Princess movies and opera alike reveal the limited number of models available to women. “Le Dernier Sorcier”, composed by Pauline Viardot in 1869, shows that a much richer world is possible.
Henry James called her a ‘great, horse-faced bluestocking’. On the 200th anniversary of her birth, we celebrate George Eliot, a literary trailblazer with an endless appetite for ideas, living in a patriarchal time.
Moulding eyebrows to make a statement is nothing new. A journey through history, across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States, shows some of the highs and lows of brow fashion.
The sale of women’s backpacks is up by more than 20 per cent in the past year: but why can’t we just call it a backpack? Why does it have to be a ‘lady backpack?’
India’s Modi government has used populist rhetoric to scare the public and turn Kashmiri Muslims into symbols of terrorist violence. The news media in India seems to be following along.
Federica Ravera, Universitat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya
In the Catalan Pyrenees, women shepherds and cattle ranchers try to valorise the ancestral agropastoral culture to save the mountains from climate change.
Elisabeth Pruegl, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)
Contradictions abound as companies seek to style themselves as advancing gender equality while at the same time marketing sexist products or thriving on sexist employment practices.
The Indian government’s recent criminalisation of instant ‘triple-talaq’ divorce has stoked dispute among the very people it purports to protect: Muslim women.
Second-wave feminist Shulamith Firestone was mocked when she published a 1970 manifesto advocating artifical wombs, but her arguments about the exploitation of reproductive labour remain timely.
Saudi women may now travel without a man’s permission, easing one of the most repressive aspects of the country’s ‘guardianship’ system. Women in Saudi Arabia gained the right to drive last year.
Women were able to pursue an impressive feminist agenda as South Africa made its transition to democracy. But 25 years later there’s not a lot left of the early victories.
The book promises to help reclaim language used against women, exploring the origins of gendered slurs. But its use of contemporary slang and lack of an index undermines its credibility.
Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne