Migration Category: news-1-5000-national

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Title IX compliance on Thursday in their decision on a lawsuit filed by a group male wrestlers, claiming that the university was discriminating against them on the basis of sex. Essentially the ruling allows California State University at Bakersfield to eliminate men’s teams or reduce the number of men on teams to comply with gender equity goals, or, for that matter, to simply increase the number of women athletes.

The decision, written by Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall, affirmed similar ruling in other athletics programs. Citing the 1999 U.S. soccer team’s Women’s World Cup championship, Judge Hall said “Today we join our sister circuits in holding that Title IX does not bar universities from taking steps to ensure that women are approximately as well represented in sports programs as they are in student bodies.”

California NOW had filed a suit claiming that Cal State had too few female athletes to meet any of the three tests of Title IX – substantial proportionality, history and continuing practice of expanding women’s athletic programs, or demonstrating accommodations for women’s interests and abilities are being met. As a result, a cap was placed on the number of male athletes for each team at Cal-State.

At the end of December, the Pro-Choice Public Education Project, a nationwide consortium of abortion rights groups, will begin broadcasting 30-second commercials aimed at female viewers 16 to 25 years old. The ad will be shown in New York and California and released to the 50 PEP member organizations for their use.

The ad is designed to encourage young people to talk about the issue of abortion. The TV spot features a politician who follows a young woman around and makes various choices for her, such as her selection of soda, and closes with “You wouldn’t want some guy in Washington to make choices for you. Why let them make the most important choice of all. Fight for your right to a safe and legal abortion.”

The Feminist Majority Foundation is a member of the PEP Steering Committee.

A proposed state ban on lesbian and gay marriages in California would affect nearly 150,000 children living with lesbian and gay couples or single parents.

According to a study by Michael Wald, Stanford University law professor, those children might feel ostracized by society if their parents’ marriages were not considered valid. Wald specializes in the effect of public policies on children.

“By all reports, these families are doing very well,” said Wald. He also indicated that studies show children of lesbian and gay parents do well in school and are well-adjusted, but frequently face intolerance.

Proposition 22 would allow California to recognize marriages only with a woman and a man. Voters will decide on this issue in March.

Two studies published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine found that alcohol, drugs and unemployment are dramatic contributors to violence against women.

The studies compared the cases of 661 female victims of violence treated in emergency rooms to cases of 1,179 women and girls treated for other medical problems. One study, led by Demetrios Kyriacou of the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, CA, determined that a woman’s risk of injury from a domestic violence injury was + 3.6 times higher if the male partner abused alcohol, + 3.5 times higher if the used illegal drugs, and + 3.1 times higher if he was not employed.

The Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Center for Women & Policing’s Equality Denied: Status of Women in Policing Report found that domestic violence is the single major cause of injury to women and yet the majority of these violent crimes against women go unreported and uninvestigated by law enforcement agencies. The National Center for Women & Policing works to improve law enforcement response to incidents of domestic violence — crimes that account for as much as 50% of 911 calls to police.

Chilean banker Liliana Labra has been appointed as head of the Banco de Credito e Inversiones, the only bank in Antarctica.

The first woman to run the branch, Labra said she is excited about the opportunity and slightly apprehensive. “But I know that this is a huge challenge that will open doors for other women so that they can apply for this position,” said Labra.

The bank, which has been operating for almost 15 years at the President Eduardo Frei Montalva Chilean Air Force base, serves base residents and tourists. Labra is scheduled to run the Antarctic branch for three months.

According to two reports issued Tuesday, one in three American schools offer abstinence-only policies that leave out any discussion of birth control or the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

The Kaiser Family Foundation found in a survey of secondary school principals that 34 percent of their sex-education programs had abstinence-only policies. In the second study, the Alan Guttmacher Institute surveyed school superintendents and found that 35 percent of districts with sex-education policies only teach abstinence.

President Clinton signed a welfare overhaul legislation in 1996 that included a five-year, $250 million program for abstinence-only programs. Currently, fifteen states require that schools teach abstinence until marriage, and only 13 state require lessons about birth control and STDs.

Defense Secretary William Cohen has ordered spot checks of military bases around the nation to determine whether lesbian and gay service members are being harassed. The acting Pentagon Inspector General, Donald Mancuso, will supervise teams that will determine what problems exists in implementing President Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for lesbians and gay men in the military. Cohen ordered Mancuso to report back within 90 days.

This action came after the recent court-martial and conviction of an army private who murdered a gay soldier in July. In response to this murder, Hillary Clinton has called for the elimination of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Vice President Al Gore also has called for the complete elimination of the policy stating that “Gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve their country without discrimination.”

