Global Voices » Women & Gender

Argentina: Stand Up Comedian on Women and Catcalls

Juliana Rincón Parra — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:16:08 +0000

Argentinean stand up comedian Malena Pichot, best known for her webshow “La Loca de Mierda” has a new series, Cualca! and on this first episode[es], she shares her perspective on how women really feel when they receive unwanted attention from strange males like catcalls and genital exposure on the street.

Barbados: “Insultingly Low” Sentence

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:46:05 +0000

Barbados Free Press publishes a letter from a reader, expressing outrage at the minimun sentence for a man that claimed self-defense in his ex-girlfriend's murder: “At the same time we are all discussing Raul Garcia who got 15 years for his offense. So if this murderer had weed in his possession at the time, he would get more time for the weed than for killing this woman?”

Puerto Rico: Extraordinary Decisions

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:17:29 +0000

“What do you say when you meet someone you think is extraordinary? You should say ‘Hi!' and then start a conversation,” says Gil the Jenius, who profiles the extraordinary Andrea Pérez, a speaker at the recently held TEDx San Juan.

Cuba: Pollan's Family Owed Apology

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:11:59 +0000

Iván García writes about the late leader of Las Damas de Blanco, Laura Pollan, recounting a violent assault on the group days before her death and saying: “If they have anything left of humanism and dignity, her assaulters owe a public apology to the family of Laura Pollan Toledo.” Pedazos de la Isla, meanwhile, notes here and here that the violence and intimidation continue.

Brazil: New Minister Denounces Torture Against Her Daughter

Raphael Tsavkko Garcia — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:07:29 +0000

Blogger and writer Antônio Mello reproduces a denouncement [pt] by the new Minister of the Special Secretariat for Women, Eleonora Menicucci, in which she says that her 1 year old daughter was tortured during the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985) in 1972, in front of her.

Cuba: Bloggers Say Pope Should Postpone Trip

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:03:15 +0000

Cuban bloggers have been making their feelings known about the impending papal visit to Cuba, their main concern being that the Vatican is putting its stamp of approval on the Castro regime despite regular reports of human rights violations coming out of the island.

In light of new reports of state-sanctioned actions against members of Las Damas de Blanco Last weekend, diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense suggested that:

Pope Benedict XVI should postpone his planned visit in late March to Cuba. The visit was part of a quid pro quo between the regime and the church, but continued repression of women trying to go to Mass should not have been part of the deal.

The blogger also posted a link to an e-Petition soliciting signatures from people who agreed with the postponement of the pontiff's visit “until human rights conditions improve in Cuba”.

Pedazos de la Isla echoed this concern, as he reported on “another Sunday of repression”:

Just weeks before Pope Benedict’s visit to Cuba in March, another Sunday on the island- February 5th 2012- was marked by an excessive level of violence on behalf of the dictatorship against the peaceful Resistance, for simply trying to attend church.

In the city of Holguin, 5 Ladies in White were brutally arrested around 9 in the morning as they tried to reach the Jesus Christ Redeemer of Men Church.

The post went on to detail the kind of violence some of the women testified about:

In Guantanamo, 11 Ladies in White were able to make it to church, despite a constant vigilance. Another 20 Ladies in White assisted mass in the Santuary of El Cobre in Santiago de Cuba. 16 women were arrested as they tried to get to that mass, however, according to the Twitter account of Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia (@jdanielferrer). Among those arrested, according to his Twitter, were Oria Casanova who was “violently arrested, dragged, and beaten by 4 oppressive agents” and Liudmilla Cedeno who was victim of “sexual harassment in the cell where she was being held”. Ferrer Garcia denounced, also through his Twitter, “that is how the henchmen who sustain the Castro brothers are- they beat, sexually assault, and harass defensless women in Cuba”.

The blogger ended by saying:

In Cuba, the Ladies in White and other pro-democracy activists will continue marching, whether Pope Benedict publicly speaks out for them or not.

