gender equality Archives

Sindh Assembly condemns Sahil Adeem’s remarks on women |…

4 July 2024
by admin

A resolution condemning Sahil Adeem’s derogatory remarks about women was tabled in the Sindh Assembly by Marvi Faseeh on Thursday.

The controversial public speaker faced criticism after stating in a private TV programme that 95% of women in the country are ‘jahil’ (ignorant).

Marvi Faseeh, an MPA from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), introduced the resolution denouncing Adeem’s comments as a severe violation of religious, social, and legal values, causing widespread distress among women.

The resolution demands stringent legal action against Adeem, asserting that his prejudiced remarks have violated the dignity of women and representatives like Marvi Faseeh in the Sindh Assembly.

In her statement, Faseeh emphasised that the remarks have deeply hurt the sentiments of women and urged for immediate action against such discriminatory views.

Science & Environment

Isha Ambani Piramal thinks women have an edge over…

21 May 2024
by admin

Indian businesswoman Isha Ambani Piramal is not only a powerful leader but also an inspiration to many, especially women. Hailing from a family of strong women including the Ambani matriarch Kokilaben Ambani and her mother Nita Ambani, Isha Ambani too has carved a niche for herself in the field of business and economy in India by leading Reliance Retail.Talking about women at work, in a recent video, Isha shared her views on the need to have more women in the workforce. She also shared that she personally believes women to have an edge over men in leadership roles as they are more empathetic in nature and they tend to uplift everyone.
“I personally believe that as leaders, women have an edge over men. Women have empathy and that automatically makes them better leaders. A woman leader, as she climbs up the ladder will inevitably carry the team with her. I’ve heard my mother, Mrs Nita Ambani, a champion of women empowerment say time and again, ‘Empower a man and he will feed a family. Empower a woman, and she will feed the entire village.’ I believe that what my mother says is true. Women are born leaders, their innate selflessness makes them better leaders. By denying leadership roles to women, we are denying ourselves the chance to realise our full potential,” Isha Ambani said in a video address for Girls in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Day India 2024.
ICT Day 2024 was recently organised by the Government of India, along with the International Telecommunications Union (South Asia), the Innovation Centre in Delhi, and a few agencies of the United Nations.

Representative Image

In her short video message, Isha also urged young girls to opt for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and build a career in these fields. “We are living in a time with exponential changes; the world is changing, the world is innovating and if we are to survive in this fast-changing world we too must innovate. Already the way we work has changed and it will further change. And so, for everyone present here today be ready to embrace the change. Be prepared to take up science and technology as a career because science and technology hold the key for the future. The majority of future jobs are going to be in those streams. So break the shackles of traditions, challenge yourself and be the changemakers,” she said.
In her speech, Isha further highlighted the gender divide at the workplace and emphasised on the need for equality and promoting more women to join the workforce, especially in technology which is the need of the hour. “Sadly though, even today there is a gender divide in India’s tech workforce. According to NASSCOM, only 36 percent of India’s tech workforce are women. Belief in age-old dogmas and societal stereotypes such as women are best suited as teachers and jobs involving soft skills. A similar disturbing aspect is the drop in the number of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) focussed roles. Data from the World Bank shows that women make up 43 percent of total STEM graduates in India but account for only 14 percent of all scientists, engineers, and technologists. India has favourable demographics to make tremendous progress in this era of the 4th industrial revolution also known as the digital era and emerge as a world leader. If we were to drive ahead with our demographics, then both men and women should attain their fullest potential. A male-dominated STEM or ICT landscape where women are underrepresented will rob India of its opportunity to rule the world. We have missed the first two industrial revolutions and we are merely catching up with the third. This era of the fourth industrial revolution has allowed us to make amends. We must rise to the occasion, we must exert ourselves, and we must excel otherwise we run the risk of becoming irrelevant. So for India to shine, more and more girls, the women of tomorrow, must enter the realm of STEM and opt for technology as a career because if we are to build the India of our dreams, technology will be our driving force and both men and women in science and tech must fire all cylinders,” Isha added.
Addressing the gender gap issue at the workplace and the need for inclusivity, Isha also said that women employees should be nurtured early-on in their careers. “They need to be shown that their growth can play out in a company and how it will go a long way to help the company,” she added.
She concluded by saying that to encourage more women to take up STEM and ICT, we also need to strengthen our curriculum and ensure they are unbiased. “Together we can build a future where innovation is driven by diversity and our daughters are given equal opportunities to become the leaders of tomorrow,” she said.
For the unversed, Isha leads Reliance Retail and she is also a mother to twins– Krishna and Aadiya Piramal. She is married to businessman Anand Piramal.

