Leaving Their Stamp on History.
The number and nature of female images on stamps thus has become an excellent way to measure the status of women. This exhibit will chronicle the first seventy-five years of the history of American women on stamps – as best as can be done at this point. Like much of women’s history, consistent records are not easily accessible, as even Post Office sources are contradictory. We can say, however, that at least two hundred women have been honored on stamps, with most occurring since the revival of feminism in the 1970s. In recent decades, women have been especially likely to be featured in stamp series that honor a category of achievers, such as aviators or musicians or sports figures.

--see it at the website of the National Women's History Museum.

”We are going to have a number of part-time jobs that are going to be converted to full-time jobs over the life of Collective Agreement," said Bargaining committee chair, Maureen O'Reilly," we have a new three-year Collective Agreement which will now expire at Dec. 31, 2011 and we were able to get some significant improvement in benefits to our part-time workers.”

More full-time jobs and better parental leave are part of a tentative agreement between Toronto Public Library and its 2,400 unionized workers--Toronto Public Library Workers Union (TPLWU) CUPE 4948.
The settlement was reached Wednesday, heading off a strike or lockout that could have started Nov. 9.

Details of the agreement between the library and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4948 weren't released before a ratification vote, which will be held some time next week.

Bargaining committee chair Maureen O'Reilly said relying on part-time workers and automated checkouts compromises service for both library workers and patrons. Following the lead of the Good Jobs campaign this summer by the LCBO union, the library union's approach focused on job quality for the female-dominated workforce.

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.