Sad News! Only way to help is us women taking the help of these women when we need any legal help. I wonder how the Caucasian-originated women fare. The news was here and copied here:
HONOLULU - An American Indian attorney is asked where she keeps her tomahawk. White male partners look past a black lawyer, assuming she is clerical staff. An Asian attorney is called a "dragon lady" when she asserts herself.
A study by the American Bar Association that says those real-life experiences, along with more subtle forms of discrimination, are prompting growing numbers of minority women to abandon the nation's biggest law firms.
"We're not even talking about trying to get up through a glass ceiling; we're trying to stay above ground," said Paulette Brown, co-chairwoman of the group that produced the study, released Friday during the bar association's annual convention.
The report, "Visible Invisibility: Women of Color in Law Firms," was conducted by the bar association with the help of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Questionnaires were sent to about 1,300 attorneys, both men and women, and responses came from 72 percent, or 920.
Law firms exclude minority women from golf outings, after-hours drinks and other networking events, the study says. Partners neglect the women of color they are supposed to help mentor.
In some cases, partners and senior lawyers disregard minority women less because of outright bigotry than because they have less in common with them and thus don't connect well with them, the study found.
Firms routinely hand minority women inferior assignments — such as reviewing documents or writing briefs — that provide little opportunity to meet clients, the study says. That means women of color aren't able to cultivate business relationships and develop the "billable hours" that are the basis of career advancement within a firm.
Among the statistics in the study:
• Forty-four percent of women of color said they were denied desirable assignments, versus 2 percent of white men.
• Forty-three percent of women of color said they had limited access to client development opportunities, compared with 3 percent of white men.
• Nearly two-thirds of women of color said they were excluded from informal and formal networking opportunities, compared with 4 percent of white men.
Such discrimination largely goes unchecked at law firms, forcing women to quit if they want to avoid it, Brown said.
The study cited 2005 data from the National Association of Law Placement showing 81 percent of minority female associates left their jobs within five years of being hired. That figure was up from the late 1990s, when it stood at 75 percent.
Elaine Johnson James, who is black and a partner at the firm Edwards, Angell, Palmer and Dodge, said she has seen such defections.
She recently called classmates from her Harvard law class in an effort to find black law partners to speak at an alumni panel. Of the 50 or so black women in her class and in the classes above and below hers, James said she found only one other than herself working at a firm.
"Harvard, now; you've got to figure if anybody's going to stick, it would be us," James said. "It's amazing that we have left the private practice of law in droves."
Michael Greco, the bar association president, said managing partners at law firms — mostly white men — need to dedicate themselves to reform.
"This is intolerable," Greco said at a news conference. "It stings the conscience of our profession."
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Record Holder in Math
Ruth Lawrence of England, United Kingdom holds the record of youngest person passing O-Level and A-Level exams. She completed the O-Level exam at the age of eight, A-level at the age of nine and then went on to studying Mathematics and Physics in Oxford University. She got her Bachelors degree in Pure Mathematics from Oxford at the age of 13, a record in modern history of Oxford. More details can be found in this Wikipedia link
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Female Scientists
The article appeared on Yahoo news website. Since the site constantly updates, so I am reproducing the whole story here for my future reference. I completely agree with the author. It is absolutely stupid to believe that there are so women in science, math and engineering because of genetic reasons. They simply don't enter those fields because they are not encouraged to or because of the way they are brought up. The story is here, Transgender prof defends female scientists and copied below:
SAN FRANCISCO - As an Ivy League-trained neurobiologist who oversees a research lab at Stanford, Ben Barres feels qualified to comment on whether nature or nurture explains the persistent gender gap in the scientific community.
But it wasn't just his medical degree from Dartmouth, his Ph.D from Harvard and his studies on brain development and regeneration that inspired him to write an article blaming the shortage of female scientists on institutional bias.
Rather, it was that for most of his academic life, the 51-year-old professor who now wears a beard was once known as Dr. Barbara Barres, a woman who excelled in math and science.
"I have this perspective," said Barres, who switched sexes when he started taking hormones in 1997. "I've lived in the shoes of a woman and I've lived in the shoes of a man. It's caused me to reflect on the barriers women face."
Barres' opinion piece, published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, was a response to the debate former Harvard president Lawrence Summers reignited last year when he said innate sexual differences might explain why comparatively few women excelled in scientific careers.
Summers' clashes with faculty — including over women in science — led to his resignation, though not before he committed $50 million on childcare and other initiatives to help advance the careers of women and minority employees.
Even so, Barres thinks a meaningful discussion of what he calls the "Larry Summers Hypothesis" ended too soon, leaving missed opportunities and a bad message for young female scientists.
"I feel like I have a responsibility to speak out," he said. "Anyone who has changed sex has done probably the hardest thing they can do. It's freeing, in a way, because it makes me more fearless about other things."
In his article, Barres offers several personal anecdotes from both sides of the gender divide to prove his own hypothesis that prejudice plays a much bigger role than genes in preventing women from reaching their potential on university campuses and in government laboratories.
The one that rankles him most dates from his undergraduate days at MIT, where as a young woman in a class dominated by men he was the only student to solve a complicated math problem. The professor responded that a boyfriend must have done the work for her, according to Barres.
Barres makes a point of saying that he never felt mistreated or held back as a female scientist. At the same time, he wonders if his personal experience somehow shielded him from the more insidious effects of gender bias.
"I wasn't subject to the same stereotype threat because I never identified with women when I was growing up," he said. "In a way that was one of the lucky things for me about being transgender."
