COSWL Cause

The "ideal wife" "is happy to see you every time you show up at her door. Your favourite music is already playing, and your favourite drink is on ice. She will never ask you to take out the rubbish."

The men behind Freakonomics offer Prostitution as a career option for women.
Posted by Sady Doyle

The Guardian -
Prostitution for Fun and Profit.
October 22, 2009

Good news, ladies. You, too, can make millions by charging for sex! And you'll just have a slam-bang, gee- golly splendiferous time doing it, too -- at least if you absolutely adore the sort of men who pay for it. Be warned, however: Disliking those men will consign you to the minimum-wage ranks of sex professionals, forever longing for the big bucks you could be earning, had you only an appropriately chipper attitude.

Such is the advice of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner,of Freakonomics fame. They are back with a new book,Superfreakonomics, and recently they unveiled a bit of it in the form of an excerpt about how to succeed as a prostitute.

By Theresa Braine.WeNews correspondent.Tuesday, October 20, 2009

"To allow this to continue belittles the whole of humanity." That was the comment of one visitor at the U.N. opening of a touring photo exhibit about women who face gender violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

UNITED NATIONS (WOMENSENEWS)--Last summer, news in the United States
that Jaycee Dugard had been kept in captivity in Antioch, Calif., for 18 years and raped by her captor until her Aug. 28 rescue was widely
considered shocking.

But as an exhibit of 38 photographs here this month demonstrates,
women in the Democratic Republic of Congo have suffered similar
ordeals on a widespread basis during the 11-year-long, multi-party
conflict between government troops, rebels and bandits drawn to the
country's commercial mining opportunities.

The exhibit, "Congo: Women Portraits of War: The Democratic Republic of Congo," was co-produced by the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago and Art Works Projects: Art and Design for Human Rights, a Chicago-based organization that addresses human rights issues through art and design. It was funded mainly by the United Nations Population Fund and Humanity United, a nongovernmental organization that provides grants to programs that aim to eliminate conflict and modern-day slavery by building community.

The exhibit showcases gender-based violence against women in the
Congo, with photos and essays that portray the women and illustrate
the context of their lives. Most of the shots were taken in clinics,
refugee camps and other facilities where those displaced in the war
have gone to seek help.
Rape: More Common Weapon of War

Thousands of women have been held as sex slaves and domestic workers
throughout the chaotic years of fighting. Still others were raped as
they simply went about their daily business--getting water for the
family, shopping in the market, walking home. More than in any other
place in the world, aids groups say, sexual violence is being used as a
weapon of war in the Congo.

The exhibit, in the north lobby of the U.N. visitor's area, has been
up since Oct. 1. It will move on to Yale University on Nov. 10,
finishing up at the Virginia Holocaust Museum at the end of April
2010.
"Congo/Women Portraits of War" Exhibit
Schedule:

United Nations, N.Y.: Oct. 1-Nov 2

Yale University, New Haven, Conn.: Nov. 10-Nov. 24

USAID, Washington, D.C.: Dec. 1-Dec. 12

Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Fla.: Approximately Jan.
2--;Feb. 21, 2010

United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland: March 3-March
26.

Virginia Holocaust Museum, Richmond, Va.: Approximately
April 1-;May 1.

The exhibit starts out by showing the context in which these women
live their lives. This stood in stark contrast to the comfortable
surroundings of the exhibit and the wine-and-cheese opening for
well-heeled visitors in mid-October.

"To allow this to continue belittles the whole of humanity," Paul Neville, a member of the Australian Parliament,in town on U.N. business, told Women's eNews at the exhibit opening."Action against this sort of violence and abuse should go beyond
the normal protocols. I knew of abuses in the Congo but this brings it
home graphically, in a one-on-one type situation where we're confronted with our own lack of engagement with these subjects. It's artistic in its dreadful message."

The exhibit collects the work of photographers Lynsey Addario, Marcus
Bleasdale, Ron Haviv and James Nachtwey, all award-winning journalists who have reported internationally for years.

Most Horrifying Experience

"It's the most horrific thing that you can experience,"
veteran photojournalist Bleasdale told Women's eNews, referring to the
women's ordeals. He said that in his more than 20 years of reporting and photographing abroad, the women's stories are the worst testimonies he had listened to. He, Haviv and Nachtwey photographed and interviewed the women during the course of their reporting for numerous media. Addario, a fellow with the ESB Institute, photographed the women in the Congo specifically for this project.

The exhibit includes multimedia elements, such as snippets from the
seven-part BBC documentary series, "Women on the Front
Line," which profiles gender violence worldwide and was first
broadcast in April 2008. There is also a haunting recording of
excerpts from women's accounts of their abuse, read by actress Cheryl Lynn Bruce.
Leslie Thomas, the exhibit's curator and co-director (along with
co-director and creative adviser Jane Saks) and a founder of Art Works
Projects, said the women's battles are unique. "Having a war fought inside you is not acceptable," she said.

"I will never stop advocating for these victims," United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at the exhibit's opening,
which drew a few hundred people. "But let us remember: They are
not just victims. They are so much more than the rape they suffered or the ordeal they have overcome. They are mothers, sisters and friends. They should be part of the effort to rebuild their societies. They can lead great and productive lives."

Journalist Theresa Braine covers international issues from her base
in New York City.

Herta Müller "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed"

Herta Müller has been named by the Swedish Academy as the winner of the 2009 Nobel prize for literature

Subject: Message from the NWHM - H.R. 1700

WASHINGTON, DC - Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) today hailed
committee passage of her bill, H.R. 1700, which establishes a
National Women's History Museum on the Mall in Washington,
DC to honor the role that women have played in American
History. It passed the House Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure by a voice vote.

"Less than five percent of the 2,400 national historic landmarks
chronicle women's achievement and of the 211 statues here in
the U.S. Capitol, only ten are of female leaders," Rep. Maloney
said. "The museums and memorials in Washington are one
measure of what our society values. We already have museums
for stamps and spies. This bill would provide women, comprising
53% of our population, a long overdue home to honor their many
contributions to building our country."

"From Susan B. Anthony to Oprah Winfrey, from Hattie Caraway--
the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate--to Julie Taymor--the
first woman to win a Tony Award for Directing--the story of what
women have contributed to the American way of life is a story
long overdue for the telling," she continued. "This museum will do
just that, and I'm grateful for the leadership of Chairman Oberstar
and Ranking Member Mica in moving H.R. 1700 through the
Committee, and for the extraordinary support of District
Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton. Now, it's on to the House
floor!"

"Women are indispensable to the functioning of society, but
absent from the Mall and other prominent monument sites in
Washington. We are overdue in giving women their due," Rep.
Norton said. Norton also said she is particularly proud of the
women who have raised funds and have persisted with the effort
to build a museum for women in the nation's capital. Norton has
been a strong proponent of the museum, not only because of its
importance to women, but also because of its significant potential
to bring to D.C., a major tourist town, new visitors and to
encourage others to stay longer.

"Women will finally have a front row seat on the National Mall. We
are very appreciative of Representative Maloney's leadership on
this. She's really been our champion and Chairwoman Norton,
whose efforts moved the bill, has been extremely supportive,"
said Joan Wages, President & CEO of the National Women's
History Museum.

The bill directs the General Services Administration (GSA) to sell
its old Cotton Annex property on the Mall at 12th and
Independence to the museum at fair-market rates. The museum
would be built and maintained with private funds.

Senator Susan Collins (ME) is working on introducing the
companion bill in the Senate.