PRESS CLIPPINGS- 19 October, 2011

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PRESS CLIPPINGS- 19 October, 2011
The following is a compilation of gender related stories from leading media: The New York
Times, Financial Times, BBC, Al Jazeera English, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Times of
India, China Daily, El País (Spain), El Mundo (Spain), Clarín (Argentina) NOTIMEX (Mexican News
Agency), O Globo (Brazil), Le Monde (France) and Le Figaro (France).
FINANCIAL TIMES
http://blogs.ft.com/women-at-the-top/2011/10/18/women-ready-for-entrepreneurialpush/#axzz1bExYy4XR
Women ready for entrepreneurial push
My colleague, Liz Bolshaw, recently wrote in this space about new research that examines
entrepreneurship’s gender gap. The study found that 29 per cent of privately held firms in the US are
women-owned, but just 1.8 per cent of those firms had revenues above $1m. The study also found that
women lodge less than half the number of patents of men.
To get some perspective from the trenches, I caught up with Lori Greiner, the chief executive of a
personal and home organisation company with annual revenues of over $50m a year, and an inventor in
her own right. Greiner personally holds 110 patents. (I wrote about her last year for the Financial Times.)
Greiner’s company, For Your Ease Only, sells products like electric vegetable peelers, no-mess cooking
utensils, and lighted reading glasses – not exactly game-changing technologies, but items that make
your life simpler. The company has had sales of over $500m since its launch 15 years ago.
Greiner told me:
“I see myself as a woman entrepreneur, but in the day-to-day I don’t think of myself that way. I think of
myself as a president of a company who has a lot of work to do.”
But Greiner found it hard to gain respect as a woman entrepreneur in the beginning.
“In the early days when I first started making my products, I often found myself in male-dominated
environments, like factories. There I would experience chauvinism. Many of the men who worked there
were ‘old world’. I had to be forceful and speak up for myself, which wasn’t always easy. In the
workforce and in society, there has been the notion that if a man acts in a certain way, he’s perceived as
strong, but if a woman does, she is perceived negatively.”
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But times are changing, as are the perceptions of women, she says. Women comprise about half the
workforce in the US, and account for about 40 per cent of all managers. According to the Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS), about 72 per cent of women with children under the age of 18 participated in the
workforce last year; for comparison’s sake: in 1975, that number was around 47 per cent.
“This is a whole new world that strong females are growing up in. The kids in grade school and high
school now are less influenced by that mindset. Girls today have so many more female role models –
chief executives, bankers, police chiefs, entrepreneurs and politicians. That was not the norm even 15
years ago … And more moms are working than ever before; kids see their moms as powerful, and they
see their dads as equal partners at home.”
Indeed, according to the BLS, in terms of housework, on an average day, 84 per cent of women and 67
per cent of men spent some time doing household activities such as cooking, lawn care, or other
household management.
Greiner said:
“Fathers want their daughters to grow up and be strong, independent women. So I feel optimistic.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/world/europe/19iht-letter19.html?ref=women
Daring to Do in Tough Times
These two questions are among the forces reverberating through a Western world in crisis and
upheaval; economy and society are plainly shifting, and much more change is likely. The inchoate yet
spreading Occupy movement is not alone in posing the question: What can, or should, we do?
Women of all walks and places of life are among those who have most acutely felt change gathering
force over the last few decades. Now, like the it-lasts-a-nanosecond tastes of teenagers consumed by
pursuits that didn’t even exist 10 years ago, that change is speeding up.
We’ve still got a long way to go (baby), but in a week where the 30 biggest market companies even in
conservative, male-dominated Deutschland AG have adopted targets to promote the women so scarce
in the upper ranks of German corporations, matters have undoubtedly shifted.
“I think things have changed, and at least the question doesn’t seem odd anymore,” said Patricia
Barbizet, vice president of the PPR group in Paris, of including women at the top in business. “It’s not
just a gender issue but a strategic and governance issue.”
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To judge by visits this past fortnight to the Women’s Forum in Deauville, an annual Davos-like gathering
that strives to peek beyond French borders and consider women’s lot in the world, and the Women’s
International Networking conference, this year in Rome, corporations have shifted over the past five
years from viewing gender diversity as a nice-to-have expense to a must-have key to the future.
