Just been pointed to a list of books on ecofeminism maintained by professional librarians. If anyone has any comments on any of these I’d be interested to hear them – particularly recommendations.
Update: Apologies – it has just been pointed out to me that the link I had above didn’t work – it is one of those annoying uncopyable ones. It seems you have to go here, then click on “search the collection”, then choose ecofeminism. Sorry!
The book helpdesk in action – actually probably should be about 200AD, but the setting appears medieval. I’ve often written and thought about the book being a type of technology – this illustrates that rather nicely.
The spring edition of Girlistic magazine is now online, and there’s some great stuff in there – the focus is on technology (and I liked “how the internet introduced me to feminism”) but there’s also an excellent history of the pill, and an exploration of the gender stereotype of the librarian – it actually goes back to Dewey, I learnt.
An account in The Times of what would be a fascinating resource – a “correspondence magazine” shared among mothers from the mid-1930s onwards charting their pains, problems, and suggestions they made to each other … “its members were mostly middle-class housewives — educated, opinionated, excluded from careers by convention and legislation (teachers and other professionals were barred from working once married), often intellectually frustrated and harassed by the demands of household management and child-rearing.” Just in case anyone is looking for past golden ages.
Which ties neatly, if unhappily, with the news in Britain that women with children under 11 are the group most discriminated against in the workforce.
* Why do you have to make a song and dance in the chemist’s to stop them puting your medicine in a paper bag? This is medicine that comes in a cardboard box, inside which are three individually shrink-wrapped packets of blister-packed pills. How many more layers of packaging do you need?
* Why is it that solicitors cannot manage the basics of customer services – nearly all solicitors, it seems. I spent three days leaving messages asking mine to ring me, and he didn’t. Although he did finally talk to someone else involved in the transaction, who was able to tell me what is happening, and is planning to relay the next message…
Dear Frank Dobson,
I write with reference to the free votes I understand are happening early next month on the composition of the House of Lords. I would urge you – as a democratic essential – to vote for a 100% elected chamber (and if that proves impossible the highest possible percentage of elected members), and the support the continuation of the principle of a bicameral chamber.
Yours sincerely,
Natalie Bennett
The background here.
When Rasheeda, now aged 17, was aged two, her father lost a poker game. To settled the debt, he sold her to his poker partner who, now a man of 45, wants to take her, possibly for his son…
Khalid Rajput, a local councillor dealing with the case, said the decision that Rasheeda should be handed over to Haider was taken late last week at a tribal council meeting.
“We know some tribal elders from Baluchistan came for the meeting in which the girl’s family was told to give her as per their customs,” he said.
Irfan Bhutto, a police officer in Hyderabad, said Haider had been summoned. “We will ensure the girl does not have to do anything against her will.”
Probably significantly, Rasheeda lives in a Pakistani city, not a tribal area. How many girls go to this fate without hope of resistance in those areas?
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