those she has helped are Kusum Lata Sharma and her eight-year-old daughter, Ekta. Abandoned several years ago by her husband, who refuses to help support her, she and her daughter now sleep beneath a tatty piece of tarpaulin in a part of the city set aside by the authorities for organised protests.

"When I first met Sunita, I was reminded of Sunita Williams, [the Indian American female astronaut] because I had heard that name," Ms Sharma says. "Of course she should be a leader. Anybody who has shown such great strength should be a leader."

Ms Choudhary's own story is one of struggle against hardship. As a 12-year-old girl growing up in a village near the city of Meerut, she was married off by her parents to a husband who was violent and alcoholic. Pregnant and desperate, she fled to Delhi where her child died at the age of two months.

Ms Choudhary says that when she ran away, her parents filed a report with the police. She worked in a variety of jobs before hitting upon the idea of becoming a rickshaw driver after coming upon the scene of an accident and helping an injured man to hospital. If she had her own vehicle, she reasoned, she could do more good.

It was years before her parents discovered what she was doing, after someone told them about a media report about her that they had seen.

"I grew up in a conservative family where women were not allowed outside the house. My parents did not want me to do this," says Ms Choudhary, who lives alone in the city's Malviya Nagar neighbourhood. "Now my parents are happy, but not everyone in my village is happy."

This is not the first time that Ms Choudhary, who for years had to rent a rickshaw before being able to buy her own, has run for political office. In 2009 she campaigned to become a member of the country's parliament, travelling around on her rickshaw and distributing leaflets as a candidate for the United Women's Front, an all-women's party that had been formed two years earlier to try and raise the profile of women.

This summer she also filed papers to try to be elected president, though she failed to secure sufficient signatures for her name to go forward. Voting took place yesterday for the largely ceremonial post, with Pranab Mukherjee, India's former Finance Minister, expected to win. Results will be announced on Sunday.

If her campaign for vice-president is to proceed, she will require the backing of at least 40 members of the upper and lower houses of parliament, which make up the electoral college. While India's outgoing President Pratibha Patil is a woman, the country has never had a female vice-president.

"They will do the scrutinising of the nominations after the closing date on [Saturday]. All those nominations that do not have 20 proposers and 20 seconders will be rejected," K Ajay Kumar, a senior official with the Election Commission, says.

So far, Ms Choudhary has managed to secure the backing of just one parliamentarian, Jai Narain Prasad Nishad, an 81-year-old member of the Janata Dal party, who represents the city of Muzaffarpur in Bihar, in the lower house of the parliament. "She is hard working," Mr Nishad says of Ms Choudhary. "She has many qualities."

Ms Choudhary says she is not concerned by the fact she has little chance of success and believes that the extra publicity, albeit modest, generated by her campaign will benefit her efforts to help others.

"Ordinary people ought to be able to choose their president and vice-president," she says. "This is not a political contest so different people should be able to challenge. This election is being carried out by MPs so they are likely to choose an eminent citizen. But I think an ordinary person can also be an eminent citizen."

Best places to be a woman: G20 ranked

1. Canada

2. Germany

3. UK

4. Australia

5. France

6. US

7. Japan

8. Italy

9. Argentina

10. South Korea

11. Brazil

12. Turkey

13. Russia

14. China

15. Mexico

16. South Africa

17. Indonesia

18. Saudi Arabia

19. India

Job vacancy

he Fort Garry Women’s Resource Centre is a feminist organization which operates within a collective structure and strives to be a supportive work environment. The FGWRC requires a 20 hour/per week Organizational Coordinator for a two year term position. The Organizational Coordinator is responsible for coordinating and strengthening the administrative and governance infrastructure of Fort Garry Women’s Resource Centre. This will be achieved through the provision of increased Board support, development and management. The main task of this position is to provide leadership support to the Board and committees. Qualifications: Ability to work collectively from a feminist empowerment model as well as autonomously.
Experience with collaborative decision making process.
Experience working with not for profit boards/committees an asset.
Excellent communication skills; oral and written.
Strong organizational and time management skills.
Experience working with volunteers.
Ability to relate to women from diverse backgrounds of class, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.
Experience in grant writing.
Experience in public speaking an asset. Duties and Responsibilities: To participate in and support the work of the Nominating Committee as required.
To participate in and support the work of the Personnel Committee as required.
To participate and support the work of the Community Relations Committee as required.
To support the coordination of Board affairs as required.