Speaking out for the Ladies in White is one issue, speaking with them is another. Capitol Hill Cubans reported that:

Last week, the Vatican confirmed meetings with Cuban dictators Raul and Fidel Castro during Pope Benedict XVI's March visit to the island.

Meanwhile, Cuba's courageous Ladies in White have been told to stand idly by as the Pope's agenda is “very heavy” (apparently from meeting with dictators).

How has the Castro regime received this news?

With impunity, of course.

babalu also commented:

Apparently, the Vatican has set aside time during the Pope's visit to Cuba in late March to have the pontiff meet with dictators Fidel and Raul Castro. However, they are not sure if the Pope will have time to meet with the Ladies in White, devout Catholics who are suffering repression, intimidation, beatings, humiliating sexual assaults, and death at the hands of the Castro dictatorship for trying to attend mass every Sunday.

Is it me, or do the Vatican's priorities appear to be backwards?

Iván García, meanwhile, wrote a thoughtful post on “the flirtations of Castro with the Vatican”:

It has been a formidable spin. Pure political juggling. A future strategy.

After a stormy and hostile period against the priests, Catholics and of other religions, where not a few went to jail or were imprisoned in labor camps, Fidel Castro changed his policy of confrontation. It was because of the rise to power by popular and democratic vote of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1971, that Castro was restated his strategy of gunfire toward the Vatican.

Latin America was and is the region with the greatest number of Catholics worldwide. The bearded commander realized at once that any revolution, whether through elections or armed uprising, should begin by acknowledging the role played by priests, bishops and cardinals in a new proposal for social change and advocacy of the always excluded in the hemisphere.

And he began to design a new ideological castling. The Fourth Congress of the Communist Party in 1991, he accepted as members believers of any denomination.

He realized that to subvert, ideas were more important than bullets. And if these ideas were proclaimed from the pulpit…so much the better.

The post continued recounting the chain of events that will culminate in next month's papal visit:

After Castro was on the threshold of death in 2006, his brother, General Raul Castro, took the reins of power and further paved the way to Rome.

When the a political prisoner Orlando Zapata died on February 23, 2010, as a result of a prolonged hunger strike, and the civilized world launched a major campaign against the regime in Havana, due to excessive repression against opponents and the Ladies in White, Castro II knew immediately who to call.

And he called Cardinal Jaime Ortega…The Cardinal would become key political chess piece for the Castro brothers. He was the partner par excellence between government, the militant Ladies in White and the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. The talks allowed the release of dissidents who had remained behind bars since the crackdown of March 2003. Someday we will know if Ortega is driven by the hope that the situation in Cuba will lead to a democracy, or other pressures have led him to play a role that some exiled opponents see as cowardly.

What intrigues local observers is whether the conspiracy with the Cuban Catholic Church and the Vatican could lead to a democratic state of law. Or is just a ploy to gain time and give a wider social space to Catholicism in education and health, sectors facing hardships due to the widespread economic crisis in the nation.

Church and state, at least from the Cuban blogosphere's perspective, seem to be irrevocably intertwined.

The thumbnail image used in this post is by Catholic Church (England and Wales), used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit Catholic Church (England and Wales)'s flickr photostream.

Guatemala: The Role of Women in Decision Making

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:39:29 +0000

Hector Javier Tecum blogs about the role of women in Guatemalan politics for Americas Quarterly [es]. He argues that the inclusion of women in decision-making positions is still a challenge for the country.

Mexico: Josefina Vázquez Mota Wins PAN Primary

Silvia Viñas — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:38:46 +0000

Bloggings by boz reports that “Josefina Vázquez Mota, a member of Congress and President Calderon's former secretary of education and secretary of social development, won the PAN [National Action Party] primary yesterday and will be their candidate for president.” He goes on to explain why he thinks her victory is “the best case scenario for the PAN.”

