Former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) faces a familiar opponent — Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-NC) in her quest to be the U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand. President Clinton has nominated Moseley-Braun for the post, but the nomination requires Senate confirmation, unless Clinton makes the appointment during a congressional recess. Helms said […]
Longtime moderate Republican and pro-choice voice in the U.S. Senate, Rhode Island’s Sen. John Chafee, died Sunday, Oct. 24 at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. Described as “the most popular Republican in the history of [Rhode Island’s] overwhelmingly Democratic state,” Chafee’s long and much-lauded political career included four elections to the U.S. Senate, six years […]
In a paradoxical pair of votes, the Senate yesterday approved a bill to restrict late-term abortion and passed a referendum endorsing the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision as “an important constitutional right.” The restriction on late-term abortion would make it a felony for a physician to employ the procedure unless it is “necessary to save […]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on the status of women in Pakistan called “Crime or Custom? Violence Against Women in Pakistan.” The report revealed epidemic levels of violent crime against women. HRW reported domestic violence rates as high as 90 percent, a rise in so-called “honor killings,” and 8 reported rapes per day. […]
At a gala event sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation and Glamour Magazine, over 300 celebrities joined with human rights advocates Monday at the Forrest Ballroom of New York city’s W Hotel to speak out against the terrible abuses women are suffering under Taliban military rule in Afghanistan. Twenty-one year-old Maryam Shams, a refugee, recounted […]
The 1999 World Survey of the Role of Women in Development concludes that while globalization has afforded women new opportunities in paid employment, with few exceptions that employment has been offered under inferior conditions and been accompanied by a disproportionate increase in financial responsibility. The survey indicated that poor women, more than any other group, […]
A study of 1,350 women in the Boston suburb of Newton, which has a breast-cancer rate 13% higher than the statewide rate, found that women with higher incomes and education levels were more likely to develop the disease. Scientists speculate that the difference can be attributed to environmental factors, such as professional lawn treatment and […]
The Denver city council is considering a measure that would allow unmarried couples, including gay and lesbian partners, to register their partnerships at city hall. Denver would join Boulder, California, and 35 other cities in 25 states nationwide with such a registry. The registry would not constitute a marriage or even a common-law marriage, and […]
Sharifa Akhlas, an Afghan journalist who spoke out against the Taliban’s abuse of women, was one of three women to win the International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism award on Wednesday. In 1998, Akhlas was arrested and beaten by the Taliban and forced to flee to Pakistan after she defied their ban on women […]
House Republicans this week proposed cutting the Women’s Educational Equity Act, a 25-year-old program to promote girls’ education in elementary and high schools. Under the act, the federal government provides materials and programs aimed at eliminating gender bias or encouraging girls to pursue careers in math, science, engineering and technology. They also track statistics on […]
Governor Tom Vilsack has felt the heat from conservative forces since a Washington DC-based gay publication praised his month-old executive order prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Although the order received little attention at the time of its signing, it has been at the center of controversy in Des Moines since the […]
For the first time in South Africa’s history, two women have been appointed to the rank of divisional commissioner in the country’s police service, the largest in the world. Magda Stander is the new Commissioner of Personnel Services and Dr. Mala Singh is the new Commissioner of Career Management. The appointments came following pressure from […]
Fourteen female foreign ministers this week wrote to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling for an end to the trafficking of women and children worldwide. “On the edge of the 21st century, it is unacceptable that human beings around the world are bought and sold into situations such as sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and debt bondage […]
A high-profile case involving the conviction of 15 former policemen on charges of kidnapping and rape in Mexico City has focused public attention on the lack of protection for rape victims in Mexico. In this case, two girls, aged 13 and 15, were abducted and raped by the police officers, then publicly harangued by the […]
Model Magali Amadei and director of the American Anorexia Bulimia Association, Claire Mysko, spoke out on CBS News This Morning about the continuing problem of anorexia and bulimia in American women. Amadei said that bulimia is rampant in the modeling business, with agents even encouraging the young women to throw up. The problem of bulimia […]
Mavis Leno, wife of comedian Jay Leno, was interviewed this morning by Katie Couric of NBC’s Today show about FMF’s Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan. The interview was held in preparation for an educational event being held tonight, October 18, at 7:30pm at 541 Lexington Avenue in New York City. The fundraiser will […]
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans that have been forced to flee their homes by the Taliban militia’s reign of terror face a long cold winter that UN officials predict could be “as much a killer as the actual fighting.” In the Panjshir Valley, one of the few places in Afghanistan that the Taliban militia does […]
Afghanistan’s Taliban regime this weekend refused UN demands to extradite suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden. The refusal came in response to a UN threat of sanctions against flights by “planes owned, operated or leased by the Taliban,” and against Taliban-owned bank accounts and property in UN member states. Unless bin Laden is extradited, the U.N. […]
Najma Heptualla was elected the first woman president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an organization of legislators from around the world. Bringing much experience from Indian and international politics, Heptualla is currently the deputy head of the upper house of India’s parliament. Heptualla promised to use her new position to advance the role of women legislators […]
California, New York and Florida, state courts have ruled within the past 18 months that lesbian ex-partners are not entitled to visitation rights with children they helped raise, regardless of the established parenting relationship, or even whether the child was conceived by artificial insemination as a joint decision of the couple. Massachusetts, by contrast, recently […]
