Introduction - Good News and Bad News

The idea for this blog has been boiling up for some time - every time my blood boils at a news report from somewhere in the world that makes clear that (a) the feminist movement is either being eroded or has in some way backfired or (b) it has never reached certain parts of the world and possibly never will. I don't plan to focus on the bad news, however. Occasionally there is good news for women and I hope it will cheer my readers (if I have any) as much as it does me. I don't know how much good this will do - there's an NGO called "Women's Rights Watch" that is probably contributing much more than I ever could - but I like the story about the hummingbird trying to put out a forest fire with with a drop of water. If enough people do the same, we might not put out the fire but we will at least make a difference.

Some of the most recent bad news comes from the Vatican - the Christian version of the Taliban - which is blaming feminists for the breakdown of the family and acceptance of gay marriage. Today's bad news is that, according to Prof Carol Black, president of the Royal College of Physicians (et tu, Carol) the predominance of women doctors is seen as "weakening the medical profession". If this goes on, it is lamented (by a woman), physicians will be the equivalent of secretaries or (heaven forfend) nurses. Interestingly enough, in Brazil - where I live - sexism is rampant and pervasive, but no one questions the vast number of women in the "liberal professions" - doctors, lawyers, architects, dentists, although so far, no Indian chiefs.