Video: Sociology Cinema Gathers Videoclips for Lecture Topics

Juliana Rincón Parra — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:50:59 +0000

Online video is being used by sociology instructors at the University of Maryland to teach basic concepts and accompany lectures. In The Sociological Cinema Valerie Chepp, Paul Dean, and Lester Andrist edit and publish posts where video clips are tagged and referenced so that other sociology instructors can use videos to make their classes more interesting without having to spend the extra time finding the right video for a specific content.

In their Facebook page they explain:

The idea of The Sociological Cinema came to us over the course of several conversations in which we repeatedly found ourselves discussing our use of video clips in the classroom. Our experiences in the classroom taught us that videos were highly effective at illustrating course concepts and theories, supplementing analyses found in course texts, and keeping students more engaged. With our experiences confirmed by scholarship on teaching and learning, the pedagogical case for using video in the classroom was overwhelming.

Videoclips or videos do not necessarily have to be short: this 50 minute Al Jazeera documentary on the Bahraini Uprising is suggested as an introduction to the study social movements and “exploring the evolution and consequences of state tactics aimed at quelling the protests - both violent and non-violent.”

When studying globalization, inequality and communities, this next short videoclip titled The Miniature Earth is suggested:

Given that large numbers can be difficult to put into perspective (and thus important information about the world runs the risk of becoming meaningless or unremarkable), this video illustrates for students how the global community fares on such indicators as hunger, religious affiliation, literacy, wealth, education, government expenditures, among many others. The clip is not only useful for helping students understand global inequality and differences, but it also reminds students of the enormity of their own social privilege relative to the majority of the world.

Movies are also sources for videoclips, like this minute long example from Up In the Air, starring George Clooney, which serves to illustrate stereotyping. The Sociological Cinema also provides additional suggestions for reading material to accompany the lessons.

This clip shows comedian Anita Renfroe condensing the phrases a typical mother says to her children in the course of a day to the duration of the William Tell Overture. In the classroom, sociology students can first list role expectations of mothers, and then discuss the roles mothers have and also focus on gender role expectations of fathers.

Beyond being a repository for videos, the site is also a source for teaching advice and shared experiences when teaching sociology. In An Online Video Assignment (that is Fun to Grade!) instructors suggest turning the tables on the students, and asking them to look for videos which they will categorize and tag as a way for them to apply their knowledge:

In the process, students do the same analytical exercise that we do in the classroom with clips found elsewhere on this site. The learning outcomes are for students to 1) become familiar with using and applying sociological concepts; 2) use their sociological imagination to engage familiar content; 3) teach each other through the course blog; and 4) become more critical media consumers. The upside for me is that I have interesting and engaging assignments with which I can evaluate them (of course, the videos must be short to make this a time effective exercise to grade).

Image used to illustrate post is Amo el Cine by Flickr user Román Soto (CC BY 2.0).

Jamaica: Women's Political Role

Janine Mendes-Franco — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:41:51 +0000

“The troubling disrespect for the ‘girls’ appointed to the Cabinet seems to confirm that the JLP is committed to the backward notion that ‘man must run tings’”: Jamaica Woman Tongue argues that “turning the size of Mrs Simpson Miller’s Cabinet into a gender issue betrays a deep-seated prejudice against women in politics.”

Guyana: Send in the Clowns

Janine Mendes-Franco — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:32:35 +0000

“Every morning then, without fail, the clown put on she joie de vivre and tumble out”: Guyana-Gyal tries to keep a smile on her face despite her mother's diagnosis.

Cuba: Nineteenth “No”

Janine Mendes-Franco — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:43:05 +0000

“For the 19th time Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez has been denied an exit visa in order to travel abroad”: Havana Times reports.

Cuba: Sad Songs

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:37:44 +0000

Two bits of sad news from Havana Times: the first about the death of a Nueva Trova pioneer, and the second about a domestic dispute that ended in murder.

Cuba: What's on President Rousseff's Agenda?

