Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern’s remarks labeling homosexuality as a bigger threat to the US than terrorism has sparked nationwide controversy. State Rep. Kern’s speech to a Republican organization was recorded and posted on YouTube, reports ABC News. State Rep. Kern said that “the homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation.” According to her, “Studies […]
The United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro announced in a speech that efforts to reach the UN’s Millennium Development Goals must focus on empowering women. Deputy Secretary General Migiro spoke in New York on Tuesday to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York about leadership training and development for women and girls. […]
Oklahoma’s Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that taking pictures up someone’s skirt in a public place is not a crime. The court voted 4-1 in favor of 34-year-old Riccardo Ferrante who was arrested for putting his camera up an unsuspecting 16-year-old girl’s skirt in a department store, reports the Associated Press. The lone dissenting voter […]
Army Specialist Monica Lin Brown earned the prestigious Silver Star for saving the lives of her fellow soldiers in Afghanistan. Brown is a 19-year-old medic from Texas who used her body to shield wounded soldiers from mortars as she administered aid to them, according to the Associated Press. She is the second woman to earn […]
Traditional women leaders in Ghana are teaching other Ghanian women about their rights to abortion. According to Ipas, an international organization for reproductive rights, Ghana has one of Africa’s most progressive laws on abortion, but few women are educated about their legal rights to abortion. In Ghana, women who were raped or victims of incest […]
Today, March 10th, feminists across the country celebrate the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers. The celebration honors health care professionals who provide vital abortion services to women, despite facing harassment, intimidation, vandalism, and even violence from anti-choice extremists. March 10th was chosen to honor these individuals in 1996 in commemoration of the death […]
Oregon state legislature established rules on Monday that will ensure the 2007 law requiring hospitals to offer emergency contraception (EC) to victims of sexual assault is effectively implemented. The bill (see PDF), which went into effect at the beginning of this year, requires hospitals to inform their sexual assault patients about EC and to provide […]
The California State Assembly unanimously elected Karen Bass as the new Assembly Speaker last week. Bass is the first African American and the first women to hold the position. She has served in the California state legislature since 2004 and was the Assembly Majority leader before winning the Speaker position. An active feminist, Bass is […]
International Women’s Day (IWD) will be celebrated this Saturday across the world. According to the IWD website, this year marks the 97th annual celebration. Counties including Armenia, Russia, and Vietnam recognize IWD as an official holiday, but hundreds of celebrations happen all over the world on March 8th. Two upcoming conferences in Washington DC correspond […]
Missouri House of Representatives introduced an amendment on a drug monitoring bill on Tuesday that would classify mifepristone, formerly known as RU-486, as a Schedule I controlled substance. Schedule I controlled substances are drugs that have a high potential for abuse and no medicinal value, such as heroin or LSD. Mifepristone is not addictive and […]
Harvard University implemented a policy last month that provides women-only gym hours to accommodate Muslim women, launching a debate across the campus. The women-only gym hours are intended to allow Muslim women, who follow traditional dress codes by covering their hair and most of their skin in the public, to dress comfortably during exercise. Kiani […]
The Campaign for Stronger Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) called for the creation of a centralized UN women’s agency last week. The activist groups leading the campaign include Amnesty International, Center for Women’s Global Leadership, International Planned Parenthood Federation, and Women’s Environment and Development Organization. The campaign was launched last week during the 52nd Commission […]
A Kansas Planned Parenthood clinic was cleared of any wrongdoing on Monday when the grand jury refused to issue an indictment. The grand jury had subpoenaed the medical records of 16 women from the Planned Parenthood clinic, but all the records were given to District Judge Kevin Moriarty instead of the jurors. The jurors reviewed […]
On Monday, the New Jersey State Senate approved a bill that gives workers paid leave to care for an infant or sick family member. The Record reports that New Jersey would become the third state to provide workers with paid family leave. The bill entitles workers up to six weeks leave paid two-thirds of their […]
Tuesday hundreds of South African women marched in protest against sexual assault by taxi-drivers. Taxi drivers in the area have targeted women in miniskirts, according to Africa News. The march took place at Noord, a Johannesburg taxi rank, where Nwabusa Ngcukana was sexually assaulted for wearing a miniskirt. Ngcukana’s attackers stripped, groped, and poured alcohol […]
US District Judge David H. Coar ruled on Friday to continue the hold on an Illinois parental notification law. The Parental Notice of Abortion Act, which was passed in 1984 and updated in 1995, was never enforced because no rules were established for judges on handling appeals. In 2006, the Illinois Supreme Court issued such […]
Experts agree that gender based lending discrimination is a problem that has added to the subprime crisis. Though women have higher credit scores on average than men, more women than men had subprime mortgages, according to Womens eNews. The disparity between women and men for high-rate loans is even greater for women of color. The […]
The United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched a campaign last week during the UN’s 52nd Commission on the Status of Women that seeks an to end violence against women. The campaign, called UNite to End Violence against Women, will run until 2015 and calls for the cooperation of the UN, national governments, and […]
The Kansas Supreme Court announced last week that it will hear arguments on three subpoenas for patient records by the grand jury investigating Dr George Tiller on April 8th. The court maintained its earlier order temporarily blocking the subpoenas, and ordered the grand jury not issue any more subpoenas for Dr. Tillers patients medical records, […]
The Wisconsin state Senate voted 25-6 to pass the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill last week. The bill mandates that all hospitals in the state provide rape victims with information on and access to Emergency Contraception (EC). EC is a single dose medication that prevents pregnancy when taken within 120 hours of unprotected sex. […]
