- Amsterdam’s has 35 public urinals for men but only three public toilets for women. Recently, a woman who was fined for public urination was scolded by a judge who said that, despite the lack of toilets available for women, she should have made use of the facilities made available to men. Women are planning to protest the lack of female toilets on Friday.
- Google and other Silicon Valley companies oppose an amendment to the Communications Decency Act that would create new liability for Internet firms that “knowingly facilitate sex trafficking.” The Washington Post reports:
“The bill emerged from the Senate investigation of the online classified ad service Backpage, which found that Backpage was editing ads to remove shocking terms but leaving the ads online, and a series of court rulings which held Backpage blameless for the sex trafficking of underage girls in its ‘Adult Services’ section.”
- A UK survey shows that 51 per cent of young women are using credit cards, overdraft and payday loans to stretch their finances until payday. The chief executive of the Young Women’s Trust, who commissioned the survey, told The Guardian:
“Young women are more likely to be stuck on low pay and on zero-hours contracts, which mean they don’t know how many hours they will work each month and whether they will earn enough to pay their bills. It can be particularly hard for young mums; in many cases, low pay means an hour’s childcare can cost more than an hour’s wages. As a result, many are failing to make ends meet and are falling into debt.”
- Susan Butlin, a Nova Scotia woman was murdered earlier this week. Her neighbour Ernie (Junior) Ross Duggan has been charged. Butlin had filed three complaints against Duggan with the RCMP in the two months preceding her murder. Duggan was never arrested. He was under investigation for sexual assault and vandalism and had been recently ordered by a judge not to contact Butlin.