Domestic Workers Find their Own Means of Empowerment

Chandrani speaking at a Taste Culture event

In the Middle East, where widespread abuse of female migrant domestic workers is commonplace, Jordan positioned itself as leader in protecting workers rights when it introduced laws in 2008 that called for regulated hours, a day off and criminalisation of human trafficking.

However, a recent report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch and Jordan's Tamkeen Centre for Legal Aid cites complaints of physical and sexual abuse, house confinement, non-payment of salaries and long working hours.

According to the 110-page report, failure on the part of Jordanian officials to enforce labour laws put in place to protect female migrants are in fact 'facilitating abuse'.

Currently, more than 70,000 female migrant domestic workers from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines are employed in the kingdom.

Pushed by a need to support their families, female migrant domestic workers leave their countries, children and lives to care for another household.

The issue of migrant domestic work is a personal issue for me. More than fifteen years ago while living on the streets in the United States and without any legal identification, I turned to cleaning houses as a means of supporting myself. When I lived in the home, I usually slept on the sofa and worked all the day without receiving a single pay. For these individuals, providing me with a place to sleep was sufficient enough. At times, I was subjected to verbal abuse and even sometimes molestation. Eventually, I would run away and end up on the streets once more.

Five years ago, when I arrived in the Middle East from New York it was not my intention to highlight the plight of these women. However, my treatment in Lebanon--when I was viewed as a servant whenever I walked the streets, or sleeping on the sofa in the home of three fellow foreigners, cooking and cleaning in exchange for board--triggered something in me.

Corinne Martin: Empowering Change Through Art

Courtesy of Corinne Martin

Truly a multicultural by-product--having been born in Paris, raised in Beirut, educated in Houston, and now living in Riyadh--Corinne Martin interprets iconography of contemporary Arab pop culture derived from television, music, food, and fashion through her mixed media and paintings. She’s also very interested in the notion of the region being a meeting point between Western and Eastern sensibilities and the role globalization plays amidst that. “After returning to the Middle East, I was able to experience my roots both as an adult and as an artist from a fresh perspective,” she says. “The region is experiencing immense cultural growth and has a new, rejuvenating energy that inspires and infuses my work.”

Courtesy of Corinne Martin

I could not help but gravitate towards her retro-esque paintings of popular and iconic symbols of Arab pop culture. Having grown up and currently based in the Arabian Gulf myself, Martin's work depicts an intensely, immediately familiar world of images, an integral part of my particular visual universe – for example, the imagery of Miranda or popular washing detergent, Tide [above] conveyed in Arabic script. “I’ve always drawn inspiration from those iconic images as they reflect the experiences of a younger generation of Arabs who came of age between the East and West,” Corinne says. “They have shaped our visual culture, which is why [my] kind of art resonates with so many people as it has an emotional connection to their past.”

The colors of her works are undeniably mint fresh – and yet, they also possess the feel of vintage posters and labels, the colors possessing a hyper-real bleached quality. The works’ effect is to render you nostalgic – while simultaneously able to re-live that past in the present.

Worldwide Gynecological Awareness Month: Interview with Dr George Sawaya

Every year over a million women worldwide are diagnosed with a gynecological cancer. September is Worldwide Gynecological Awareness Month, which incorporates the awareness of the following five major cancers: cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar. 

Women in all parts of the world are at risk of gynecological cancers, but this risk is exacerbated in areas of the world where access to prevention and treatment is low. Over 80% of cervical cancer cases occur in the developing world, and lack of regular Pap smears and other interventional measures may contribute to this statistic

To cap off Worldwide Gynecological Awareness month, I spoke with Dr. George Sawaya, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California San Francisco. His current research is in cervical cancer screening with particular interest in new technologies, cost-effectiveness and utility, novel approaches to population-based screening and risk communication. Dr Sawaya has also served on the cervical cancer guidelines committee for the American Cancer Society and the US Preventive Services Task Force.


Ruby Singhrao: Death from cervical cancer is high in many developing countries but lower in North America, Europe and Australia. What measures have been taken in these countries to reduce the risk of cervical cancer?
Dr George Sawaya: The United States has had widespread screening for cervical cancer using the Pap smear since the 1950’s. The risk of cervical cancer is driven by how much screening is available in the population, at least for now. We don’t know yet what the effect of HPV vaccination will be on cervical cancer, so currently the cornerstone of prevention is ] early detection of pre-cancerous lesions with treatment before they turn into cancer.


