On March 7, 2000, Californians will vote on Proposition 22, the measure stating that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Proposition 22, also known as the Knight Initiative after its sponsor, Republican state Senator Pete Knight, will prohibit same-sex marriage in California, and could possibly prevent California […]
Washington DC — Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation and a leading national expert on anti-abortion terrorism, today released the organization’s seventh annual National Clinic Violence Survey Report, the most comprehensive study of anti-abortion violence in the United States. The 1999 survey shows that in the past twelve months, 20% of clinics experienced […]
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a 1993 Colorado law which prohibits anti-abortion protesters from approaching within eight feet of people entering health-care clinics, unless the person consents. Three anti-abortion protesters have challenged the law, claiming that it violates their freedom of speech. Supporters of abortion rights argue that the law protects patients’ privacy […]
Today the U.S. Supreme Court ordered lower courts to restudy the scope of the Equal Pay Act, a 1963 federal law requiring employers to give men and women equal pay for equal work. This decision was based on a “states’ rights” argument claiming that in applying the Equal Pay Act at the state level, the […]
Legislators in West Virginia and Arizona have proposed measures requiring minors to obtain parental consent before seeking an abortion. There is currently a parental notification law in West Virginia that provides an exception for minors who obtain a judicial bypass. The new legislation, proposed by Delegate Barbara Warner, would require minors to have parental permission […]
The United States Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in Hill v. Colorado on whether the 1993 Colorado law that establishes a protective bubble around abortion clinics legally protects patients from harassment or violates demonstrators’ right to free speech. The Colorado law prohibits demonstrators within a 100 ft. of a health-care facility entrance from […]
A three-day conference entitled Global Forum of Women Political Leaders began on Monday in the Philippines. Participants will prepare strategies aimed at the United Nations to drastically change politics and increase the number of women in political power. According to Pippa Norris, a lecturer at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, women accounted for only […]
January 22, 2000 is the 27th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States. We hope you will help us to celebrate this historic victory for women’s rights, as well as acknowledge the continuing struggle by pro-choice activists and health care providers to preserve this right. To […]
Cerritos College in California has raised over $16,000 to attend Expo 2000! The Leadership Alliance at Cerritos researched and prepared a comprehensive portfolio. Their professional work was recognized by both the administration and the Student Government, each of whom contributed a large portion of the funding. Members of the Portland State University Leadership Alliance have […]
States passed 57 bills increasing reproductive rights and 70 bills restricting them in 1999 according to a study released on Thursday by The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League titled Who Decides? A State-By-State Review of Abortion Rights 2000. “These anti-choice measures have made it more difficult for women to access abortions,” said Kate […]
Students from Fatemieh, an all-female medical school in the city of Qom, have gone on strike in protest of poor education resulting from sex segregation. The students have boycotted classes for two weeks and are also refusing to work at a hospital affiliated with Fatemieh, the only all-woman medical school in Iran. Fatemieh has served […]
The BBC reported Tuesday that the extremist fundamentalist Taliban continues to ban girls from receiving formal education and to forbid female teachers from working. Since seizing control of Kabul in 1996, the Taliban has imposed a strict system of gender apartheid against all women living in areas controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban’s edicts, which […]
A poll released last month shows that 45 percent of Czech women were approached in an improper sexual manner in the workplace. Despite the frequency of sexual harassment, women in the Czech Republic rarely report it. Only one Czech woman, a university student harassed by her lecturer, has brought a sexual harassment case to court. […]
In accordance with European Union court rulings, Britain ended its ban on lesbians and gay men in the military and introduced a new sexual conduct code that does not distinguish between heterosexual and homosexual behavior by military personnel. Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon of the Labor Party told the House of Commons yesterday “As no primary […]
Women in Mexico won an important victory on Friday when they were granted the opportunity to serve in Mexico’s military. Women who enlist in Mexico’s military service will do so as volunteers and will not be subjected to military discipline, unlike men. Every man in Mexico must report for military service at the age of […]
The U.S. Supreme Court voted in a unanimous decision to uphold the Drivers’ Privacy Protection Act of 1994, a decisive victory for reproductive health care and for protection of women against violence. The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act is crucial to protecting workers at abortion clinics. Stalkers obtained home addresses of individuals from state departments of […]
Julie Goldscheid of NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (NOW LDEF) and Solicitor General Seth P. Waxman argued before the Supreme Court yesterday in defense of the civil rights statute of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which allows victims of gender-based violence to sue for damages in federal civil court. Justices indicated skepticism […]
Feminists rallied in front of the Supreme Court building this morning in support of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as the Court heard Brzonkala v. Morrison today. The case involves a Virginia Polytechnic Institute student who was allegedly raped by two Virginia Tech football players, and centers on the civil rights statute of VAWA, […]
Tension runs high in South Carolina as local residents and state officials engage in fiery debate about the confederate flag that currently sits atop the Statehouse. But no statements enraged the public like Sen. Arthur Ravenel’s (R) inflammatory comment at a pro-flag rally; Ravenel argued that lawmakers should not bow to the “National Association for […]
The American Cancer Society reports the troubling fact that “between 60 and 80 percent of American women with newly diagnosed invasive cervical cancer have not had a Pap smear in the past five years and may have never had one.” The National Cervical Cancer Coalition notes that recent studies have demonstrated a disproportionate number of […]
