Abstract
Shut up women!
Australia has joined Canada, Germany and the Netherlands in taking the Taliban to the International Court of Justice for gender discrimination (See Stephen Dziedzic, ‘Australia set to take Taliban to International Court of Justice for gender discrimination’, ABC News, 26 September 2024.) Taliban have barred women and girls from education beyond primary school, prohibited them from entering public parks and salons, and restricted them from travelling without a male guardian and from praying with other women.
Rapper and activist Sonita Alizadeh and others continue to strengthen the voices of Afghan women singing in protest, such as the Last Torch sisters, sharing their videos on social media and hoping to keep international focus on women fighting for their rights under the most restrictive era in decades. Says Alizadeh, ‘The Taliban are scared of what women can achieve. They’re trying to stop our dreams.’ (Libby Hogan, ‘Taliban further restricts women’s voices with ban on praying aloud in front of other women’, ABC News, 31 October 2024.) See also #MyVoiceIsNotForbidden, protesting the Taliban’s description of a woman’s voice as ‘awra’, or a private part of the body.
Judge fails to hear women’s pain
Since 2018, more than 1400 Australian women had joined a class action against Bayer over birth control device Essure, complaining of crippling pain, heavy bleeding and in some cases having to endure a hysterectomy. They have been bitterly disappointed. Victorian Supreme Court Judge, Andrew Keogh has found they hadn’t proved Essure had led to major health problems, nor that its manufacturers were negligent in its design. ‘I’ve largely accepted the defendant’s submissions’, he said. ‘Chronic pain and abnormal uterine bleeding commonly affect women of reproductive age. There is a broad range of potential causes of both disorders.’
In 2017, the TGA issued a ‘hazard alert’ for Essure, and the manufacturer said it was being withdrawn from the Australian market ‘for commercial reasons’. Bayer was sued in the US by women who had experienced similar health problems and who had used the device; Bayer agreed to a US$1.6 billion settlement. (Kristian Silva, ‘Australian women lose class action against Bayer over birth control device Essure’, ABC News, 10 December 2024.)
I come to bury or to … cremate?
Speaking of bodies, whether to bury or cremate is often the subject of family disputes but not so often ruled on by courts because they are usually settled. (Candice Prosser and Jordanna Schriever, ‘Funeral dispute ends with court apology to teen’s mother, whose wishes to have a burial were overruled’, ABC News, 24 December 2024.) Recently, the South Australian Supreme Court ruled in favour of the sister of a man whose death is being investigated as murder. Mother wanted a burial; sister argued he should be cremated. Mother had been estranged from her son and was living in England, but had been trying to reunite with him. The siblings had been brought up together in alternate care and the judge found there was no doubt the sister had been closer to her brother. Associate Justice Graham Dart said it was a shame the parties could not agree and acknowledged that someone would be hurt by the decision. The deceased had been in prison, had no will and had not expressed any relevant preference as ‘he was a young man entering adulthood and such matters would not have been on his mind.’ The judge took into account the wishes of the wider, in this case, foster family – however he gave due weight to the wishes of the biological mother, and allowed viewing of the body and for the ashes to be shared between mother and sister.