Less patients die if the physician treating is female

Does the gender of your physician play any role in the outcome of your illness ?

I know many patients who are not so confident in getting treated by a female physician. They feel women are not up to the mark in solving complex issues in medicine though they are very comfortable to be under the care of a female nurse. Such misconceptions based on gender is prevalent widely and is probably one of the reason why female physicians in USA gets on an average 20000 dollars less than male colleagues in a year. 

But what does scientific data say ?

A new study published online in JAMA has some interesting results. As per the study female internists give better results than their male counterparts.

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Women oppose Sharia courts in Britain

Sharia courts in Britain ?

Yes there are Sharia courts in United Kingdom. This is what Wikipedia say about it.

The Islamic Sharia Council (ISC) is a British organisation that provides legal rulings and advice to Muslims in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic Sharia based on the four Sunni schools of thought. It primarily handles cases of marriage and divorce and, to a lesser extent business and finance. According to BBC News, thousands of Muslims have turned to the Council to resolve family and financial issues. The Economist magazine states it has offered rulings to “thousands of troubled families since the 1980s”, the council states that it has dealt with an average of between 200 and 300 cases monthly as of January 2012.

The council has no legal authority United Kingdom,and cannot enforce any penalties; many Muslims would appear voluntarily to accept the rulings made by the ISC.

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Women unite to fight against oppressive religious laws

The organization of most regressive patriarchs of India, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)  is vigorously protesting the Central Goverment’s affidavit to the Supreme Court which supported a ban on triple Talaq. They are also boycotting the questionnaire circulated by the Law Commission inviting opinion on Uniform Civil Code.

At the same time women activists, both inside and outside Muslim community, has come out with a strong statement condemning the AIMPLB last month. Here is the complete text of the statement.

We, as part of women’s movement and practising feminists working with Muslim community and the women of the community for years in India, take the liberty to write this statement condemning the recent affidavit posed by All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). The claims of this affidavit are:

First, abolition of triple talaq is (un) Quranic;

Second, since women lack decision making abilities, it is only men of the community who should have this right;

Third, polygamy is Islamic, though not promoted by Islam, and this practice ensures marital rights for Muslim women, banning of which will result in promiscuous sexual practices or murder of women at the hands of their husbands;

Fourth, the honorable Supreme Court of India has no right to intervene in the religious law of the community.

This statement has been issued by the AIMPLB in the context of the growing number of Muslim women’s petitions challenging the constitutionality of triple talaq in the apex court.

Image credit - DNA

Image credit – DNA

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“We want doctors , not missionaries” call jolts Polish Government

We want doctors, not missionaries !

More than 30,000 Polish women, many dressed in black, chanted “We want doctors, not missionaries!” and carried placards bearing messages like “My Uterus, My Opinion”, and “Women Just Want to Have FUN-damental Rights” at Warsaw’s  Castle square on Monday. They were taking part in a massive nation wide strike against the newly proposed abortion ban in this largely Catholic country.

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Image credit – AP

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Historic women’s strike in Poland on Monday

Women in Poland is going on a nationwide strike on Monday to protest the proposed draconian ban on abortions. Poland, a Catholic country has a very restrictive law on abortion even now.

Poland already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, with terminations legally permitted only when the life of the foetus is under threat, when there is a grave threat to the health of the mother, and in the instance that the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.

Were the proposed ban to be enacted, all terminations would be criminalised, with women punishable with up to five years in prison. Doctors found to have assisted with a termination would also be liable for prosecution and a prison term.

Critics say that would mean that even a woman who suffers a miscarriage could be under criminal suspicion, and that doctors might be put off conducting even routine procedures on pregnant women for fear of being accused of facilitating a termination.

Although a ban has received public support from elements of the Catholic church and Poland’s ruling rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS), neither initiated the proposals. They were drafted by hardline conservative advocacy group Ordo Iuris and submitted by the Stop Abortion coalition as a “citizens’ initiative” – a petition considered by parliament once it has received more than 100,000 signatures.

Credit - Getty

Credit – Getty

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Glorifying stalking results in horrific murders

Young men in India are taught not to take no as an answer from girls they fall in love with. This result in horrific murders.

A 23-year-old woman was allegedly stabbed to death by a man for rejecting his proposal, in fourth such killing in Tamil Nadu in the last three months.
A 23-year-old woman was allegedly stabbed to death by a man for rejecting his proposal, in fourth such killing in Tamil Nadu in the last three months.

Jahir (27) attempted suicide after killing Dhanya last night at Annur near here. He is in a critical condition, police said.

Dhanya, who worked in a private firm, was allegedly being harassed for some time by the accused to marry him though she had spurned his proposal, police said.

This is the fourth fatal attack on young women in the state, who had spurned proposals of their stalkers, since the killing of software professional Swathi at a railway station in Chennai in July.

Last month, an engineering student was clubbed to death in her classroom in a private college by her senior in Karur while a 25-year-old teacher was killed in a church by a man, who later ended his own life, for spurning his love.

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Canadian PM proves he does not care about universal gender equality

The Canadian PM Justin Trudeau indicated that he do not care for gender equality in cultures and communities other than his own.

He attended a gender segregated function in a mosque in Ottawa and actually seemed to praise the gender segregation as diversity and as a source of strength.

 “Diversity is a source of strength, not just a source of weakness, and as I look at this beautiful room — sisters upstairs — everyone here, (I see) the diversity we have just within this mosque, within the Islamic community, within the Muslim community in Canada.”

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Atheist movement needs disagreements to grow and flourish

I believe that continuing debates and public disagreements are necessary for any movement to grow and flourish. It is very much true about atheist movement too. Otherwise it will become as stagnant as religions.

P Z Myers addressed this issue recently in a post. His writing was in response to this article in Patheos by David Smalley titled “What is killing the atheist movement “.

The gist of David Smalley’s article as far as I could understand is most of the disagreements with in the Atheist community can be solved by talking in private. Going public about the disagreement will harm the fight against religious orthodoxy.

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