women

Skeptical Women

Wed, 03/24/2010 - 14:54

This is for Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating women in science and technology.

When I started going to Skeptics in the Pub (SitP) in 2003, it was a small affair in a room over a pub near Borough, in London. I was sometimes the only woman there and even on a good night, we were really in the minority in a room full of men, some of whom were seriously lacking in social skills. I wanted to get more involved and, quite early on, I helped test a woman who wanted to claim James Randi's million dollars because she could find missing people with a pendulum and an A-Z. She couldn't.

Sexual Abuse of Women in the Church

Tue, 03/16/2010 - 15:25

There has been widespread media coverage of the abuse of children by Catholic priests and few people are now unaware of it.

There has been almost no publicity about the abuse of women by male members of the clergy and, despite the evidence, the Church appears to have done nothing.

Some women do have fully consensual relationships with male clergy but they are a small minority. When their stories make the media, they are usually of the more lurid 'priest has mistress and secret children' variety.

There is some abuse of adult men but a 2008 survey in America found that 96% of the victims were female.

Abuse falls into two categories, congregants and nuns.

Ada Lovelace Day March 24

Mon, 03/08/2010 - 19:38

From the Ada Lovelace website:

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.!) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science.

Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines, whatever they do. It doesn’t matter how new or old your blog is, what gender you are, what language you blog in, or what you normally blog about – everyone is invited. Just sign the pledge and publish your blog post any time on Wednesday 24th March 2010.

Women and AIDS

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 23:21

HIV/AIDS is now the leading cause of death worldwide in women of reproductive age. UNAids has launched a five year plan to deal with the gender inequality and human rights violations behind this epidemic.

The plan by the joint United Nations Programme is called Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV (2010-2014).

Of women, science and stilettos

Sun, 01/10/2010 - 18:54

Just before Christmas I received this leaflet in my pigeon hole at work, inviting me to apply for the Dutch "Veni, Vidi, Vici" science fellowship programme. I've posted an annotated, translated version here. With this targeted campaign, the Dutch research council NWO is trying to get more female applicants for the scheme. While applauding their commitment to attracting women into science careers, I can't help but wonder: what moron designed this damn thing? There are so many things wrong with this piece of cr paper, it's hard to know where to begin. But let's give it a shot.

Pill does not cure gender inequality

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 01:02

There’s a very illuminating leader in The Lancet last week about maternal mortality and the fact that despite sustained global campaigning efforts there has been little progress on the Millennium Development Goal to reduce maternal deaths by 75% by 2015.

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Last Year's Blog

July 30, 2009

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