Justine's Den

Worth bookmarking.

About.

This is a wonderful article published online at "The Sisterhood: Where Jewish Women Converse" summarizing the current state of legislation on women's reproductive rights and sexual healthcare.

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Also see article posted in the San Francisco Chronicle on the restrictions on the morning after pill being lifted by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York

Valuable research funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation debunking popular misperceptions of worklessness.

Government policy should be founded on research, not hearsay. 

"This study investigates the idea of ‘intergenerational cultures of worklessness’ and if there are families where ‘three generations have never worked’. It is based on research with families living in deprived neighbourhoods in Glasgow and Middlesbrough."

The research

Quoted from the webpage, About:

The Minimum Income Standard for the UK (MIS) aims to set a benchmark for minimum living standards that we should be aiming for as a society, based on what members of the public think is acceptable.

Launched in 2008, the standard has been updated in 2012. It is a major research project bringing together expertise from Loughborough and YorkUniversities and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Shae Harris has written a wonderful response to the Lean In controversy. 

She sums up the progressive, assertive attitude in the work place advocated by Sheryl Sandberg while remembering the irrelevance of such advice in the lives of other less advantaged women. 

Is it possible that feminism is becoming a selfish movement? The issue of class division is real and does not decrease in scale as feminism succeeds in the boardroom and on university campuses. Professional women are making tremendous progress in redressing inequalities in the work place at the highest levels, and Lean In has much to offer women from advantaged backgrounds boasting university degrees and careers, but it further dismisses the already marginalized needs and challenges faced by those women who, on the whole, are not equipped to speak up about the inequalities that they experience on a day to day basis. When we start unpacking class division, we find many women are not even equipped to recognize gender based inequalities for what they are due to deeply embedded cultural norms and lack of education.

That said, Lean In is a powerful and exciting step in the right direction for women, but let us remember to stand together in solidarity… To Lean In on behalf of others.

Further reading:

Leaning in Isn't an option for all women

Today I opened and read a disturbing article written in 2011 by Dominic Raab, Conservative MP for Esher and Walton [UK] 

There are many upsetting points in it, but one of the saddest is the writer’s evident lack of understanding of what feminism is and what it seeks to accomplish. 

Each of this MPs points are the result of PATRIARCHY, not feminism. Patriarchy is what feminists seek to redress. What a shame that he is blind to the big picture, the historical context and the implications of a slow evolution from institutionalized patriarchy towards equality. Patriarchy does not just hurt women. It hurts everyone, and it’s wonderful that we as a human race have come so far in recent decades, but the diseased thinking is still present, the pillars in the ruin have only just begun in their crumbling. 

Dominic: put away the angry, resentment-laced language, stop hating on feminists; if you want equality, we’re on the same team and should stand together.

From the Guardian. News, Society, Equality.

Dalia Ben-Galim, associate director of the IPPR, said: "While feminism has delivered for some professional women, other women have been left behind. Many of the advances for women at the top have masked inequality at the bottom.

"The 'break the glass ceiling' approach that simply promotes women in the boardroom has not been as successful in changing family-friendly working culture or providing opportunities for other women to advance.

The stay-at-home-parent: an example in what not to do?

It’s Easter. I’m divorced. Having spent Christmas with me, my kids are with their father over this holiday period and I am at home reading the news.

Yesterday morning I scanned the headlines and stopped at an article listed at BBC Online, Bishop of Exeter…

Patrick Butler writes in the Guardian speaking out on behalf of the vulnerable...

Katie Makkai - Pretty (by crzylbrlchick)

Feminism: If I Admit That 'Hating Men' Is a Thing, Will You Stop Turning It Into a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?(via @Jezebel)

Okay, so maybe you are a man. Maybe you haven't had the easiest ride in life—maybe you grew up in poverty; you've experienced death, neglect, and despair.....

This is a good read, but exhausting. By the end I feel like I've been in the midst of a struggle and I have to say, after all the conflict, I need to read, or write, or watch something happy. I need to laugh, and then craft a story shot through with love