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Sen. John McCain picks Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate

2008-08-29T14:56:41Z

Alaska Gov. Sarah PalinJohn McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate, two senior campaign officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

Palin, 44, is a self-styled hockey mom and political reformer who has been governor of her state less than two years.

Palin's selection was a stunning surprise, as McCain passed over many other better known prospects, some of whom had been the subject of intense speculation for weeks or months.

At 44, she is a generation younger that Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, who is Barack Obama's running mate on the Democratic ticket.

She is three years Obama's junior, as well — and McCain has made much in recent weeks of Obama's relative lack of experience in foreign policy and defense matters.

Palin flew overnight to an airport in Ohio near Dayton, and even as she awaited her formal introduction, close aides said they had believed she was at home in Alaska.

She is a former mayor of Wasilla who became governor of her state in 2006 after ousting a governor of her own party in a primary and then dispatching a former governor in the general election.

Women's Voices. Women Vote: Unmarried women are "a surging force in American politics"

2008-01-08T16:23:16Z

Katharine Daniels
Founder & Executive Editor, The WIP
- USA - Every year this nation’s priorities move further and further away from the concerns of the majority of American citizens, making daily life harder and harder. The prices we pay for housing, utilities, medications, transportation and food are all going up. Meanwhile, big business interests, profiting every time we lose, monopolize our policymakers’ attention. While companies boasting record profits are rewarded with tax breaks, ordinary citizens struggle each day to get basic needs met for themselves and their families.

• Page Gardener, Founder of Women’s Voices. Women Vote. Photograph courtesy of WVWV. •

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all Americans hurt by Washington’s lopsided economic policies banded together to form a voting bloc; and, like the religious right of elections past, became a force with the power to determine this election and all elections from this year on? Well, according to Page Gardener, one of the nation’s top strategists and an expert in the voting patterns of women, a unique voting bloc such as this does exist. Despite their poor voter turnout in years past, Gardener says that unmarried women in this country are fed up. They are united, and they are ready to vote.

In 2004 65% of women voted. Despite this high participation rate, the turnout was predominantly married women voters. Twenty million unmarried women stayed home on Election Day. Page Gardener developed Women’s Voices. Women Vote to improve unmarried women's participation in the electorate and policy process. Last month I interviewed her to learn more about the campaign. I found out that marriage is one of the top four determinants in whether women in this country vote. I learned that unmarried women form the fastest growing large bloc of voters. I was told about the unique economic circumstances unifying unmarried women. They earn less, have less health care, and more of their children live in poverty than any other bloc of Americans. I learned that more than ever they are interested in this election. They want change and will be turning out to vote. And Women’s Voices. Women Vote is doing everything they can to make sure this happens. Page Gardener recognizes that 20 million unmarried women not voting – single, divorced, separated or widowed – means there is an important missing voice in our democracy.

• Unmarried women represent a fast-growing voting bloc with the power to effect change at the polls. Photograph courtesy of WVWV. •

The striking economic circumstance of unmarried women when compared to their married counterparts begins with income. While 44% of unmarried women live in households of incomes of $30,000 or less, 44% of married women live in households earning $75,000 or more. The majority of households in this country are now headed by an unmarried person – single Americans caring for children, elderly parents, and other dependants. They are economically stretched – one out of five unmarried women in this country has no healthcare and half of all children six and under who live with unmarried mothers are living in poverty. As Page Gardener put it, “This is an indictment.” Policy makers are reckless to ignore this economic reality. When this group mobilizes they will discover that they have to address unmarried women’s concerns if they want to stay in office.

According to Gardener, unmarried women are “sick of the way things are going, and they want this country to go in a new direction.” These women feel America is not doing enough about problems on the home front, the problems most significant in their lives. They struggle financially, their lives are difficult, and they want our leaders to make them a national priority. The good news, Gardener finds, is that they are making their voices heard in record numbers at the voting booth. In 2006 they were the largest “change” voters. As their power becomes more evident, it will be harder and harder for policy makers to ignore their calls for adequate housing, healthcare, and other domestic issues affecting them.