Aside from his unique vantage point, the thrust of Barres' article is that neither Summers nor the prominent scientists who defended his position used hard data to back up the claim that biology makes women less inclined toward math and science.
He cites several studies — including one showing little difference in the math scores of boys and girls ages 4 to 18 and another that indicated girls are groomed to be less competitive in sports — to support his discrimination argument.
"If a famous scientist or the president of a prestigious university is going to pronounce in public that women are likely to be innately inferior, would it be too much to ask that they be aware of the relevant data?" he writes in Nature.
"It would seem just as the bar goes up for women applicants in academic selection processes, it goes way down when men are evaluating the evidence for why women are not advancing in science."
Harvard University psycholinguist Steven Pinker, whom Barres names in his commentary as a leading defender of Summers, already has written a letter to the editors of Nature criticizing the piece as "polemic" that "contains numerous falsehoods and scurrilous statements."
Pinker said both he and Summers relied on "a large empirical literature showing differences in mean and variance in the distributions of talents, temperaments, and life priorities" among men and women to explain why women might be underrepresented in some scientific disciplines.
"He should learn to take scientific hypotheses less personally," Pinker said.
Barres said he won't be surprised if the Nature article makes him the kind of lightning rod for criticism that Summers was last year. He said he is disappointed that more senior women faculty have remained silent on the issue.
"Women have heard this stuff so much from people like Larry Summers, some corner of their brain starts to believe it," he said.
SAN FRANCISCO - As an Ivy League-trained neurobiologist who oversees a research lab at Stanford, Ben Barres feels qualified to comment on whether nature or nurture explains the persistent gender gap in the scientific community.
But it wasn't just his medical degree from Dartmouth, his Ph.D from Harvard and his studies on brain development and regeneration that inspired him to write an article blaming the shortage of female scientists on institutional bias.
Rather, it was that for most of his academic life, the 51-year-old professor who now wears a beard was once known as Dr. Barbara Barres, a woman who excelled in math and science.
"I have this perspective," said Barres, who switched sexes when he started taking hormones in 1997. "I've lived in the shoes of a woman and I've lived in the shoes of a man. It's caused me to reflect on the barriers women face."
Barres' opinion piece, published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, was a response to the debate former Harvard president Lawrence Summers reignited last year when he said innate sexual differences might explain why comparatively few women excelled in scientific careers.
Summers' clashes with faculty — including over women in science — led to his resignation, though not before he committed $50 million on childcare and other initiatives to help advance the careers of women and minority employees.
Even so, Barres thinks a meaningful discussion of what he calls the "Larry Summers Hypothesis" ended too soon, leaving missed opportunities and a bad message for young female scientists.
"I feel like I have a responsibility to speak out," he said. "Anyone who has changed sex has done probably the hardest thing they can do. It's freeing, in a way, because it makes me more fearless about other things."
In his article, Barres offers several personal anecdotes from both sides of the gender divide to prove his own hypothesis that prejudice plays a much bigger role than genes in preventing women from reaching their potential on university campuses and in government laboratories.
The one that rankles him most dates from his undergraduate days at MIT, where as a young woman in a class dominated by men he was the only student to solve a complicated math problem. The professor responded that a boyfriend must have done the work for her, according to Barres.
Barres makes a point of saying that he never felt mistreated or held back as a female scientist. At the same time, he wonders if his personal experience somehow shielded him from the more insidious effects of gender bias.
"I wasn't subject to the same stereotype threat because I never identified with women when I was growing up," he said. "In a way that was one of the lucky things for me about being transgender."
Aside from his unique vantage point, the thrust of Barres' article is that neither Summers nor the prominent scientists who defended his position used hard data to back up the claim that biology makes women less inclined toward math and science.
He cites several studies — including one showing little difference in the math scores of boys and girls ages 4 to 18 and another that indicated girls are groomed to be less competitive in sports — to support his discrimination argument.
"If a famous scientist or the president of a prestigious university is going to pronounce in public that women are likely to be innately inferior, would it be too much to ask that they be aware of the relevant data?" he writes in Nature.
"It would seem just as the bar goes up for women applicants in academic selection processes, it goes way down when men are evaluating the evidence for why women are not advancing in science."
Harvard University psycholinguist Steven Pinker, whom Barres names in his commentary as a leading defender of Summers, already has written a letter to the editors of Nature criticizing the piece as "polemic" that "contains numerous falsehoods and scurrilous statements."
Pinker said both he and Summers relied on "a large empirical literature showing differences in mean and variance in the distributions of talents, temperaments, and life priorities" among men and women to explain why women might be underrepresented in some scientific disciplines.
"He should learn to take scientific hypotheses less personally," Pinker said.
Barres said he won't be surprised if the Nature article makes him the kind of lightning rod for criticism that Summers was last year. He said he is disappointed that more senior women faculty have remained silent on the issue.
"Women have heard this stuff so much from people like Larry Summers, some corner of their brain starts to believe it," he said.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Pink Soccer
Well! they are exactly not wearing pink, rather yellow and red, but hehehe :):)....
Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Kaka and David Beckham are unlikely icons among girls in a remote village in the dirt-poor Indian state of Bihar. The girls of Barauni village in Begusarai district eat, drink and sleep football and stay up all night to catch their favourite teams at the World Cup on television.
The whole story is here
Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Kaka and David Beckham are unlikely icons among girls in a remote village in the dirt-poor Indian state of Bihar. The girls of Barauni village in Begusarai district eat, drink and sleep football and stay up all night to catch their favourite teams at the World Cup on television.
The whole story is here
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Good News
for Kuwaiti Women :) - Electoral first for Kuwaiti women, reports BBC.