While that definitely has not yet translated into women sitting in significant numbers on boards, the list
of corporate sponsors for women’s events — and, full disclosure, I attended as a moderator (in Rome)
and a panelist (in Deauville) — is too long to mention.
And embracing (to use a word favored at such gatherings) gender diversity (to use another), leads — or
fits — with a more general move away from the cookie-cutter career of old, the exclusive dominance of
suited white men in leadership positions, and indeed the very locations in which work occurs.
For starters, jobs are simply moving elsewhere. We may be about to add one billion middle-class
consumers, or the value of two Germanys, to world gross domestic product by 2014, and we are
urbanizing faster than you or I can imagine, but it isn’t happening here, in Western Europe or the United
States.
Next, we are really unlikely to work with colleagues physically located in the same office building, let
alone the same city, region, or even country. As Jeanette Horan of IBM spelled out in Rome: “The days
of ‘in-person’ meetings are almost over. Conferences like this are a luxury.” It drove home a point from
Gabi Zedlmayer, who heads up “Global Social Innovation” for Hewlett Packard. That quest has driven
her firm to work with students in Nairobi, Kenya — “the Silicon Valleys of the future,” she insisted.
In Deauville, Dennis Nally, C.E.O. of PricewaterhouseCoopers, reiterated what is now the corporate
mantra about encouraging — nay, mandating — a broad mix in the work force.
“The war for talent has never been greater,” he said in an interview. “Getting this right is more
important than it ever has been.”
Asked for an example of the change, Mr. Nally simply cited himself.
When he joined the firm “many, many years ago,” Mr. Nally said, “it was basically a one-size-fits-all
world. If that didn’t fit with you, you basically left the firm.” Now, he said, the key is not just how well a
company attracts talent, “the name of the game is retaining it.”
It is always interesting to hear corporate leaders discuss their policies. As the Occupy crowd is all too
aware, several corporations are now so big that many outperform countries in sheer economic terms.
Each employs hundreds of thousands of people around the world. And they answer to numbers — the
strong results shareholders seek each quarter.
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2011/10/19/how-will-a-slutwalk-protest-play-insingapore/?KEYWORDS=women
How Will ‘SlutWalk’ Play in Singapore?
Women take part in a ‘SlutWalk’ in Paris on Oct. 1. A global movement against sexual violence known as
SlutWalk has spread from Toronto to Delhi to Johannesburg, and now is set to make its Southeast Asia
debut in the notoriously socially restrictive city-state of Singapore.
The grass-roots protest, sparked by a Canadian police officer’s remark in February that women should
avoid “dressing like sluts” to prevent sexual assault, aims to challenge attitudes toward gender and
sexual violence. That’s likely to be an even greater challenge in Singapore, where conservative attitudes
toward gender roles are deeply entrenched, activists say, and where political demonstrations are strictly
regulated.
Singapore SlutWalk organizers say the issue of “victim-blaming” in sexual-assault cases is a particularly
relevant problem in Singapore, where a rape survivor can be discredited as a witness if shown to have a
“generally immoral character.” Additionally, marital rape isn’t illegal in Singapore, which the organizers
say is indicative of the city’s systemic problems.
The event, set for Dec. 3-4, follows other recent political movements that face significant hurdles in
Singapore, which places tight restrictions on public gatherings.
“The idea of civil disobedience is very new here,” said Cher Tan, 23, one of the seven main organizers of
SlutWalk Singapore.Location is just one reflection of those limitations: Hong Lim Park, where SlutWalk
Singapore will be held, is home to a patch of grass known as Speakers’ Corner—the only place where
Singaporeans can protest, or even gather for a social cause without applying for a permit. Even then, the
event’s content isn’t allowed to touch on the subjects of race and religion.
Last week, some Singaporeans failed to launch an “occupy” movement in Singapore’s financial district.
The planned protest – inspired by the Occupy Wall Street events that have quickly gone global—was
deemed unlawful by the police, and organizers failed to identify themselves when the protest was
meant to happen on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the relative lack of social progressivism among Singapore’s populace, the organizers of SlutWalk
Singapore have been surprised at the reception of the planned event. The group’s Facebook page now
has almost 700 “likes,” and its website is buzzing with commentaries, blogposts and articles.