Job Vacacany

ASSET BUILDING PROGRAM ASSISTANT

Job Description – July 2012

POSITION SUMMARY: Under the supervision of the Asset Building Program Coordinator, the ABP Assistant is a competent individual committed to IRCOM’s vision and mandate to empower newcomer families to integrate into the wider community through affordable transitional housing, programs, and services. This staff is a detail oriented, efficient and resourceful individual with strong interpersonal, organizational and administrative skills, able to meet the challenges of working with a culturally diverse group of community members. The ideal candidate will be able to multi-task in a fast paced environment prioritizing tasks and executing them to a high degree of accuracy. The ABP Assistant will exhibit and uphold core values of respect, non-violence, equality, and team work.

Objective      

The objective of the ABP Assistant position is to ensure effective, efficient and accurate operations of the IRCOM Asset Building Program through the support of the ABP Coordinator and program participants.

Program Support

      Assist in database entry, management of participant files, collection of information from participants as needed

      Creation of ABP related resources, forms, spreadsheets, etc

      Handle calls and issue letters of correspondence on behalf of the ABP including invitations to information sessions, etc

      Create, print and distribute ABP promotional material

      Updated the ABP information on the IRCOM website

      Assist with RESP outreach and workshops

      Attend all MMT sessions, assist and set up and execution of workshops as required

Reporting

      Assist in compiling a mid term and final narrative report as well as financial reports on the project as per funding guidelines

      Compose program summary of activities for public information in consultation with the ABP Coordinator

Other tasks

      Maintain open communication with the IRCOM staff, community members and program participants

      Attend IRCOM staff meetings

      Other tasks as required

Qualifications

      Post-secondary education in a relevant field such as Business Administration plus a minimum 1 year direct administrative experience OR equivalent combination of education and experience

      Strong organizational skills and the ability to prioritize work

      Strong written and oral English communication skills

      Extensive computer experience with Microsoft applications and experience creating, designing and manipulating spreadsheets

      Excellent cross-cultural and team work skills

      Ability to work with people from diverse cultural backgrounds

      Must be open-minded, resourceful, highly motivated, creative and independent

      Demonstrated strong commitment to supporting and empowering the newcomer community through previous volunteering / community involvement

      International education/experience is recognized 

      Newcomer experience is an asset

      Knowledge of a second language is an asset

      Must undergo Criminal Record Check, as well as Child Abuse Registry Check

Hours of work

This is a part-time, term position for 15 - 20 hours per week until January 18, 2013. The ABP Assistant’s hours will take place predominantly during IRCOM business hours between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. However, staff will have to work some evenings and weekends. Overtime work is compensated by time and a half off, and must be authorized by the Executive Director.

NB:  IRCOM Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Interested applicants can identify themselves as belonging to one of the Visible Minority categories designated by the Federal Government.

What do you think - Should comedians make fun about rape

Can Rape Jokes Ever Be Funny?

After comedian Daniel Tosh got into a confrontation with a woman attending his comedy show over rape jokes she deemed offensive and retaliated by apparently threatening her with gang rape, a few strands of furious debate emerged. Tosh's behavior to the woman as reported was by all accounts totally unacceptable, so the straw-argument raised by his defenders was that censorious PC feminists were fulminating against all jokes that touched on the issue of rape.

The answer to this bogus claim, of course, is that humor is at its best when it subverts the norm. In a rape culture such as ours, the norm is to pile scorn and disbelief upon victims and excuse perpetrators. So rape jokes that further humiliate victims aren't edgy, they're just bullying. But jokes that call attention to rape culture can be funny and even receive the feminist seal of approval.

A number of awesome feminist friends of AlterNet from the Women's Media Center, PopCulturePirate, Women In Media & News, and Fem2pt0 teamed up this week to create a "supercut" of a variety of rape jokes, including several from Daniel Tosh which in my mind show exactly on which side of the line his particularsense of humor lies. The video, however, makes no overt judgments, but asks audience members to decide for themselves where that line is, what makes them laugh, and what makes them uncomfortable.