Five women have become candidates in Kuwaiti parliamentary elections for the first time in the Gulf state's history.
The Kuwaiti parliament voted last May to allow women to vote and run for office, ending a 44-year ban.
BBC Gulf correspondent Julia Wheeler says it has been a long hard struggle for women's rights activists in Kuwait to get the vote and be allowed to stand for office. Aisha al-Rshaid has campaigned to become a candidate Women have been denied full political rights in Kuwait since the foundation of parliament in 1962. The ban was overturned by a parliamentary vote in May 2005 after several earlier attempts were blocked by parliament. Women have long served as diplomats, run businesses, and worked at all levels in industry in Kuwait. A female minister was appointed soon after women were given the vote.
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While reading this it is interesting to note that women in Saudi Arabia has no voting rights. Hmmm...what is Bush doing? I thought he invaded Iraq on the ground of bringing democracy to the world. So when is he going to try bringing democracy to Saudi Arabia!!!!!!!!!!???????
Five women have become candidates in Kuwaiti parliamentary elections for the first time in the Gulf state's history.
The Kuwaiti parliament voted last May to allow women to vote and run for office, ending a 44-year ban.
BBC Gulf correspondent Julia Wheeler says it has been a long hard struggle for women's rights activists in Kuwait to get the vote and be allowed to stand for office. Aisha al-Rshaid has campaigned to become a candidate Women have been denied full political rights in Kuwait since the foundation of parliament in 1962. The ban was overturned by a parliamentary vote in May 2005 after several earlier attempts were blocked by parliament. Women have long served as diplomats, run businesses, and worked at all levels in industry in Kuwait. A female minister was appointed soon after women were given the vote.
.
While reading this it is interesting to note that women in Saudi Arabia has no voting rights. Hmmm...what is Bush doing? I thought he invaded Iraq on the ground of bringing democracy to the world. So when is he going to try bringing democracy to Saudi Arabia!!!!!!!!!!???????
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Wie
Don't care about golf, but since the news is about a woman, so putting it up here: Michelle Wie made her first cut at a men's professional event, reports BBC.
I often feel like that Wie looks down upon any of the ladies' golf tournaments and only considers the men's as real golf tournaments. That's just my feeling from whatever I read about her or her interviews on TV and elsewhere. I hope I am mistaken.
I often feel like that Wie looks down upon any of the ladies' golf tournaments and only considers the men's as real golf tournaments. That's just my feeling from whatever I read about her or her interviews on TV and elsewhere. I hope I am mistaken.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Kudos To Them
The Kabul Star football is manufactured in a large house in the Afghan capital. The production line runs through its many rooms. Hexagons of leather are cut and painted in the garage, they are sewn into balls in the living room, washed in the upstairs bathroom, and put in bags in the master bedroom. What makes the factory really unusual though is that all 60 of its workers are women, reports BBC.
As well as earning a wage, she says the Kabul Star workers are also trained and encouraged to set up shop on their own. Despite all the challenges Afghan women face, the government says a growing number have done exactly that since 2001.....................One women already doing so is Hasina Sherjan, whose company Boumi exports embroidered curtains, cushion covers and other goods to Europe and America.
Wish them all the best. Hope Afghanistan doesn't fall back to the Taliban regime, and these women continue to grow and lend help/support to other Afghan women.
As well as earning a wage, she says the Kabul Star workers are also trained and encouraged to set up shop on their own. Despite all the challenges Afghan women face, the government says a growing number have done exactly that since 2001.....................One women already doing so is Hasina Sherjan, whose company Boumi exports embroidered curtains, cushion covers and other goods to Europe and America.
Wish them all the best. Hope Afghanistan doesn't fall back to the Taliban regime, and these women continue to grow and lend help/support to other Afghan women.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Fight Till I Die!
Billie Jean, 62 years, six Wimbledon singles championships and four U.S. Open titles winner is still continuing her fight against Wimbledon over equal prize money for both men and women. Wimbledon offers men more prize money. Wimbledon made 25 million pounds last year and the gap in prize money between the sexes was $450,000. Last year, women's winner Venus Williams earned about 30,000 pounds ($53,000) less than men's champion Roger Federer.
The whole story appears here. One can read more about Billie Jean here.
She argues why women and men should be paid equal even when women play best of 3 and men best of 5 as follows:
We have always been willing to do that," she said. "That is their decision not to let us play three out of five sets. And how about everybody playing two out of three? That would really be helpful. Entertainers don't get paid by the hour," she said. "They get paid, period. If Elton John does a concert, it could last one hour or fours hours, it's a done deal."
Also no one can argue that women's game draw less crowds and thus less money. Larry Scott, chief executive of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, said, "The last time I checked, from the Round of 16, quarter-finals on, women's matches are sold out just as the men's matches are sold out."
But how long can she fight alone? Can't all the women tennis players unite and boycott Wimbledon and see how the officials handle the situation? If they still refuse to pay women the same prize money, then hell with Wimbledon. There are other as equally important Grand Slams all of which pay the same amount of prize money to women and men .
The whole story appears here. One can read more about Billie Jean here.
She argues why women and men should be paid equal even when women play best of 3 and men best of 5 as follows:
We have always been willing to do that," she said. "That is their decision not to let us play three out of five sets. And how about everybody playing two out of three? That would really be helpful. Entertainers don't get paid by the hour," she said. "They get paid, period. If Elton John does a concert, it could last one hour or fours hours, it's a done deal."
Also no one can argue that women's game draw less crowds and thus less money. Larry Scott, chief executive of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, said, "The last time I checked, from the Round of 16, quarter-finals on, women's matches are sold out just as the men's matches are sold out."
