The Economist comments on the history of women breadwinners.

A leading Istanbul businesswoman said: “The prime minister’s suggestions that those on the streets are only looters and provocateurs very much misrepresent the current situation as even the elderly in residential areas show their support by banging on pots and pans from their windows.

“The solidarity among the protesters aimed specifically at the prime minister exemplifies their frustration at his growing autocratic ambitions … While it is unlikely he will step down, he has over-reached his authority and now faces a more organised, more vocal opposition.”   Article

What images should young girls have of themselves?  When Barbie built a house in Berlin, men and women protested the princess pink decor and dolls reduced to models and wives.   Whether or not this house travels in Germany, even though one doll is a Chancellor who looks like Angela Merkel, depends on the reaction.  Article  Here are some recent images. 

Germany is the only country in the European Union that Li Keqiang will visit.  Obama arrives in June.  Are the leaders of the world supporting Merkel’s re-election in September?  David Cameron is her Best Friend Forever.   These world leaders come with hazards.  A German journalist riding in a taxi in Bejing recently, got stuck in traffic.  A thick smog covered the city and the smells of charcoal wafted through the taxi window. In halting Mandarin, the journalist asked the taxi driver is he wasn’t afraid that the city would choke in smog.

The cab driver replied:  “That is the smell of money.  If it stinks, then the economy is booming.”   Article 

BEIJING — Lately, a stream of rosy media accounts has been telling the world to look to China as a model of gender equality in the workplace. “China Dominates List of Female Billionaires” and “Women in China: the Sky’s the Limit” are some recent examples from the international press.

But the cascade of optimistic portraits detracts from what is really happening to women in China’s fast-growing urban work force. They are losing ground fast.  Here’s a report. 

“The abusers are right wing nationalists, angry at women speaking their mind. They have even coined a term for us – ‘sickular’.”    Article

Many Indian men react to posts that are critical of “caste and of Hindu nationalism”.

The Filipacchis of Hachette are not the only target of web editors let off their leashes.  Carmen Reinhart’s prominence in the economic world may well have made her inadvertent Excel error a tempest in a teapot.  Editors of papers like the New York Times have never been free of targeting enemies and ignoring the foibles of friends, but the ubiquitous web is a place, we as editors have to be particularly careful not to let our emotions run away with our keyboards.  Article

Turkish high fashion magazine Ala, edited by a woman, takes us intp the future without betraying the past.  Article

Mothers who stay at home with young children, and older women who need to work drive unemployment figures up.   Article