While domestic issues are the primary concern of unmarried women voters, like married women, they are incredibly patriotic and concerned about this country. They are concerned about family values, security issues and they mirror the concerns of the total population in many ways. As this population grows, however, it is their unique economic circumstances that set them apart and which creates the huge and growing cohort. “We’ve got this enormous growing demographic group and they have an agenda on their own, they are redefining the electorate, and they are redefining how we should look at America and the public policy agenda of our elected officials,” Gardener told me.

• Image courtesy of WVWV. •

Women’s Voices. Women Vote has found that 91% of the unmarried women voters they surveyed reported that their frustration with public policy made them more likely to vote in 2008. They are paying attention and are interested in record numbers. Polling data reported on their website shows that 64% of unmarried women voters usually considered unlikely to vote (eligible and registered, but who missed at least one of the last two presidential elections) now say they are “absolutely certain” to vote in 2008. Women’s Voices. Women Vote also found 77% of unmarried women voters are expressing a high level of interest in this election. “Unmarrieds, even those who don’t normally vote, are primed for this election and are open to politicians willing to engage them on issues important to them.”

Last week’s caucus in Iowa, according to a January 4 press release, serves as an indication that unmarried women are in fact utilizing their power. Unmarried Women Caucus in Record Numbers, reported that unmarried women did turn out in numbers greater than their overall share of Iowa’s population – a feat only married women used to achieve. “While unmarried women are 22 percent of the eligible voting age population in Iowa, network entrance polls report that they were 28 percent of participants in the Democratic caucus…Married women, by contrast, were in line with their proportion of the overall population, accounting for 29 percent of the eligible population in Iowa, and accounting for 29% of Democratic caucus attendees.” (Statistics from the Republican contest had not yet been released at the time of this press release.) According to Gardener, “The 28% of Iowan women on their own who caucused is the first example of the critical role unmarried women will play in the national discussion, demanding the attention of the Presidential candidates."

Women’s Voices. Women Vote has made the significant discovery that unmarried women are “a surging force in American politics.” Their power is not only in their numbers but also in their unified desire for change. In my conversation with Page Gardner, it came as no surprise to learn that her organization will have successfully registered over a million unmarried women during this election cycle. We can all do our part by joining Women’s Voices. Women Vote’s online campaign “20 million Reasons” and help register unmarried women to vote. Page Gardener also pointed out that it is important for media organizations like The WIP to write about unmarried women in America. “As these women see their lives reflected in the conversation around civic participation through articles in the newspaper, through the media…it is validating and [it] is also motivating. So, the more that we can reflect their lives and say… ‘we know you are out there, we know how powerful you are,’ the better, in terms of getting them to participate.” If unmarried women voted at the same rate as married women, over six million more voters would have gone to the polls in 2004.

Imagine the democracy. Imagine the power.

About The WIP

This article is brought to you by The Women's International Perspective, an international online news website written by a global collective of women writers.

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

2007-12-27T13:56:50Z

Benazir Bhutto, first female prime minister of Pakistan and of any Islamic nation.Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi, was the first female prime minister of Pakistan and of any Islamic nation. She led Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996.

Bhutto, 54, spent eight years in self-imposed exile in Great Britain and Dubai after President Farooq Leghari dismissed her second administration amid accusations of corruption, intimidation of the judiciary, a breakdown of law and order, and undermining the justice system.

She was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to five years in prison. The conviction was later overturned but she remained in exile until this year.

She returned to Pakistan in October after President Pervez Musharraf signed an amnesty lifting corruption charges.

She narrowly escaped injury on October 18 when a suicide bombing near her convoy in Karachi killed 126 people.

"Soon thereafter, I was asked by authorities not to travel in cars with tinted windows -- which protected me from identification by terrorists -- or travel with privately armed guards," she wrote for CNN.com in November.

"I began to feel the net was being tightened around me when police security outside my home in Karachi was reduced, even as I was told that other assassination plots were in the offing."

"I decided not to be holed up in my home, a virtual prisoner," she wrote. "I went to my ancestral village of Larkana to pray at my father's grave. Everywhere, the people rallied around me in a frenzy of joy. I feel humbled by their love and trust."

Musharraf declared a state of emergency and placed Bhutto under house arrest twice in November as anti-government rallies grew in Rawalpindi. The arrest warrant was lifted November 16.