But how long can she fight alone? Can't all the women tennis players unite and boycott Wimbledon and see how the officials handle the situation? If they still refuse to pay women the same prize money, then hell with Wimbledon. There are other as equally important Grand Slams all of which pay the same amount of prize money to women and men .
Thursday, April 20, 2006
First Woman Prime Minister of South Korea
Ms Han Myeong-sook was endorsed by the National Assembly as the first women Prime Minister of South Korea. She is a member of President Roh's Uri Party, has been the Minister for Environment and Minister for Gender Equality, and is also a well known feminist and democracy activist. She was jailed in 70'the s for protesting against the authoritarian rule of the government at that time. Aged sixty-two, she has been known as a critic of the US approach to North Korea and speaking out her mind on various issues of national interest.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Stocks and Shares
In India, more and more women are entering the investment arena. Though they were always there (I've seen that among my own family and acquaintances), their numbers are increasing (still a long way to go). The story is here .
According to ICICI Bank officials, out of the 8,000 or so new demat accounts opened every month, 20 per cent are by women, compared with the 10 per cent it saw a couple of years ago. "There has been a 20 to 30 per cent increase in demat and brokerage accounts opened by women," sources from HDFC Securities said. ... these women are also assering themselves as shareholders. Kulkarni, for instance took a flight to Bangalore in June 2005 to attend the annual general meeting of Infosys Technologies where she is a shareholder. "During that visitand visits to other companies, I observed that there is an evident increase in the number of women making their presence felt at AGMs," she added.
In the USA, every bank has an agent who would offer free advice to the bank's clients regarding shares, stocks and bonds. S/he would also invest, monitor the market, keep a tab on the client's portfolio, advice one accordingly so that the client has an overall gain. In most banks, a client can start an investment by investing only $50. More money can be pour into investments once she becomes aware of how the market works and is ready to take some calculated risks (some books for dummies are available in bookstores; most big newspapers carry a big section on economy, stock-prices, shares, etc; also being aware of the new technologies that are coming into existence - for example biotech and nanotech are emerging technologies now; so we can hope that one day companies dealing with these techs would have a large market share and thus the stocks and shares of these companies would be profitable and thus perhaps are good companies to invest in).
According to ICICI Bank officials, out of the 8,000 or so new demat accounts opened every month, 20 per cent are by women, compared with the 10 per cent it saw a couple of years ago. "There has been a 20 to 30 per cent increase in demat and brokerage accounts opened by women," sources from HDFC Securities said. ... these women are also assering themselves as shareholders. Kulkarni, for instance took a flight to Bangalore in June 2005 to attend the annual general meeting of Infosys Technologies where she is a shareholder. "During that visitand visits to other companies, I observed that there is an evident increase in the number of women making their presence felt at AGMs," she added.
In the USA, every bank has an agent who would offer free advice to the bank's clients regarding shares, stocks and bonds. S/he would also invest, monitor the market, keep a tab on the client's portfolio, advice one accordingly so that the client has an overall gain. In most banks, a client can start an investment by investing only $50. More money can be pour into investments once she becomes aware of how the market works and is ready to take some calculated risks (some books for dummies are available in bookstores; most big newspapers carry a big section on economy, stock-prices, shares, etc; also being aware of the new technologies that are coming into existence - for example biotech and nanotech are emerging technologies now; so we can hope that one day companies dealing with these techs would have a large market share and thus the stocks and shares of these companies would be profitable and thus perhaps are good companies to invest in).
Friday, April 14, 2006
India's Tragedy
in AFC. The third edition of the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) U-19 Women’s Championship is going on in Malaysia since April 8, 2006. It is going to end on April 18. India was in Group A along with Japan, DPR Korea and Korea Republic. Group B consisted of Australia, China, Jordan and Malaysia. India stands bottom in the table, losing all the three games. The champion from Group A is Japan. From Group B, winner is Australia with the host country at the bottom. From the results,
Korea Republic 11 - 0 India
DPR Korea 0 - 3 Japan
India 0 - 14 DPR Korea
Japan 2 - 1 Korea Republic
Korea Republic 1 - 2 DPR Korea
India 0 - 6 Japan ,
it seems like that India is just not a weak team, but an extremely amateur team. India had made it to the championship by beating Kyrgyzstan 7-0 and a weak Bangladesh side 10-0. Their coach is Harjinder Singh. But kudos to them for making it to the championship.
From Group B, the results are as follows:
China PR 0 - 1 Australia
Malaysia 1 - 2 Jordan
Australia 16 - 0 Malaysia
Jordan 0 - 9 China PR
China PR 22 - 0 Malaysia
Australia 7 - 0 Jordan
Semi-final matches will be between Japan-vs-China PR and Australia-vs-DPR Korea on April 15. The final is going to be on April 18 at KLFA Stadium Cheras, and the match for the third place is also going to be on April 18 at the same venue.
The teams which finish in the top-three positions in the championship will represent Asia in the under-20 Fifa women’s championship to be held in Russia in August.
Source of information is AFC-Website.
Korea Republic 11 - 0 India
DPR Korea 0 - 3 Japan
India 0 - 14 DPR Korea
Japan 2 - 1 Korea Republic
Korea Republic 1 - 2 DPR Korea
India 0 - 6 Japan ,
it seems like that India is just not a weak team, but an extremely amateur team. India had made it to the championship by beating Kyrgyzstan 7-0 and a weak Bangladesh side 10-0. Their coach is Harjinder Singh. But kudos to them for making it to the championship.
