World Gender Relations for Equal Dignity (WGenderRED)

 

Chipamong Chowdhury (family name), or Bhante Revata (monk's name, known in the monastic communities), Coordinator


HumanDHS is primarily grounded in academic work. We are independent of any religious or political agenda. However, we wish to bring academic work into "real life." Our research focuses on topics such as dignity (with humiliation as its violation), or, more precisely, on respect for equal dignity for all human beings in the world.

This page is under construction.




UCLA Study on Friendship Among Women

Taylor, Shelley E., Klein, Laura Cousino, Lewis, Brian P., Gruenewald, Tara L., Gurung, Regan A. R., and Updegraff, John A. (2002). Biobehavioral Responses to Stress in Females: Tend-and-Befriend, Not Fight-or-Flight. In Psychological Review, 109 (4), pp. 745-750,

Please see the Abstract:

The human stress response has been characterized, both physiologically and behaviorally, as "fight-or-flight." Although fight-or-flight may characterize the primary physiological responses to stress for both males and females, we propose that, behaviorally, females' responses are more marked by a pattern of "tend-and-befriend." Tending involves nurturant activities designed to protect the self and offspring that promote safety and reduce distress; befriending is the creation and maintenance of social networks that may aid in this process. The biobehavioral mechanism that underlies the tend-and-befriend pattern appears to draw on the attachment-caregiving system, and neuroendocrine evidence from animal and human studies suggests that oxytocin, in conjunction with female reproductive hormones and endogenous opioid peptide mechanisms, may be at its core. This previously unexplored stress regulatory system has manifold implications for the study of stress.




Links

Saudi Maid Verdict 'Outrageous'
Human Rights Watch has called on Saudi judges to overturn a decision to drop charges against a Saudi couple accused of severely abusing an Indonesian maid...
Rights organisations say many foreign domestic maids in Saudi Arabia work in harsh circumstances and often suffer abuse by their employers. The Saudi Labour Ministry has acknowledged some problems, but the government also says foreign workers' rights are protected under Islamic law...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7415290.stm.

Australia Appoints Woman Bishop
Australia's first woman bishop, Kay Goldsworthy, has been consecrated in St George's Cathedral in Perth. The move has been welcomed by Australia's sex discrimination commissioner as a turning point for the church and the nation. But a minority of Australian Anglicans, angered by the appointment, have warned that it will split the church. Women have been serving as Anglican bishops in the US since 1989, but many other countries find the idea divisive. Twenty-one Anglican bishops from Australia and New Zealand were among a congregation of more than 800 to show their support for Kay Goldsworthy's controversial appointment. Opponents of the ordination of women, including the head of the Sydney diocese, Archbishop Peter Jensen, did not attend the ceremony...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7414979.stm.

Women on the Frontline
A new documentary series, Women on the Frontline, presented by Annie Lennox, that shines a light on violence against women and girls. The series takes the front to homes, villages, and cities of our world where a largely unreported war against females is being waged. Please see more on www.unifem.org and www.bbcworld.com.

Domestic Violence Bill in Austria
The Domestic Abuse Intervention Program (DAIP Vienna) is a program on domestic violence aiming at creating an integrated response to interpersonal violence by establishing effective intervention systems. Their work is based on the Domestic Violence Bill, a new law introduced in May 1997.
Part of their work are perpetrator related interventions. Together with the man’s counselling centre in Vienna they carry out a program for violent men. The program consists of social training groups for violent men, support for the victims and the co-ordination of all interventions. It’s a pro-feminist program putting safety of the victims highest on the agenda.

Saudi Women 'Kept in Childhood'
Saudi women are being kept in perpetual childhood so male relatives can exercise "guardianship" over them, the Human Rights Watch group has said. The New York-based group says Saudi women have to obtain permission from male relatives to work, travel, study, marry or even receive health care. Their access to justice is also severely constrained, it says. The group says the Saudi establishment sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive. Saudi clerics see the guardianship of women's honour as a key to the country's social and moral order...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7358448.stm.

DNA Tests on Texas Sect Children
A Texas judge has ordered that 416 children, removed from a polygamous sect by police, remain in state custody for genetic testing...
The adults in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) group, which broke away from the mainstream Mormon Church more than a century ago when polygamy was banned, say they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs...
Members believe a man must marry at least three wives in order to ascend to heaven. Women are taught that their path to heaven depends on being subservient to their husband...
An expert on children in cults told the court that the girls may have believed that marrying much older men was their free choice because they had been raised in that belief...
"Obedience is a very important part of their belief system," said Bruce Perry. Although many of the adults and children at the YFZ ranch seemed emotionally healthy, the sect's belief system was "abusive", he added. "The culture is very authoritarian."...
Polygamy is illegal in the US, but the authorities have reportedly been reluctant to confront the FLDS for fear of sparking a tragedy similar to the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas, which led to the deaths of about 80 members...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/7355779.stm.

