The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a Virginia state law that bans state employees from using state-owned computers to access pornographic materials on the Internet. Six professors from publicly-funded colleges had challenged the law, charging that it violated their First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Judges rejected their claims, arguing that […]
Two new reports funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Women in Development and issued by the U.S. Census Bureau reveal great disparity between the sexes with regard to health and education. The “Women’s Health in India” study found that Indian women’s life expectancy at 58.6 years is slightly less than men’s, […]
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that tiny breast lesions made visible through biopsy exams may be a predictor of women’s future risk for breast cancer. Approximately 1 million women undergo biopsies each year. Doctors at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital studied about 1,400 women over 12 years and found […]
Columbus, Ohio’s city council agreed to repeal an ordinance that granted health benefits to domestic partners of its employees after opponents gathered almost 8,500 signatures to force a voter referendum on the issue. Council members chose to repeal the ordinance rather than to risk a referendum because a defeat by voters would prohibit council members […]
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence will host the 1st Annual National Aerobic Kick-Boxing Marathon: Helping Families Get Fit on May 23,1999. Gyms across the nation are encouraged to participate in the marathon by hosting a three-hour aerobic kick-boxing class in support of NCADV. “The marathon was conceived out of the sense of empowerment and […]
A survey conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago and the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey, reveals that forty-three percent of women and thirty-one percent of men have experienced some type of sexual dysfunction. Young, single women and older men were most likely to suffer from sexual dysfunction, which was […]
A study conducted by the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation found that television shows rarely portray the consequences of sex. In an analysis of 10 different Los Angeles-area channels including all of the major networks and several popular cable channels, researchers found that over half of all shows and over 2/3 of prime-time shows contained overt […]
Starting on July 1 of this year, the state of California will begin offering free post office boxes to qualifying women, men and children who are survivors of domestic violence. The program, which was modeled on a similar program in Washington state, is expected to cost around $519,000 in its first year. Individuals who can […]
The ATHENA Foundation will host an international conference entitled “Leaders in Action: The ATHENA Model” this April 29-May 1 at the West William Penn in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The ATHENA Foundation is an international organization that was founded in 1982 to support and recognize women who have excelled in business and community involvement, and to increase […]
Representatives from 180 countries gathered at The Hague this week for an international population conference. The conference was organized by the United Nations Population Fund as a follow-up to the last large-scale U.N. population conference in Cairo, Egypt, where conference participants drafted a 20-year-plan to limit population growth and grant women reproductive freedom. Delegates participating […]
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet granted and then later refused dramatic license for his “Goldberg Street” plays and monologues after he learned that female actors from the QuintEssential theater troupe would perform roles that had been written for men. Mamet’s notified the troupe that their dramatic license had been withdrawn because “David Mamet does not […]
A study conducted by Dr. William Garrett, Jr. of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine suggests that women athletes can reduce their risk of knee injuries by bending their knees more when they run. Dr. Garrett believes that women’s greater risk of anterior cruciate ligament (knee joint) ruptures is caused by a difference […]
Pakistan’s petroleum secretary Dr. Gulfraz Ahmad reported that U.S.-based Unocal may rejoin Centgas, a consortium of gas and oil companies that planned to build a 2-billion-dollar gas pipeline from Turkeministan through Afghanistan and ending in Multan, Pakistan. Ahmad said on Saturday, “The Unocal is showing its interest to re-joining the Centgas consortium as the situation […]
Internet service provider Mindspring removed “The Nuremberg Files” Web site from the Internet on Friday after site creator Neal Horsley pledged to publish live video of women entering abortion clinics, in violation of Mindspring’s “appropriate use” policies. Horsley reported that Mindspring had “pulled the plug without prior notice” and is currently housing his site within […]
U.S. District Judge William Traxler struck down South Carolina’s abortion clinic regulations on Friday, arguing that the laws “unduly burden[ed] a woman’s fundamental right to undergo an abortion.” The regulations were originally passed in 1996 but had been blocked from enforcement pending lawsuits filed by three abortion providers. The regulations applied to all clinics performing […]
Last year, the Philippine National Police received reports of more rapes than ever before. Three thousand and thirty one rape cases were reported last year, an increase of almost 70% since 1990. Sen. Loren Legarda said “We now have what can be described as an epidemic of rape and other forms of sexual violence against […]
Statement of Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority I am proud to join today with national women’s leaders and leading women members of Congress to urge the United States Senate to put an end to this spectacle of hypocrisy and travesty of justice. The 13 House managers want to subject Monica Lewinsky and the […]
On January 29 the Women’s Capital Corporation (WCC), a private company devoted to developing reproductive health products for women, submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for a progestin-only emergency contraceptive. The two tablet dose contains levonorgestrel, a long-time component of birth control pills and nearly 150 other medications. Unlike “morning after” methods, pills with levonorgestrel […]
One hundred students at the University of Notre Dame began a hunger strike Wednesday night. They were demanding their civil rights, namely an anti-discrimination policy that would ban bias against lesbians and gay men. University trustees will meet this week to consider this policy that has already been approved by the Senate Faculty and the […]
Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, amputations of hands and feet are common punishment for thieves, while murderers are publically executed and women are tortured for violating Taliban rules. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital in September 1996 they brought their own harsh kind of “Islamic” law to the country. Men, for instance, must keep […]