“This has become much bigger than we imagined it to be,” said Ms. Tan, a freelance graphic designer.
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But the SlutWalk has already stirred up opposition and controversy in the Singapore blogosphere.
Writing in newnation, one Singaporean argued that a “slut” should “at the very least be sexually
attractive.” The writer said that many “SlutWalkers” in previous demonstrations were unattractive and
“do not qualify as sluts,” making it pointless for them to join the march – in the author’s words, “like a
meat-eating person joining PETA.”
The article received backlash online, including a response from blogger Alex Au, who wrote that
“everything” was wrong with opinion of the writer.
“The point is to press home an idea, and if you agree with it, you have a right to be there,” wrote Mr.
Au, who believes that it is time for an event like SlutWalk to challenge widely held gender attitudes in
Singapore.
“We want people to be clear about the idea behind this, our main goal isn’t to reclaim the word ‘slut,’”
said Ms. Tan, who believes the movement is primarily about challenging the culture of victim-blaming in
society.
“There are pictures of people who come to SlutWalks dressed provocatively all over the mainstream
media, so people think it’s just about that,” said Vanessa Ho, 24, another one of SlutWalk’s organizers.
“We are trying to encourage people to come in all sorts of dresses.”
In a response to a No To Rape campaign in Singapore, the government issued a statement in May saying
that “a balance needs to be struck between various interests, such as that of protecting vulnerable
women and preserving the institution of marriage.” Officials further said that “a balanced and calibrated
approach” was better than abolishing marital immunity altogether, and stressed that public education
was key to dealing with domestic violence.
Unlike most SlutWalks, Singapore’s event will be held over two days, with the first day reserved for
workshops and discussions. Instead of a march, the SlutWalk will be a gathering, so as to abide by legal
restrictions on such demonstrations in Singapore.
Several events will also be held in the lead-up to the SlutWalk, including a “SlutRide”—a group bike ride
in partnership with A Critical Mass, a cycling advocacy group, which plays on the term “village bicycle,”
to raise awareness for both causes.
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/2011/10/20111010134454998749.ht
ml
Sex slaves (VIDEO)
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There are an estimated 1.4 million sex slaves in the world today; most of them are women, although
there are some men and many thousands of children.
"They didn't listen. They kept bringing me clients and telling me that I had a huge debt towards them.
For the fact they paid for my visa, passport and tickets."
Dorina, a former sex slave from Moldova
These women do not voluntarily enter prostitution, but have been forced under the threat of violence to
have sex with men who pay their 'owners'.
Sex slavery is present in every country of the world.
In some cases, categorised as 'domestic', women are sold into brothels within their own country. But
international sex trafficking of women and children is on the rise.
In this episode, Al Jazeera's Rageh Omaar investigates the enslavement and trafficking of women from
Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, to wealthier European countries, in particular to the red light
district of Amsterdam, one of Europe's most profitable sex markets and a major international tourist
attraction.
FRENCH
LE MONDE
Marie Dedieu, itinéraire tragique d'une féministe de Paris au Kenya
http://www.lemonde.fr/imprimer/article/2011/10/19/1590461.html
Marie Dedieu, Française retenue en otage en Somalie dont le décès a été annoncé mercredi, était une
féministe qui avait élu résidence de longue date sur l'île kényane de Manda, près de Lamu, son "petit
paradis".
Cette femme de 66 ans, tétraplégique, souffrait d'un cancer et d'insuffisance cardiaque. Ses ravisseurs,
soupçonnés d'être des insurgés islamistes somaliens, l'avaient enlevée chez elle, dans une maison en
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bord de plage, dans la nuit du 30 septembre au 1er octobre, sans se soucier de son fauteuil roulant ni des
médicaments qui lui étaient nécessaires.
Elle s'était installée il y a une quinzaine d'années dans un petit archipel situé sur la côte nord du Kenya,
vivant d'abord sur l'île principale de Lamu, avant de faire construire une maison il y a sept ans sur celle
de Manda, plus isolée, qui lui fait face.
