Revised security clearance guidelines approved by President Bush may create obstacles for lesbians and gay men seeking security-related government jobs. The new guidelines, approved in 2005 but reported by the press just last week, revise Clinton-approved 1997 guidelines to make it easier for the government to reject applicants based on their sexuality. While the 1997 […]
The government of Zimbabwe has delayed the distribution of a 40-ton truckload of tampons and pads, donations intended to help relieve a crisis of vaginal infection in the poverty-stricken country. The Zimbabwean ministry of finance had promised the donations would be duty-free, but is now requiring taxation or time-consuming quality testing, reports the BBC. Zimbabwe’s […]
Young women under the age of 18 in Utah will now have to get permission from a parent before obtaining an abortion, and although the consent requirement can be waived in some circumstances, parental notification cannot be. Exemptions can be granted by a judge in cases of abuse, incest, estrangement, or to protect the life […]
On his fourth day in office as Chechnya’s prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov banned women from appearing without headscarves in official institutions. Kadyrov told Chechnya’s NTV television station that he reinstated the practice because it is a “good” and “beautiful” tradition, according to the Chechnya Weekly. Although Kadyrov has so far only issued an oral command […]
A report released this week by the Pentagon shows that reported sexual assaults in the military increased in 2005 by 40 percent over 2004. According to the report, much of the increase can be attributed to new reporting guidelines that were put in place following widespread criticism of the military’s handling of sexual assault cases […]
In a repeat of last spring’s battle over the confirmation of the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) have announced that they will block the confirmation of Andrew von Eschenbach until the FDA rules on making the emergency contraceptive Plan B available over-the-counter. Last spring, they announced […]
At a speech at Georgetown University, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor warned that the current levels of interference with and attacks on the nation’s independent judiciary are the first steps towards dictatorship. Paraphrasing O’Connor, Nina Totenberg of NPR said, “It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship É but […]
The abortion ban passed recently by the Mississippi House of Representatives is now before the Senate, which voted yesterday to begin negotiating changes to the bill so that it would not invalidate existing abortion provisions. Senate Public Health and Welfare Chairman Alan Nunnelee (R) told The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, “This outright ban has been put right […]
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first democratically elected woman head of state in Africa, became the eighth woman and fifth African head of state to speak in front of both houses of Congress on Wednesday. Between standing ovations, Johnson Sirleaf pressed the United States to continue to provide aid to her war-torn country, stating that it […]
Following rulings by the Tennessee Supreme Court that the state Constitution grants a greater right to abortion than the US Constitution, Tennessee legislators are trying to reduce those protections. On Thursday, the state Senate passed a proposal to amend the Constitution that would not alter the language of the Constitution, but would add a new […]
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced the Afghan Women Empowerment Act of 2006 last week, which authorizes funding for the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC, and Afghan women-led nonprofit organizations (NGOs) to promote the rights of women and to provide services for women and girls in Afghanistan. The Act […]
Nearly seven years after Paulina Ramirez became pregnant from a rape attack in her home by a heroin addict, the Mexican government has agreed to pay her reparations for forcing her to carry the pregnancy to term. Marta Lamas, founder of the Reproductive Choice Information Group, declared to the Times, “This is a triumph for […]
Over 240 organizations have signed on to a letter to Michael Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, asking him to maintain the Child Care Bureau and its programs for working families. This letter is a response to Leavitt’s February 22 announcement to Congress that the Child Care Bureau will be combined with the Office […]
Beatrice Munah Sieh, a 48-year-old native of Liberia, will soon become the African country’s first female police chief under newly elected President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state. Sirleaf has pledged to include more women in her government’s posts, and Sieh’s confirmation by the Liberian Senate is expected, reports the […]
The National Organization for Women (NOW) has taken aim at the media’s coverage of mothers, which frequently pits mothers who work outside the home against those who do not. This kind of coverage was seen on a recent episodes of “Good Morning America” with Diane Sawyer, in which women were asked to describe how their […]
Acts of violence against Iraqi women who do not wear headscarves have more than tripled in the three years since the US invasion, according to the Women’s Rights Association in Iraq. Many of the attacks are carried out by family members to protect the family’s “honor,” reports IRIN News, the United Nations News Service. “Women […]
A series of protests and rallies for women’s rights occurred in several Asian countries in the days leading up to International Women’s Day, March 8. Nearly 2,000 women and men protested acid attacks, of which women are the primary target, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on March 7, according to the Associated Press (AP). Monira Rahman, spokesperson […]
A report from the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland includes 350 accusations of sexual abuse against more than 100 priests since 1940. The Irish government plans to launch an inquiry into abuse in the Church, and the number of complainants is expected to rise as they are encouraged to come forward to help in the […]
In an open letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the UN’s member states, women from more than 50 countries and dozens of NGOs expressed their disappointment that the United Nations has not placed more of an emphasis on women’s equality. In advance of International Women’s Day and coinciding with the UN’s 50th Session […]
The Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Women’s Health (OWH) released a progress report yesterday on its first decade of work. OWH was created by an act of Congress as a response to the dearth of women participants in medical studies, and the subsequent lack of knowledge about women’s health. Its mission is to advocate […]