Janine Mendes-Franco — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:53:54 +0000

Brazil's first female president is in Cuba on a visit intended “to strengthen bilateral ties especially in the economic and commercial spheres”, according to the Cuban press. Bloggers are very interested in her agenda.

The Cuban Triangle, who trusts that the focus of the trip will remain economic, raises the issue of the Mariel port project and says of the possibility of Brazilian companies investing in ethanol production in Cuba:

Let’s hope that’s the case. Brazilian investment in Cuban ethanol production would bring world-class technology and know-how to Cuba, generate jobs, enable Cuba to cut oil imports and foreign exchange expenditures, and provide sorely needed revival to an economically and culturally important sector of the Cuban countryside.

babalu is more interested in the statement by the President's special advisor, which suggests that her foreign policy “will emphasize human rights”. The post goes on to highlight a contradictory statement by Rousseff's foreign minister, which said that “there doesn’t appear to be a (Human Rights) emergency in Cuba” - to which the blogger quips:

Absolutely-Un-'Freakin-Real

Capitol Hill Cubans, meanwhile, posts a reminder of what it calls the President's “convenient memory lapse”:

In 1970, now Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was arrested and tried for her armed opposition to that country's military dictatorship (1964-1985).

Yet, today, she's unwilling to meet or show solidarity with peaceful opponents of Cuba's military dictatorship during her visit to Havana.

In response to the foreign minister's statement, the blog writes:

We'd like to remind the Rousseff Administration that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on Torture have unfettered access to the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo.

Meanwhile, the Castro regime has not allowed either of these international observers into Cuban prisons in its 52-year rule.

Moreover, it's fascinating how Rousseff sensed the emergency regarding human rights in Brazil during its military junta, which inexcusably imprisoned, executed and exiled tens of thousands of Brazilians — numbers stymied by the brutal Castro dictatorship in Cuba.

Finally, Yoani Sanchez (who incidentally is still waiting on permission from the Cuban authorities to travel to Brazil for the presentation of “Cuba-Honduras Connection”, a documentary in which she appears) weighs in, saying of the presidential visit:

Everything seemed neatly tied up: a fast timeframe, efficient, protocol, focused on economic themes, ending with her boarding her flight to Haiti. But something complicated it.

Several days before the Brazilian economist and politician landed at Jose Marti Airport, a young Cuban died after a prolonged hunger strike. The official media threw itself into presenting him as a common criminal…the radicalized discourse of power and the political temperature reached those levels where our rulers perform so well. In that context, the recently concluded Conference of the Cuban Communist Party became more an act of reaffirmation than of change, a statement of unity rather than an opening. Many who were waiting for an announcement of political transformations of great significance, realized that the event was, instead, the ultimate lost opportunity for the generation in power. One day after its closure, Raul Castro — General Secretary of the only permitted party — received Dilma Rousseff, the former guerrilla who today leads a country with diverse political forces and a highly critical press.

Brazil is our second largest trading partner in Latin America, but it’s not just a question of resources. The Raul regime also has the urge, at this time, to be legitimized by other presidents in the region. So there will be smiles, handshakes, commitments to ‘eternal friendship' and photos, lots of photos. The civic activists, for their part, will attempt a meeting with the woman who was tortured and imprisoned during a military government, though there is little chance that she will receive them. Dilma Rousseff will converse with Raul Castro, she will be very close to him at exactly this delicate juncture in which chance has placed her. We hope she will not miss the opportunity and will comport herself consistent with the clamor for democracy, instead of opting for a complicit silence before a dictatorship.

The thumbnail image used in this post is by R. Furquim, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Creative Commons license. Visit R. Furquim's flickr photostream.

Chile: NGO Report Reveals Increase in Sex Crimes

Silvia Viñas — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:50:48 +0000

According to a report by NGO Activa, sexual crimes increased by 19.1% in Chile in 2011. A post in Activa’s site Ciudad Global [es] says there is a rate of 9.8 rapes per day in Chile.