She filed a nomination paper for a parliamentary seat on November 25 and appeared headed for a power showdown with Musharraf before she was assassinated Thursday.

Bhutto was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former president and prime minister of Pakistan, who was hanged in 1979 for the murder of a political opponent two years after he was ousted as prime minister in a military coup.

Her brother, Murtaza, was killed along with six others in a 1996 shootout with police at his home.

--Article from CNN.

Cristina Kirchner becomes Argentine President

2007-12-10T18:27:21Z

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) — The first woman to be elected president of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner was sworn in on Monday, taking over the South American nation's top job from her husband.

Kirchner, 54, who is often compared to New York Senator Hillary Clinton, was sworn in before the two chambers of Congress in the presence of 160 foreign delegations.

Chants of "Viva Cristina" erupted from the public gallery after outgoing President Nestor Kirchner handed over the presidential staff to his wife.

A first in Argentina, the transfer of power from husband to wife symbolized the political continuity the new president has vowed to follow.

The first-lady-turned-president made it clear her husband would not fade into the political background. "For me and for all Argentines, he will also continue being president," she said.

"We have been a couple for 32 years. We have had a lot of experiences together. But she is the one who has to make the decisions ... it would be a big mistake if I interfered," Nestor Kirchner told local television.

Nestor Kirchner, who remained popular throughout his presidency, has not explained why he stepped aside for his wife instead of seeking another four-year term.

With the notable exception of the economy minister, the new president will keep most of her husband's cabinet. She also stressed her determination to maintain high growth rates, rejecting calls to let the economy slow down in order to slash inflation.

"Every time that has been said, Argentina ended up in recession," she said, stressing that "Chinese-style" growth, which since 2003 has been close to nine percent, has made it possible to reduce poverty in the wake of the disastrous 2002 crisis.

Experts warn that the prosperity that came about during Nestor Kirchner's government is weakened by high inflation rates. The government says inflation is at 10 percent, but a number of economists insist the figure is above 15 percent.

On Tuesday, the new president will hold talks with International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who attended her swearing-in.

Argentina last year paid back its entire IMF debt of almost nine billion dollars. Kirchner now hopes to sort out the country's debt with the Paris Club of creditors. Argentina stopped payments on that debt in 2002.

The new president will also face a major challenge in battling endemic crime, which polls show is Argentines' main concern.

Cristina Kirchner began her political career as a provincial deputy in 1989, and later went on to become a national legislator, gaining notoriety for her vocal battles with then-president Carlos Menem.

In 2005, she became a senator for the province of Buenos Aires, home to 40 percent of Argentina's electorate. Her left-of-center politics, like those of her husband, are described as Peronist, a vaguely defined political philosophy named after former president Juan Domingo Peron.

An admirer of US presidential hopeful and former first lady Hillary Clinton, the glamorous "Cristina" is the first woman ever elected to lead Argentina.

The first couple insisted she alone will make the decisions.

This article from: AFP

Daughters of Wisdom: Tibetan Nuns Inspiring a Feminist Movement Through Their Isolated Monastic Life

2007-11-24T20:34:04Z

by Jessica Mosby
The WIP"Free Tibet" has become part of our lexicon due to countless bumper stickers adorning Volvos and fundraisers featuring Richard Gere. Despite the feminist persuasion of many Tibetan supporters, women in Tibet, particularly nuns, are rarely the focus of the movement. After seeing the film Daughters of Wisdom, which is currently on the film festival circuit, I was so inspired by Tibetan nuns and their spunk that I wondered why the “Free Tibet” movement doesn’t focus more on these incredible women.

• Ochi Drolma has been a nun since the age of 14 and is one of Kala Rongo’s founders who helped build its first temple structure. Photograph courtesy of BTG Productions. •

Documentary director and producer Bari Pearlman documents the lives of the 300 nuns practicing Buddhism while living at an all-female monastery in the Nangchen district of Kham, located on the Eastern Tibetan plateau north of the Himalayas. The area is home to over 60,000 subsistence farmers and nomadic herders, most of whom are illiterate and live in extreme poverty. For the women who choose to become nuns, their cooperative life is one of relative ease and security, as their days are filled with work, studying, meditation and rest.