3 Women for Peace
David Maidman wrote (February 19, 2008):
While producing Think Peace: Portrait of a 20th Century Movement, we became aware of the role that powerful women are playing in implementing peace in this century. We shot so much insightful and moving footage at the World Peace Forum, that we could not include it all in our documentary. We invite you to listen to extra footage of three of these inspirational women:
- Marianne Williamson became renowned for her dedication to the Peace Alliance and a strong advocate for a Department of Peace. Marianne spoke at the World Peace Forum on Sunday, June 25, 2006.
- Medea Benjamin is a celebrated activist with Code Pink and since we talked to her she has become even more outspoken against the war. Medea talked to us at the World Peace Forum on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 about Code Pink's Peace Ribbon campaign.
- Judith LeBlanc is a co-chair of United for Peace and Justice, one of the largest anti-war coalitions in the U.S. Speaking on a panel at the World Peace Forum on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 on "Organizing in the U.S." Judith outlines some of the strategy that resulted in the Democrats capturing the U.S. Congress in November 2006. To view go to: http://thinkpeacemovie.com/media.php.

Woman to Conduct Egypt Marriages
By Frances Harrison
BBC religious affairs reporter
Egypt has appointed a woman to conduct Muslim marriages for the first time.
Amal Soliman, 32, has broken centuries of tradition by being chosen as a judicial assistant who officiates at weddings, known as a maazun...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7269848.stm.

UK 'Should Outlaw Paying for Sex'
The sex trade fuels human trafficking, says Ms Harman
Harriet Harman
Commons Leader Harriet Harman has told the BBC she wants the law to be changed to make it illegal to pay for sex. She said ministers were to look at how Sweden brought in such a law, and said a "big debate" was needed in the UK...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/7153358.stm.

Rape Case Ruling Shocks Australia
A judge's decision not to jail nine men guilty of raping a 10-year-old girl in an Aboriginal community has triggered outrage in Australia.
The offenders were either placed on probation or given suspended sentences for the 2005 rape in the Aurukun settlement, in northern Queensland...
The offenders came from some of the most powerful and prominent Aboriginal families in Cape York, while the victim's family had a lower status, The Australian reported...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7136269.stm.

Life’s Work: The Feminine Critique, by Lisa Belkin
New York Times
November 1, 2007
DON’T get angry. But do take charge. Be nice. But not too nice. Speak up. But don’t seem like you talk too much. Never, ever dress sexy. Make sure to inspire your colleagues — unless you work in Norway, in which case, focus on delegating instead.
Writing about life and work means receiving a steady stream of research on how women in the workplace are viewed differently from men. These are academic and professional studies, not whimsical online polls, and each time I read one I feel deflated. What are women supposed to do with this information? Transform overnight? And if so, into what? How are we supposed to be assertive, but not, at the same time?
Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/.
We thank Olga Botcharova for making us aware of this article!

International Women Leaders Global Security Summit
November 15-17, 2007
On November 15-17, the Council of Women World Leaders
will co-convene the largest gathering of women world leaders addressing issues of global security ever held in the United States. This truly significant initiative will bring together current and former women heads of state and government and more than 70 other high-level women leaders from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America. Visit WomenandGlobalSecurity.org to learn more.

Gene 'Links Breastfeeding to IQ'
A single gene influences whether breastfeeding improves a child's intelligence, say London researchers. Children with one version of the FADS2 gene scored seven points higher in IQ tests if they were breastfed. But the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study found breastfeeding had no effect on the IQ of children with a different version. The gene in question helps break down fatty acids from the diet, which have been linked with brain development. Seven points difference is enough to put the child in the top third of the class, the researchers said ... Some 90% of people carry the version of the gene which was associated with better IQ scores in breastfed children...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7075511.stm.

Umoja: How an African Village is Banning Violence against Women
Violence against women can be stopped. That conviction underlies the life's work of Rebecca Lolosoli, an Indigenous Samburu woman from Kenya who has transformed her life and her community. Rebecca is the founder of Umoja, a women-run village in rural Kenya which has declared itself a "Violence against Women Free Zone"...
Please read more at http://www.madre.org/programs/pe/speakers_fall06.html.

US Urges 'Comfort Women' Apology
US lawmakers have called on Japan's government to formally apologise for its role in forcing thousands of women to work as sex slaves in World War II.
The symbolic and non-binding resolution was passed during a vote in the House of Representatives...
Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6923352.stm.

Female Peacekeepers Reach Liberia
The first all-female unit of United Nations peacekeepers has arrived in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.
The group of more than 100 police women from India will stay in Liberia for six months, helping to train the local police force...
Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6314263.stm.

Police Plea on Genital Mutilation
The Metropolitan Police is offering a £20,000 reward for information which would bring to justice anyone involved in female genital mutilation.
The campaign is being launched at the start of the summer holidays, during which young girls - mainly from African communities - are thought most at risk. Mutilation involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia for cultural reasons.... This is child abuse. It is not an attack on anyone's culture, it is an attack on anyone who commits this horrendous abuse of children (Alastair Jeffrey, Metropolitan Police)...
Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6291218.stm.

Ugandan Adultery Law 'Too Sexist'
Uganda's adultery law has been scrapped by the Constitutional Court because it treated men and women unequally.
The law made it an offence for a married woman to have an affair, but it allowed a cheating husband to have an affair with an unmarried woman...
Read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/6528869.stm.

