Gender

July 10, 2007

Gender minister bodyguard accused of groping

TOKYO (Reuters) - A policeman assigned as a bodyguard for Japan's gender equality minister has been arrested on suspicion of molesting a female college student on a train, a police spokesman said on Thursday.

The 39-year-old bodyguard is suspected of touching the young woman's bottom on a train in Tokyo on Monday night, the spokesman said. He was turned over to police by fellow passengers.

The bodyguard was quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying he was drunk and did not remember what happened.

"I am surprised and worried," Sanae Takaichi, the cabinet minister for gender equality, was quoted by her office as saying, adding that she did know details of the allegation.

Takaichi, one of three women in the cabinet, was known before taking up her post last September as an opponent of legislation to allow women to keep their family name after marriage.

Posted by ronnie at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2006

Woman fails gender test from Asian Games

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian silver medallist at the Doha Asian Games could be stripped of her medal after failing a gender test, an Indian sports official said on Sunday.

Santhi Soundarajan won silver in the women's 800m.

"She had to undergo a gender test and there were some problems with it," Dr. Manmohan Singh, head of the medical panel of the Indian Olympic Association, told Reuters.

"They (the organisers) have informed the executive board of the Olympic Council of Asia. Doubts were raised during the dope test by an official, following which the test was carried out," Singh added.

No further details were immediately available. The Asian Games concluded on December 15.

Posted by ronnie at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)

December 15, 2006

Vienna to get gender-equal traffic and exit signs

VIENNA (AFP) - A green exit sign shows a woman, rather than a man, running for the door, while a traffic light features another crossing the street in a new initiative by the City of Vienna to raise awareness about gender equality.

The campaign, launched on Thursday and entitled "Wien sieht's anders" (Vienna sees it differently) is part of the City's "Gender Mainstreaming" project.

Its aim is to "give both genders the same exposure and ensure an equal distribution of chances, opportunities and duties" by changing the gender of figures pictured on familiar signs, City Hall said in a statement.

"Because it clashes with fixed visual habits, the campaign compels (people) to think, look and act differently," Sonja Wehsely, city councillor in charge of women's affairs, said in the statement.

Thus, signs using male characters will have their female equivalent, while the opposite will also be true.

Female exit signs and pictograms in bathrooms featuring a man, rather than a woman, changing a baby, will be introduced at City Hall to start with, the statement said.

Seats reserved for the elderly and pregnant women on Vienna's buses and trams will soon also picture a man carrying a child on his lap.

A roadworks sign picturing a woman in a skirt digging into a pile of dirt and used on a campaign poster will not see the light of day however because of traffic regulations.