President Clinton himself has said that the current policy for lesbians and gay men in the military is “out of what,” but has not called for the policy’s dismissal.

According to a Reuters survey, more women will work in financial markets by the year 2010 and could become the managers of the future. The survey shows that women are moving into higher-powered positions and have more flexibility in employment advancement.

Reuters also found that financial market jobs like trading, brokering and dealing, historically dominated by men, will be slow to accept women in the future.

The main obstacle to women’s advancement is and will continue to be adequate childcare. Diana Wolfin, who heads a “Women in Management” course at London’s University of Westminster, notes that working mothers are under increasing pressure to work long hours in the financial markets in order to prove they are committed to their jobs.

The Internet is seen as the greatest asset to women’s advancement in the areas that correspond with internet commerce. “With information technology becoming more readily available, an individual’s ability to gather and synthesize information will be the main determinant of success,” according to one economist surveyed. “Women are moving up so rapidly they’ve got a momentum which in many respects is taking them past the men, making them the leaders of the new ‘revolution’,” he continued.

In keeping with the United Nations resolution passed on November 14, the State Bank of Pakistan has ordered banks to freeze all assets belong to Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban army. The UN imposed economic sanctions on the Taliban in an attempt to force the Taliban to hand over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, accused of masterminding bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa.

Banks in Pakistan were ordered to “take the necessary action to freeze the funds of the nature mentioned in the (U.N.) resolution (and) submit a statement of the frozen funds” by December 20, 1999.

Pakistan is one of only three countries (the others include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) that has recognized the Taliban. Pakistan has been a chief source of support for the Taliban.

The Taliban has instituted a system of gender apartheid in Afghanistan that denies most women basic human rights such as education, medical care, and the ability to leave their homes without a close male relative. The Feminist Majority Foundation has led a campaign of national and international women’s and human rights groups to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan and to help ensure that both the United States and the UN do not recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government in Afghanistan.

Jordan’s Senate revoked a bill that permits lenient punishment for those who kill their female relatives thought to have shamed their families.

Senator Leila Sharaf during Monday’s sessions argued against keeping the current code that ensures leniency for men who murder family members. “Do we want every man in this country to take the law into his hands and not be punished for it?” Sharaf asked.

Dozens of Jordanian women are killed every year in what are described as ‘honor’ crimes. Under the current law, men convicted of killing female relatives in the name of “honor” serve prison sentences of three months to one year. Removing the article would make ‘honor’ killings punishable by up to life in prison.

Rana Husseni, a leading Jordanian journalist who has reported extensively on honor killings, will be one of the symposium speakers on gender-based violence at the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Feminist Expo 2000 for Women’s Empowerment, March 31 – April 2, 2000 in Baltimore, MD.

Sarah Weddington was the keynote speaker for the National Organization for Women-New York state annual conference in Saratoga Springs on Saturday. The conference, held at the Gideon Putnam Hotel, was entitled “The Millennium Summit – To Your Health,” and highlighted health care and reproductive rights. Lois Shapiro-Canter, NY NOW president, spoke about the high cost of women’s health care and demanded a woman’s right “to control her own body.”

Weddington argued the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade decision that affirmed a woman’s right to legal abortion. “That day, I thought we ended the abortion issue. But if you had told me 26, 27 years later we’d still be debating it, I wouldn’t have believed it,” reflected Weddington in her keynote address on Saturday.

The Feminist Majority Foundation will honor Weddington as the youngest woman ever to argue and win a landmark case before the United States Supreme Court in a Salute to Feminist Firsts and Landmarks at Feminist Expo 2000 for Women’s Empowerment, March 31 – April 2, 2000 in Baltimore, MD.

Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party has named as his running mate political dissident and feminist Annette Lu, the first woman ever to run for vice president in Taiwan on a major party’s ticket.

Chen made the announcement on the anniversary of the Formosa Incident, a human rights protest that ended violently. Chen praised Lu’s participation in the democracy movement and told supporters that he and Lu “will always pursue democratic reforms and stand on the right side of democracy.”

Lu challenged the Taiwanese to advance farther than the United States by choosing a female vice president. “The world’s most powerful country, America, was able to put a man on the moon 30 years ago,” Lu said. “But in the past 30 years, it still hasn’t been able to put a woman in the White House.”

Former Senator Carol Mosely-Braun was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa by Vice President Al Gore on Thursday.

Mosely-Braun, the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate, made it clear in her remarks that her diplomatic appointment is a vindication of all allegations against her. Mosely-Braun even thanked Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, who tried to block her nomination, “for giving [her] a hearing and a chance, finally, to put an end to the pain.”