A Paris, dans les années 70, elle avait été une militante engagée du mouvement féministe historique
des années 70, selon plusieurs publications. En 1971, elle avait signé le fameux "Manifeste des 343
salopes", qui proclamaient à la une de l'hebdomaire Le Nouvel Observateur avoir bravé l'interdit de
l'avortement.
A cette époque, elle est "l'une des proches d'Antoinette Fouque", qui participa à la fin des années 1960 à
la fondation du Mouvement de libération des femmes (MLF), selon l'ouvrage Les Editions des femmes :
histoire des premières années 1972-1979 (L'Harmattan) de Bibia Pavard.
Au début des années 1970, Marie Dedieu collabore au "Torchon brûle", mensuel féministe créé par le
MLF.DR
Dedieu sera également active autour du journal "menstruel" Le Torchon brûle, lancé par le MLF. Selon
Bibia Pavard, elle avait été directrice de publication du Torchon, aux contributions anonymes et
fluctuantes, qui publia six numéros entre 1971 et 1973.
A cette époque parisienne, elle s'essaye également au cinéma en campant un petit rôle de prostituée
engagée, aux côtés de Jean-Pierre Léaud, dans le film Domicile conjugal, réalisé par François Truffaut en
1970.
Cette vie militante est brisée par un grave accident de voiture, qui lui fera perdre toute mobilité, la
contraignant à se déplacer en fauteuil roulant.
Dans les années 1990, elle découvre l'archipel de Lamu, à l'est du Kenya, en rejoignant un ami qui l'a
invitée à y célébrer Noël. "Là, il s'est passé quelque chose de miraculeux : Marie s'est mise à remarcher,
très difficilement certes, mais c'était incroyable, témoigne l'un de ses amis cité par Le Parisien. Il y avait
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quelque chose sur cette île qui lui faisait du bien." Marie Dedieu décidera quelques mois plus tard de
s'installer dans l'archipel.
Là-bas, malgré ses difficultés à se mouvoir, elle se fait conduire tôt chaque matin sur la plage pour y fait
des étirements et de la gymnastique. Elle rejoint des amis dans les cafés des alentours et ne manque
aucun événement de la vie locale, selon Abdalla Fadhil, l'ancien maire de Lamu et Manda, propriétaire
du terrain où Mme Dedieu avait fait bâtir sa maison – un abris traditionnel de style swahili, avec un toit
de chaume, largement ouvert sur l'extérieur, et donnant immédiatement sur la mer.
Elle y vit avec John Lepapa, un Kényan de 39 ans d'origine masaï, qui l'assistait, lorsqu'elle revenait de
France, où elle rendait visite à son père âgé, en Lorraine, et disposait d'un appartement, à Paris. Marie
Dedieu en revenait à peine quand elle a été enlevée. Au lendemain de ce rapt, le maire adjoint de Lamu,
Ajar Ali, avait confirmé qu'elle "était très proche" de la communauté locale, la présentant comme une
"femme extraordinaire".
C'était "une pionnière". "Elle avait un peu découvert Manda, c'était une des premières à s'y être installée.
Ce n'est pas du tout la clientèle très people et très riche" qui est arrivée depuis, affirme un diplomate
français qui l'avait rencontrée l'an dernier chez elle.
Selon ses proches, la Française avait observé avec beaucoup de scepticisme la construction par d'autres
ressortissants étrangers, à Lamu et dans ses environs, d'immenses villas, dont le luxe souvent
ostentatoire tranche avec la pauvreté de l'immense majorité de la population locale.
"Sur l'îlot, il y a une centaine d'habitants : des Swahilis, bien sûr, quelques Italiens, des Français qui
possèdent une maison sur l'île et les touristes de passage, racontait début octobre à L'Express le cinéaste
Elie Chouraqui, habitué des lieux et proche de Marie Dedieu. C'est une communauté minuscule, tout le
monde se connaît." "Marie est estimée de tous, disait le cinéaste. C'est une personnalité solaire, joyeuse,
malgré ses problèmes de santé."