From Group B, the results are as follows:
China PR 0 - 1 Australia
Malaysia 1 - 2 Jordan
Australia 16 - 0 Malaysia
Jordan 0 - 9 China PR
China PR 22 - 0 Malaysia
Australia 7 - 0 Jordan
Semi-final matches will be between Japan-vs-China PR and Australia-vs-DPR Korea on April 15. The final is going to be on April 18 at KLFA Stadium Cheras, and the match for the third place is also going to be on April 18 at the same venue.
The teams which finish in the top-three positions in the championship will represent Asia in the under-20 Fifa women’s championship to be held in Russia in August.
Source of information is AFC-Website.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Age is in your mind
Age is in your mind has always been my motto and what better example than the story of this 106 year old Gandhian can I find to prove it?
Saraswathy Ramaswamy was born on January 1, 1900 in Secunderabad, India and soon after birth, being a girl child, she was abandoned. But fate had something else for her in store. The midwife, who delivered her, found her, brought her back to her parents and her life-journey began which is still continuing. Some excerpts from Rediff where the story appeared:
At the age of 7, two major events occurred in her life. She began going to school, and she was married to a 12-year-old boy named Ramaswamy. She stayed with her parents until she completed her Bachelors degree though, travelling across India. "I was sent to my husband's house when I attained puberty at 18. It was the custom."
When Gandhi came with his wife Kasturba to Nagpur, where Saraswathy then lived, she went with her friends to meet them. "I asked Kasturba what I could do for the country. She asked me if I knew how to use a charkha. I said I didn't. After teaching me, she told me to spread the knowledge to others."
Following Kasturba's instructions, Ramaswamy and his wife packed their bags and moved to the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. There, Saraswathy taught students to spin and also took tuitions, while her husband organised meetings. Over the next five years, she taught English, Tamil and mathematics to at least 500 children.
It was remarkable for a woman of that time to complete a bachelor degree and then teach English and Mathematics.
If August 15, 1947 was a day of joy for all of them, January 30, 1948 was a day she still mourns. Not only because Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, but because she lost her husband and three sons in the riots that followed. Her husband was shot at; her children, crushed to death. She was in Mysore to give birth to her fourth child. On hearing the news, she rushed to identify the bodies of her loved ones. Shortly thereafter, she lost her daughter to chickenpox. "I lost my family for the sake of my country. I shouldn't be crying," she says."
What a brave woman, wife and mother she was!!! Really an inspirational story. Of course, there were thousands and thousands of such courageous women were there in India at that; we simply don't know about them. And, there also exists such fearless women now. To be honest, I am amazed by the wives/mothers of men astronauts/cosmonauts, explorers and soldiers (of course, due respect should also be given to the fearless husbands/fathers of women in those occupations, but well this is a blog for women), how cheerfully they encourage their husbands/sons to excel in their occupations/careers when they know that their loved ones can die any moment!
From 1949 to 2004, she made Pattukottai her home, teaching children until she reached the age of 104. She was sure about one thing though: she would never go to the government for pension or any such concessions. That was like begging for her. Many of us Indians, especially some filthy-rich cricketers and celebreties, should learn this lesson from her .
A remarkable life. I wish I could meet her and talk to her.
Saraswathy Ramaswamy was born on January 1, 1900 in Secunderabad, India and soon after birth, being a girl child, she was abandoned. But fate had something else for her in store. The midwife, who delivered her, found her, brought her back to her parents and her life-journey began which is still continuing. Some excerpts from Rediff where the story appeared:
At the age of 7, two major events occurred in her life. She began going to school, and she was married to a 12-year-old boy named Ramaswamy. She stayed with her parents until she completed her Bachelors degree though, travelling across India. "I was sent to my husband's house when I attained puberty at 18. It was the custom."
When Gandhi came with his wife Kasturba to Nagpur, where Saraswathy then lived, she went with her friends to meet them. "I asked Kasturba what I could do for the country. She asked me if I knew how to use a charkha. I said I didn't. After teaching me, she told me to spread the knowledge to others."
Following Kasturba's instructions, Ramaswamy and his wife packed their bags and moved to the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. There, Saraswathy taught students to spin and also took tuitions, while her husband organised meetings. Over the next five years, she taught English, Tamil and mathematics to at least 500 children.
It was remarkable for a woman of that time to complete a bachelor degree and then teach English and Mathematics.
If August 15, 1947 was a day of joy for all of them, January 30, 1948 was a day she still mourns. Not only because Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, but because she lost her husband and three sons in the riots that followed. Her husband was shot at; her children, crushed to death. She was in Mysore to give birth to her fourth child. On hearing the news, she rushed to identify the bodies of her loved ones. Shortly thereafter, she lost her daughter to chickenpox. "I lost my family for the sake of my country. I shouldn't be crying," she says."
What a brave woman, wife and mother she was!!! Really an inspirational story. Of course, there were thousands and thousands of such courageous women were there in India at that; we simply don't know about them. And, there also exists such fearless women now. To be honest, I am amazed by the wives/mothers of men astronauts/cosmonauts, explorers and soldiers (of course, due respect should also be given to the fearless husbands/fathers of women in those occupations, but well this is a blog for women), how cheerfully they encourage their husbands/sons to excel in their occupations/careers when they know that their loved ones can die any moment!
From 1949 to 2004, she made Pattukottai her home, teaching children until she reached the age of 104. She was sure about one thing though: she would never go to the government for pension or any such concessions. That was like begging for her. Many of us Indians, especially some filthy-rich cricketers and celebreties, should learn this lesson from her .
