NB Women's News – September 14, 2009

- A service of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women

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(Défilez vers le bas pour la version française)

 IT ALL LOOKS LIKE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN TO ME 

In the true story that inspired the book and the movie Burning Bed, one of the first times the husband is violent is after he sees that she had had her blouse tucked in her pants while he was away.  That’s something to remember when we pass judgment on “honour” killings that occur in North America or elsewhere.
Victims of partner violence are often also victims of his obsession with controlling her... When “honour” killings occur in North America …we hear comments that “honour” killings are an abomination and that immigrants need to learn that such traditions are not tolerated here.  It all looks like violence against women to me.  The difference seems to be one of degree. 
"Honour” killings - the murder of a female believed to have brought dishonour to her family by acting independently –…are a tradition in some regions of the world - the UN estimates 5,000 women die from it every year.  In Canada in the last decade, about a dozen women have died as a result of such dishonourable acts. 
There are obviously differences...  In “honour” killings, brothers might kill sisters, male cousins kill female cousins...  Women might be killed for having been raped.  (We might want to remember that here, until recently, and still never far from the surface, a woman's style of dress could be said to invite rape, and sexual assault victims faced "fishing expeditions" into their medical or sexual past.  Still today in Canada, most sexual assaults are not reported because of the stigma and the fear of mistreatment in the justice system)… Many Canadian women killed by their partner were guilty of wanting a divorce… In some regions, those who commit an “honour” killing don't face the social rejection that we like to think our wife batterers get, though the minor sentences sometimes handed to our wife batterers/ murderers seem to point to a lingering ambivalence. The most devastating difference between our brand of violence vs women & honour killings is that, in some countries, courts commute or reduce sentences of “honour” killings, & sharia law authorizes the murder of women who have sex outside marriage…

- Excerpts, column by Chairperson Elsie Hambrook, Times & Transcript, 27 Aug 2009. www.acswcccf.nb.ca/english/documents/Violence%20Honour.pdf

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NOTICE, RESOURCES, EVENTS

  Is There a Hole in Your Pay Cheque because your work is predominantly female? W workshops on tools to promote pay equity. In English: Fredericton on 22 Sept & 21 Oct.; St. Stephen on 14 Oct; & Woodstock on 26 Nov.  In French: Bathurst, 27 Oct;  Dalhousie, 29 Oct;  Miramichi, 3 Nov; Caraquet, 9 Nov; Edmundston, 24 Nov. Coalition for Pay Equity. 855-0002; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

  From Human Rights to Safe Schools - Free public lecture by Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, 2:30pm, Thurs 17 Sept 2009, UNB Marshall D’Avray Hall. Importance of schools becoming more friendly to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In 2001, he officiated at the world's first legal same-sex marriages. www.gnb.ca/cnb/news/hrc/2009e1326hr.htm. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

  International Guidelines on Sexuality Education – new Unesco guide to how children & youth can best acquire knowledge to protect themselves from coercion, abuse & exploitation, unintended pregnancy & sexual infections. 10% of births worldwide are to teen mothers. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001832/183281e.pdf

  Woodstock High hockey team (women’s) received the 2009 NB Human Rights Award for showing support for players who were subject to name-calling based on sexual orientation.

THE WINNERS OF OUR CONTEST

We had a lot of entries and so a lot of new subscribers. We’re over 4,000. The winners of the $50 gift certificates to a bookstore are Laurie Nicholas (Maliseet First Nation) and Maria DesRoches (Moncton).

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MAJORITY OF EMPLOYED ARE IN PRIVATE SECTOR

There were 164,400 N.B women in the labour force in July 2009 and 110,900 of them were in the private sector - 67%.  Among men, it’s 78% who are in the private sector.  The other 33% of women and 22% of men are employed in the public sector (local, provincial or federal gov’ts, incl. schools & hospitals).  In 1976, 62% of women were in the private sector (of only 79,800 women who were then in the labour force), and 72% of the men.

- Self-employed persons are not included.  Statistics Canada. Table 282-0089: Labour force survey estimates; http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca

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Cease and desist from misleading the Canadian public

  & the international community by claiming to spend $5.9 bln/ yr on early learning and child care. That’s what the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada said to the federal government in its Pre-2010 Budget Consultation Brief. The majority of these funds are provided to parents & provinces to spend as they choose. At best, the federal government currently invests $0.7 bln with some accountability for child care –12% of the amount claimed.

- Brief submitted to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance in Aug 2009: www.ccaac.ca/pdf/resources/briefs/CCAAC2010_pbc_Aug6_09.pdf .