Gore, who has claimed credit for helping ensure Senate approval of her nomination, called Mosely-Braun “an embodiment of America in our most diverse and democratic spirit.”

Mosely-Braun will leave Friday for her new position in New Zealand.

The World Food Program (WFP) stated today that millions of people in war-ravaged Afghanistan face the potential of severe food shortages this winter.

The WFP pointed to soaring wheat prices, a bad harvest, and a lack of supplies from Pakistan as contributors to this potential food crisis in Afghanistan.

Many in Kabul blame the United Nations sanctions for the food shortages. The sanctions, intended to force the Taliban army to give up suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, were imposed on November 14, but they do not directly affect food or humanitarian aid.

The Taliban army has imposed a system of gender apartheid on the women of Afghanistan, denying most women access to education, medical care, and the ability to leave their homes without a close male relative. The Feminist Majority Foundation’s campaign to stop gender apartheid has led the campaign to ensure that the United States and the United Nations not recognize the misogynist Taliban regime.

In a setback to protections against sexual harassment in the workplace the California Supreme Court has ruled that victims of sexual harassment cannot sue their harasser who is not their supervisor, although they can sue their employer for failing to intervene.

Maryann Carrisales, a warehouse supervisor at the Chino state prison, Carrisales filed a suit accusing a fellow supervisor of verbally and physically harassing her. The Court declared that state law does not permit a harassment suit against a co-worker who was not a supervisor.

Kathleen Slosuy, the defendant’s attorney, claimed that the ruling ought to reduce sexual harassment in the workplace by putting into place “stricter or better policies from the employer.”

Carrisales’s attorney, William Quackenbush, said that the ruling leaves some victims with no recourse “no matter how severe the harassment” if the harassment is by a co-worker rather than a supervisor.

A recent study shows that the number of women in state leadership posts is increasing, but at a glacial pace. The Center for Women in Government reported that less than 30 percent of states’ top officials appointed by governors are women, and that the number of female appointees for the past year is only an incremental 0.4 percentage points higher than the previous year.

The study’s director, Center for Women in Government’s Executive Director Judith Saidel, said there will not be true representative democracy in the U.S. until women — who comprise 52 percent of the nation’s population — are equitably represented in government leadership positions.

The state with the highest representation of women is Vermont, where women are 50 percent of state appointees and 51 percent of the population. The state of Oklahoma is at the bottom of the list, with only 14 percent of the appointed government positions filled by women.

The rate of uninsured women is rising faster than the rate for men, according to a study commissioned by the Health Insurance Association of America. The percentage of uninsured women has risen in every adult age group, and women aged 45-64 are less likely to have insurance coverage than men.

One of the study’s authors, William Custer of the Center for Risk Management and Insurance Research at Georgia State University, said that welfare reform dropping many women from Medicaid rolls may be one cause of the increasing numbers of women without insurance. According to a study by the Urban Institute, most women who leave welfare are working in low-wage service jobs, which are less likely than other jobs to provide benefits, including health insurance.

Additionally, the changing nature of the labor market disproportionately affects women because women are more likely than men to have part-time jobs that do not provide health insurance, according to the AFL-CIO’s working women study. Women make up 70 percent of part-time workers. The AFL-CIO study showed that only 39 percent of female private-sector wage and salary workers (compared with 46 percent of men) had jobs that provided health insurance.

A Shelby County Circuit Court Jury in Memphis, Tenn., decided yesterday that civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was the victim of an assassination conspiracy.

After only three hours of deliberations, the jury came back with their decision in favor of King’s family, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit last year against former Memphis cafe owner Loyd Jowers. Jowers claimed in 1993 that he was part of a conspiracy to kill King at Memphis’ Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968.

Calling the case “cut-and-dried,” juror David Morphy said the panel was convinced that the assassination was too complex for James Earl Ray to have planned and carried out by himself. Morphy said the evidence “brought forth that there were a lot of people involved.”

The French Cabinet adopted draft legislation intended to increase women’s participation in public life by asking political parties to put equal numbers of women and men on candidate rosters for local, regional and European elections and penalizing parties that do not comply by cutting government funds.

The French government revised the Constitution in June to include the principle that women and men should have equal access to political candidacy. Currently, women currently make up only 10% of France’s parliament. Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin declared this draft legislation “a major reform in the political life of the country.”

Women’s rights advocates in France criticized the proposed bill saying that it would not prevent women’s names from being listed at the bottom of voting lists and therefore potentially overlooked.