Indians shine on the Met Gala green carpet: Alia Bhatt, Isha Ambani, Sudha Reddy and more turn heads!

Science & Environment

How Playboy cut ties with Hugh Hefner to create…

11 April 2023
by admin

Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writers. CNN is showcasing the work of The Conversation, a collaboration between journalists and academics to provide news analysis and commentary. The content is produced solely by The Conversation.

The Conversation
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Hugh Hefner launched Playboy Magazine 70 years ago this year. The first issue included a nude photograph of Marilyn Monroe, which he had purchased and published without her knowledge or consent.

Hefner went on to build the Playboy brand off the backs of the countless women featured in its pages, whose beauty and performance of heightened feminine sexuality have entertained its readers for generations.

Approaching its 70th anniversary in December, Playboy has radically shifted. With the magazine no longer in publication, the Playboy Mansion sold to a developer and London’s last remaining Playboy Club closing in 2021, what is the future for Playboy? The brand is changing to keep up with the post-#MeToo world.

Hefner passed away one month before allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein surfaced in 2017 giving momentum to the #MeToo movement (which saw survivors of sexual assault and harassment speak out against their abusers).

In recent years, many have re-evaluated Hefner’s legacy and relationships with women. The 2022 docuseries “The Secrets of Playboy” (which aired on Channel 4 in the UK) detailed sexual misconduct accusations against Hefner from several ex-girlfriends, including model Sondra Theodore and TV personality Holly Madison.

Hefner and Playboy’s relationship with women has been complicated. Playboy was an early supporter of abortion rights, helped fund the first rape kit and was at times an early proponent of inclusivity (for example featuring transgender model, Caroline “Tula” Cossey, in its June 1981 issue). But most women featured in Playboy have fit within a narrow beauty standard — thin, white, able-bodied and blonde.

Meanwhile Hefner’s personal relationship with his much younger girlfriends reportedly followed patterns of control and emotional abuse. Ex-girlfriend Holly Madison described Hefner as treating her “like a glorified pet” in her 2015 memoir, “Down the Rabbit Hole.”

Hefner’s passing meant he evaded reckoning with the #MeToo movement. Playboy, however, responded, releasing a statement in which it affirmed support for the women featured in “The Secrets of Playboy” and called Hefner’s actions “abhorrent.”

The statement declared that the brand was no longer affiliated with the Hefner family and would be focusing on aspects of the company’s legacy that align with values of sex positivity and free expression.

Today, Playboy is a very different company from the one Hefner launched nearly 70 years ago. Roughly 80% of Playboy staff identify as women, according the company, and its motto has changed from “Entertainment for Men” to “Pleasure for All.” Shares in the company are publicly traded and 40% of its board and management are women.

The company has also moved towards more creator-led content through its app, Playboy Centerfold. Similar to subscription content service OnlyFans, Playboy Centerfold allows subscribers to view content from and interact with its creators, which it call “bunnies.”

On the app, creators — or bunnies — are able portray their own bodies however they wish, putting the power back in their hands. Perhaps Playboy’s future is no longer in serving the male gaze, but instead the very audience Hefner dismissed in his first letter from the editor:

“If you’re a man between the ages of 18 and 80 Playboy is meant for you … If you’re somebody’s sister, wife or mother-in-law and picked us up by mistake, please pass us along to the man in your life and get back to your Ladies Home Companion.”

The stars of Playboy’s mid-2000s reality series, Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt, are also enjoying a resurgence among fans.

“The Girls Next Door” launched in 2004. The show focused on the lives of Hefner’s three girlfriends, Madison, Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson. It became E’s best performing show and cultivated a new female audience for Playboy.

“The Girls Next Door” was a story of complicated empowerment despite patriarchal interference. Its three female protagonists went from being known solely as some of Hefner’s many blonde girlfriends, to celebrities in their own right.

