In a critical five to four vote, with Justice Antonin Scalia writing for the five justice majority, the Supreme Court made it much harder for the victims of discrimination to take class action cases against large employers. The US Supreme Court majority ruled that the largest sex-discrimination class-action suit in history, filed on behalf of […]
The State of the World’s Midwifery 2001, a report released yesterday by UNFPA, indicates that if midwifery services were improved by 2015, approximately 3.6 million lives could be saved each year. The report underscores the current disparity between the number of midwives currently practicing and the number needed to reduce infant and maternal mortality. Dr. […]
In response to the US Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Wal-Mart yesterday, Equal Rights Advocates, the civil rights group that took the case ten years ago, and other organizations rallied in support of the women of Wal-Mart outside the Supreme Court today. Representatives from Feminist Majority Foundation, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), […]
The spirit of the Arab Spring broke the steel gates of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today as one by one Saudi women started their engines, defying the country’s notorious ban on women driving, the only place in the world where women are not permitted to drive. Today’s protest is the culmination of an online […]
Catherine Ferguson Academy announced Thursday just hours before a scheduled protest of its proposed closing that its doors will remain open. After an order by Detroit Public Schools’ Emergency Manager, the Catherine Ferguson Academy (CFA) was set to permanently close today, June 17. CFA is a high school for pregnant teens and young mothers and […]
Despite two recent scandals involving child sex abuse by priests, the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops voted to make only minor changes to the church’s abuse policies at a gathering in Bellevue, Washington on Thursday. “The changes are paltry, belated and largely insignificant,” David Clohessy, Executive Director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, […]
Women in Saudi Arabia took to the streets on Friday to demand the right to drive, posting videos like this one of themselves behind the wheel. As of 11:20 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in the US, 32 women had driven in various locations around the country, according to tweets by activist Heba Al Butairi in […]
The International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted a groundbreaking treaty yesterday to extend labor protections to domestic workers. The ILO, made up of trade unions, employers’ organizations, and governments, voted overwhelmingly to adopt the ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, which institutes the first global standards for domestic workers. Key elements of the convention […]
By Amanda Litman, 6/15/2011 Today, North Carolina’s Republican-led Congress voted to override Democratic Governor Beverly “Bev” Perdue’s veto of the $19.7 billion, two-year state budget–making North Carolina the third state to defund Planned Parenthood. In one short sentence at the end of the budget, Republican lawmakers have banned the North Carolina government from making any […]
The New York State assembly approved a same-sex marriage bill on Wednesday and is likely to face a vote in the Senate on Friday. Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) introduced the bill where the Assembly voted 80-63 in favor of the marriage equality bill. The bill faces a much closer vote in the Senate, where support […]
Yesterday the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted 4 to 3 to overturn Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi’s decision to strike down a state law limiting the collective bargaining power of public sector unions to negotiate for benefits, hours, and working conditions. The state Supreme Court ruled that the state Legislature had not violated the Wisconsin […]
The UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, WHO, and OHCHR issued a statement examining causes and consequences of gender-based sex selection. In South, East and Central Asian countries, the sex ratio imbalances are growing and can be as skewed as 130 males per every 100 females. By contrast, the normal sex ratio is 102-106 males per every […]
This Friday, June 17, women in Saudi Arabia will risk arrest by doing something many of us do every day: driving a car. Sign this letter to key Saudi and U.S. decision makers, sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation, to help Saudi women win the right to go wherever they choose, on their own. The […]
Yesterday the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of Texas medical providers challenging Texas’ new abortion ultrasound law, which requires that women seeking abortion services obtain and view an ultrasound. The Center for Reproductive Rights claims that the law violates patients’ and doctors’ First Amendment Rights by requiring “physicians […]
In Vermillion Parish, Louisiana, the school board voted unanimously to end a program at Rene Rost Middle School (RRMS) that separated girls and boys in core curriculum classes for the past two years. The school board announced that because not enough parents had enrolled their children in single-sex classes, it would discontinue the program. The […]
A poll released by the Public Religion Research Institute, which examines the views of Millennial Generation on abortion, revealed that the Millennial Generation, people ages 18-29, are more likely than other age cohorts to support having an abortion provider in the community. However, the Millennial Generation is no more likely to believe that abortions should […]
Two studies from the Guttmacher Institute revealed the importance of offering women contraception after they obtain abortion services. The studies note that abortion patients are at high risk for additional unintended pregnancies. The first study, “Patients’ Attitudes and Experiences Related to Receiving Contraception During Abortion Care,” conducted by Megan Kavanaugh et al., found that 66 […]
A report conducted by Saul Hoffman, Ph.D. of the University of Delaware, released yesterday by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, revealed that in 2008, teen pregnancies cost taxpayers $10.9 billion, which includes a $2.3 billion increase in public-sector health costs and $2.8 billion in increased welfare costs. The costs of foster […]
At the 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS, sponsored by UNFPA, UNAIDS, UNESCO, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), world leaders announced the launch of a Global Plan to eliminate HIV infections in children by 2015 and to help already-infected mothers. The plan aims to address […]
An anti-immigration bill passed in Alabama may make the state the harshest in the country on immigration. The bill, H.B. 56, was passed by large margins in the Alabama Senate and House of Representatives last Thursday. Governor Robert Bentley (R) is expected to sign the bill into law today. Similar to Arizona’s SB 1070, the […]
