On Aug. 31, U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton denied a temporary injunction against Virginia’s new mandatory “moment of silence” law. Under the statute, Virginia public school students are required to observe one minute of silence at the outset of each day, instructed to “meditate, pray, or engage in other silent activity.” The American Civil […]
Following the recent Supreme Court decision allowing the Boy Scouts to continue their ban on gay scoutmasters, the Interior Department is conducting a review of its relationship with the Boy Scouts to determine whether ties violate the President’s June executive order prohibiting government participation with educational groups that discriminate against gays and lesbians. The department […]
The day after a Virginia Assembly Education and Health Committee dropped a bill requiring parental notification of an abortion given to a minor, Gov. George Allen sent the Virginia Senate a very similar bill Tuesday. Acting on behalf of Allen, Sen. Mark L. Earley (R-Chesapeake) introduced the bill and asked the Rules Committee to send […]
Doug Golden, the grandfather of one of the suspects charged with the fatal shootings of four female students and a teacher, and with seriously injuring 10 females at an Arkansas school, said that his grandson probably used the scope on one of the guns to target females. “They were selected because of their sex or […]
The College Initiative is a project of V-Day, an organization working to stop violence against women. The V-Day College Initiative debuted in 1999. It followed the event that launched the V-Day movement, the critically-acclaimed celebrity benefit performance of Eve Ensler’s Obie Award-winning play, “The Vagina Monologues,” at the 2,000-seat Hammerstein Ballroom Theatre in New York […]
Earlier this year the Australian government came under criticism by the United Nations (U.N.) because of discriminatory policies. The U.N. Human Rights Committee charged that the Australian mandatory sentencing laws specifically discriminated against Aborigines, its indigenous population. In another close examination of Australia’s policies since the termination of the “white Australia policy” that only European […]
A 14-year old African girl was assaulted by attendants of a store in the Republic of South Africa’s Northern Province. Store attendants assaulted the 14-year old by taking off her blouse and painting white her stomach, chest, back, neck, arms and head. The report was made public by South African President Mbeki during the opening […]
Aung San Suu Kyi, the first woman from Southeast Asia to win the Nobel Peace Prize, is currently protesting the Burmese (Myanmar) military restrictions on her freedom of movement. Elected in 1990 while under house arrest as leader of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi’s human rights continue to be violated. She […]
Thirty-three million people reside in the state of California, and according to the United States Census Bureau, the percentage of white residents in the state dropped to 49.9 percent at some point in 1999. While white residents left the state or died, resulting in a loss of majority status, the populations of Latino, Asian and […]
Production of Louisiana state license plates with the phrase “choose life” have been blocked by Federal District Judge Stanwood Richardson Duval Jr. Judge Duval ruled that the state was violating free speech provisions of the Constitution by producing license plates expressing only one side of the abortion debate. Louisiana lawmakers had passed a bill that […]
For the first time in the history of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union, 35,000 members strong, the organization has endorsed a presidential candidate who is not a Democrat. Ralph Nader, Green Party presidential nominee, secured the UE’s endorsement, becoming only the fifth person ever to be backed by the Union. […]
Earlier this month legislatures in the state of Guanajuato passed a bill blocking women’s access to abortion even in cases of rape. Through the relentless efforts of women’s rights and abortion rights protesters coordinated by 29 year-old Veronica Cruz Sanchez, the bill will be overturned and not become law. Also, the move to overturn the […]
A 20-year old woman was chained to a bed, beaten and denied sufficient amounts of food for a period of two months by the family of her husband because of failure to meet the family’s dowry demand. The torture of the woman was caused by her husbands feeling of insecurity about his impotence and fear […]
A six-year old girl was taken from her hotel room and sexually assaulted on the hotel grounds while vacationing with her family in Majorca. According to an Electronic Telegraph report, the attacker entered the girl’s bedroom by climbing over a balcony and then took her to a dark corner on the grounds of the hotel […]
Federal District Judge William Rea ruled yesterday that anti-racketeering laws can be used in a current case against the Los Angeles Police Department and officers accused of corrupt acts in the continually unfolding Rampart Division police scandal. The court’s ruling will allow the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law to be used in […]
As Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush touts a commitment to ensuring that all American children receive adequate health care, a Federal Judge ruled on Aug. 14 that Texas has failed to uphold a 1996 consent decree to increase access to and improve health care for Medicaid patients in the state. The class action lawsuit […]
In 1974, Harvard Business School professors Anne Jardim and Margaret Hennig founded the Graduate School of Management at Simmons College, a business school that broke away from what they recognized as a male-dominated environment that antagonized female students and professors. Still the world’s only all-female MBA program, Simmons offers a feminist perspective on corporate skills, […]
Last week, after denying the Taliban’s request to send athletes to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed to allow two Afghan observers to attend the games. However, following suggestions by Taliban leaders that this concession constituted IOC recognition of the Taliban, the IOC has revoked these privileges. “They have turned this […]
Bangladesh has become the third South Asian country to integrate it’s armed forces by allowing women to serve as officers. Nearly 15,000 women have submitted applications, which is twice the number of recent male applicants. Despite this step forward, Bangladeshi women still face significant obstacles to achieving equality. Only half as many women as men […]
Women athletes will play a prominent role in the upcoming Sydney 2000 Olympic Games as 270 American women compete against 4,100 women from around the world, the largest number of females ever to compete in the games. Runner Marla Runyan will be the first legally blind athlete to compete on the U.S. team, marking a […]