A remarkable life. I wish I could meet her and talk to her.
Friday, April 07, 2006
An Irony?
Women sex workers perform puja to Goddess Durga during Navratri in Varanasi. Please read the details here . They dance for the Gods and Goddesses and Priests, throughout the night, with the hope that they will be born into higher castes in their next lives so that they can enter temples.
To me it seems a big irony. They are praying to be reborn into higher castes to enter temple! But what are they going to achieve? Women, whether low or high castes, are not allowed to enter the inner sanctum in many many temples across India or even touch the Gods or Goddesses. And even where they can enter they will never be allowed to become priests.
Bengal, the region of India where I come from, has a tradition of worshipping a God called Narayan. In fact, any pujas of any Gods/Goddesses you do in Bengal, you first have to worship Him (Narayan). Now these pujas are carried out in homes by the women of the home only - that is they set up the place or mundap, set up the statues of Gods/Goddesses, decorate the area, cuts all the fruits, make other foods (to be offered to the Gods/Goddesses), make garlands out of flowers, and do all sorts of things so that the puja ceremony can be hold. The main puja, where the mantras are chanted and other rituals are done is always performed by a man. And, this man or the priest (called purohit) will bring this Narayan with him and no woman can touch Narayan or the priest as long as the Narayan is with him. Why? Well no one could give me a satisfying answer; according to some because we women are vulgar and dirty and if we touch man we can corrupt him. I do not know whether or not this is true, but I know that women are not allowed to worship, perform any kind of puja, enter any temples in India while they are menstruating because they becom dirty and literally untouchables during that time!!!!!!! Amen!
So, instead of dancing to reborn in higher status, these women and every other woman in India should stand up and claim their rights to become priests. Hey, if the Gods can be females (in fact, all the important and powerful Gods are actually Goddesses in Hinduism), then why can't the priests be???
To me it seems a big irony. They are praying to be reborn into higher castes to enter temple! But what are they going to achieve? Women, whether low or high castes, are not allowed to enter the inner sanctum in many many temples across India or even touch the Gods or Goddesses. And even where they can enter they will never be allowed to become priests.
Bengal, the region of India where I come from, has a tradition of worshipping a God called Narayan. In fact, any pujas of any Gods/Goddesses you do in Bengal, you first have to worship Him (Narayan). Now these pujas are carried out in homes by the women of the home only - that is they set up the place or mundap, set up the statues of Gods/Goddesses, decorate the area, cuts all the fruits, make other foods (to be offered to the Gods/Goddesses), make garlands out of flowers, and do all sorts of things so that the puja ceremony can be hold. The main puja, where the mantras are chanted and other rituals are done is always performed by a man. And, this man or the priest (called purohit) will bring this Narayan with him and no woman can touch Narayan or the priest as long as the Narayan is with him. Why? Well no one could give me a satisfying answer; according to some because we women are vulgar and dirty and if we touch man we can corrupt him. I do not know whether or not this is true, but I know that women are not allowed to worship, perform any kind of puja, enter any temples in India while they are menstruating because they becom dirty and literally untouchables during that time!!!!!!! Amen!
So, instead of dancing to reborn in higher status, these women and every other woman in India should stand up and claim their rights to become priests. Hey, if the Gods can be females (in fact, all the important and powerful Gods are actually Goddesses in Hinduism), then why can't the priests be???
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Is it a curse
to be born as a woman? I often times wonder so. It doesn't matter where you are born; as you grow up you will realize that you cannot go out anytime to anywhere (because if you do you're bringing rape to yourself; good girls don't wander out the house at night!!); you would find it very hard to find any idols - watch tv and you see men are the sports personalities and CEO's, watch movies or cartoons and all the main characters will be males in 99% of them and the sole female will be there to be rescued by a man(it was no exception this time as I watched Ice Age II; the She-Mammoth was rescued by the He-Mammoth! ), read books (especially if you are a child, immersed in children-literatures) and hallelujah, the beautiful girl is waiting to be rescued by her father, brother or the handsome prince. This doesn't mean that books or movies don't exist that show the female characters in positive lightings; you just have to work really hard to find them.
As you grow older, you have to struggle and prove yourself twice worthy at each and every step - go for a career in math, astrophysics and computer science and people will wonder what a woman doing in these fields; go to any electronic or computer stores or to a car-mechanic and the employees there will treat you condescendingly while you can teach each and every one of them right from the managerial level how those electronic gadgets work, the science behind them, the mathematical formulas that drive them!! Striving to become a CEO one day? Be ready to give up marriage, family life and don't even dare to become a mother (unless of course you happen to be born in Norway or some of those Scandinavian countries); hammer out this last point that you hate babies and are ready to wring their necks if you happen to be a young woman appearing for a job interview for industries and service sectors. Interested in women sports? Well, you definitely then need a multi-millionaire prince to travel around the globe to witness women in actions or to get digital or paid tv-channels to watch their games ; otherwise, you will be in a tough luck to watch/read/hear anything remotely related to womens sports (unless of course it happens to be Tennis or Olympics) in any media.
So, it is no wonder that these 5 Saudi women decided to change their sex . Is that solution? I think not and hope not. We will be accepting defeat if we follow that path. Only solution is struggle, struggle and struggle...fight, fight and fight, and get united and support each other with the hope that our granddaughters and great-granddaughters will inherit a much better society to live.
