At a star-studded ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Tuesday, the Feminist Majority Foundation honored four of the seven living women Nobel Peace Prize winners for their work for women’s rights. “These are obviously extraordinary people. All the more so when you realize how hard it is to win a Nobel PrizeÉ Of the […]
The victim of an alleged sexual assault by three white Duke lacrosse players has identified at least one of her attackers, according to District Attorney Mike Nifong. Though initial DNA tests did not conclusively link any of the players to the assault, Nifong has said that he had sufficient additional evidence to believe that a […]
Democrat Francine Busby won 44 percent of the vote to replace jailed Representative Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R) in a special election held yesterday. Busby, a school board member, will face Republican Brian Bilbray in a run-off election on June 6 to represent the San Diego-area Congressional district. Bilbray, a lobbyist and former member of Congress, […]
A new study has found that women who had silicone breast implants for many years developed possibly hazardous levels of platinum salts. High levels of platinum can cause severe allergies, asthma, reduced immune responses and nerve damage. The study, published in Analytical Chemistry, found higher platinum levels than any previous study, as well as finding […]
At a press conference today in Los Angeles, two women Nobel Peace Prize winners will demand a peaceful resolution to the conflict between the United States and Iran. Jody Williams, the founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and a 1997 Peace Prize winner, and Shirin Ebadi, a human rights advocate and the […]
Syria has broached a sensitive subject with the release of a report by the General Union of Women (GUW), a government-run organization, which found that nearly one married woman in four had been beaten. According to the New York Times, 1,900 women and men were surveyed, with families divided by sex for the interviews. Reuters […]
Activists in South Dakota pushing for a referendum to overturn the state’s ban on abortion, and have already collected one-third of the signatures necessary to put the issue on the ballot in November. A group called South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families is leading the initiative, with over 400 volunteers working to collect signatures, reports […]
Government figures in the United Kingdom show that the number of offenders cautioned for rape is increasing, as is the number of rape reports, but that convictions are becoming rarer. In 1994, only 19 people received cautions for rape, but in 2004 that number had climbed to 40, a significant number when considered alongside only […]
A group of ExxonMobil shareholders has filed a resolution charging Exxon with discrimination for sponsoring the annual Masters golf tournament. The 70th Masters, which took place last weekend, is always held at the exclusive all-male Augusta National Golf Club. The resolution asserts that ExxonMobil’s sponsorship of the event violates company anti-discrimination policy, and calls for […]
The Florida Supreme Court has upheld a law requiring that women seeking abortions must be informed of all medical risks and give written consent before the procedure can be performed. Doctors, however, are limited to providing strictly medical information specific to the patient, reports the Associated Press. The Presidential Women’s Center, based in Florida, had […]
The National Council for Research on Women (NCRW) has released a book outlining how the tax system affects women. According to the NCRW, Taxes ARE A Women’s Issue: Reframing the Debate “demonstrates how women benefit from services paid for by taxes- but also how they are adversely affected by the ways in which taxes are […]
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey recently introduced a bipartisan resolution calling for the Department of Education to withdraw its so-called Title IX 2005 “clarification” letter allowing interest surveys to be used as the only Title IX compliance test for college athletics. Title IX is the landmark 1972 federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational […]
Senate Democrats have said the time is right to vote on the Prevention First Act, which improves access to contraceptives, family planning services, and comprehensive sex education as a way to reduce abortions. In many ways, the bill mirrors the strategy used by pro-choice advocates for years. The Prevention First Act (S. 20) is sponsored […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report that strongly criticizes the Bush Administration’s focus on promoting abstinence and fidelity as the best methods of preventing HIV infection. The report is a strong rebuke a requirement of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which states that two thirds of funds spent on […]
The US mint has agreed to pay a $9 million settlement to female employees in a lawsuit alleging discrimination and harassment at its Denver plant. Between 1998 and 2003, employees filed 102 complaints with the mint’s Equal Employment Opportunity officer; instead of improving conditions, managers often retaliated, according to the suit. In March 2003, 31 […]
Gloria Steinem was awarded the Ron Ridenhour Courage Award yesterday. Steinem, a major figure of the feminist movement and a founder and consulting editor of Ms. magazine, was recognized for her life-long commitment to social justice and defense of the public interest. She will be donating a portion of the award money to Equality Now. […]
Katie Couric will leave the Today Show after 15 successful years – more than ten of them as number one in the ratings – to become the sole anchor and managing editor of what will become “The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric”. She will be the first woman at any network to anchor the […]
Women’s rights activist Inday Estorba, 31, was shot and killed and her husband was seriously wounded in their home in the Philippines on April 3. According to Representative Liza Largoza Maza of the Philippines’ Gabriela Women’s Party, Estorba is the sixty-eighth woman activist to be murdered under the administration of President Gloria Arroyo, whose presidency […]
Sixteen international advocacy groups called on Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to withdraw a bill that would criminalize homosexual relationships, saying the legislation is in violation of international law, and potentially harmful to anti-AIDS efforts. The proposed legislation would carry a sentence of up to five years in prison for any person who “goes through the […]
Kuwaiti women vote for the first time today, going to the polls to choose a local council member in the district of Salmiya. Reuters reports that the election marks the first time that Kuwaiti women have exercised their right to vote that Parliament granted them last year. In another first, two of the eight candidates […]