Rule of Thumb
A rule of thumb is a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation. It is an easily learned and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for making some determination.
...
Domestic violence/discipline:
It is often claimed that the term originally referred to the maximum thickness of a stick with which it was permissible for a man to beat his wife. This explanation for the origin of the term was popularized in the opening of the 1999 movie The Boondock Saints.
Linguist Michael Quinion, citing the research of Sharon Fenick, notes that there are some examples of a related usage historically — most notably with regard to a supposed pronouncement by a British judge, Sir Francis Buller. However, it is questionable whether Buller ever made such a pronouncement and there is even less evidence that he phrased it as a "rule of thumb"; the rumoured statement was so unpopular that it caused him to be lambasted as "Judge Thumb" in a satirical James Gillray cartoon. According to Quinion, the term "Rule of Thumb" was first documented in English in 1692, long before Buller's reported pronouncement. The first known usage of the phrase "rule of thumb" in direct reference to domestic violence was in 1976, in the book Battered Wives by Del Martin ...
Please read more here: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Rules+of+thumb.

Offerings: A Co-Creative Field for Evolving Women
There is a movement taking place all over the globe, an ongoing conversation that tells the story of women evolving themselves, their lives, their world. Offerings is a co-creative field where rich and diverse artistic expressions of this emerging story unfold. Our creative works include print publications, audio and visual engagements, online dialogues and face-to-face gatherings, as well as new business models, new ideas for how we live, partner and move in the world.

Broadening Regional Initiative for Developing Girls' Education (BRIDGE) Project in Taiz Governorate, Yemen
See, for example, http://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/en/info/event/e2007_03_06_01.htm.

MADRE
Violence against girls and women is so pervasive that we have a tendency to be frozen by that reality.  As Bob Herbert notes, the recent killings in schools in Pennsylvania and Colorado are a painful reminder that we cannot remain frozen-that the depreciation of women has degenerated into a hatred that we can't afford to ignore. MADRE addresses the issue of violence against women and girls with our partner organizations around the world.  And we agree with Bob Herbert that this kind of violence is shocking, and we believe that our shock must propel us into action:
Why Aren't We Shocked?
The New York Times
By Bob Herbert, Op-Ed Columnist
In the recent shootings at an Amish schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania and a large public high school in Colorado, the killers went out of their way to separate the girls from the boys, and then deliberately attacked only the girls.
Ten girls were shot and five killed at the Amish school. One girl was killed and a number of others were molested in the Colorado attack...
Please read the entire article at http://www.madre.org/about/VAW.NYTOPED.10.06.html.

In Chechen’s Humiliation, Questions on Rule of Law
By C. J. Chivers, published August 30, 2006
ARGUN, Russia, Aug. 26 — The humiliation of Malika Soltayeva, a pregnant Chechen woman suspected of adultery, was ferocious and swift.
Malika Soltayeva, shown in a recent photo, was tortured by men who served as the police. Ms. Soltayeva, 23, had been away from home for a month and was reported missing by her family. When she returned, her husband accused her of infidelity and banished her from their apartment. The local authorities found her at her aunt’s residence. They said they had a few questions. What followed was no investigation. In a law enforcement compound in this town in east-central Chechnya, the men who served as Argun’s police sheared away her hair and her eyebrows and painted her scalp green, the color associated with Islam. A thumb-thick cross was smeared on her brow.
Please read the entire article at www.nytimes.com.

National Organization of Men Against Sexism
The National Organization for Men Against Sexism is an activist organization of men and women supporting positive changes for men. NOMAS advocates a perspective that is pro-feminist, gay affirmative, anti-racist, dedicated to enhancing men's lives, and committed to justice on a broad range of social issues including class, age, religion, and physical abilities.
NOMAS is the oldest pro-feminist men's movement in the US.  NOMAS has chapters, programs, and trainings around the country, and put on the national conference on men and masculinity on an annual basis. NOMAS just ended their 31st national conference at Ramapo college, NJ, this summer, 2006. NOMAS also sponsors research on issues of masculinity through their Men's Studies Association, and support a feminist analysis of anti-violence work through their Ending Men's Violence Task Group. Membership in NOMAS includes their quarterly Journal, BROTHER.

Women Are Getting Even (WAGE)
WAGE is is a charitable organization led by Evelyn F. Murphy, author of Getting Even: Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It. Dr. Murphy is a Ph.D. economist, former Lt. Governor of Massachusetts, and board member for various corporations and non-profit organizations.

Gender Similarities Hypothesis
There is strong evidence for the so-called gender similarities hypothesis.
Please see Hyde, Janet Shibley (2005). The Gender Similarities Hypothesis.
In American Psychologist, 60 (6), pp. 581-592.

Kuwaiti women vote for first time
Polling is taking place in a Kuwaiti council by-election in which women are allowed to vote for the first time.
Two women are also among eight candidates running for the seat in the Salmiya district, south of the capital.The 28,000 eligible voters, 60% of whom are women, are voting in segregated polling booths, a condition demanded by Islamist and tribal MPs.Women were granted equal political rights last year and will vote in full legislative polls in 2007.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4874990.stm.