RS: So it seems that cervical cancer is one of the few gynecological cancers that can be prevented.
DR GS: Yes, cervical cancer is the poster child for gynecologic cancer prevention since it aims to detect and treat pre-cancerous lesions., Screening for colorectal cancer works in a similar way. Screening for breast cancer, on the other hand, aims to detect early cancers, so the benefit is mainly in preventing cancer deaths.

Ellen Gallagher: An Ad for the Unspoken

Ellen Gallagher is an American-born, contemporary multimedia artist that speaks about our inner thoughts and the obscured details that push the less palatable down. Gallagher's works confront what we all eventually face: deep, nagging insecurity, broad and unknown danger around the corner, and disappointing interpersonal moments. A person's art work most certainly speaks about what they have decided to look at and, finally, let surface.

This past week, a humbling and insightful discussion led me to consider the process of repression. As an individual, what subject bothers me enough to work through it in visual form? Can I explain it? Does it have to wholly bother me or is there a space somewhere between curiosity and shame that elicits artistic response?

Gallagher's answer would be yes, and she would display her own self through her striking collaged imagery. The origins of Gallagher's works is highly accessible--they are what some might consider instructional "aids" to looking your best. Wig ads especially stand out to Gallagher, and she speaks about how she aims to "activate" characters in her painted, repeated figures. She also refers to our early imaginations of what it was to "be" a certain way, and how sometimes as adults, we (as artists and/or in our daily lives) can manage these recollections and create alternate narratives. Following are clips that exemplify her elegant and astute approach to visual culture.

I enjoy looking at a work of art that doesn't attempt to do it all at once--surely, the topic of sexuality, beauty, or race can overwhelm an artist with the best intentions. It can be rooted in the fear of being misread, too. Sometimes, when making art, a person can just hold back and work on something else that satiates their basic desire to speak but does not speak enough.

To relax, and to meditate upon the lines, the color, the balance--can be a calming exercise as good as a vibrant conversation. To view Gallagher's work is to acknowledge an artist's goal to examine an industry that was considered necessary and that required iconography of its own. Systems of iconography are created and recreated each day. What an important reminder for anyone who is unsure of where to begin in the seemingly endless maze that is the 21st century visual landscape. Perhaps it might help to just begin a conversation about these anxieties, and take it from there?

If you enjoy Gallagher, check out Kara Walker, whose bold silhouettes recreate the largely shameful history of the depiction of black women and men in American history. These two artists are just two of the many women who have sat down and considered the lack of sympathetic, realistic, and heroic imagery for women of color.

Recently, I began a list of stereotypes or hurtful images that I could recall about Mexican culture or Latinas. Immigration sprang up immediately, and was followed by the ever-present maid figure in pop culture. There was a lot to think about. I researched Latina artists working today, and could not find many at all--this is a space that also needs to be occupied and engaged by young or mature artists as well. Besides Ana Medieta, Isis Rodriguez, and Frida Kahlo, there is a similar lack of visibility for Latinas.

Again, acknowledgment and response sometimes feels like a tall order--and the fear of reinforcing negative stereotypes persists--but pushing these highly reflexive cultural details down would be a tragedy. Check out Walker's discussion about the occasional doubts in her own creative process:

If you are intrigued by Kara's work, read Seeing the Unspeakable: The Art of Kara Walker by Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw.

Reflections on a Women’s Running Trailblazer

Photo courtesy of Kathrine Switzer

Last weekend, the world marathon record fell in Berlin. A new fastest-ever time was recorded by Patrick Makau of Kenya as he crossed the finish line in an amazing 2:03:38.

Perhaps just as many eyes in Germany were on Paula Radcliffe, the legendary current women’s marathon world record holder who has battled back from various injuries and hadn’t run a marathon in two years. Radcliffe finished third, paving the way for a potential Olympic bid in 2012.

But long before there was Radcliffe, there was another runner paving the way for all future female marathoners: Kathrine Switzer. Switzer competed in era before the Radcliffes and the Kara Gouchers and, by way of a registration fluke, was the first woman to run the United States’ most storied race, the Boston Marathon, with an official bib.

CLIO TALKS BACK: Clio Investigates the “Politics” of Motherhood

An illustration from the Bulletin des Groupes féministes de l’Enseignement laique calling for Maternity as a Social Function. The caption reads: “we demand that society finally understandthe role that is required: that the mother’s budget replace the war budget, that the budget for life replace the budget for death.” It points out that the War Budget of the French state is 5000 million francs, whereas the Mother’s Budget amounts to a mere 114 million francs.

