We Remember

Today is the day that we remember the womenengineering studnets killed at L'Ecole polytechnique in Montreal. Killed for being women. See my previous posts;

December 6 Will Live In Infamy


The Real Crime In Canada

Around the world patriarchy reveals its true face, often masked as cultural or religious traditions used to justify mysoginist hatred.

The war on women continues around the globe.

Gov't rallies 'drown out' victims of violence against women
OTTAWA, Dec. 3 /CNW Telbec/ - "As the National Day of Remembrance andAction on Violence Against Women approaches, Stephen Harper has reason to hanghis head in shame at his government's abysmal track record on women's issues,"says the president of one of Canada's largest unions. "And now to add salt tothe wound, he has planned political rallies on a day meant to mourn victims ofviolence against women," says Dave Coles President of the Communications,Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.

The problem of violence against women seems to be worsening, say two women’s services managers.Ginette Demers, manager of Violence Against Women Services at the YMCA Genevra House, and Francine Boudreau, program director of the Sudbury Counseling Centre, were speaking to the priorities committee of city council last week at St. Francis School.“Statistics gathered by the Greater Sudbury Police Service since 2003 indicate an increase in the number of incidents being reported, as well as an increase in the charges being laid,” said Demers.In 2006, close to 1,800 cases of domestic violence were reported to police.

Increasing attacks on Jamaica's women are driving down productivity in some sectors that depend heavily on female labour.


... Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, compared women protesters to terrorists because they dared to speak out against politicians in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. ...

Taliban scatter bombs along route to women’s conference
The women gave a news conference but asked that no one take pictures showing their faces, and one speaker’s office requested that no one print her name. It’s a lot of secrecy for a press event, but it’s a dangerous time to be a powerful woman in Afghanistan. Police Major Colonel Sediqa Rasekh and other high-profile women spoke on Thursday at the event to highlight the continuing threat of violence against females in Afghanistan eight years since the hardline Taliban regime was ousted.

Women's Protective Services provides these free, confidential services to women who are abused and their children. Each year, Women's Protective Services begins with an average $250,000 deficit. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, federal and state monetary support has evaporated. To help offset these deficits, WPS seeks gifts, grants and donations.

Mexican men ask for an end to violence against women Amnesty International reports that nearly one in every four women in Mexico has suffered either physical or sexual aggression at the hands of an intimate partner. Some of the posters for this campaign claim that one in every two women is a victim of physical, emotional or sexual violence.

MEDIAWATCH: Ending rape during wartime

Violence against women is the least punished crime in the world, United Nations officials said today, urging governments to end the widespread impunity and to take measures to ensure that the laws and policies that aim to protect women and girls are enforced.

Palestinians join UN agencies in denouncing honour killings and gender abuse

WOMEN generally continue to be underdogs in a still largely male-led society in Bangladesh. If it were only a question of male leadership either in the family or society, it would not be so much a matter of concern. The concern stems from the fact that this male dominance expresses itself often in cruel oppression of women in different spheres. According to a UN report, Bangladesh ranks fourth highest in the world in violence against women. The report observed that some 40 per cent of women fall victims of violence in Dhaka city alone.

Inside the villages where every woman is victim of hidden war
Chris McGreal explains how rape became a 'weapon of war' in Congo

Women Found Murdered in Chechnya Interfax on November 27 cited Viktor Ledenev, chief investigator with the Investigative Committee’s Chechen branch, as saying that preliminary findings indicated the women may have been targeted because they were seen as leading “amoral lifestyles.” Nezavisimaya Gazeta on November 29 quoted Chechnya’s human rights commissioner, Nurdi Nukhazhiev, as saying of the murders: “Unfortunately, some of our young women have forgotten the mountain woman’s code of behavior. The male relatives of these women feel they have been insulted and sometimes take the law into their own hands.” The newspaper noted that Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov had launched a “sweeping campaign for the moral education of youth.” Indeed, Kadyrov has more than once stressed the need for Chechen women to wear modest traditional clothing, including headscarves (North Caucasus Weekly, January 10; September 13, 2007).

Moreno-Ocampo says more than 5,000 displaced persons continue to die each month in Darfur. He said continued attacks against ethnic groups, rapes in and around camps, and the obstruction of humanitarian efforts are only possible with the compliance of the Sudanese government, headed by President Bashir.

Make Fife safe for all women Fife Today, UK - 4 Dec 2008
Five per cent increase in domestic abuse attacks
DOMESTIC abuse attacks in the Kingdom rose by five per cent in the past year, with 3926 incidents recorded in 2007-8.

Violence against women is a serious issue in Montenegro, where a recent report found that one in two women is a victim of verbal abuse and one in every three is attacked physically.

SOMALIA: One woman’s battle against the war lords “I deal with women who have experienced a wide range of problems. Some have been raped by men from the militia. They rape them in front of their husbands or brothers so that they can displace communities and humiliate the men,” she said.
Worryingly, women in Somalia are being subjected to the worse forms of treatment according to Abdullahi Abdi, who said her organisation has documented 1,000 cases of violence against women.
She told of a recent case where 13-year-old girl who was stoned to death by 50 men despite the fact she had been raped by three men. The victim’s father said when the family tried to report the vicious attack, the girl was accused of adultery and punished under Sharia law by officials. The horrific punishment is a clear example of the plight facing some women in Somalia, Abdullahi Abdi explained. “This never used to happen under the Somali tradition. It’s something new that a certain group of people are carrying out. This case will put women in a more vulnerable position,” she said.

Zimbabwe: The Feminization of Violence In times of war and political crises women and girls, mostly civilians, become targets of violence. "A feature of these conflicts is that the civilian population is increasingly 'caught up' in the conflict or even deliberately targeted by parties to the conflict. In this context women and girls are exposed to acts of violence, often resulting in death and injury from indiscriminate military attacks. During armed conflict, women and children are more likely to be subjected to mysterious disappearances, hostage-taking, torture, imprisonment, sexual- and gender-based violence, forced recruitment into the armed forces and displacement" (Koen, 2006:1). As a consequence, many women are faced with a long term struggle with trauma and HIV/AIDS.
Violations of women's human rights are widespread in a number of countries on the African continent. A distressing example is Zimbabwe, where politically motivated wanton abuse has been more pronounced than in most hot spots on the continent.

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Mark Lepine, L'Ecole polytechnique, December 6, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, women, violence, violence against women, women engineering students, patriarchy, gun