In Tibet, a man who devotes his life to religion is considered a source of pride for his family, but women are not encouraged to join a monastery, even if this is their only access to an education; rather, nuns are considered a burden to their families since they cannot help farm, will not have children who will help farm, nor can they be married off in exchange for livestock. The Kala Rongo Monastery is the only place in Tibet exclusively for nuns, many of whom join the monastery when they are children, to live freely amongst other women.

Buddhism has been resurrected in Tibet since becoming legal again in 1980, when over 20 years of religious oppression at the hands of China’s cultural revolution finally ended. The nuns began building the monastery in 1990. They constructed the buildings themselves, which is quite a feat considering they use antiquated manual tools and wear their formal robes at all times. Nonetheless, it only took them one year to finish their impressive temple. Their construction philosophy dictates that they never hurt any living being. I was inspired by how in synch the nuns are with nature; their lives are completely sustainable.

• Daughters of Wisdom shows the nuns as they go about their daily routines at the monastery. Photograph courtesy of BTG Productions. •

Prior to seeing Daughters of Wisdom, I never really thought that being a nun was an enviable life. But compared with the alternative (illiteracy, high rates of death during childbirth and a life of unending manual labor), being a Tibetan nun seems almost like fun. I mean, even sitting in a meditation box for hours during a three-year meditation retreat wherein the nuns live in complete isolation seems like a vacation. The nuns must agree, since over a third of them have completed the retreat.

By living an isolated monastic life, the nuns are able to escape the oppressive patriarchy that dominates life in Kham. During class at the Monastic College, the Abbott tells the women that there is no gender inequality in enlightenment. Even though there has not yet been a female Abbot at Kala Rongo, the nuns dream of the day when their teacher is a woman; their feminist aspirations are inspiring, particularly in a country where bra-burning never caught on.

During a profile of Tsering Chodron, one of the founding nuns of Kala Rongo, you see the life that women in Kham are resigned to during a trip to her family’s yak farm. While Tsering spends hours a day leisurely studying or resting, her mother and sisters work from sunrise to sunset herding yaks and maintaining the household. Her family, which lives in poverty, uses every part of the yak: the milk is used to make cheese and butter, the hair is used to make tents and the dung is burned for heat. While the men leave the farm to sell the butter and milk, the women stay home and work. Tibetan women have little in life to aspire to and few opportunities.

Lama Norlha Rinpoche founded the monastery and continues to help fund the nuns through donations. It doesn’t take much money to support Kala Rongo, since nuns each live on about $150 a year. Even though Norlha Rinpoche has been exiled from Tibet and currently lives in the US, he regularly visits Kala Rongo and provides guidance to the nuns. During a meeting he helps them democratically divide responsibilities so that they can run the monastery independently in his absence.

• Tsering Chondon is one of Kala Rongo's founding nuns who chose education and community over a life of hard labor and few opportunities. Photograph courtesy of BTG Productions. •

Although Daughters of Wisdom is very inspirational and educational, I felt that it would be better suited as a PBS documentary than a feature film. I enjoyed learning about the nuns’ daily lives, which are consumed by gardening, sewing, studying and meditating. But the slow repetition of their routine was documented too many times in this 68-minute film.

Considering the hardships the nuns faced in their pre-monastic lives, their accomplishments at Kala Rongo are all the more impressive. Kala Rongo has not only allowed the nuns to obtain an education and live in a supportive female-dominated community, but their study of Buddhism has led many of them to an elevated consciousness. Tsewang Yangtso, a nun who joined the monastery at the age of 16, said that after studying Buddhism at the Monastic College, she is no longer afraid of dying. The nuns seem very happy with their life, often breaking out into uncontrollable giggles – even as they’re in the middle of constructing a new building.

These nuns are free, literally and transcendentally, from the sufferings of life. If only more of us could say that!

About the Author
Jessica Mosby is a writer and critic living in Berkeley, California. In the rare moments when she's not traveling across the United States for work, Jessica enjoys listening to public radio, buying organic food at local farmers markets, trolling junk stores, and collecting owl-themed tchotchke.

About The WIP

This article is brought to you by The Women's International Perspective, an international online news website written by a global collective of women writers.