Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared his intention Wednesday to change the country’s constitution to allow women wearing Muslim head scarves in public universities. The announcement, which came just weeks after Erdogan’s conservative Justice and Development Party oversaw the election of devout Muslim Abdullah Gul to the presidency, alarmed secularists. After the party’s landslide […]
A federal appeals court ended former Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline’s quest to require health care providers and counselors to report all adolescent sexual activity, even kissing. Healthcare and counseling professionals, led by the Center for Reproductive Rights, challenged the constitutionality of the policy, and in 2006 a US district judge blocked its enforcement, ruling […]
The small town of Jena, LA was flooded on Thursday with thousands of demonstrators in support of six black teens dubbed the ‘Jena 6.’ Last December, the six students were charged with attempted murder after the alleged assault of a white student. This came three months after a black freshman and his friends sat under […]
A commission appointed by the Israeli army is set to recommend that previously all-male areas of the country”s defense forces be opened to women soldiers. The commission urges that “men and women be utilized equally according to the soldiers’ pertinent criteria and personal qualities and not according to his or her sex,” reports the Associated […]
Maryland’s highest court upheld a state law banning same-sex marriage in a 4-3 decision yesterday, claiming that the ban does not discriminate on the basis of gender and does not deny any fundamental rights as guaranteed by the constitution. Judge Glenn T. Harrell Jr. did say, however, that the court’s opinion “should by no means […]
University of California, Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake announced on Monday that he is reinstating respected constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky as the new UCI law school’s founding dean. The decision follows controversy and widespread outrage from both liberals and conservatives over Drake’s rescinding the original deanship offer. Drake originally offered the position to Chemerinsky in August, […]
A federal appeals court has ruled that a New York public college had the right to refuse official school recognition to a fraternity because it excludes women. In 2005, the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity sued the College of Staten Island for denying them recognition based on the school’s anti-discrimination policy. Last year, a federal judge […]
Penthouse, along with Playgirl and Ultra for Men, returned to Army and Air Force military exchanges this summer after being banned 10 years ago by a Pentagon review board for being sexually explicit. By July, Penthouse was available in more than 500 exchange outlets worldwide, including in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. More than […]
The new Aurora, Illinois Planned Parenthood clinic has been forced to delay its anticipated September 18 opening. Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area is currently fighting the City of Aurora for withholding its business operating permit. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Planned Parenthood firmly states in a press release that it is “seeking to operate a medical […]
Women in Saudi Arabia, the only country that bans women drivers, have formed the Committee of Demanders of Women’s Right to Drive Cars in order to lobby King Abdullah for the right to drive. They plan to present their petition by Sunday, coinciding with Saudi Arabia”s National Day. The ban on female drivers in Saudi […]
Widespread controversy arose last week as the University of California at Irvine’s new law school revoked its offer of the Dean position to respected liberal constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky. A law professor at Duke University and formerly of the University of Southern California, Chemerinsky is a leading defender of civil liberties, civil rights, and women’s […]
Thousands of protesters marched from the White House to the Capitol on Saturday to demand an end to the war in Iraq. Several women’s groups, including CODEPINK and the National Congress of Black Women, sponsored a women’s convergence earlier in the day before joining the larger rally at the White House before the march. Addressing […]
Anti-abortion extremist Don Benny Anderson was just released from prison to a halfway house, after serving 24 years for kidnapping Illinois clinic owner Dr Hector Zavallos and his wife Jean. Anderson was also serving time for a bombing and two arson incidents at clinics in Florida and Virginia. In August of 1982, Anderson and two […]
This Saturday, September 15th, CODEPINK, along with V-Day, WAND, Institute for Policy Studies, Coalition Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran, and the National Congress of Black Women will sponsor a Women’s Convergence at 10:30 am at Freedom Plaza. The rally will then join the mass march with several other peace organizations at 12 from […]
This week the US Senate averted an attempt to eliminate funding for the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program for transportation construction, an affirmative action program for women and minorities. A last minute amendment to the Department of Transportation/HUD appropriations bill, introduced by Rep Tim Walberg (R-MI), wiping out funding for the DBE program passed the […]
Over 200 corporations have pledged to further protect their employees by adding gender identity and expression to their non-discrimination policies. In 2007 alone, 53 major companies – including such popular staples as Starbucks, Mastercard and Citigroup – have adopted this addition in order to better promote equality in the workplace. The policies will protect all […]
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that doctors are not obligated to give what the American Civil Liberties Union calls a “non-medical, value-laden speech” prior to performing an abortion. The 5-0 ruling came after a woman sued her doctor, claiming that he had misled her regarding the developmental state of her fetus prior to […]
Cindy Sheehan and 9 other activists were arrested on Monday by Capitol Police for allegedly disturbing a House hearing on the war in Iraq. General David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker were testifying before the joint-committee hearing on the Iraq conflict. CODEPINK, a leading feminist peace group, and Iraq Veterans Against the War […]
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned Wednesday, just three days after the start of the country”s parliamentary sessions. Abe sparked international outrage in March when he denied evidence that the Japanese military had forced women into prostitution during World War II. “There was no evidence to prove there was coercion as initially suggested,” Abe told […]
Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, died in a Chichester hospital on Monday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. She was 64 years old. Roddick is survived by her husband and two daughters, Samantha and Justine. Through her successful chain of cosmetics stores, which includes more than 2,000 stores in more than 50 countries, Roddick […]