Motherhood around the world has never been simply a matter of women bearing children. It has never been simply about the joys of maternity or the fears about keeping children healthy and safe. Sometimes, as was the case in many European countries, the governments got into the act. Feminists, too, demanded that governments designate maternity as a paid social function. Why? Because the conditions for maternity were terrible, birth-rates were falling, many of the babies who survived childbirth would die before their first birthday, those who lived longer suffered stunted growth, and the leaders of nation-states feared the economic (and military) consequences of the stagnant population. Promoting contraceptive information was illegal and often young women were ill-informed about how to avoid pregnancies.

Henriette Alquier published the following analysis of French motherhood in 1927. She was subsequently prosecuted by the French government for promoting neomalthusian (e.g. contraceptive) propaganda; the government’s real agenda, however, was probably anticommunist. Alquier’s denunciation of the statute of motherhood under capitalism clearly reveals the inspiration she and others found in the measures taken in the USSR since the revolution of 1917 to reconcile motherhood with paid labor for women. Alquier’s feminist analysis was further informed by eugenic thinking and by the latest findings of the pronatalist medical community in France, especially those of the physician Dr. Adolphe Pinard.

Clio loves to present historical feminists speaking in their own words. Here is the first part of Alquier’s text, which appeared in 1927 in a periodical published by radical secular schoolteachers.

Pratibha Parmar Talks Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth

[Editor's Note: The following post was written by Marian Evans, who blogs at Wellywood Woman. A longer version is available on the blog Gender Across Borders.]

Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth - Trailer from Kali Films on Vimeo.

Alice Walker is a global treasure, best known for The Color Purple, the classic novel that Steven Spielberg adapted for the screen, and is now a Broadway musical. As poet Jewelle Gomez says, in an interview with filmmaker Pratibha Parmar:

The Color Purple for me took both the spiritual core of black womanhood and the agonizing reality of black womanhood and brought them together in a place that would allow for hopefulness that I hadn’t ever really seen before, certainly not on the page.

Alice Walker’s life and work extends, however, far beyond The Color Purple. She is also a human rights activist, a poet, a short story writer, an essayist.

Almost twenty years ago, Alice Walker sent multi-award-winning film-maker Pratibha Parmar a copy of her new novel Possessing the Secret of Joy, and invited Pratibha to discuss the possibility of making a documentary about female genital mutilation. As a result of that invitation, they made Warrior Marks, a film and a book. Now, the two women are engaged in a new film project, Beauty in Truth, a feature-length documentary about Alice Walker, for release in 2012, the 30th anniversary of the publication of The Color Purple.

In a recent interview, Pratibha told me that the idea for the film came after she spent a Christmas break watching biographies of ‘iconic’ men. She asked:

Where are the in-depth explorations of women as thinkers and public intellectuals, women as history makers and shapers, women who are inspirational leaders and role models for upcoming generations? Where indeed was a film on Alice Walker who is rightly considered one of 20th Century’s most significant writers?”

Filming of Beauty in Truth, ‘the compelling story of a poet and a human rights activist’ is now 85% complete, including interviews with Steven Spielberg, Gloria Steinem, Yoko Ono and of course Alice Walker herself. Pratibha explained the project as one which starts from strength, because of the history that she and Alice Walker share:

When we made Warrior Marks, it was a challenging and difficult journey primarily because of its subject matter. Out of such shared experienced grew a mutual trust and respect. Recently when we finished shooting an interview, she said, “You know Pratibha, we wouldn’t be having these conversations if we weren’t friends”. So I know that the content of our conversations for the film is precious and I feel honored that she has trusted me with her story.

Pratibha Parmar is a visionary filmmaker, so Beauty in Truth will be an imaginative portrayal of Alice Walker’s writing as well as her life:

With Alice’s story there is of course the gift of her evocative poetry and fiction. So there is an opportunity here to weave some of this writing embedded into visual montages throughout the film, writing that often reflects key moments in her eventful life. It’s a beautiful way to anchor some of these turning points. I am excited to work with animation, graphics and moving images to create these visual vignettes that hopefully do justice to Alice’s writing.

