Putting together some policy material, I was reminded that I haven’t linked to the Sex and Power 2008 report for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which “reveals women hold just 11 per cent of FTSE 100 directorships and only 19.3 per cent of the positions in Parliament” (and lots more beside).

And browsing around a subject that I’ve been exploring, Norway’s provision ensuring that 40% of directors on boards of major companies are women, a report that explores how that’s worked out, and how the rest of Europe is faring.

An interesting survey about British women’s attitudes – yes it is in the Telegraph, and you have to slice through the shocked rightwingers commentary, but the figures would seem to be solid enough, and on one question at least, not great, but not awful…

Nearly two women in five (38 per cent) regards herself as a feminist and, surprisingly perhaps, the highest figure (41 per cent) is in the age group of 55 or more. The figure falls to 34 per cent for those aged 18 to 24.

(Possibly wisdom coming with age…)

And speaking of older women, a quite horrifying story from the Independent about the death of Brenda Hean, a Tasmanian anti-dam activist. It seems highly likely that her plane was sabotaged – and we’re only talking 1972 here, so it seems possible that those responsible might be still alive.

But on the good news front, the women’s rugby world cup is coming to Britain in 2010. (Which will give me an excuse to dust off my old team jacket and wear it somewhere or another, I’m sure…)

And over on My London Your London I’ve an account of a visit to the Renaissance Faces exhibition at the National Gallery – for a different view I decided to go around just looking at the women (well, OK, I did peek at the men too, but I concentrated on the women.)

Sex workers in San Francisco are campaigning for decriminalisation. And while it seems that originally the ballot proposition was considered a bit of a joke, there’s now serious thoughts that it might pass. Which reminded me of a discussion that I had this week with someone who said the Green Party policy on this was “brave”. But actually I think this is a sensible policy that while sure papers such as the Daily Mail go mad over, ordinary voters see the sense in.

Less controversially, well done to the female MPs in Iraq who staged a parliamentary walkout after the speaker “quipped that women make poor leaders because they are easily distracted by worries their husband might take a second wife”. The men found that they didn’t have a quorum without the women – and hopefully the women will see the power of this action and be able to use it as a positive force in future.

… an argument (if one were needed) for the More Women More Power campaign, the launch of which I attended this week.

(And I was going to add something about Britain’s ‘Satanic slut’ controversy, but Amity Read over on The F-Word has done it so well I feel no need to add anything.)

You should now be seeing “atheist buses” all over the UK after a modest campaign to counteract religious propaganda paid off (at times of writing) seven times as well as the instigator expected.

For decades I belonged in the traditional atheist camp “as long as they don’t bother me, they can believe and do what they like”, but in recent years have come around to the view that if religion is just allowed to bumble along, it does an enormous amount of harm to society, so we all have a duty to challenge it. Particularly when the government is acting (through schools, support for charities etc) as a prosthelitiser at every turn.

The bad news unfortunately reflects a victory in Northern Ireland for some of the UK’s worst religious bigots (who just happen to have backed the government on Gordon Brown’s favourite, but now-abandoned, 42 days detention proposal).

The government’s “banner-leading feminist” (huh), Harriet Harman, has blocked discussion of amendments to modernise abortion laws, and most essentially, to give women in Northern Ireland the same access to abortion as women in the rest of the UK. Now it looks like they will retain that status indefinitely. (Although I can’t help wondering if it wouldn’t be possible to do something under human rights law.)