As you grow older, you have to struggle and prove yourself twice worthy at each and every step - go for a career in math, astrophysics and computer science and people will wonder what a woman doing in these fields; go to any electronic or computer stores or to a car-mechanic and the employees there will treat you condescendingly while you can teach each and every one of them right from the managerial level how those electronic gadgets work, the science behind them, the mathematical formulas that drive them!! Striving to become a CEO one day? Be ready to give up marriage, family life and don't even dare to become a mother (unless of course you happen to be born in Norway or some of those Scandinavian countries); hammer out this last point that you hate babies and are ready to wring their necks if you happen to be a young woman appearing for a job interview for industries and service sectors. Interested in women sports? Well, you definitely then need a multi-millionaire prince to travel around the globe to witness women in actions or to get digital or paid tv-channels to watch their games ; otherwise, you will be in a tough luck to watch/read/hear anything remotely related to womens sports (unless of course it happens to be Tennis or Olympics) in any media.
So, it is no wonder that these 5 Saudi women decided to change their sex . Is that solution? I think not and hope not. We will be accepting defeat if we follow that path. Only solution is struggle, struggle and struggle...fight, fight and fight, and get united and support each other with the hope that our granddaughters and great-granddaughters will inherit a much better society to live.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Housewives are worse than donkeys
Yep! that is what is being taught to 14-year old kids in Rajasthan, India in a state-approved text-book. Read the details here . According to the state education official, Mr A. R. Khan, "the comparison was made in good humour.''
Hmmm...so does this mean that I am allowed to make all sorts of racist, sexist jokes publicly, insult our flag, anthem, constitution, judicial system, President, threaten the Prime Minister, make cat-calls and light-assault and then at the end say that all those were done with a sense of humor??
I would not have mind these banters if a truly utopian society existed with love, respect and concern for each and every living creature. But in a society where women are considered burdens and looked down as inferiors, dowries are common, domestic-violence is rampant, female infanticide is highest in the world, women are constantly sexually harassed on roads, I don't understand the meaning of having such humors in the class. Does the state government make sure that teachers point this out as a joke while teaching it????? If not, then how can they (the state government) gurantee that these kids will grow up with the correct idea that housewives and donkeys should not be compared, that men and women are equal, each should walk by the side of the other, hold hands and become friends???
Hmmm...so does this mean that I am allowed to make all sorts of racist, sexist jokes publicly, insult our flag, anthem, constitution, judicial system, President, threaten the Prime Minister, make cat-calls and light-assault and then at the end say that all those were done with a sense of humor??
I would not have mind these banters if a truly utopian society existed with love, respect and concern for each and every living creature. But in a society where women are considered burdens and looked down as inferiors, dowries are common, domestic-violence is rampant, female infanticide is highest in the world, women are constantly sexually harassed on roads, I don't understand the meaning of having such humors in the class. Does the state government make sure that teachers point this out as a joke while teaching it????? If not, then how can they (the state government) gurantee that these kids will grow up with the correct idea that housewives and donkeys should not be compared, that men and women are equal, each should walk by the side of the other, hold hands and become friends???
Ms. Bee
I wish Anna Rose Wright is always with me whenever I am updating this blog. Then, I don't have to take out my dictionary often or search on the internet for the correct spelling of a word. Meet her in this article which I am reproducing, verbatim, from Yahoo's News Site . Her achievement follows at the heels of Akeelah (Akeela) and the Bee, an uplifting movie about an African-American girl who is a spelling prodigy. The movie is releasing on theaters on 28th April, 2006. I hope all of us will watch this movie, support it and make it as one of the blockbuster. This movie will not only be inspirational for girls (how many movies, serials, animation films are made which a girl can watch and find a role-model!? Nada!!!!!!), but also for the African-American community. I have recently become a professor of math-science; before that I was always an instructor or TA. Through all my teaching experiences of dealing with hundreds of students, I can count how many African-American students in math-science I have taught - hardly 5 or 6!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, enough boring lecture. Here is the article:
BILLINGS, Mont. - After 41 rounds and 4 1/2 hours, Anna Rose Wright won the Treasure State Spelling Bee Saturday. "I have never seen a bee go this long," said round judge Lynn Schwanke of Missoula, a previous state bee director for more than 20 years. "It was really remarkable."
Anna Rose, 13, and Tim Best, 12, of Joliet battled head-to-head for 25 rounds after the remaining 63 contestants fell out of the competition.
Anna Rose, a home-schooler competing in her fourth bee, won an all-expenses paid trip for two to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in late May, a $100 savings bond and a dictionary.
She correctly spelled "mumpsimus," — a person who persists in a mistaken expression or belief — and then clinched the victory by spelling "galenical," — a medicinal preparation made mostly of herbs or vegetable matter.
The contest, which seesawed between Anna Rose and Tim, requires the winner to correctly spell two words after their challenger misses a word. Twice, Anna Rose corrected the pronunciation of words.
Beginning with the 29th round, the contest moved into words not included on the word list given to all contestants to study.
Anna Rose said she had been studying spelling words since last summer, a couple hours most days, using word lists used at the national spelling bee, an online dictionary and tapes that include word pronunciations.
___
Information from: Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com
Ok, enough boring lecture. Here is the article:
BILLINGS, Mont. - After 41 rounds and 4 1/2 hours, Anna Rose Wright won the Treasure State Spelling Bee Saturday. "I have never seen a bee go this long," said round judge Lynn Schwanke of Missoula, a previous state bee director for more than 20 years. "It was really remarkable."
Anna Rose, 13, and Tim Best, 12, of Joliet battled head-to-head for 25 rounds after the remaining 63 contestants fell out of the competition.
Anna Rose, a home-schooler competing in her fourth bee, won an all-expenses paid trip for two to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in late May, a $100 savings bond and a dictionary.