Because of profound changes taking place in the ways independent films are produced and distributed, film funding strategies have changed, even for distinguished filmmakers like Pratibha Parmar. Kali Films’ post-production costs for Beauty in Truth are being raised through Indiegogo. I’m thrilled that Kali Films’ campaign offers me an opportunity to acknowledge Alice Walker’s work as a global citizen, and to do what I can to support a project that—like The Color Purple—will ‘allow for hopefulness’, and will enrich world cinema. Can you help, too?

Social Good Summit: Changing the World Through New Technology

Bloggers, media, NGOs, celebrities, and global thought leaders from a variety of public health and human rights spectrums converged this week on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for the Social Good Summit-- presented by Mashable, 92nd Street Y, and the United Nations Foundation--to discuss the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve the world’s greatest challenges. Meanwhile, about 40 blocks south in Midtown Manhattan, UN Week unfolded for high-level government agencies and officials in the 66th session of the General Assembly. Actually, there are so many big events happening this week that The Daily Beast announced the world has come to NYC.

What happens when you place United Nation members, health experts, social entrepreneurs, activists, athletes, and some of the most media-savvy professionals together? A social media extravaganza focused on how to change, help, and better our world from a global perspective. A dynamic dialogue of such range, depth, and inspiration that the outcomes could, in fact, be earth changing.

The Social Good Summit opened with Ted Turner’s thoughts on war and why the United Nations remains relevant. One of Turner’s biggest focuses, however, was also on how population size demands more focus on family planning. In a later session that day, Raj Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) echoed similar thoughts when he took the stage to discuss “Developing Technology for the Developing World: the Big Challenges.” Shah's focus on the Horn of Africa tells how deep this crisis currently and how it could become even more so.

Watch live streaming video from mashable at livestream.com

Not surprisingly, such great interviews from some of our world’s greatest thinkers and innovators continuously roared across most organizations’ Facebook pages because the entire meeting is available on Livestream. While highly relevant, how to ensure audiences don’t get overwhelmed by these short, successive, and numerous talks?

Tunisia: Ending Decades of Silence

Photo: Nasser Nouri

In a bid to curb criticism of Tunisia's transitional government, officials increase crackdowns against public opinions as the country prepares for elections in October.

Last year the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) named Tunisia one of the most repressive country's in the Middle East and North Africa for journalists despite portraying a public image of being a place of liberalism and modernity.

For many Tunisians the success in bringing down the dictatorship of former president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali meant that twenty-three years of enforced rule had finally come to an end.

"A succession of many events over several years led to the 'Jasmine revolution'," said 24-year-old Asma in an interview with Her Blueprint. The sharing of information played a pivotal role in the Tunisian revolution because the strongest pillars of the Ben Ali system was censorship of information and it collapsed once he was unable to control it."

Following the country's successful uprising, Asma embarked on journey in pursuit of a career in journalism and dedicated her master's in cultural studies to focus on the Tunisian revolution and the various contribution of social media.

"Of course the international media put a lot of emphasis on social media during the revolt. Almost to the point that it was the hottest topic while other issues like social and economic woes, which were at the heart of the uprising. I mean in the end we were fighting for more freedoms, an end poverty and social injustice," she adds.

"However, one can't ignore the role of social media. It helped in sending messages and raising awareness amongst Tunisian citizens who had no idea of politics or what’s was happening in the country but thanks to social networks like Facebook and Twitter it helped to also spread Tunisia's situation to the rest of the world."

One aspect of the democratic changes is the introduction of a draft press law, which calls for reduced prison sentences for media professionals and scrapping government discretion in refusing to register newspapers.

"The only red lines we have now is our ethics to ensure that as journalists we remain biased, objective and stick to the facts without any extra interpretations," continues Asma.

"Despite these new freedoms there still remains a great level of censorship. The draft press law that is currently under debate continues to allow journalist to be imprisoned for up to five years for dozens of crimes like defamation. Actually all forms of mass communication are still under threat."

Tunisia's 23 October elections are aimed at creating a constituent assembly to reform the constitution, which was amended nine years ago after the Tunisian constitutional referendum of 2002. Many Tunisians remain in the dark over the fact that the country's first free elections are separate from parliamentary elections.

"As aspiring journalists we have a big responsibility because we control the kind of information that's being filtered to the public. In a way we're like educators," concludes Asma.

On Gynecological Awareness Month

Every year over a million women worldwide are diagnosed with a gynecological cancer. September is Worldwide Gynecological Awareness Month, which incorporates the awareness of the following five major cancers: cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar.

