Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the wonderful Shaheen Ashraf…

Sitting on the Board of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Shaheen Ashraf was born in Karachi and grew up in a little town called Khulna (then East Pakistan). She came to Canada in 1976 with 4 young children and once they were grown, she became involved with several volunteer organizations “to help other human beings,” her aim in life. Holding a diploma in Hotel Management, she is presently enrolled in a Psychology & Social work course and works full time with her husband as an administrator of a Ship Brokering firm. She also takes the time to answer our questions to let us know why being pushed into a corner can make you resilient and empowered.
(more inside…)

Honey Jam is celebrating 15 years! The event that helped launch the careers of Jully Black and Nelly Furtado is now the longest running all-female talent showcase in Canada.

And they’re getting ready to do it all again this year! Are YOU ready to audition?

(more inside…)

Like what you see? Want to support independent media? Get Shameless delivered straight to your door, three times a year, for only $12, and save a couple bucks off the newsstand price to boot!

Subscriptions are available through PayPal right now! Or, if you’d rather mail in a subscription form, you can print one off here (2,438K PDF). All prices are in Canadian Dollars (CAD).

Buy a two-year subscription and save an additional $2 off the normal subscription price. That’s $22 for a two-year Canadian subscription and $42 for a two-year American subscription.

In just under 2 weeks I’m going to be having a baby. I’ve resisted blogging about it here because while having children, child rearing, parenting, birthing, and all the facets tied up with it (consumption, children-in-the-world, industrial capitalism, gender dynamics, etc) are Feminist issues, I’m still on the fence as to where I stand regarding my feminist experience and the whole “having a baby”-thing: I just haven’t felt I have anything really coherent or “new” to add to the literature.

But, my opinions and responses to my experience slowly trickle in and form, often in response to people’s reactions/comments or responses to parenthood/motherhood/birthing in the media and government policy.

There’s a big “to-do” going on out here in BC about ultrasounds and the recent addition of policy that will require a $50 fee from expectant parents to find out the sex of their fetus. Basically, in BC it was hit or miss if you could find out from an ultra-sound technician what your fetus’s sex is. We wanted to find out the sex of our fetus primarily to have an answer when we were/are consistently inundated with the question, “what are you having?” (sarcastic answer, “a baby?”). And then feeling pressured to say which way you’d prefer (“I don’t really care as long as their not a facist”). And then having to endure people’s gendered biases like, “Girls are so much harder than boys”. But, at both of our ultrasounds the technician (same technician both times) wouldn’t tell us (“we’re not allowed to tell”) and made us avert our eyes of the screen. Neither of these things disappointed me or frustrated me, as the medical system + pregnancy is all new to me, so hey, whatever, it’s got 4 limbs, a beating heart, and kidneys! Success!
(more inside…)

Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the awesome Donna Linklater…

Lead vocals and autoharp player for The Billie Hollies, Donna Linklater founded the female folk-noir quartet two and a half years ago when she moved to Toronto after studying opera at Brandon University. The band was most recently involved with the event Torn From The Pages where Donna composed a piece of music based on the novel “Stunt” by Claudia Dey, which will be expanded into a full-length oratorio. Now she tells us why, as a Shameless Woman, she challenges the expected norm and why this is a very exciting time to be a female musician.
(more inside…)