Women’s and human rights groups gathered yesterday in Islamabad, Pakistan to protest the killing of Samia Imran and to demand new laws to protect women against so-called “honor killings.” In countries throughout the Middle East, India, Pakistan, and Brazil, women and girls are routinely killed by family members who believe that they have violated their […]
Self-described male deputies expressed disdain for their female colleagues in an online forum hosted by Digital Cities. The forum invited reaction to Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca’s plans to promote female deputies into patrol positions. The Association for Los Angeles Sheriffs threatened to sue the Sheriff’s department and posted a linked to Digital City’s forum […]
President Clinton has taken several steps to reaffirm his commitment to equal pay for men and women this week. The President issued a proclamation proclaiming April 8, 1999 as National Equal Pay Day. The proclamation read, “I call upon government officials, law enforcement agencies, business leaders, educations, and the American people to recognize the full […]
The National Clergy Council issued a statement in which it denounced President Clinton’s efforts to protect lesbian and gay citizens, women, and the disabled under federal hates crimes legislation. “We reject President Clinton’s so-called ‘hate crimes’ legislation as a disingenuous attempt to bring social propaganda into our schools,” read the statement. “Crime legislation must be […]
Samia Imran was seeking a divorce and attempting to start a new life when a hit man shot and killed her inside the office of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairperson Asma Jehangir. Jehangir’s office is located in Lahore, the capital city of the Pakistani state of Punjab. Imran’s lawyer and sister of Jehangir, human […]
The Aware Woman Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida filed suit against CompuServe, TML Information Services, and several anti-abortion activists in January for violating the rights of clinic patients and staff. The clinic has now filed a second, federal class-action suit. CompuServe and TML Information Services are charged with offering anti-abortion activists a service […]
An ex-television news anchor who was fired while out on disability leave was awarded $7.3 million by a jury. Sara Lee Kessler alleged that WWOR-TV demoted her and forced her to take disability leave before firing her. She alleged discrimination based on sex, religion, and age. The jury rejected those claims but agreed that the […]
A research report issued by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that the number of anti-gay attacks is decreasing, but also found that the attacks that did occur were more violent than in the past. The number of anti-gay attacks was 2,552 in 1998, 113 less than the 2,665 reported in 1997. However the […]
New research published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggests that individuals who smoke as children or young adults often suffer irreparable genetic damage in the lungs that causes increased risk for lung cancer throughout their lives. Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco’s School of Medicine compared the blood […]
Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to murdering and kidnapping University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison yesterday. Henderson’s attorney Wyatt Skaggs reported that he and Albany County Prosecutor Cal Rerucha negotiated a plea bargain late last week to avoid a possible death sentence. Henderson and an accomplice […]
President Clinton is urging support for legislation that would expand federal hate crimes laws to include offenses committed because of an individual’s sex, sexual orientation, or disability. Current hate crimes criteria include race, color, religion, or national origin. In addition to expanding the criteria upon which hate crimes charges can be filed, the bill would […]
An unidentified Lebanese doctor was sentenced to life in prison for performing abortions in Saudi Arabia, according to the al-Eqtissadiyah newspaper. The doctor had already been jailed 12 years and had faced repeated interrogations about his alleged performance of abortions on single women. Abortion is illegal in Saudi Arabia except for in a few circumstances, […]
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 […]