Women in all parts of the world are at risk of gynecological cancers, but this risk is exacerbated in areas of the world where access to prevention and treatment is low. Over 80% of cervical cancer cases occur in the developing world, and lack of regular pap smears and other interventional measures may contribute to this statistic. This series will explore these types of Gynecological cancers, compare western treatments to those in the developing world, as well as highlight resources for women. An interview with Dr. George Sawaya, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California San Francisco will also be included.

Secretary Clinton says women’s health “must be at the top of the agenda”

To watch video or read full text of Secretary Clinton’s remarks on global women’s health, click here.

If you live the United States, you see them everywhere: pink ribbons on t-shirts, hats, cars and even on professional football players’ jerseys. But breast cancer – and other women-specific cancers – is indeed a global epidemic.

A new initiative that combines resources from several government and corporate entities aims to combat these health issues in developing countries. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently helped launch the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon campaign in Washington, D.C., heavily emphasizing the importance of women’s health.

“If we want to make progress on some of the toughest challenges we face in global health—fighting HIV, preventing childhood deaths, improving nutrition, stopping malaria, and more—then investing in women must be at the top of the agenda,” Secretary Clinton said in her remarks. She went on to highlight the crucial matriarchal role women play in developing countries, providing labor, food and child care for their families.

“The conclusion is clear that if we want to make a difference when it comes to investing in health, then we must invest in women,” she said.

A secondary objective of the campaign is to prevent new cases of HIV, which has been shown to increase the risk of cervical cancer. Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon will be focused on developing areas of the world, with partners working with local governments to provide cancer screenings, education and human papilloma virus vaccines.

Joining forces on Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon are a variety of partners, including the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the United Nations and various pharmaceutical companies that will provide vaccines to regions in need. An initial focus will be on sub-Saharan Africa.

What do you think it will take to reduce levels of women-specific cancers in developing countries? What additional regions do you feel direly need these services, outside sub-Saharan Africa?

Women in America Less Interested in "Women's Interest" Magazines

When reports come out in America that major print magazines are on the decline, it’s no surprise to a country where news and entertainment gatherers increasingly turn to faster, flashier digital options.

Traditionally, "women’s interest magazines" (think fashion, beauty, home and garden, etc.) have held the lion’s share of U.S. print magazine revenues. According to a recent report by the Auditor Bureau of Circulation, mags like Redbook, which has been alive and kicking since 1903, have seen their circulation drop dramatically. Today, with a circulation of a little over 100,000, Redbook has lost 81% of its readers from 2001.

The other top losers in women’s interest mags include Good Housekeeping, which reported a major circulation drop of 67%, and Woman’s Day, with a loss in readership of 77.3%. Top fashion and beauty mags have also seen readers turning a blind eye, with publications like Allure and Glamour both losing roughly half of their audiences.

With women’s print magazines going the way of the dinosaurs for the past decade, it is particularly interesting to see circulation numbers diminishing in the “domestic” category. And when it comes to what publisher’s dub “women’s interest” print mags, it seems that women just aren’t that interested anymore.

Should print advertisers chalk it up to digital media trends, or are women ‘just not into them’ for a larger reason? Is the format of the magazine the driving force for its decline, or is it the content?

As far back as 2000, Salon culture critic Ann Marlowe declared that women’s magazines were dead:

“Today's women's magazines are 19th century in their insistence on the indoors as woman's sphere. The world of the women's magazines is an indoor world, one of trying on clothes, of shopping for makeup and applying it.

…Young readers don't realize that the content is driven not by some definitive vision of what a woman is, but only by outdated visions of what women will buy. The magazines themselves have become institutions, part of our culture's definition of femininity, but we forget that their version of womanhood is but a blip in the great screen of time.”

On the Internet, sites like Jezebel and Feministing seem to generate large readerships, with scores of progenies cropping up every day, suggesting that women haven’t lost interest in content specifically produced to cater to their gender. In fact, the Huffington Post just added a women’s section to its news website. And Jane Pratt, the original publisher of the cult ‘90s teen magazine, Sassy, later to publish the more mainstream, not-so-sassy Jane, has now come out with a web-based magazine , xoJane.

In 2007, AdAge found that women were increasingly turning towards more interactive forms of media; the number of women blogging at least once a week rose to 30% at the time of the study. More likely than not, these women are reading and reposting web-based content, not extracting the latest diet trend from Redbook, or reposting an interior design trend piece from Good Housekeeping.

What do you think? Do you like “women’s interest” magazines? If so, do you prefer online to print?