11.11.2009

yes let's talk about women for a minute

1. women worked to death in Lebanon

Migrant domestic workers – women who work as live-in or freelance housekeepers, cooks, and nannies – form a vital presence in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East, where women's increased participation in the workforce has not been accompanied by state-backed social or childcare services.

There are thought to be about 200,000 women, mostly from the Philippines, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka, in Lebanon alone. ....

The spate of suicides has become so bad in recent weeks it prompted Lebanese blogger Wissam to launch the grimly named Ethiopian Suicides blog. ...

In the last three weeks alone, Wissam notes, four Ethiopian women have died. Lebanese police say the deaths of Kassaye Atsegenet, 24, Saneet Mariam, 30, Matente Kebede Zeditu, 26, Tezeta Yalmiya, 26 were probably suicides. But as human rights activists here will testify, the truth about what happened to them may never be known because police usually only take into account the employer's testimony. Migrants who survive abuse or suicide attempts are not usually provided with a translator, meaning their version of events often does not get registered with officials.

Sadly, violations against such workers occur throughout the region and in some cases the women end up in slave-like conditions.

Reflecting the concern of sender countries for the wellbeing of their citizens, Ethiopia and the Philippines have placed bans on working in Lebanon and Jordan, but this has not stemmed the flow of illegal migrants smuggled in through third countries. Without the necessary work papers and embassy support, migrant women become even more vulnerable to human rights abuses.


read more @ guardian


but before you get all fired up at the horrible conditions in the MIDDLE EAST, check out some things that happen to women IN THE UK AND EUROPE

2. REMINDER: "I am a dying African bestial porn actor stranded in EUROPE"

Lolita is from Nigeria and at only 26 years of age her testimony seems almost unbelievable. Her story perfectly illustrates some of the hardships thousands of African women go through. Prostitution has reduced her to a drug addict and an alcoholic with aids pulling her into the doomed path of the grim reaper.

Prostitution among African women is snowballing in Europe.

...“If only I knew what was in store for me here, in this crazy place, this place that so many people admire, this place they all want to come to (…) a place where we, Africans, are considered as good for nothing, slaves who are made to eat human excrement and drink their urine. Some find it normal that sick people, perverts, rich people… use their money and influence to gravely abuse other humans.

They say that we are adults and therefore consenting, but this is not true because no one asked for my consent before throwing me into this hell hole. I was forced and threatened… and if we are adults, what about the kids who find themselves in this milieu? Those people pay a lot to abuse the youngest ones. Poor people do not pay such ludicrous amounts of money for such things, simply because all their money will still not be enough to buy these…

read more @ afrik.com



3. HEDGE FUND boss treats women like property

excerpts:

Mr Lowe, who runs the hedge fund Nomos Capital, has a reputed £100million fortune, a 40-room castle in France and homes in London and Thailand freely admits he is 'not monogamous'.

He accepts he currently has three lovers around the world as well as an estranged wife in London. But as 'a wealthy and powerful' man he claims the women are attracted to him because 'it's the way of the world'.

Miss Wimmer, who said she was 'speaking slowly' because she was on drugs for depression and anxiety, was yesterday questioned at the Central London Employment Tribunal about her claims that her boss brought prostitutes to business meetings.

Elizabeth Melville, representing Mr Lowe, said to Miss Wimmer that any women he brought along were 'his girlfriends'.

She said that one of the women Miss Wimmer was referring to, Natalia Malagina, was also highly qualified, and had worked for two investment banks, and is now studying at Lausanne University for an MBA.

read more @ daily mail


AND THAT IS NOT EVEN TO BEGIN THE DISCUSSION OF CHILDREN...

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