The number of hate crimes reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) rose two percent in 2000 according to the FBI’s report, Hate Crime Statistics 2000, released yesterday. The FBI defined a hate crime as a bias-motivated criminal incident against a person because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, or disability. […]
Now that the Taliban have retreated from the area, new students, many of them girls, began to arrive at a formerly clandestine school in a Kabul suburb. The school, still in desperate need of funding, serves several co-ed groups of children, and teachers explain lessons in both Dari and Pashtun. Previously, while under the Taliban, […]
Stating that, “The women of Afghanistan have been the backbone of Afghan society,” Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday called for the restoration of Afghan women’s rights and for the inclusion of women in the reconstruction of post-Taliban Afghanistan. “The recovery of Afghanistan must entail the restoration of the rights of Afghan women. Indeed, it […]
With Kabul freed from Taliban rule, the local television station began broadcasting again, and 16-year old Mariam Shakebar was the first to welcome viewers back to Kabul TV. Before the Taliban takeover in 1996, Shakebar hosted children’s programs for the station, but could no longer work under the Taliban’s system of gender apartheid. Shakebar, wearing […]
On Saturday, for the first time in history, the first lady delivered the presidential radio address to the nation. Calling the war on terrorism “a fight for the rights and dignity of women,” Laura Bush emphasized the need for Afghan women to participate in the reconstruction of post-Taliban Afghanistan, including the formation of a new […]
Leaders from world governments, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concluded a three-day meeting on “The Impact of Conflict on Women and Girls,” finding that addressing women’s needs must be incorporated into any global response to post-conflict situations. The meeting, organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), also found that protecting women’s rights […]
Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sam Brownback (D-KS) held a press conference at the Capitol yesterday to urge the Bush Administration and the United Nations to ensure that the women of Afghanistan play a central role in the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Senators Boxer and Brownback, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, were joined […]
Yesterday, an estimated 10 million Americans were expected to participate in the American Cancer Society’s annual Great American Smokeout. Women especially have been encouraged to participate given the rise in female deaths due to coronary artery disease and lung cancer. Lung cancer mortality rates have increased 600% from the 1950’s and since the 1980’s lung […]
The Bush Administration has launched a new initiative to publicize the brutal treatment of Afghan women and girls by the Taliban regime. Events include meetings with women’s leaders, a Saturday radio address by First Lady Laura Bush, and release of a U.S. State Department report on gender apartheid by Secretary of State Colin Powell. Pleased […]
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (UCCB) released its second revision of the Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities, first adopted in 1975, only two years after the Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v. Wade. Called the “Campaign in Support of Life,” the revision reiterates the bishops’ anti-abortion stance and widens the scope of […]
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) ran advertisements yesterday in The Hill and today in Roll Call highlighting the similarities between global terrorists like the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and anti-abortion extremist domestic terrorism. Specifically, the ads point to both groups’ misuse of religion to justify their horrific crimes. While connecting the philosophies […]
By Eleanor Smeal Feminists have succeeded in drawing the world’s attention to the fact that women have been the first victims of the Taliban. We now must make it clear to the world that Afghan women are an essential part of the solution for a peaceful, democratic Afghanistan. The defeat of the Taliban means the […]
Ten years ago Peter Piot, the Executive Director for UNAIDS called for the development of a microbicide and large-scale clinical trials are scheduled to begin soon for several microbicidal compounds. Microbicides are gels applied to the vagina or rectum that may prevent pregnancy and the transmission of STDs such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV. The […]
Iranian filmmaker Tahmineh Milani, arrested earlier this year by Iran’s Revolutionary Council, faces execution if she is convicted of supporting anti-revolutionary groups outside of Iran and threatening national security through the misuse of the arts. At issue is Milani’s newest film The Hidden Half, which depicts tensions within Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Even […]
The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) has approved Levonelle, an emergency contraceptive pill, after determining that the pill is not an abortifacient. This decision represents a reversal of an early determination made by the IMB that emergency contraception may have an “abortive nature.” Last month, while considering the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy Bill, a […]
Iranian filmmaker Tahmineh Milani, arrested earlier this year by Iran’s Revolutionary Council, faces execution if she is convicted of supporting anti-revolutionary groups outside of Iran and threatening national security through the misuse of the arts. At issue is Milani’s newest film The Hidden Half, which depicts tensions within Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Even […]
Even though gays report feeling more accepted by society than a few years ago, a great majority still experience discrimination and verbal abuse, according to a survey released today by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The survey, Inside-OUT: A Report on the Experiences of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals in America and the Public’s Views […]
The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) and Ms. magazine announced yesterday that FMF will assume ownership of Liberty Media for Women, the publisher of Ms. magazine. The magazine, co-founded in 1972 by Gloria Steinem, provides an international feminist space for new ideas and issues and has been recognized as one of the most influential magazines in […]
Half a century ago, Whina Cooper channeled the energies of indigenous Maori women in New Zealand into a force for change. The year was 1951, Cooper was 56, and the challenge was overcoming the decades-old lack of adequate education, health care, and employment opportunities for Maori people. In response, Cooper and a handful of other […]
Northern Alliance forces continuing its offensive on Taliban controlled outlets in the north, pushed the Taliban to retreat from Kabul yesterday. This victory comes after the Alliance took control of Herat and Mazar-e Sharif over the weekend. Afghans immediately began to celebrate the end of Taliban rule. In Mazar-e Sharif, for the first time since […]
