Congressional Democrats introduced a bill yesterday requiring all pharmacies to provide emergency contraception, regardless of an individual pharmacist’s moral objections. The Access to Birth Control Act, introduced by Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), would prohibit pharmacy employees from threatening or harassing customers or interfering with a woman’s purchase of contraceptives. Feminist […]
The US House of Representatives voted 406 to 10 yesterday to pass an omnibus bill that will provide security and economic assistance to Afghanistan and will limit funds given to warlords in high-level offices. The bill includes the major provisions of the Afghan Women’s Empowerment Act, including the authorization for three years of $5 million […]
A lawsuit filed last week accuses General Electric (GE) of discriminating against its female employees. Lorene Schaefer, a high-ranking legal employee in the Transportation Division, says that the company’s promotion and pay practices discriminate against its female attorneys. Her class action suit includes 1,500 female employees, who would each receive around $300,000 in damages if […]
Zakia Zaki, the owner and manager of Peace Radio and a headmaster of a girls’ school in Parwan province, was shot dead inside her home early this morning. Three gunmen fired seven shots before fleeing her home. Police have begun an investigation, but no motive has been determined. Rahimullah Samander, the head of the Independent […]
SisterSong, an Atlanta-based reproductive justice collective, hosted its 2007 National Conference, called “Let’s Talk about Sex,” last weekend in Chicago. The conference drew hundreds of people — black, Latina, Asian and Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, Arab, and indigenously born — who identify as feminists and allies to discuss tangible ways in which women of color […]
The US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down yesterday a 2004 Michigan law that aimed to ban some later term abortions. The court upheld the US District Court judge’s opinion, finding that the ban could apply to abortion methods used earlier in pregnancy, even though the ban was only supposed to target intact dilation […]
Women are strongly underrepresented in the television and film writing sectors, a report issued in May by the Writers Guild of America, West (WGA) found. Women constitute 27 percent of television writers and only 19 percent of film writers. While the median income of women television writers has increased since the last report was issued […]
At last night’s second presidential debate between the Democratic candidates, domestic policy affecting women was not an issue, despite two recent catastrophic Supreme Court decisions for women’s rights. The moderator, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, steered the debate to focus on the Iraq war, posing hypothetical questions and asking for “yes or no” answers. “The war […]
Beginning in January, same-sex couples will be able to form civil unions in New Hampshire. Governor John Lynch (D) signed a law yesterday that will give partners in civil unions the same rights as married couples. Out-of-state civil unions will be recognized in New Hampshire if they are legal in the original state, according to […]
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski (D) signed a bill on Wednesday that will strengthen protections for women’s reproductive health. The new law, effective on January 1, 2008 requires private health insurers to cover birth control prescriptions and also requires hospitals to provide sexual assault survivors with emergency contraceptives. The bill was introduced to the Oregon legislature […]
Democrats in the Senate and House will introduce legislation next week to counteract yesterday’s Supreme Court decision that limited the time period in which an employee can legally challenge wage discrimination. The new legislation will clarify a deadline set by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires legal action to be taken no later […]
Physicians for Human Rights released a report on Friday demonstrating that discriminatory views against women contribute to the spread of HIV. The organization conducted a study in Botswana and Swaziland, where a greater proportion of the population is infected with HIV than anywhere else in Africa. The study found the largest number of people had […]
The Mexican Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it will hear a case filed by the National Human Right’s Commission (NHRC) and the Attorney General’s Office to determine whether Mexico City’s law allowing abortion in the first three months of pregnancy is constitutional. The Mexico City legislative assembly passed the law, which requires public hospitals […]
A Supreme Court ruling issued yesterday will limit the ability of many workers to sue for wage discrimination. The 5-4 decision prohibits an employee from legally challenging a case of wage discrimination more than 180 days after the original discriminatory act occurred. Yesterday’s ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. will virtually eliminate […]
A spokesperson for Iran’s judiciary announced yesterday that three Iranian-Americans, including academic and women’s rights advocate Haleh Esfandiari, have been formally charged with endangering national security and espionage. Esfandiari, an Iranian-American and the director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, was prevented from leaving Iran […]
Peace activist Cindy Sheehan, who camped outside President Bush’s Texas ranch after her son died in Iraq in 2004, announced Monday that she will bow out of anti-war activities. She cited her frustration with the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as exhaustion and a desire to be near her children, as reasons for her […]
Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced yesterday his government’s plan to subsidize the price of birth control pills. A months supply of pills will cost the equivalent of 20 American cents at private drug stores. Women should be able to purchase the pills at 10,000 pharmacies by the end of the year. Da […]
A recently published study in the Journal of Applied Psychology finds that sexual harassment targets women who do not conform to gender stereotypes. Jennifer L. Berdahl, a professor at the University of Toronto, studied approximately 550 students and professionals and concluded in her article “The Sexual Harassment of Uppity Women” that women with masculine traits […]
According to a Gallup poll conducted earlier this month, 68 percent of all Americans believe that federal hate crime laws should protect people from discrimination or violence on the basis of sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity. The American public’s approval of widening hate crime laws comes in the face of President Bush’s threat to […]
A gender gap held in the House’s vote yesterday to approve a bill authorizing supplemental funding for the war in Iraq without benchmarks for withdrawal. Of the total 142 votes opposing the measure, 37 were made by women. Women accounted for about 26 percent of the “no” vote, even though women comprise only 16 percent […]
