A judge ruled on Friday that an alleged Halliburton/KBR rape case can go to court, rather than closed arbitration. Jamie Leigh Jones, a former employee of Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, filed a lawsuit against her former employers in May 2007, stating that she was drugged and gang-raped by a group of her co-workers in […]
Irena Sendler, who smuggled 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, died at age 98 in a hospital in Warsaw on Monday. Sendler was honored by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem in 1965 for her efforts to save children in the Warsaw ghetto. During the war, Sendler was […]
A study released last week revealed that women who quit smoking will receive significant health benefits within 5 years of quitting. The study found that some risks, such as the risk of vascular mortality, may be eliminated soon after quitting. Stacy Kenfield, one of the authors of the report, told HealthDay News, “The harms of […]
Mother’s Day marked the beginning of the ninth annual National Women’s Health Week. The health week runs from May 11-May 17, and is organized by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH). Health Week is designed to educate about the simple steps people can take to be healthier, such […]
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that local and state institutions cannot provide health insurances for partners of employees in same-sex relationships. The Associated Press reports that the decision was a result of Michigan’s 2004 ban on same-sex marriage. Tom Patrick, one of the plaintiffs filing a suit with the American Civil Liberties Union against […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently upheld Officer Tisha Prater’s complaint against Detroit Police Department’s pregnancy policies. Pregnant police officers in Detroit are forced to go on unpaid leave when they reveal their pregnancies and are denied light-duty work. The Detroit News reports that Officer Prater was forced to hide her pregnancy by wearing […]
The campaign to place a ban on affirmative action on Missouri’s November state ballot failed to produce enough signatures by the required deadline on Sunday. The so-called “Missouri Civil Rights Initiative,” would have banned affirmative action for women and people of color in public education, public employment, and public contracting. “I think Missourians spoke loudly […]
Officer Sonia Henriques’s request to be assigned to light duty due to her pregnancy will be granted, ending days of controversy. Ocean Township Police Chief Antonio Amodio originally denied Henriques’s request, even though office jobs were available at police headquarters. Office Henriques was told to either continue working as she always has or take an […]
Feminist candidates won key victories in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries this week. In Indiana, Jill Long Thompson won the tight gubernatorial Democratic primary against Jim Schellinger. Thompson is a 3 term former congresswoman for Indiana’s 4th District, and was a US Under-Secretary of Agriculture from 1995 to 2001. She will face Republican incumbent […]
The Kansas Supreme Court determined guidelines today to limit the power of the grand jury investigating the case of Dr George Tiller, a late term abortion provider from Wichita. Dr. Tiller has been fighting the grand jury subpoena of private medical records of some 2,000 of his patients. The Center for Reproductive Rights issued a […]
Hundreds of women activists are participating in a 12-day bicycle ride across the Middle East to campaign for peace. Follow the Women, a group of 500 women from over 40 countries devoted to supporting peace and ending violence in the Middle East, are hosting the 2008 Pedal for Peace in the Middle East fro May […]
Students at Washington University in St Louis are organizing in protest of the University’s plans to honor notorious anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly with an honorary doctorate degree at the school’s commencement ceremony May 16. Students have set up a Facebook group protesting the decision titled No Honorary Doctorate for Anti-Feminist Phyllis Schlafly, which 1,219 people have […]
The Malaysian government rejected a proposal on Monday that would require women traveling outside of the country to have a letter from their parents or employers verifying the women’s reasons for traveling. Women’s groups denounced the proposal as an infringement of human rights. Their outcry prompted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to announce […]
In a split decision last week, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals denied requests from state officials, women’s and civil rights groups to block a preliminary injunction allowing pharmacists in Washington to continue to refuse to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception while they appeal the decision. The injunction suspended a state Board of Pharmacy […]
An attempt by Republican lawmakers in the Kansas Senate to override Governor Kathleen Sebelius’s veto of an anti-abortion bill failed last week. Sebelius vetoed a measure that would have imposed more restrictions on abortion providers, and would have allowed family members of patients to sue if they think a doctor had performed or was about […]
United Nations Deputy Secretary Genreal Asha-Rose Migiro said last week that women can contribute the most to finding a solution to the global food crisis. The UN News Service reports that Deputy Secretary-General gave voice to women’s importance to solving the global food crisis in an address to the Women’s Foreign Policy Group in New […]
The National Center for Women and Policing (NCWP) joined with the Canadian Boarder Services Agency (CBSA), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and Women in Federal Law Enforcement (WIFLE) to hold a seminar on human trafficking at the Canadian Embassy on May 1. “Empowering the Victim: Developments in Human Trafficking” was the fourth annual conference […]
Ms Magazine held a forum at the National Press Club on Wednesday to raise awareness for the effort to increase funding for international family planning to $1 billion in the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act. Katherine Spillar, executive editor of Ms., moderated the forum. Dr. Solomon Orero, Dr. Nafis Sadik, Daniel Pellegrom, and Eleanor Smeal addressed […]
Abortion opponents plan to reintroduce a constitutional amendment on Thursday to ban abortion in Tennessee. Last week, anti-abortion groups launched a campaign to pressure the Tennessee House legislature to pass a resolution (see PDF) banning abortion. The resolution states, “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of […]
The Minnesota House of Representatives voted in favor of an education bill on Monday that requires Minnesota schools to provide comprehensive sex education. According to the Associated Press, these sex education programs must focus on abstinence but must include medically accurate information about contraceptives, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and pregnancy prevention. Under the bill (see […]
