I had grown up, of course, in the era of the Vietnam War protests and the civil rights movement, so I understood the principles, but it was just in the 1970s that women began to apply those principles to ourselves. I went to consciousness raising groups and joined the Women’s Action Collective on campus, and […]
We covered the economic reforms, abolition of the communes and so on. Female infanticide was and still is a serious problem. As it is in many developing countries, women are the poorest of the poor. This is true in China, in India, in Africa, in many other places. Boys get better food. Boys get the […]
And we always look at the news and ask: How will President Bush’s proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut affect women? Why should women be concerned about some faith-based charities? What does the emphasis on marriage in so-called welfare reform mean for women? An economic shotgun marriage. In the old days, the gun was pointed at […]
Outspoken head of the right wing Christian Coalition, Pat Robertson, shocked those on both sides of the abortion debate this week by voicing support for China’s “forced abortion” policy in a televised CNN interview. Asked his opinion on the policy, Robertson declared China’s government is “doing what they have to do” to prevent overpopulation. He […]
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday approved a mostly black congressional district in North Carolina that has been challenged since the early 1990s, giving states more leeway to consider race in the process of redrawing districts according to data from the 2000 census. NC District 12, where 46 percent of voters are black, is represented by […]
Upon his confirmation, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson promised to review the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone, marketed in the U.S. as Mifeprex, which was approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2000. But, in a recent statement to press, Thompson said, “RU 486 is not being actively reviewed […]
Maj. Martha McSally, the highest-ranking woman fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force and the 850 other women Air Force personnel stationed in Saudi Arabia are discriminated against every day when theyÑand not their male counterpartsÑare forced to adopt Saudi restrictions against women. American women stationed in Saudi Arabia work side by side with American […]
Breaking from its ban prohibiting officials from traveling to Afghanistan, the U.S. sent three representatives, two from the State Department’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and one from the U.S. Embassy, on a humanitarian mission to Afghanistan to view the devastation, starvation and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The three are traveling with the World Food […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its report “Births: Final Data for 1999” April 17 which documents a 3 percent decline in teen birth rates since 1998 and a 20 percent decline since 1991. The teen birth rate, 49.6 births per 1,000 teenage women, is now recorded at its lowest level in […]
Women who cannot obtain U visas must either leave the country or stay in abusive relationships. Deportation is especially hard on women from societies that stigmatize divorce. In India, which accounts for more than 40 percent of all H-1B_related immigration, courts rarely enforce custody or alimony laws. And divorced or separated women are likely to […]
In a major victory for abortion rights, the U.S. Supreme Court today upheld a U.S. appeals court ruling that sustained the constitutionality of the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits blocking abortion clinic entrances, injuring or intimidating women seeking abortions or the staff of the abortion clinic. In 1996, 25 […]
In a statement from the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced the Bush administration would uphold a rule passed by the Clinton administration that would require doctors to obtain patients’ consent before releasing patients’ medical information to a third party. However, Thompson will modify that rule to allow parents to […]
Last year, California voters passed Assembly Bill 537, which expands California anti-discrimination law to include a guarantee that students and faculty at California public schools have the right to a safe learning environment, regardless or sexual orientation or gender identity. However, the law is not widely practiced and students in some California public schools remain […]
Women’s rights groups, disappointed with Marjorie Williams’ April 11 column that implied women’s rights groups are unconcerned with the serious issue of women and smoking, united their voices in today’s Letter to the Editor section of the Washington Post. In addition to the Feminist Majority Foundation, the Society for Women’s Health Research, OWL – the […]
The number and voices of groups like One in Four and Men Can Stop Rape are growing and reaching new audiences with their message of stopping rape, but they are drawing criticism from traditional anti-rape efforts because their messages are focused on men-only groups. One in Four, named for the University of Arizona research statistic […]
Carolyn Payton, the first woman and black director of the Peace Corps volunteer agency, died in her home last weekend at the age of 75. Payton was appointed to be director of the Peace Corps in 1977 by President Carter. Payton served only 13 months as director, but in that time focused the agency’s efforts […]
Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), along with 17 other Congress members, recently introduced the Getting Our Girls Ready for the 21st Century Act, also known as the “Go Girl” Act of 2001, which would provide grant funding for training and activities to encourage girls to pursue studies and careers in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The […]
Joining Washington state, California has begun offering emergency contraception (EC) without a prescription. The program, spearheaded by the Pharmacy Access Partnership, a coalition of public health activists and academics, began last month in Los Angeles and seven other CA counties. It matches pharmacies with clinics that will refer women to them to obtain EC whenever […]
The deceptive “Unborn Victims of Violence Act” could come to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives within the next two weeks, threatening women’s rights and the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The bill, disguised as a measure protecting women from violent crime, would make it a separate offense to harm a fertilized […]
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), along with a bipartisan group of more than 40 House and Senate members, will file a legal brief today in support of abortion providers and clinics asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a ruling that he says will “severely undercut the enforceability of FACE (Freedom of Access to […]