Jennifer L. Pozner, Executive Director of WIMN explained the conception of the video in the release: “Humor can be used to expose injustice, as Carlin liked to do, or to reinforce it, as Tosh did by hostilely targeting a female audience member. And Tosh’s comedian pals saying she asked for it? That’s not comedy, that’s abuse.”

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/1032702/can_rape_jokes_ever_be_funny/#paragraph3

Job opportunity

Job Opportunity – Bilingual Program Coordinator The
MARL provides a Human Rights Education Program which aims to educate young people about human rights and civil liberties as well as develop the next generation of human rights leaders. To that end, our Program includes a Teacher’s Toolkit and a Youth Leadership program through which students undertake a project demonstrating leadership and initiative in the area of human rights and social justice. MARL also facilitates social justice clubs in schools.
The Program coordinator is responsible for coordinating the youth leadership program and award event and the delivery of social justice clubs in the schools. This September, MARL is looking for a program coordinator to start part-time (17.5 hrs per week) for a two month transition period and then take over the role of running the youth leadership program full-time (35 hrs per week) in November 2012.
The successful candidate must have the following qualifications:
 Working ability in both French and English
 Bachelor of education or equivalent experience delivering and developing programs
 Experience related to the preservation and promotion of human rights and social justice
 Experience working with youth
 Experience as a facilitator
 A willingness to make a difference in the lives of others
Compensation
 $18.00 - $19.23/hr based on education and experience (and is contingent on funding)
Applications will be accepted until
E-mail:
*Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted* Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties (MARL) works to foster respect and observance of fundamental human rights and civil liberties in Manitoba; as well as to promote diversity and work towards building more just and inclusive communities. Thursday Aug 2nd, 2012. Late Applications will not be considered. Please quote the job title in the subject line and send resumes and cover letters to: ed@marl.mb.ca or Fax (204) 946-0403 Attn: Hiring Committee

The majority settle in large population centres

Immigrant women, like immigrant men, tend to settle in Canada’s large population centres. In 2006, 90% of immigrant women lived in the country’s 33 census metropolitan areas (CMAs). In comparison, 68% of the total female population lived in these areas.
Among Canada’s CMAs, Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal were home to the largest share of immigrant women: 63% of all immigrant women and 69% of recent immigrant women resided in these three CMAs in 2006. In comparison, a much smaller proportion of Canada’s total female population, 35%, lived in these CMAs.
Among these three CMAs, Toronto was home to 38% of all immigrant women and 41% of recent immigrant women. Montréal and Vancouver had the second and third largest shares of recent immigrant women, at 14% each.
Toronto and Vancouver had notably larger shares of recent immigrants than of their population share in Canada. For example, in 2006, Toronto was home to 16% of the total female population in Canada, but 41% of recent immigrant women. Thus, Toronto’s share of the population of recent immigrant women was 2.5 times more than its share of the total female population. This was also the case for Vancouver, where its share of the population of recent immigrant women was 2.1 times its share of the total female population. In comparison, Montréal’s share of recent immigrant women was only slightly higher than its share of the total female population, 1.2 times higher in 2006.
While Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal were still the three largest population centres where immigrant women settled, the smaller Toronto and Vancouver had notably larger shares of recent immigrants than of their population share in Canada. For example, in 2006, Toronto was home to 16% of the total female population in Canada, but 41% of recent immigrant women. Thus, Toronto's share of the population of recent immigrant women was 2.5 times more than its share of the total female population. This was also the case for Vancouver, where its share of the population of recent immigrant women was 2.1 times its share of the total female population. In comparison, Montréal's share of recent immigrant women was only slightly higher than its share of the total female population, 1.2 times higher in 2006. CMAs such as Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg saw increases in their shares of recent immigrant women. In 2006, 5.2% of recent immigrant women chose to live in Calgary compared with 3.8% in 2001. The shares of recent immigrant women who settled in Edmonton increased from 2.2% in 2001 to 2.9% in 2006 and in Winnipeg from 1.4% to 2.1%.
However, the share of recent immigrant women settling in Ottawa–Gatineau declined, from 3.9% in 2001 to 3.2% in 2006.