She correctly spelled "mumpsimus," — a person who persists in a mistaken expression or belief — and then clinched the victory by spelling "galenical," — a medicinal preparation made mostly of herbs or vegetable matter.
The contest, which seesawed between Anna Rose and Tim, requires the winner to correctly spell two words after their challenger misses a word. Twice, Anna Rose corrected the pronunciation of words.
Beginning with the 29th round, the contest moved into words not included on the word list given to all contestants to study.
Anna Rose said she had been studying spelling words since last summer, a couple hours most days, using word lists used at the national spelling bee, an online dictionary and tapes that include word pronunciations.
___
Information from: Billings Gazette, http://www.billingsgazette.com
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Delhi Blues Win Against PCB Greens -- 1st and 2nd ODI
As reported earlier, India's Delhi Blues are playing 5 ODI against Pakistan's PCB Greens. Delhi Blues are currently leading 2-0 against PCB Greens. Asha Rawat scored 54 off 84 balls, hitting six fours. Amita Sharma took four wickets.
Scores were PCB GREENS: 142, 48.5 overs (Urooj Mumtaz 41, Sajida Shah 25, Nazia Nazeer 22; Amita Sharma 4-20, Rajinder Kaur 2-16).
DELHI BLUES 145-3, 39.1 overs (Asha Rawat 54, Gurdeep Kaur 26, Shilpa Gupa 22).
The source of the above information was Dawn .
In the 1st ODI also Asha Rawat scored 62 off 88 balls, hitting six fours, leading her side to victory. Delhi Blues scored 218 for 7 in 50 overs in reply to which PCB Greens were all out for 177 in 43.3 overs.
More details for the 1st ODI can be found in Dawn .
Scores were PCB GREENS: 142, 48.5 overs (Urooj Mumtaz 41, Sajida Shah 25, Nazia Nazeer 22; Amita Sharma 4-20, Rajinder Kaur 2-16).
DELHI BLUES 145-3, 39.1 overs (Asha Rawat 54, Gurdeep Kaur 26, Shilpa Gupa 22).
The source of the above information was Dawn .
In the 1st ODI also Asha Rawat scored 62 off 88 balls, hitting six fours, leading her side to victory. Delhi Blues scored 218 for 7 in 50 overs in reply to which PCB Greens were all out for 177 in 43.3 overs.
More details for the 1st ODI can be found in Dawn .
Saturday, April 01, 2006
India vs Pakistan (Womens Cricket)
India's Delhi Blues (Delhi Women Cricket Team) will be playing against Pakistan's PCB Greens (Pakistan Women Cricket Team), reports WebIndia123. The itenary is as follows:
March 29: arrival of the Indian team
March 31: 1st one-day at Bagh-I-Jinnah
April 1: 2nd one-day at GCU Ground
April 3: 3rd one-day at Aitchison College
April 4: 4th one-day at GCU Ground
April 6: 5th one-day at LCCA
April 7: departure to Delhi .
Today is 1st April and that means they have already played the first game. Unfortunately I can't fight any report on the game or any score or anything :(:(:(...Oh Well, as usual....
March 29: arrival of the Indian team
March 31: 1st one-day at Bagh-I-Jinnah
April 1: 2nd one-day at GCU Ground
April 3: 3rd one-day at Aitchison College
April 4: 4th one-day at GCU Ground
April 6: 5th one-day at LCCA
April 7: departure to Delhi .
Today is 1st April and that means they have already played the first game. Unfortunately I can't fight any report on the game or any score or anything :(:(:(...Oh Well, as usual....
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Jamaica's First Woman Leader
Portia Simpson Miller is becoming the first woman Prime Minister (head of the country) of Jamaica. The detailed report can be read here .
"She is seen as someone who has really risen through the ranks of the party, coming from a very, very poor section of Jamaica... to the top post," Radio Jamaica's Kathy Barrett told the BBC.
"She's a woman who's very determined, a firebrand type of politician who has really hit home when it comes to the majority of people - especially women, the poor and the unemployed." .
From South America to Carribeans, from Europe to Asia, women have occupied and is still occupying head of state positions. Even Canada had a woman Prime Minister, Kim Campbell. There are many countries in Europe where women hold defence or sports ministers positions; such positions are often occupied by men even when the head of the state is an woman.
When is the USA going to have a woman President or atleast a woman as the defence secretary?
"She is seen as someone who has really risen through the ranks of the party, coming from a very, very poor section of Jamaica... to the top post," Radio Jamaica's Kathy Barrett told the BBC.
"She's a woman who's very determined, a firebrand type of politician who has really hit home when it comes to the majority of people - especially women, the poor and the unemployed." .
From South America to Carribeans, from Europe to Asia, women have occupied and is still occupying head of state positions. Even Canada had a woman Prime Minister, Kim Campbell. There are many countries in Europe where women hold defence or sports ministers positions; such positions are often occupied by men even when the head of the state is an woman.
When is the USA going to have a woman President or atleast a woman as the defence secretary?
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Sudoku Champion
Jana Tylova, a Czech accountant, has beaten players from 21 other countries to win the inaugural world Sudoku championships. The story is here. There is no difference between men and women and I tried to prove that even in logic, men and women are on the same level," she said.
Sudoku is a logic based placement puzzle, where a 9x9 grid is filled up with numbers from 1 to 9 in such a way that each column and row contains each of the number from 1 to 9. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.
Sudoku is a logic based placement puzzle, where a 9x9 grid is filled up with numbers from 1 to 9 in such a way that each column and row contains each of the number from 1 to 9. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.
Friday, March 10, 2006
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