Gender in the News #8 - Women and the Law

Very impressive book review "Taking Inequality to Court" - can't wait to read the book!

Twitter sparks the next revolution?

UPDATED (from April 21st tweet): So, my instincts on "spontaneous revolutions" in E. Europe were not wrong... Moldova - the Twitter revolution that wasn't http://is.gd/tzTk

The NYT reports that 10,000 show up at protests in Moldova after the call to the streets went viral on Twitter and Facebook. Is it real or was it another seemingly spontaneous action that was really very well planned... remember the London subway spontaneous flash mob dance (aka a T-mobile commercial)? I'm guessing there's a back story in Chisinau too.

US military proselytising in Afghanistan

Swift response by US military to this story picked up by HuffPost- one that likely did not make news back home in Georgia. I suspect Obama heard an earful during this week's visit pf Pakistan's President Al Zardari and upcoming discussions with Afghanistan's Karzai on how to tackle Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Bad idea to feel the concept of jihad... especially one of Christianity vs. Islam!

Ending blogging hiatus - Middle East Media

Work travel and blogging don't mix well. Twitter's expectation of 140 characters seems much more manageable, so my social networking was mostly limited to tweeting while in the land of the Pharoahs (Egypt) and neighboring Jordan. Media there give many different perspectives: on TV, Al Jazeera English competes well the BBC and CNN International and for printed news, the Daily News Egypt and the Jordan Times provide local news in English. The big controversy in Egypt was the culling of all 300,000 pigs that are raised and eaten by its minority Christian population. Financial devastation takes a deadly turn as well. US politics regularly makes it in the news such as this analysis of US-Arab relations inAl-Ahram. On a lighter cultural note, hip-hop hits the streets of Helwan. Jordanians get ready for the Pope's visit and contemplate the significance of social networking.

(View from Umm Qais in northern tip of Jordan)

Somali Piracy Back Story?

So maybe there's a bit more to the story of the US flagship being seized off the coast of Somalia? The news said it had a shipment for USAID and the WFP (World Food Program). Would we really send a warship for that? Or is the military protecting the oil that's passing by the coast, the fish that is being taken, or the toxic waste that is reportedly being dumped there?

Gender in the News #7

More evidence that men have a biological clock too! This should cause some angst among the ranks of aging dads-to-be. It'll be interesting to see how they can take the turnabout in criticism that for so long has been exclusively for older women. And, maybe now they won't be able to flaunt their extra years of singledom as a male-only option. Do cougars really have smarter kids?

Gender in the News #6

Lots of motherhood issues in the news. Makes one ponder some of those sex vs. gender issues and what it means to be a woman. How does society reward or punish women for the possibility of conceiving (e.g., menstruating), for having lots of children or not (Quiverfull), for breastfeeding or using formula?

And, on fatherhood, the assumption that child custody should go to the mother even after death devastates David Goldman (though high-level help may be on the way).