In the closet: Cameron's cabinet

still only 4 women in the Cabinet...

UK lags behind on women in cabinet | Politics | The Guardian

Another reason not to vote Conservative!

Only 15 out of 568 Conservative candidates support women's equality, pretty shocking!

according to this survey by the Fawcett Society

Resisting and Challenging Religious Fundamentalisms

They're not complete yet but you can already read about strategies women have found for combating Christian fundamentalism in Africa here

Teen motherhood is not all bad, says novelist | Books | The Guardian

Teen motherhood is not all bad, says novelist |
Books |
The Guardian

This is something I've been thinking about for a while. Like most women of my age, I was brought up with the idea that you have to get your career sorted before you procreate. Working in Kazakhstan with women of 35 who already had teenage children, I saw an alternative. Hilary Mantel asks us to consider if the 'career, then children' rule is just one more way we have to fit in with the male-oriented working world timetable. Actually the problem with having children early might not be so much about career as about finding the right person to have children with in your early 20s....

Burqini: the latest in modest swimwear

I saw this site offering a brand of modest swimwear for Muslim women (Speedo has a version but it is far more clingy and therefore doesn't quite cut the mustard).

BBC News - Deutsche Telekom sets gender quotas

It's the next Enlightenment: BBC News - Deutsche Telekom sets gender quotas

key snippets from European Parliament equality resolution

This European Parliament resolution on equality between women and men, adopted on 10 Feb has some interesting points: Texts adopted - Wednesday, 10 February 2010 - Equality between women and men in the European Union ‐ 2009 - P7_TA-PROV(2010)0021

For example better protection of immigrant women (given that 1 in 5 highly qualified immigrants is working in a low-paid job). Trying to mainstream gender into the EU2020 process. Urging governments to introduce programmes to encourage female secondary school graduates to take up careers in engineering (too late by then?). Highlighting the fact that the European Institute for Gender Equality is still not up and running (due latest 2008).

The EP also criticises the Commission for not yet bothering to respond to its November 2008 resolution on revising equal pay legislation.

A key point in my opinion is that this resolution also urges Member States to conduct more outreach with regard to combating stereotypes, through

'awareness-raising campaigns in schools, workplaces and the media in order to promote diversification of career choices, especially for girls and combat persistent sexist stereotyping and degrading images, with particular emphasis on campaigns that highlight men's role in better sharing of family responsibilities and in work-life balancing'

Let's watch this space..