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Parental Alienation not a syndrome

Psychiatrist Richard Gardner developed the theory of parental alienation syndrome (PAS) after claiming that one parent alienated the children from the other in 90% of his divorcing patients. He used it almost exclusively vs mothers, maintaining that mothers falsely raise domestic violence and incest during custody disputes. Gardner promoted PAS in self-published books. PAS has never been subjected to peer review or recognized by professional associations. With no validity within the scientific community, PAS is not considered admissible in evidence. No state has codified PAS, but 31 states have adopted Gardner's friendly parent concept in which courts are encouraged to give custody to the parent who will foster a better relationship between child & the other parent.
Gardner wrongfully assumed that women often make false incest accusations in custody cases and that they gain advantage from doing so. Incest is raised in about 6% of custody cases and only a very small fraction of this 6% are false. Investigated incest allegations are substantiated as often during custody disputes as at other times, but many child protection agencies do not investigate when a case is in court. Men have been found to make 16 times as many false incest allegations as women (21% vs. 1%).  Gardner fraudulently claimed to be a clinical professor of child psychiatry (he was a volunteer clinical prof. of psychiatry).  PAS & FPC may deflect investigation from the validity of abuse accusations to the protective parent's behavior & may deflect courts from noticing that men's alienation allegations may be alienating behaviors. (Other alienating behaviors most commonly committed by fathers: violence & nonpayment of support).

- Excerpts Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence. Joan Zorza. 2008. SAGE. http://sage-ereference.com/violence/Article_n355.html  Dr. Gardner committed suicide in 2003.
  See also Justice Canada’s Making appropriate parenting arrangements in family violence cases: applying the literature to identify promising practices, 2005, www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/fcy-fea/lib-bib/rep-rap/2006/2005_3/index.html#a01

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CLOSE YOUR EYES, YOU CAN STILL HEAR LOTTA

“This is Lotta Hitschmanova.  Development often starts with a woman. Support leadership programs for women through the USC, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa.”   Dr. Lotta was one of the most prominent Canadian women of her generation. She pushed hard for women’s development, long before the UN adopted this approach in the ‘70s. She mobilized a generation of Canadians… In this 100th year of her birth, there is a growing number of women farmers threatened by creeping deserts and environmental devastation. On Nov 28, 2009, Unitarian Service Committee Canada is encouraging people to celebrate her legacy. Learn about Lotta’s life & 100th anniversary events, or make a donation to women farmers: www.DrLotta.ca

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What I loved most about (the movie) Julie & Julia

  is that very rare thing, a movie centered on adult women, and that even rarer thing, a movie about women's struggle to express their gifts through work. Not a boyfriend, a fabulous wedding, a baby… escape from a serial killer …another baby. Real life is full of women for whom work is at the center, who crave creative challenge... Among recent films, Seraphine, Martin Provost's biopic about an early-20th-century cleaning woman and self-taught painter, is practically unique in its curiosity about a woman's creative drive. More usually, a woman's cinematic function is to forward, thwart, complicate or decorate the story of a man.

- Katha Pollitt, The Nation, www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/pollitt

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Any man who hits a woman is a coward

… because violence by a man towards a woman is nothing more than the absolute abuse of power. We should have in our minds & our hearts a vision for Australia's future where women no longer walk around in fear... We do not want to just raise awareness, we want to change behaviour... in every …kitchen, school, workplace, pub - wherever violence occurs & wherever it is condoned. - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at launch of the White Ribbon’s campaign, My Oath, which asks men to swear an oath never to commit, excuse or stay silent about violence vs women.

- Excerpt, ABC Premium News 11 Sept 2009.

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FOR A REAL CONVERSATION ABOUT ABORTION

If we hide truths - usually the ones that challenge us most - we're not helping anyone… A glib party line is too simple. Women's lives are not easily simplified. Common statements that mislead or only represent one kind of experience:
“Every woman who chooses abortion does so with sadness, or finds the decision exceptionally difficult” - All women who terminate a pregnancy do not experience feelings of deep sadness, all women who give birth do not experience perfect joy. Women's feelings vary widely with every pregnancy, termination, delivery.
“No woman has an abortion casually” - Some women do have abortions in a way you, I or even they might see as "casual." That's the exception.  Certain addictions, traumatic experiences or psychological conditions can cause a woman to give things like death, abuse or pregnancy less gravity than others might.

- Excerpts, blog by Heather Corinna, Scarleteen.com, 25 Jun 2009 www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/06/18/how-unpack-a-real-conversation-about-abortion

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AS THEY say

Religious groups should stay out of politics or be taxed.

- Bumper sticker.