M. Lepapa déclarait mercredi à l'agence Reuters : "C'était une sœur, une mère et une amie. J'allais
l'épouser." "Maintenant, elle est morte. J'espérais qu'elle revienne mais je savais que ça se finirait
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comme ça. Je m'en doutais parce que, vous savez, elle était malade et elle souffrait tout le temps, depuis
si longtemps", a-t-il ajouté sur Europe 1. "Maintenant, je ne peux plus rien faire", a-t-il conclu.
LIBERATION
Décès de l'otage française Marie Dedieu
http://www.liberation.fr/monde/01012366555-deces-de-l-otage-francaise-marie-dedieu
La Française avait été enlevée au Kenya et était détenue en Somalie depuis le 1er octobre.
La Française Marie Dedieu, 66 ans, otage enlevée au Kenya et détenue en Somalie depuis le 1er octobre,
est décédée, a annoncé mercredi le ministère des Affaires étrangères, sans pouvoir préciser la date et
les circonstances du décès de cette femme qui était gravement malade et handicapée.
"Les contacts à travers lesquels le gouvernement français cherchait à obtenir la libération de Marie
Dedieu, retenue en Somalie depuis le 1er octobre, nous ont annoncé son décès sans que nous puissions
en préciser la date, ni les circonstances", a déclaré dans un communiqué le porte-parole du ministère,
Bernard Valero, en demandant la restitution du corps.
"L'état de santé de Mme Dedieu, l'incertitude sur les conditions de sa détention, le fait que les ravisseurs
aient probablement refusé de lui remettre les médicaments que nous lui avons envoyés, nous conduisent
à craindre que cette issue tragique soit malheureusement la plus vraisemblable", a-t-il ajouté.
Figure du mouvement féministe
Marie Dedieu souffrait d'un cancer et d'insuffisance cardiaque. Elle était de surcroît handicapée et les
ravisseurs n'avaient pas pris le fauteuil roulant dont elle se servait pour se déplacer.
La France demande "la restitution sans délai et sans conditions de la dépouille mortelle de notre
compatriote", a déclaré M. Valero, exprimant l'"indignation" du gouvernement français "devant
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l'absence totale d'humanité et la cruauté dont ont fait preuve les ravisseurs". "Nous voulons qu'ils soient
identifiés et traduits devant la justice", a-t-il dit.
"Le gouvernement français exprime sa profonde émotion, sa grande tristesse et sa solidarité avec la
famille et les proches de Marie Dedieu", a précisé le porte-parole.
Enlevée à son domicile sur l'île de Manda au Kenya dans la nuit du 30 septembre au 1er octobre, la
Française a d'abord été détenue par ses ravisseurs dans le petit village côtier de Ras Kamboni, du côté
somalien de la frontière. Elle avait ensuite été emmenée dans une localité voisine, toujours dans la
région somalienne du Bas Juba contiguë à la frontière kényane, selon des sources locales.
L'enlèvement de Marie Dedieu - qui avait joué un rôle clé dans le mouvement féministe en France dans
les années 1970 - était survenu moins d'un mois après celui d'une touriste britannique, Judith Tebbutt,
le 11 septembre dans un village de vacances de luxe, le Kiwayu safari village, et emmenée depuis en
Somalie.
L’EXPRESS
BNP Paribas: ouvre l'exposition 'Elles changent l'inde'
http://votreargent.lexpress.fr/article/impression.asp?id=168233&p=all
Mercredi 19 octobre 2011 à 11:13 - Par Cercle Finance
BNP Paribas a créé en partenariat avec Magnum Photos l'exposition 'Elles changent l'inde' qui ouvre ses
portes à partir de vendredi 21 octobre au Petit Palais à Paris. Cette exposition regroupe le travail de 6
photographes qui met en lumière le rôle primordial des femmes dans le développement économique,
social et culturel en Inde.
Cette exposition a été présentée à Mumbai (Bombay), Delhi, Kochi, Chennai, Calcutta en 2010 et arrive
aujourd'hui en Europe.
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BNP est présent en Inde depuis 150 ans et à noué des liens forts avec ce pays. Le groupe s'est engagé sur
le sol indien auprès des femmes au travers de la microfinance, de la microassurances et pour le
développement de grandes entreprises indienne dirigées par des femmes.