South Africa President Thabo Mbeki recently fired his deputy health minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledgea, who is credited with ending political denial of AIDS in South Africa and leading an aggressive campaign against the country”s AIDS epidemic. Activists fear that Mbeki’s decision will have devastating consequences for the millions of South Africans who are infected with HIV. […]
In an attempt to escape poverty, women in China are increasingly turning to prostitution and competition for clients has reportedly resulted in lower pay and more dangerous conditions for China’s estimated ten-million sex workers. Although prostitution is technically illegal in China, freelance sex workers operate openly throughout the country at every level of society, the […]
Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar who has worked extensively for women’s rights, has now been held in Iran for 100 days on charges that she was conspiring to overthrow the government and committing espionage. The Iranian Judiciary has announced that their investigation of Dr. Esfandiari has concluded, though no decision has been announced as to […]
While the prevalence of pro-eating disorder websites is nothing new, their existence has become more accepted, more respected, and easier to access via popular social networking sites. Though online forums, like Facebook.com, MySpace.com, and LiveJounal.com, have rules against displaying harmful material, pro-anorexia groups and pages are readily available on their sites. Anorexia has the highest […]
After anti-abortion groups raised complaints that a judge handling an abortion provider’s case would not be impartial, the case has been reassigned to a former anti-abortion Kansas state legislator. Dr. George Tiller, one of the few providers of later term abortions in the US, is facing 19 misdemeanor counts for allegedly seeking approvals on later […]
Nine Guatemalans were indicted for allegedly sex trafficking young women and girls from Guatemala into the US, the US Department of Justice announced Thursday. The case against the defendants concerns 12 women and girls — some as young as 13 years old — who were lured to the US with promises of legitimate and high-paying […]
The chair of the Gabriela Network USA, a Philippine-US women’s rights solidarity organization, was prevented from leaving the Philippines last week after allegedly being placed on a watch list. Dr. Annalisa Enrile, also a University of Southern California professor, was barred by the Philippine Bureau of Immigrations on August 5 from boarding a flight from […]
William Beebe, a man convicted of rape after he sent a letter of apology to his victim 21 years after raping her, is scheduled for parole just six months into his 10-year jail sentence. His sentence had already been reduced to 18 months, as long as he performs 500 hours of community service related to […]
Only one of the seven presidential candidates in Sierra Leone has denounced the widespread practice of female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM), which can lead to serious health and pregnancy problems for women. According to the Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), candidates are reluctant to estrange constituents who support the practice, including members of […]
A Circuit Court Judge in Cole County, Missouri struck down a new provision that would have eased state restrictions on midwifery. The provision was part of a new law that makes health insurance more affordable to Missourians. Under the new policy, certified professional midwives would have been able to help women give birth at home […]
A woman airman in the US Air Force who was allegedly raped by three of her male counterparts is being charged with indecent acts, according to an AP report. If convicted, the woman could face a year in prison, a pay cut, a bad-conduct discharge, and would even be registered as a sex offender, the […]
According to a study of Swedish women, those who undergo breast augmentation are three times more likely to commit suicide than those who do not. Published in the August issue of the Annals of Plastic Surgery, the study also connects breast implants to a higher risk of mental illness, including alcohol or drug addiction. The […]
Opponents of a new sex education curriculum in Montgomery County, Maryland have brought their case to the Montgomery Count Circuit Court in hopes of blocking the program. The new curriculum, which was unanimously approved by the Montgomery County Board of Education in January, includes information about homosexuality, gender identity, and proper condom use for 8th […]
A US District Judge in Illinois last week ruled in favor of a pharmacist who refused to dispense emergency contraception (EC or Plan B) to a patient for personal and moral reasons. Ethan Vandersand brought the case against his former employer, Wal-Mart, after he was put on unpaid leave for refusing to fill a request […]
The Chinese government has banned slogans that express the government’s one-child policy in a crude or offensive manner. Such slogans as “Raise fewer babies but more piggies,” “One more baby means one more tomb” and “Houses toppled, cows confiscated, if abortion demand rejected” have all been painted on the sides of buildings in rural areas. […]
Following their symbolic citywide ban of the “n-word” earlier this year, some New York City council members now hope to remove the b-word–“bitch”–and “ho” from New Yorkers’ vocabularies. Supporters of the measure say that the words are derogatory and sexist and that, although unenforceable, the proposed ban could curb the use of them. Some journalists […]
A recently released Swing State Poll from Quinnipiac University shows that candidate endorsements from interest groups, including abortion rights and lesbian and gay rights groups, do not significantly affect the decisions of voters. The poll targeted voters in the swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. When questioned about endorsements for presidential candidates from gay […]
New US census data shows that young women in certain major American cities are actually earning more than young men by 117 percent, though the trend does not hold past the age of 30 and the data does not examine women and men in similar occupations. The new data shows that women aged 21-30 in […]
Beginning today, the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum in Washington, DC, in tandem with the National Council of Women in Finland, will celebrate 100 years of full political rights for women in Finland. The museum will exhibit photographs and other articles that trace the triumph of Finnish women’s rights starting in 1907, when women gained not […]
Forty-two percent of the incoming class at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) will be women, marking an all-time high since women were first admitted in 1970. Though more women than men are enrolling in college, schools that specialize in science, technology, and engineering have higher percentages of men in their student bodies. At CalTech, […]
