The battle over a woman’s right to choose has become not just a matter of law, but also of language, forcing pro-choice activists into a metaphysical netherworld, having to fight, among other things, a ban on something that does not exist—”partial-birth abortion.” The term, concocted by anti-choice activists as part of an incendiary public relations […]
For the first time, indigenous women in central Bolivia are demanding their rightsÑand getting them. In the sparsely populated Cochabamba district, Quechua women have developed a series of educational and media tools to help raise awareness about their rights. Throughout Bolivia, half of which is rural, poverty and illiteracy predominate and opportunities for advancement, especially […]
In our April/May 2000 issue, Ms. profiled Christy Brzonkala, the woman behind the Supreme Court case that tested the civil rights provision of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). VAWA allows victims of gender-based violence to sue their attackers in federal court; Brzonkala brought her case against two university football players who allegedly raped her […]
Rebecca Gomperts plans to call her ship Sea Change. Should her floating fantasy become reality, she’ll be operating a 50-meter shipboard women’s clinic that would be a lifesaver for women who do not have access to safe, legal abortions. Starting next year, Gomperts, a Dutch physician, wants to perform abortions onboard while the ship sails […]
Thirty-eight Afghan passengers from a jet hijacked in February who were denied asylum in Britain by Home Secretary Jack Straw began their appeal yesterday. The hearings involved 32 Afghan men and women and six children. Shaw refused asylum to the passengers on the grounds that they faced no danger of persecution in their home country. […]
Congratulations to Midwestern State University in Wichitaw Falls, TX who recently launched a Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance on their campus! In its initial stages, the group learned of the program online at www.feministcampus.org. They hosted their first equity bake sale last week and raised $140!! East Stroudsburg University organized a Reproductive Rights Week this semester. […]
At Feminist Expo 2000, New College student Cat Hughes met and spoke with speaker and feminist author, Michael Kimmel (Manhood in America: A Cultural History and The Gendered Society). This week, the group hosts Kimmel on campus as part of its Take Back the Night march and activities.
Illinois Wesleyan University recently hosted a Walk for the Women of Afghanistan. Thirty people participate in the walk, raising $600 for the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan. For more information, contact a Field Representative or Ossai Miazad at FMF’s Arlington, VA office, (703) 522-2214.
On May 9, University of Chicago Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance will co-host a discussion, “Should the Government Fund Abortions: Abortion and the Law Forum”. University of Chicago Assistant Professor of Law, Jill Hasday and Northwestern University Law School Professor Victor Rosenblum will lead a discussion on federal funding for abortions.
It appeared to be an unprecedented victory. But one year after Egyptian feminists secured the reversal of Article 291—which exonerated rapists who married their victims—the enthusiasm and energy for an issue that once bubbled in the Egyptian press seems to have gone flat. But feminists there say they’ve learned their lesson: it takes real activism […]
Texans United For Life has closed amid allegations that its president, Bill Price, misappropriated the group’s funds for personal use. “We did find a problem with unauthorized use of funds by Mr. Price,” said Kyleen Wright, vice president of Texans United. Wright also stated the group does not plan to pursue criminal charges against Mr. […]
Supporters of lesbian and gay men’s rights will gather on the National Mall this Sunday for the Millennium March on Washington, the fourth national rally for lesbian and gay rights in the past 21 years. Scheduled to attend Sunday’s event will be the parents of Matthew Shepard, who died in October 1998 after having been […]
In a meeting with Wimbledon officials, top women tennis players demanded that they receive prize money equal to the men for the Wimbledon championships. This year, the overall prize money was increased 6.1 percent to $12.69 million with a 7.9 percent increase in the women’s prize money, but the men’s champion will receive $73,900 more […]
Lesbians and gay men in several African countries who come out of the closet may land in a prison cell. A number of political leaders in recent months have sought to shore up wavering support by denouncing homosexuals, hoping this is at least one issue the electorate, otherwise shaken by conflict, crumbling economies, and the […]
A Senate health appropriations subcommittee hearing convened on Wednesday to hear arguments on proposed legislation to allow the National Institutes of Health to conduct embryonic stem cells research. The federal government forbids the funding of any medical research that uses fetal tissue. The subcommittee was convened by Senator Arlan Spector (R-PA), who took the unusual […]
The Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors has approved $450,000 in grants to four Los Angeles organizations to battle hate crimes. Those groups receiving the grants are the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles and the Youth Empowerment Project of […]
Women are now in the majority in undergraduate and graduate education according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday. The report, “Trends in Educational Equity of Girls & Women,” shows that in 1997, 70 percent of women enrolled in college after high school compared with 1972, when only 46 percent […]
Both pro-choice and anti-abortion groups demonstrated as the Supreme Court of the United States heard a landmark abortion case determining whether a Nebraska law banning abortion procedure(s) was constitutional. At issue before the Supreme Court was only pre-viability procedures and not late-term procedures. Simon Heller of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy argued the […]
Vermont’s House members passed the civil union bill, 79-68, on Tuesday and Gov. Howard Dean plans to sign the bill into law quickly, making Vermont the first state to give civil recognition to gay and lesbian couples. Once this landmark legislation is signed into law, lesbians and gay men will be granted the most comprehensive […]
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on whether Nebraska can enact a late-term abortion law, making it a crime with a grave penalty of up to 20 years in prison for doctors who perform such abortions. The case, Stenberg v. Carhart, is the first abortion case to be argued before the U.S. Supreme […]
