U.S. women still have limited contraceptive options and rely mostly on sterilization, condoms, and birth control pills, but new birth-control options are on the way. Dr. Michael Burnhill of Planned Parenthood said that the “long, long drought” of birth-control options for U.S. women may be over soon, since several new contraceptives are now “in the […]
According to a recent study published in the journal Child Development, girls begin losing confidence in their intellectual abilities around the age of puberty. While third and fourth-grade girls and boys both tended to overestimate their mental powers, “gender differences in self-perceived academic competence … (began) to emergence in fifth or sixth grade.” Lead study […]
A school for Afghan refugees has been established in the border city of Peshawar, Pakistan, and will offer 2,000 young women the opportunity to study and learn. The school, which has about 5,000 students in all, was funded by the Pakistani government and will be affiliated with Kabul University. The school’s faculty will offer instruction […]
After an intense debate in parliament, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak issued a decree to strike down an Egyptian law that allows rapists to go unpunished if they marry the woman they raped. Proponents of the law argued that eliminating of the law would further victimize women, since a woman who has been raped is considered […]
Scientists have reported that a new mammography unit that includes a digital camera is more effective than traditional units in detecting cancer within the dense breast tissue of young women. For women in their twenties and thirties, the new digital device could be a life-saver. The University of Virginia Health Sciences Center is currently testing […]
As part of a sales promotion and benefit for the Family Violence Prevention Fund, sporting goods giants Lady Foot Locker and Reebok will donate $5 from the $74.99 purchase price of Reebok’s new “Leader DMX 2X” walking shoe from April 5 to May 15. The Family Violence Prevention Fund has worked to end domestic violence […]
A National Health Service (NHS) program designed to increase awareness of and screening for cervical cancer in the UK has been credited with reducing cervical cancer rates by 35%. According to Dr. Mike Quinn and colleagues at the UK Association of Cancer Registries, who authored a report published in In fact, before the program was […]
Taliban officials accused President Bill Clinton of insulting Islam after he criticized the regime’s brutal repression of women in Afghanistan. Clinton has promised not to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s official government until women’s rights are restored. A statement issued by the Taliban’s foreign ministry stated “the Taliban are following Islamic law and international law […]
Child support collections have increased from $12 billion in 1996 to $14.4 billion in 1998, thanks to 1996 laws that made it harder for deadbeat parents to evade financial responsibility for their children. The 1996 laws, included in a larger package of welfare laws, allow states to punish parents who don’t pay child support by […]
A Louisiana Senate judiciary committee has passed a law that would give an embryo the right to sue from the point of conception on. SB 225, which now goes to the Senate floor, would give an embryo “from the moment of conception ‘the same rights a natural person would have’ when it comes to lawsuits.” […]
Businesswomen’s associations The Financial Women’s Association, The International Alliance, the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW), and the New York Women’s Agenda, all called upon their members to increase women’s representation on corporate boards. The associations urged their members, which number more than 100M in all, to actively encourage women to seek open board positions. […]
A study published in the journal Cancer showed that not all women with breast cancer need to have their underarm lymph nodes removed. Generally, the lymph nodes have been removed to determine whether or not the cancer is spreading. The removal of these nodes often leads to lymphedema, an uncomfortable swelling of the arm that […]
Women in Taiwan embraced a legal victory for victims of rape on Tuesday. Regardless of whether or not rape victims press charges themselves against their attackers, prosecutors can now file suit against the rape perpetrators. This law protects women from describing the painful and exacting details of the rape to an open court. Records show […]
The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice called upon Congress to support initiatives to lower the rates of teen sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teen pregnancy. The two groups plan to launch a series of teen-focused health fairs in communities around the country. According to Dr. Trent MacKay of […]
On Monday evening in an unprecedented show of support for international women’s human rights, the Hollywood community turned out in numbers to join women’s rights and human rights leaders in exposing the brutal treatment of women and girls living under gender apartheid in Afghanistan. The gala event, which took place at the Hollywood Directors Guild, […]
The Florida state Senate will soon consider a bill that would make it possible to charge criminals who target women under tough hate crimes laws. A Senate committee approved the bill last week. Florida’s current list of criteria for hate crimes includes race, color, ancestry, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, national origin, advanced age and physical […]
Kansas City, Missouri elected Kay Waldo Barnes as its first female mayor on Tuesday. Barnes defeated Mayor Pro Tem George Blackwood by 59 percent to 41 percent. The race was expected to be close because both candidates had worked mostly behind the scenes of the city government and offered little name recognition. Since 1995 corruption […]
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday that isolated complaints from women who say they were denied prescriptions for emergency contraception have been surfacing around the U.S. for several years. Michele Crider went to a chain drug store to fill a prescription for emergency contraceptive pills in 1997 and was turned away. Crider, then a 28-year-old mother […]
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand a ruling that struck down an affirmative action program that sought to promote more women and minorities at the Dallas Fire Department. Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsberg both dissented in the decision. Under the former city program, sex and race were considered in the granting of promotions, […]
A jury of 13 Methodist ministers found the Rev. Greg Dell of Broadway United Methodist Church in Chicago guilty of violating the church’s “order and discipline” by performing a unification ceremony for a gay couple last September. The jury said that Dell, who has been a minister for almost thirty years, could avoid being suspended […]
