Nicolette Self

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By Nicolette Self • 13 years ago

Why are male babies still being awarded preferential treatment?

A friend of mine is pregnant: she and her husband are absolutely delighted. They have been trying for a baby for almost a year now, and had almost given up hope. When I met up with them both for a celebratory lunch last week, we naturally began discussing the baby: I asked when my friend was due, and whether she had any particular names in mind. When I asked her about the baby’s sex, her face paled and her husband immediately looked awkward. I didn’t want to push the issue, since I wasn’t quite sure how exactly I had overstepped the mark, but they both explained to me that as a result of their family backgrounds (both are of Indian origin albeit from entirely different regions of India), they had chosen not to pursue the question of whether their baby was male or female.

From speaking with them, I learnt that male babies are generally considered more ‘covetable’ in certain areas of rural India. Although both my friend and her husband abhorred the very notion of idealizing one sex over another, they both recognised the fact that their respective families would be hoping for a male child and were therefore refusing to find out the sex of the baby in advance of the birth. They also told me that in certain areas of London – those which traditionally host large Indian communities – the local hospitals refuse to carry out the testing (known as ‘Amniocentesis’) which indicates ...

By Nicolette Self • 13 years ago

The penal system needs updating to suit the surge in female prisoners

Can you imagine being shackled down to the hospital bed while giving birth? It may sound like something from post-apocalyptic fiction, but in actual fact female prisoners are regularly restrained while giving birth, irrespective of the flight risk that they may pose. A recent report into pregnant women prisoners revealed that over thirty-six states received poor results as a result of their treatment of female prisoners in their care while they were in labor.

One prisoner, Shawanna Lumsey, who served time for credit card fraud while pregnant in 2003, complained of receiving the bare minimum in terms of pre-natal care while incarcerated. The fact of the matter is that, irrespective of the crime, the pregnant women in question should have available ...

By Nicolette Self • 13 years ago

Orthodox Jewish woman wins legal battle for house

A Brooklyn woman has just won a legal battle involving inheritance rights. Amy Neustein has been fighting for the past eight years to keep the New York house – left to her by her parents in their will – which her brother has been trying to forcibly evict her from. Neustein, an Orthodox Jewish woman, explains that this type of legal issue frequently arises within the Orthodox community. Certain Orthodox Jewish communities follow the belief that only sons can inherit property rights.

Neustein’s brother , the first-born son of an Orthodox Rabbi, claimed in court that he had a religious right to evict his sister from her property. The Brooklyn Courthouse in which the legal battle took place awarded Neustein over ...

By Nicolette Self • 13 years ago

Sexual misogyny in the workplace

A friend and I were chatting the other day, and we realised that neither of us had worked in an office and not met with some degree of sexual misogyny. Now, in all fairness, I am still at a fairly early stage in my career, and have only managed to clock up five years in an office environment so far. That’s five years, four different offices, countless occasions where I have felt that my being a woman has put me at a disadvantage.

In my first-ever job after university, I went into a meeting with the CEO and found myself having to ask him to remove his hand from my leg. It came out of absolutely nowhere; one minute we were ...

A friend and I were chatting the other day, and we realised that neither of us had worked in an office and not met with some degree of sexual misogyny. Now, in all fairness, I am still ...

By Nicolette Self • 13 years ago

The marginalisation of female politicians by the media

When David Cameron, the Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, came into power, he vowed to have a 30% female representation in the Government. The Liberal Democrats do not have one female representative on the front bench. In a letter to the Guardian by Dr Rainbow Murray, convenor of the Women and Politics group in the Political Studies Association, Dr Murray emphasized the contradiction between Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ political ideals, and the ‘man-only’ ethos which currently runs through the governmental bloodline.

The issue was further exacerbated by the current obsession with the dress-sense of Cameron’s wife, Samantha. News coverage focusing on high-ranking female politicians, members of the judiciary, medical professionals and female entertainers frequently makes light of their professional ...

By Nicolette Self • 13 years ago

Two steps forward, ten steps back..

Is anyone here familiar with the ‘Katie Price’/‘Jordan’ phenomenon? Jordan, the infamous British glamour-model and popular television personality, has just published her fourth autobiography. Jordan is quite the prolific writer, and has so far managed to produce not only her four autobiographical books, but also an additional five fictitious novels; ‘Angel’, ‘Angel Uncovered’, ‘Sapphire’, ‘Paradise’ and ‘Crystal’. And the worst news? They have all gone straight to the top of the bestseller lists.

I don’t think that I’m making a huge leap here by assuming that Jordan doesn’t write these books herself. I remember when ‘writing a book’ actually used to mean writing a book. When I read about Jordan’s latest literary achievement, the words ‘writing a book’ usually refer to ...