The numbers of women candidates in Lebanon’s last election may have been small, but the number of women who won an election was relatively high. Seventy-eight women won seats on the new municipal councils, up significantly from the five seats women held after the last election. However, women still have far to go before reaching […]
Mohammed Hashim Bakhtiari, the brother-in-law of former Afghan president Najibullah, was shot down after returning home on Monday in Peshawar, Pakistan. The attackers killed Bakhtiari after firing upon him with automatic rifles. Police are continuing to investigate Bakhtiari’s death. As of yet, no one has claimed responsibility for it. Bakhtiari had condemned the Taliban for […]
Bernice Steadman did not share the same enthusiasm for John Glenn’s recent voyage into space as did most of the U.S. She did not even watch the famous astronaut and former senator’s launch into space. Steadman was subjected to sexist comments made by Glenn in the 1960s concerning NASA’s Mercury 13, a group of women […]
A total of eight abortion clinics received letters on Friday and Saturday containing a brown powdery substance with a note claiming that the contents were anthrax, a deadly bacteria used in biological weapons. The threats, which were confirmed to be a hoax, came one week after the murder of abortion provider Dr. Barnett Slepian of […]
Iran’s parliament passed an amendment that is the first of several planned measures designed to force segregatation of men and women at the country’s hospitals. The conservative parliament passed an amendment that will guarantee funding for a controversial law that would force public and private hospitals and other health organizations, including pharmacies, to segregate men […]
The drug tamoxifen, long used to treat breast cancer patients, can now be used as a prevention method for breast cancer, the government announced Thursday. Tamoxifen helps women at very high risk of developing breast cancer to reduce their chances of developing a tumor. “For the right patient. . .this represents a very good option,” […]
Human Rights Watch released a report Saturday documenting a massacre by the Taliban that occurred in Mazar-i Sharif in northern Afghanistan on August 8, 1998. The Taliban targeted a minority ethnic group, the Hazaras, who practice a form of Muslim different from the Taliban. The Taliban actions in Mazar-i Sharif demonstrate a calculated and purposeful […]
Attorney General Janet Reno met with abortion rights leaders Wednesday following a memorial service for Dr. Barnett Slepian held outside the nation’s Capitol. Close to 20 representatives from clinics, women’s groups, and abortion rights groups met with Reno to discuss the ongoing violence against clinics and doctors that provide abortion services to women. The meeting […]
Wominvest Publishing has launched its first issue of Purse Strings, a newsletter created to provide investment information to women. “While times are changing, women still lag men in investment skills and confidence,” said Purse Strings publisher Anita Saville. “Because they earn less on average than men do, women tend to save less and invest more […]
President Clinton and Vice President Gore have announced two proposals to improve women’s financial security after retirement. The first proposal would guarantee that time taken off from work under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) would be counted in retirement plan vesting requirements. Unpaid employee leave under FMLA can be up to 12 weeks […]
Women suffer fewer heart attacks than men, researchers report, but are more likely to die from a first heart attack than are men. Spanish researchers led by Juame Marrugat of Barcelona’s Institut Municipal d’Investigacio Medica studied 1,460 women and men and found that women had a 70 percent greater chance of dying within a month […]
The GYN Womenservices clinic, where Dr. Barnett Slepian worked before being shot by a sniper last Friday, will remain open and will continue to provide a broad range of health services including abortion. Doctors throughout the country have volunteered to take over Dr. Slepian’s work at the Buffalo clinic. One such doctor is being flown […]
Labor laws regarding working women in the United States and Mexico will be analyzed by U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman and Mexican Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare Josi Antonio Gonzalez Fernandez through ministerial consultations. “My discussions with Secretary Gonzalez were very constructive,” said Herman. “I am pleased that we share a commitment […]
The largest gay and lesbian church in the U.S. filed suit Tuesday against a Chicago television station after the station agreed to televise an infomercial produced by the church and then later withdrew its offer. The church believes WGN-TV in Chicago reneged on their agreement to air the infomercial “based on their views that this […]
A Ladies’ Home Journal 1998 survey named Ann Arbor, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin; Scottsdale, Arizona; Irvine, CA; Lakewood, Colorado; Virginia Beach, VA; Thousand Oaks, CA; Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky; Minneapolis, MN; and Burlington, VT as the best large cities for women in the United States. Two hundred cities in all were ranked, with cities in West and Midwest […]
National pro-choice organizations, women’s rights organizations, and religious leaders will come together Wednesday to remember the death of Dr. Barnett Slepian and to issue a national call to action to stop the continued violence against abortion providers. A memorial service will be held on the west steps of the U.S. Capitol building at noon on […]
The funeral for Dr. Barnett Slepian drew hundreds of former patients as well as colleagues and relatives Monday. Heavy police presence was clearly felt. “Dr. Slepian took care of all the women in my family,” Marsha Sperduti, a patient and friend of Dr. Slepian said. “Thank God I’m not having any more children because I […]
The Senate made a final decision to confirm Dr. Jane Henney as the new Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last Wednesday. She is the first woman to head the organization. “As I have made clear in prior statements, my priority as commissioner will be to implement the FDA Modernization Act and to […]
Older women who are depressed face an increased risk of death, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. “Treatment for depression may not only enhance quality of life but also reduce mortality among women with depressive symptoms,” wrote Drs. Mary Whooley and Warren Browner in the report, published […]
National pro-choice organizations, women’s rights organizations, and religious leaders will come together Wednesday to remember the death of Dr. Barnett Slepian and to issue a national call to action to stop the continued violence against abortion providers. A memorial service will be held on the west steps of the U.S. Capitol building at noon on […]
