Several high-ranking leaders in the Catholic Church have recently said that the obligation to vote for a candidate who opposes abortion rights is a priority over all other issues in the upcoming presidential election. Some, including Archbishop Charles Chaput of Colorado, have declared that voting for a pro-choice politician is a sin, and must be […]
Saudi Arabia’s Interior Minister, Prince Nayef, announced in an interview on Monday that women will not be able to participate as either voters or candidates in the first nationwide vote held in the monarchy. Nayef cited administrative and logistical reasons for the decision, saying that there are too few women for the task of running […]
Hundreds of Pakistani women’s rights and human rights activists and lawmakers demonstrated outside of the Pakistani parliament in Islamabad last Friday to protest the government’s lack of action against honor killings and violence against women. According to the Associated Press, the protesters urged the government to change laws to contain tougher punishments for family members […]
Wangari Maathai, Kenya’s Deputy Environmental Minister and a former head of the National Council of Women of Kenya, became the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize last Friday for her work on issues such as education, nutrition, and women’s rights. Maathai lead the effort as founder of the Green Belt Movement to “empower […]
Domestic violence groups are protesting new rules set in place by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The rules, which went into effect October 1, require detailed personal information on battered women to be collected from all domestic violence shelters that receive HUD funding. Shelters for abused women are careful to protect the […]
The US Supreme Court denied review of a challenge to a California law that requires employers to include birth control for women in their prescription drug coverage. The California Supreme Court had ruled last March in Catholic Charities of Sacramento v. California that the anti-discrimination law did not interfere with religious beliefs or practices, and […]
During a recent forum convened by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, an announcement was made that African women have not made gains since the Beijing Summit ten years ago. The forum, “African Women’s NGO Forum on Beijing +10,” was convened in Addis Ababa to examine any progress that has been made regarding African […]
The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) has released a report analyzing what could happen state by state if the Supreme Court reversed its 1973 decision guaranteeing women the right to an abortion. The study, titled What If Roe Fell?, considered the current legislative climate of all fifty states, as well as old laws some states […]
Last week, at a reception to honor female Olympic athletes, members of Congress gathered to celebrate the offering of a new bill to strengthen Title IX. The High School Athletics Accountability Act (HR 4994) will require high schools to report the number of female and male athletes participating at their school, as well as the […]
A leading Sierra Leone gay and lesbian rights activist was found brutally murdered in her office. FannyAnn Eddy, the founder of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association and an activist known across Africa, was found raped and repeatedly stabbed to death, reports Human Rights Watch (HRW). There is concern amongst the human rights community […]
Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), was one of the recipients awarded part of a $10 million grant to train Iraqi women in the skills of democratic public life. IWF’s website states that their mission is to counter “the dangerous influence of radical feminism in the courts” and to […]
Several states across the country have reported dramatic increases in new registered voters as the presidential election in November draws closer. While voter registration tends to increase in the years of a presidential election, the National Association of Secretaries of State has reported that state officials nationwide are reporting that these levels of registration are […]
After conducting over one hundred extensive interviews with Afghan women, a leading human rights group has concluded that threats against women by warlords and the Taliban are undermining women’s participation in Afghanistan’s upcoming presidential elections. Human Rights Watch reports that these attacks on women have “created an environment of fear and caution” and that many […]
The Federal Marriage Amendment was defeated in the House of Representatives last Thursday, falling 49 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass it. The amendment, introduced by Rep Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), would have prohibited same-sex marriage and denied the legal benefit of marriage to all unmarried couples. The amendment would have also preempted […]
As he did in Thursday night’s debate, President Bush repeatedly refers to the number of people registering to vote in Afghanistan for the October 9 Afghan presidential election. Bush said, “Ten million citizens have registered to voteÉForty-one percent of those 10 million are women.” The Feminist Majority is closely following the election process and is […]
Because of a state law in South Carolina that prohibits the discussion of abortion and homosexual sex in health class, a high school has removed these topics from a student debate scheduled to take place later this month. The topics were originally approved by the principal, before being struck from the list, reports the Los […]
Sixty-one Zimbabwean women were arrested in the capital for protesting a bill that will ban international human rights groups and will cut off funding for local organizations promoting human rights and democracy. The women represented the organization Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and marched nearly 280 miles to the capital to protest the bill. A […]
Fox-11 News in Tucson, Arizona released a statement on Friday in response to demands from the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) and University of Arizona Network of Feminist Student Activists (NFSA) that the channel issue a correction after reporting erroneous information about student voting eligibility. On August 31, Fox-11 News at Nine reporter Natalie Tejeda suggested […]
Experts on women and voting issued statements on Wednesday, refuting the media’s recent insistence that the gender gapÑthe difference in the way women and men voteÑhas narrowed. Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, was joined by Debbie Walsh of the Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics and pollster John Russonello in […]
A recent poll shows that nearly 77 percent of Portuguese want a new referendum on Portugal’s restrictive abortion laws. The poll, conducted by the daily newspaper Diario de Noticias and TSF radio, also shows that three in five people believe that the government should decriminalize abortion, reports Agence France-Presse. The poll was published a month […]
