Hilda Solis, a leader and fighter for civil rights for women and people of color, has been chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to be his Secretary of Labor. “I am thrilled by the nomination of Hilda Solis, who has been a long-time strong champion for feminist issues in the House of Representatives,” said Feminist Majority […]
A petition to amend the Missouri consitution to ban affirmative action was approved for circulation by Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan last week. The ban, proposed by the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative would affect “action programs designed to eliminate discrimination against, and improve opportunities for, women and minorities in public contracting, employment and education” […]
Feminist and LGBT activists expressed outrage following Wednesday’s announcement that Reverend Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor of California’s Saddleback Church, will deliver the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony on January 20th. In a letter to Obama, Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese wrote, “by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the […]
Afghan journalist Farida Nekzad was honored by the International Women’s Media Foundation with a Courage in Journalism Award for her support of women’s rights and freedom of the press in Afghanistan. As the managing editor and deputy director of Pajhwok Afghan News, the leading independent news agency in Afghanistan, Nekzad has fought to increase opportunities […]
A statewide survey released yesterday by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts found that staff at several hospitals may be in violation of a 2005 state law that requires emergency rooms to offer emergency contraception (EC) to rape survivors. The survey was conducted by a researcher posing as a rape crisis counselor who called 70 emergency rooms statewide […]
Only three vacancies remain in President-elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet, and women have been appointed to only four of the filled positions, which is less than even President Clinton’s appointees in 1992 and equal to President Bush’s appointees in 2000. “Women’s groups who have been hoping for an historic breakthrough in the numbers of women and […]
Thousands of Congolese women marched in Kinshasa yesterday to denounce sexual violence against women and children as a tactic of war. Marie-Ange Lukiana, the Congo’s Women and Children’s Affairs Minister, led the march, calling sexual violence a weapon used “to spread AIDS,” according to Agence France Presse. Since the war in the Democratic Republic of […]
A resolution that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman was tabled at a Sioux City, Iowa city council meeting last night. According to the Des Moines Register the city does not have legal authority to define marriage and its passage would have had symbolic impact, but would have only reiterated […]
In a speech celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, King Mohammed VI of Morocco announced last week his nation’s full acceptance of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the 1979 treaty that bans gender discrimination. According to Women’s eNews, Morocco formally […]
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel voted unanimously to approve a second generation female condom last week. The device is cheaper than female condoms that are currently available, is easier to produce, and uses a soft new material. The panel advised that instructions for the new device remain the same as those for first […]
The Vatican issued a comprehensive doctrinal ethics guide Friday that reaffirms opposition to contraception, in vitro fertilization, embryonic stem cell research, genetic testing, and cloning. The document, entitled Dignitas Personae, also prohibits use of the morning after pill, intrauterine devices, and mifepristone. The Digitas Personae is the Vatican’s first authoritative statement on reproductive science in […]
In Australia, the state Parliament of Victoria voted earlier this month to expand in vitro fertilization (IVF) laws so that single and lesbian women will have legal access to IVF. Previously, single and lesbian women were required to be clinically infertile in order to receive IVF treatment. The legislation also gives parents of children conceived […]
Late Wednesday night, the Senate passed by unanimous consent the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act that was passed earlier in the day by the House. The Act, H.R. 7311, authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 2008 through 2011 and enhances measures to combat trafficking in persons. The Act includes provisions making it easier for victims […]
The New Jersey State Civil Union Review Commission has found that the state’s civil union law does not provide the same protections to gay couples as marriage does to heterosexual couples. The commission found that “the separate categorization established by the Civil Union Act invites and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children,” […]
Anti-choice forces are aiming to end government subsidies received by Planned Parenthood that total $335 million a year. Claiming that these funds indirectly finance abortions, The Family Research Council has developed a toolkit to help anti-choice forces lobby government officials to take “a second look” at Planned Parenthood’s need for funding. The argument for defunding […]
Oral contraceptives will be available without prescriptions to women 16 and over beginning next year at two trial sites in London. The trial is intended to determine whether supplying oral contraception over-the-counter at pharmacies effectively reduces the number of unintended pregnancies. According to the BBC, Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe. […]
On the anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) today, the European Union (EU) aims to expand the Declaration to include condemnation of the criminalization of same-sex relationships. An EU delegation will present their proposed amendment to the Declaration at the UN General Assembly today, according to the Christian Science Monitor. UDHR was […]
Angola’s Ministry of Family and Women Promotion (Minfamu) met this week to collaborate on a draft law intended to combat violence against women. Domestic violence is not criminalized in Angola and is rarely prosecuted in rape or assault cases. According to the Angola Press Agency, local women’s rights advocates aim to guarantee protection for victims […]
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a case that challenges the states’ same-sex marriage ban. If the law is ruled unconstitutional, Iowa will become the third state in the US to permit homosexual couples to marry. Same-sex marriage is currently legal only in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Last month’s passage of Proposition […]
Rebecca Kadaga, the Deputy Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, has recently called for the legalization of abortion in Uganda. Kadaga believes that it is possible to legalize abortion in Uganda in line with the Maputo Protocol, an agreement led by the African Union that includes provisions on women’s rights. In relation to abortion, the Maputo […]
