A report recently released by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), “Femicide In New York City: 1995-2002,” found women are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than a stranger. Foreign-born women are at the highest risk. The findings also show the number of women killed by their […]
Experts on women and voting are working to correct misinformation in the media about the gender gap. The gender gap is the measurable difference in the way women and men vote and perceive issues; it is not the differences among women. The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the University of Rutgers recently […]
Over 1,000 Mexicans and dozens of American and Canadian activists are demanding justice for the hundreds of women and girls murdered in Mexico’s border town of Juarez. The majority of victims, usually workers at US-owned assembly plants and factories known as maquiladoras, are found raped and strangled. Over 200 US companies have located in Juarez, […]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new device that would provide a non-invasive treatment alternative to those suffering from uterine fibroids. The device, a product co-produced by General Electric, is called the ExAblate 2000 System. According to the FDA, the device first uses magnetic resonance imaging to locate fibroids in the uterus, then […]
Catholics for a Free Choice filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Tuesday challenging the tax-exempt status of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The group charges that the Archdiocese violated its tax-exempt status by urging Catholics to vote against candidates who support five “intrinsic evils,” including abortion rights, stem cell research, and […]
In a move that many human rights and women’s rights advocates see as a positive step forward, Pakistan’s lower house of Parliament passed legislation that proposes death sentences for certain honor killing cases. According to the New York Times, the proposed bill increases the prison term from seven years to life, and death sentences for […]
Three election workers, believed to be two women and a man, were abducted from a United Nations vehicle today in Kabul. The attack has been claimed by a Taliban breakoff group called Jaish-e-Muslimeen (Army of Muslims), according to Reuters. The driver of the car, an Afghan man, was beaten and left behind at the scene, […]
The Vatican recently released a handbook on the teachings of the Catholic Church that denounces abortion and same-sex marriage. According to the Washington Post, the 525-page book, entitled “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,” took six years to complete and draws from Pope John Paul II’s and earlier pontiffs’ teachings. The book calls […]
Brazil’s highest court has ruled against allowing abortions in cases where the fetus has developed without a brain. This disorder, which is always fatal, is called anencephaly and occurs approximately 650 times a year in Brazil. The ruling by Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal was prompted by a request from the National Confederation of Healthcare Workers […]
The United States Army is currently in discussions with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s staff about formally including women in the new brigade combat team structure the Army plans to implement early next year. The new structure, comprised of “self-contained and self-reliant” combat units called “units of action,” would replace larger divisions that are more […]
Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s illness underscores the importance of the presidential election in shaping the US Supreme Court. With no Supreme Court appointments in a decade, and with eight of the nine justices older than 65, two to four retirements on the Supreme Court are anticipated in the next four years. At stake in the […]
The state Supreme Court in Georgia on Monday overturned a 2000 law allowing for enhanced penalties for hate crimes. The law specifically allows an increased prison sentence when it is determined “beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intentionally selected any victim or any property of the victim as the object of the offense because […]
According to data released last week, this fall, over 50 percent of US medical school applicants were women. This is the second consecutive year that women have outnumbered male applicants. Women also made up 49.5 percent of first-year enrollees. In addition, African-American enrollment increased by 2.5 percent and Hispanic enrollment increased by almost 8 percent, […]
In the past week, both presidential candidates spoke to voters in battleground states on topics they believe hold particular importance to women voters. With the presidential election just a week away, and polls showing a dead heat between the two candidates, both Kerry and Bush are courting the women’s vote, as women are expected to […]
Despite pressure from the United States, the United Nations has delayed a vote on a proposal to ban all forms of human cloning, including stem cell and other therapeutic cloning research that scientists believe has the potential to treat serious illnesses such as cancer and spinal cord injuries. Belgium has offered a proposal that has […]
A study of college undergraduates conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics found that students plan to vote in record numbers on November 2. According to the study, conducted by the polling firm Schneiders/Della Volpe/Schulman, 84 percent of students say they will “definitely be voting” in November, up from a little over 50 percent at […]
On November 2, California will vote on Proposition 71, a ballot initiative that, if passed, would provide $3 billion over the next decade to fund embryonic stem cell research. The initiative could make California a world leader in the field, especially in light of President Bush’s decision in 2001 to limit federal funding of stem […]
A suicide bomber killed an Afghan girl and an American woman and wounded five others in Kabul, Afghanistan yesterday. According to the Associated Press, the blast occurred in a busy shopping area popular with foreigners. The 23-year-old American woman who was killed, Jamie Michalsky, worked as a translator in Uzbekistan. She was in Afghanistan seeking […]
Earlier this week, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) released a report stating that women hold lower-ranking positions in academia, earn lower salaries, and are less likely to be granted tenure. The report, titled “Tenure Denied: Cases of Sex Discrimination in Academia,” describes specific cases women professors have taken to the courts after facing […]
Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, and Amy Brenneman, star of television’s “Judging Amy,” urged students at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee to register and vote on November 2. Speaking before a large crowd of students on Wednesday, the last day Wisconsin students could register on campus before Election Day, Smeal and Brenneman […]
