Category: Gender Equality

Call for action on UK’s screenwriter gender inequality – BBC News

~ mcequality

The number of female writers working for film and television in the UK has not improved in the last 10 years, a new report suggests.
Across the whole industry, just one in six screenwriters is a woman.
Only one in 10 feature films is written chiefly by a woman, the figure dropping even lower for those with a budget greater than £10m – to just one in 14.
The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, which commissioned the report, is calling for change in the industry.

via Call for action on UK’s screenwriter gender inequality – BBC News

USC Students Sue School, Campus Gynecologist for Decades-Long Sexual Misconduct

~ mcequality

Last week, Jezebel reported on George Tyndall, the University of Southern California student health center’s primary gynecologist who was allowed to continue practicing at the school despite years of sexual misconduct allegations. Since the 1990s, Tyndall has been accused of making sexualized comments about patients’ bodies while giving exams, photographing their genitals, and racially targeting Chinese patients, among other crimes. On Monday, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Tyndall, USC, and its board of trustees by “a proposed class of hundreds, if not thousands, of women students,” according to attorneys from Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a nationwide litigation law firm.

via USC Students Sue School, Campus Gynecologist for Decades-Long Sexual Misconduct

Rise in Pop-Up Brothels Inspires Ham-fisted Push Against Sex Work in the U.K.

~ mcequality

A new report has found that women are increasingly being sexually exploited in the United Kingdom in so-called “pop-up brothels.” The nonpartisan group of UK politicians behind the study is using the alarming findings to call for the criminalization of the purchase of sex and a crackdown on classified-style websites that host adult ads. These recommendations fly in the face of Amnesty International’s recent call for an end to the “Nordic model”—in which the purchase of sex is criminalized, but sex workers themselves are often punished as a result.

via Rise in Pop-Up Brothels Inspires Ham-fisted Push Against Sex Work in the U.K.

Federal Court Rules in Favor of Transgender Teen Gavin Grimm

~ mcequality

A U.S. District Court judge in Virginia has ruled that transgender teen Gavin Grimm has a valid claim to sex discrimination under both Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, after his former school board implemented a policy to prevent him from using the boys’ restroom at his school.

Started in 2014, the policy said that bathrooms “shall be limited to the corresponding biological genders, and students with gender identity issues shall be provided an alternative appropriate private facility.” Because this is a cruel and isolating thing to do to a teenager who just realized that he’s transgender, Grimm—who graduated from high school in 2017—refrained from using the bathroom at school, and as a result developed a urinary tract infection. With the help of the ACLU, he sued the school board in 2015.

via Federal Court Rules in Favor of Transgender Teen Gavin Grimm

A Westworld Actress Says Fans Keep ‘Mansplaining’ the Show to Her

~ mcequality

For the past year, Westworld actress Shannon Woodward has been inundated with fans sharing their own theories. So much so, some have been implying that a star of the show knows less than they do.

“Last year, I had a lot of people telling me their theories, and trying to convince me that they were right,” Woodward told Marie Claire. “I tried to be kind to them about it because I was so glad that they were enjoying the show, but at some point it got to sound a lot like mansplaining. I was like, ‘You know I’ve read the scripts, right? I do know what happens and that’s not what happens.’”

via A Westworld Actress Says Fans Keep ‘Mansplaining’ the Show to Her

The Trump Administration Is Bringing the Global Gag Rule Home

~ mcequality

The Trump administration is expected to announce the implementation of a domestic gag rule on Friday, the New York Times reports. The domestic gag rule, which has been a top priority for anti-abortion conservatives in the administration, would prevent reproductive healthcare providers like Planned Parenthood from accessing Title X funds if they provide abortion referrals. The domestic gag rule language is still unclear since it hasn’t been officially released, but it could mirror the global gag rule Donald Trump reinstated in January 2017, through an executive order.

“This is a far-reaching attack and an attempt to take away women’s basic rights and reproductive rights,” Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), said on Friday. “I would posit that a president who it’s clear does not know the difference between HIV and HPV should not be interfering in the doctor-patient relationship,” she added.

via The Trump Administration Is Bringing the Global Gag Rule Home

Evangeline Lilly Accuses Lost Stunt Coordinator of Injuring Her

~ mcequality

While speaking on a panel about stuntwomen in Hollywood—held on Wednesday at the Fox lot in Los Angeles—Lilly claimed the skin on both her forearms was ripped off during a stunt she performed while filming Lost. Lilly, who stars as the Wasp in the upcoming Marvel film Ant-Man and the Wasp, appeared on the panel with her stunt double from that movie, Ingrid Kleinig, and several other stuntwomen.

via Evangeline Lilly Accuses Lost Stunt Coordinator of Injuring Her

How physics gender gap starts in the classroom – BBC News

~ mcequality

Some progress has been made in encouraging girls to study physics at A-level, according to a report by the Institute of Physics (IoP).
In 2016, 1.9% of girls chose A-level physics, up from 1.6% in 2011.
But that compared with 6.5% for boys in 2016 and 44% of schools in England still send no girls at all to study the subject.
The IoP said physics-based skills were essential for many future careers, from artificial intelligence to aerospace.

via How physics gender gap starts in the classroom – BBC News

Deputy governor sorry for calling economy ‘menopausal’ – BBC News

~ mcequality

The Bank of England’s deputy governor has apologised for saying the UK economy is entering a “menopausal” era.
Ben Broadbent used the phrase in an interview with the Daily Telegraph to describe economies that were, in his words, “past their peak, and no longer so potent”.
Later he said he was sorry for the “poor choice of language” and any “offence caused”.
He said productivity affected “every one of us, of all ages and genders”.

via Deputy governor sorry for calling economy ‘menopausal’ – BBC News