Farmerettes in Canada

On this episode, we revisit an older segment on Alice Walker and Womanism. Then we hear from Trina Moyles, Albertan author of “Women Who Dig: Farming, Feminism, and the Fight to Feed the World,” about early women farmers and feminism in farming.

Carrying The World’s Assumptions

On this episode, we explore feminism and mental health. First we hear from registered psychologist, Nicole Perry, who describes her therapeutic approach and incorporating feminism into her practice. Then we bring you a round-table discussion with our special guests Rania Al Sharkawi and Quin Buck about dealing with microaggressions.

Expert At Your Craft

On this episode, we discuss the challenges and triumphs of being a woman entrepreneur. First we speak with Andrea Beça, the host of That’s So Maven, a podcast about women business owners in Edmonton, about what’s she’s learned from speaking to so many women entrepreneurs. Then we hear from Carrie Armstrong, the owner of Mother Earth Essentials, an Aboriginal owned business, about what put her on the path to starting her own business. And finally we hear from Muhga Eltigani, the founder and CEO of NaturAll Club, about her line of fresh fruit hair products, and creating spaces to support black women and their businesses.

For more information on Andrea Beça and That’s So Maven visit: www.andreabeca.work/

For more information on Carrie Armstrong and Mother Earth Essentials visit: motherearthessentials.ca/

For more information on Muhga Eltigani and NaturAll Club visit: naturallclub.com/

Emotional Currency

On this episode, we explore the concept of emotional labour and how it applies to everyday life and relationships. We start off with a group discussion reflecting on why emotional labour is relevant to us personally. Then we hear an interview with Ubah Mohamoud about why she began hosting healing circles for black Muslim women and the emotional toll of dealing with violent Islamophobia and racism in the media and in Canadian society.

News: Breast cancer risks, alcohol consumption during pregnancy, lesbian student fights discrimination, Indigenous women debate sex work legalization

Breast Cancer risk has risen for South Asian women. From the BBC:

Historically women from this ethnic group have had a lower risk of the disease than white British women, the University of Sheffield team said.

But they found breast cancer incidence had risen in recent years for South Asian women.

Experts said lifestyle factors such as obesity, or more coming forward for screening could explain the change.

The researchers, who are presenting their work to the National Cancer Intelligence Network Conference in Brighton on Friday, looked at census and cancer data for 135,000 women from different ethnic backgrounds from 2000-2009.

Between 2000-2004, South Asian women were found to have a 45% cent lower rate of breast cancer compared with white women.

But by the 2005-2009 period, rates of breast cancer among South Asian women had increased significantly and had risen to be 8% higher than white women, whose rates had not changed significantly.

 

Some misleading messages in Wales has  lead to confusion about how much alcohol is safe to consume during pregnancy.

last year mothers-to-be were warned by researchers at Oxford and Bristol Universities that drinking one or two glasses of wine a week during pregnancy could have an impact on a child’s IQ.

In a report, Public Health Wales (PHW) said such “constant changes to advice in relation to alcohol are unhelpful”.

It said it caused “confusion and can also result in a lack of trust and regard for future messages, not only in relation to alcohol, but also for other health issues”.

While the prevalence of substance misuse during pregnancy is not clear, PHW said some 64,000 Welsh children may be adversely affected by parental alcohol problems.

Despite this, services and support for substance misuse in pregnancy vary across Wales and tend to focus more on drugs, it added.

The report recommended that midwives and nurses around Wales be given training to discuss the issue with women and encourage and support them to try to cut down on their drinking.

The article also published some effects of drinking while pregnant:

• When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, the levels of alcohol in her baby’s blood rise as high as her own
• Because the baby’s liver is immature, it can’t break down the alcohol as fast as an adult can
• This means the baby is exposed to greater amounts of alcohol for longer than the mother
• When an unborn baby is constantly exposed to alcohol, a particular group of problems can develop, known as foetal alcohol syndrome
• The government advises pregnant women to avoid alcohol completely, although if they do choose to drink, it says not to have more than one to two units of alcohol once or twice a week.
• The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says there’s no evidence a couple of units once or twice a week will harm the baby. Binges, even if you don’t do it regularly, are definitely to be avoided

A University that expelled a lesbian student on the grounds that she was dating a woman, is now demanding her to return $6,000 in financial aid.

In 2011, Grace University, a Christian university, expelled Danielle Powell, only months before graduating, after discovering that she was in a relationship with another woman. The university is now demanding she pay $6,000 of federal student financial aid she received for her studies since she did not finish the semester.

Aptn has a video up on the debate within Indigenous communities on whether or not prostitution should be made legal.

“Canada needs to take a stand that we’re not going to live off the backs of our women, our vulnerable women who feel this is a choice. This is not a choice,” said Perrier, now 37, who co-founded the Toronto organization Sextrade101. “This is was not my choice, it was his choice.”

Perrier said Canada should adopt a similar policy as Sweden where the client can be charged but not the sex trade worker.