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 […]
New Protection for Domestic Violence Survivors
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 […]
International Conference for Women’s Leadership
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 […]
Hillary Clinton Urges Reproductive Freedom for All
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 […]
Playwright Bars Gender-Bending Performance
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 Mamet’s notified the troupe that their dramatic license had been withdrawn because “David Mamet does not […]
Knee-Savers for Female Athletes
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 […]
Unocal May Rejoin Pipeline Project
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 […]
Mindspring Pulls Nuremberg Site
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 […]
Abortion Rights Upheld in S.C., Threatened in Virginia
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 […]
Record Number of Rapes in Philippines
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 […]
National Women’s Leaders Oppose Live Testimony At Senate Trial
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 […]
New Emergency Contraceptive Up for Approval
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 […]
Lesbian and Gay Students Fight for Notre Dame Anti-Discrimination Policy
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 […]
Taliban Uses Torture As Punishment
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 […]
Discrimination Suit Filed Against Prestigious University
Civil rights organizations have filed suit against the University of California at Berkeley alleging that the university’s new policies, which were adopted as a result of anti-affirmative campaigns, discriminate against minority students. The University is accused of placing too much focus on SAT scores as well as on the amount of honors and advanced placement […]
Federal Jury Finds “Un-wanted” Posters And “Nuremberg Files” To Be Threats, Not Free Speech
Washington DC — Today, in Portland Oregon, a jury handed down the precedent-setting decision in the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE ) and RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act) lawsuit, Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette v. American Coalition of Life Activists et. al. This case originally filed in October, 1995, has resulted […]
International Forum to Discuss Reproductive Rights, Population
In 1994, representatives from 179 governments agreed to participate in a program linking reproductive rights and population concerns, prompting significant policy changes in many countries and granting women increased reproductive freedom. These representatives and others will meet in The Hague next week to discuss what progress has been made so far and to develop additional […]
Jury: Web Site in Violation of FACE
A federal jury ruled today that creators of “The Nuremberg Files” Web site violated the Freedom of Access to Clinics Act (FACE) and federal racketeering statutes and awarded the plaintiffs with damages in the tens of millions. The suit, originally filed in 1995, charged that Web site creators violated the FACE Act by inciting violence […]
China: Women Face Growing Poverty, Violence
China’s United Nations Ambassador Quin Huasun stated that governmental programs have largely ineffective in reducing the unemployment, poverty, and domestic violence suffered by Chinese women, and especially those in rural areas. In a report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Huasun also said that over 100 million women remained illiterate […]
Norwegian Bishop Defies Anti-Gay Ruling
Norwegian bishop Rosmarie Kohn allowed chaplain Siri Sunde to in violation of a 1997 Lutheran Church ruling that stripped Sunde of her post. Siri Sunde was suspended from her post after she married another woman. While lesbian and gay marriages are legal in Norway, the Lutheran Church had ruled that individuals entering into same-sex partnerships […]