Yeyy UK!

The UK government announced last week that fathers will soon have the right to take up to six months of paternity leave!

Both The Guardian and The Telegraph reported that starting April 2011, fathers will be able to take the place of the mother for the last 3 months of her 9 month maternity leave and be eligible for statutory governmental pay of £123 a week. After that, he can choose to take an addition 3 months of unpaid paternity leave.

This is great news for parents because this now allows them to have a total of 12 months of parental leave that they are able to split between the two parents. But unfortunately, Ministers estimate that "between 4% and 8% of those eligible for the new leave will take it."

Much of the credit can be given to Equalities Minister, Harriet Harman, who has been working for these types of parental rights. Harman claims, "we've doubled maternity leave; doubled maternity pay; introduced paternity leave; more than doubled good quality affordable childcare places; and introduced right to request flexible working."

Many businesses are up in arms about this new policy claiming that this is placing an unnecessary burden upon them at an already difficult economic time. Fortunately for them, if single digit percentages of fathers take this opportunity, "only 1% of businesses will be affected".

Countries all over Europe are adopting paternity leave policies that are helping enforce equality in the workplace. A prime example is Sweden where parents are given 16 months of paid parental leave, of which the minority parent (typically the father) is required to take at least 2 of those months. The United States has not made much of an effort to mimic these countries. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is the closest thing the US has to legally required parental leave and it only gives either parent 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave. Currently, there is a bill going through Congress called the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2009, which gives federal employees paid leave for 4 of the 12 weeks allowed under the FMLA. This only applies to federal employees but is a small push towards paid parental leave for both parents.

photo courtesy of U.S. Army via Flickr

Newsday Tuesday: August 4 Edition

Welcome, August! Which also means humidity here in DC. As we all are trying to survive the heat, let's go inside, cool down, and catch up with this week's happenings in the world of feminist news with this week's edition of Newsday Tuesday!

Global
The Italian Pharmaceuticals Agency (AIFA) has approved mifepristone, also known as RU-486, for use through the seventh week of pregnancy. Last week's ruling stipulates that the drug can be administered by doctors in a hospital but can not be sold in pharmacies.

On Saturday, a gay youth center was attacked by a gunman in Tel Aviv, Israel. A masked man entered the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association building and opened fire on a group of young people gathered for a weekly support group meeting. The shooter fled on foot and remains at large. Two were killed and eleven wounded in the attack.

British Quakers, or the Religious Society of Friends, have decided to perform same-sex marriages. The Quakers will formally challenge the UK laws which prohibit same-sex marriage. Quakers have allowed same-sex couples to celebrate civil partnerships with a religious commitment ceremony for more than two decades.

Shirin Ebadi, one of Iran's leading human rights defenders, is in London on Amnesty International's invitation. Her trip to the UK is part of international efforts to educate the world about the human rights abuses in Iran and support Amnesty's defense of the Defenders of Human Rights Center.

The Women and Work Commission published a report Wednesday citing an increase in the wage gap in the UK. It was found that there was an increase in the wage gap from 21.9 to 22.6 percent since 2007 and is even larger when accounting for part-time wages; the gap in those cases nears 40 percent.

A Sudanese court began hearing Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein's case on Wednesday after she was one of 13 women arrested on July 3 for wearing trousers in public. Al-Hussein was sentenced earlier this month to 40 lashings, but as a public information officer for the United Nations, she has immunity from the flogging.

On Wednesday, security forces in Nigeria freed approximately 180 women and children who were held by the radical Boko Haram, an extremist Islamic group believed to be responsible for attacks on police stations and government sites this week that have left 150 people dead.

The Tanzania Women's Bank, a new bank created to empower women, opened last week in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Iranian women's rights activist, lawyer, and journalist Shadi Sadr was released from prison Tuesday, eleven days after she was beaten and arrested while walking to a prayer service in Tehran.

The Dutch organization Women on Waves cancelled all upcoming trips of its so-called floating abortion clinic. The "abortion boat" docked in international waters and provided abortion pills and information about reproductive health to women all over the world.

National
The White House announced last week that President Barack Obama will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a number of pioneering feminists and civil rights leaders. The medal is the highest honor a civilian can receive and given to those who make significant contributions in world peace, culture, or other public pursuits. The recipients of the medal will include: Nancy Goodman Brinker, Edward Kennedy, Billie Jean King, Reverend Joseph Lowery, Harvey Milk, Sandra Day O'Connor, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13-6 Tuesday to approve Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the US Supreme Court. The committee's decision means that a full Senate vote on Sotomayor's confirmation is likely to occur next week.

An amendment to the Labor, Health, and Human Services bill that sought to ban all federal funding for Planned Parenthood was defeated last week in the House by a vote of 247 to 183.

Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY) announced last Monday that a Senate hearing on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on homosexuals in the military will be held in the fall.

States
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cut $489 million Thursday from the state budget passed last week by the state legislature. The cuts were directed primarily towards health and human services programs, and will eliminate all state funding for domestic violence shelters, forcing these centers close or seek new sources of funding.

Photo courtesy of Tim Pearce on Flikr.com

Sexing it Up in UK Schools

A sex-ed leaflet distributed by the National Health Service of Britain has scandalized much of the country by suggesting to high school students that "an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away".

This new educational campaign tells students about the pleasures of a healthy sex life, and the cardiovascular benefits to a good romp between the sheets, or regular masturbation. The authors of the pamphlet believe that teens in healthy relationships have as much a right to a pleasurable sex life as adults do.

Unsurprisingly many parents, family groups, and teachers are not happy with this particular approach to sexual education, arguing that with rising rates of teen pregnancy and the spread of STIs, this sort of education will only encourage students to have sex at a young age and does not provide any more assurance that they will use contraception to protect themselves. Advocates of the campaign, including author Steve Slack, a director of the Center for HIV and Sexual Health at NHS, argue that if students know the truth about sex, including the good parts, they will be more prepared to make an informed decision about when they are ready to become sexually active, and furthermore will be encouraged to wait until they are sure they will have an enjoyable experience.

Although I agree completely that it is important for teens to have comprehensive sex education and access to contraception, as well as information about the risks of having sex, I can't help but be amused by the idea of educating teens about the benefits of being sexual as well. In the United States you are lucky if you get any sex-education explaining the physiological mechanics of sex, but the physical and mental benefits of intercourse and masturbation? Forget about it! Why are we left in the dark to figure the pleasurable parts of sex out on our own?

Young women are particularly discouraged from exploring the pleasurable parts of sex. As young women, we are not encouraged to masturbate, not encouraged to explore what makes our bodies feel good or bad, and for many women not encouraged to orgasm on our own or during intercourse. Based on my experience, many young women are either too embarrassed, ashamed, or just clueless about thier own bodies to masturbate in high school. Maybe by educating women about how to enjoy sex and masturbation at a young age when the majority of them start to become sexually active would help to take the taboo out of female sexuality, and allow women to develop healthy, safe, and pleasurable sex lives.