They each ultimately broke up with Hefner, leaving the Mansion and going on to lead successful careers.

The show’s depiction of Madison, Marquardt and Wilkinson as empowered, fun-loving and complex individuals, who found joy and agency through expressing their sexuality was perhaps what drew so many female fans to the show. However, amid the girls’ fight for agency, Hefner retaliated.

The series shows that he maintained final say in every Playboy photograph of the girls, as well as imposing strict curfews and spending allowances.

In Madison and Wilkinson’s memoirs, “Down the Rabbit Hole,” and “Sliding into Home,” they claim that production consistently undermined them. They refused to pay them for the first season, didn’t credit them until season four and aired their uncensored nude bodies in foreign broadcasts and DVD releases without consent.

Fan interest in “The Girls Next Door” remains strong. In August 2022 Madison and Marquardt launched their podcast “Girls Next Level,” where they interview previous playmates and interact with fans. They also recap episodes from their own points of view, unpacking their experiences of working on the show.

Having reached 10 million downloads as of February 2023, the success of the podcast — 14 years after the last episode of “The Girls Next Door” — speaks to the cultural legacy of the Playboy brand. It also shows that despite Hefner’s original editor’s note, Playboy resonates with some women.

Playboy is now in a post-Hefner era, where the imagery of women found within old issues of Playboy can serve as inspiration for others to enjoy their own sexuality. Whatever the future has for the company, the concept of Playboy has become public property — be that in the appearance of Playboy bunny costumes each Halloween, the popularity of cheeky Playboy logo tattoos or branded lingerie and clothing.

In a post-#MeToo era, the women of Playboy are speaking up and taking over. With the mansion gates closed, the bunnies are finally reclaiming the brand as their own.

Top Image: Hugh Hefner with Playboy “bunnies” in London in 1966.

Science & Environment

French minister under fire for Playboy magazine cover |…

3 April 2023
by admin

CNN
—

French government minister Marlene Schiappa has come under fire from members of her own party after appearing on the front cover of Playboy magazine.

Schiappa, who has been a government minister since 2017, appeared on the cover of the magazine to accompany a 12-page interview she did on women’s and LGBT rights. Schiappa, who is the current Minister for the Social Economy and French Associations, was photographed for the cover wearing a white dress.

Schiappa has been a long-time advocate for women’s rights and was appointed as the country’s first ever Gender Equality Minister in 2017. In this role, she successfully spearheaded a new sexual harassment law which allows for on the spot fines to be issued to men who catcall, harass or follow women on the street.

Her appearance has drawn criticism from political colleagues including French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

Borne pulled up Schiappa over the cover, telling her it “wasn’t appropriate, especially during this period,” CNN affiliate BFMTV reported Saturday, citing a source close to the prime minister.

France is currently in the throes of a political and social crisis triggered by French President Emmanuel Macron’s move to push ahead with controversial pension reforms despite widespread public opposition.

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“We are in the middle of a social crisis, there is the issue of policing, there are people between life and death, and I have the impression of being behind a smoke screen,” Sandrine Rousseau, Green Party politician and fellow women’s rights activist, told BFMTV Friday.

French politician, Jean Luc Mélenchon who came third in the 2022 presidential elections criticized both Schiappa’s appearance and the decision by French President Emmanuel Macron to give an interview to children’s magazine, Pif Gadget, this week.

“In a country where the President expresses himself in Pif and his minister in Playboy, the problem would be the opposition. France is going off the rails,” Mélenchon tweeted Saturday.

Schiappa responded to her critics in a tweet on Saturday, saying: “Defending the right of women to have control of their bodies, that’s everywhere and all the time. In France, women are free. With all due respect to the detractors and hypocrites.”

French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin came to Schiappa’s defense during an interview with French news channel CNews on Sunday calling her a “woman of character.”

“I wanted to say that Marlene Schiappa is a courageous female politician who has her character and who has her style which is not mine, but I respect,” he remarked.

Tag: <span>gender equality</span>

Sindh Assembly condemns Sahil Adeem’s remarks on women |…

Isha Ambani Piramal thinks women have an edge over…

How Playboy cut ties with Hugh Hefner to create…

French minister under fire for Playboy magazine cover |…