First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton announced plans for the The Women’s Museum, a national museum scheduled to open in Dallas’ Fair Park in October 2000. The museum will highlight the achievements of women. Rodham Clinton said that the museum is important, since American schools tend to skim over the history of women’s achievements. The First […]
The National Museum of American History unveiled a permanent exhibit dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald, the country’s noted “First Lady of Song.” Museum Director Spencer Crew said “More than anything else, what the exhibit serves to convey is a glimpse of a highly individual performance style and personal warmth that was Ella Fitzgerald’s ability to sing […]
White House administration officials urged Congress to pass legislation without an anti-abortion provision to pay almost $1 billion in outstanding United Nations dues and grant $18 billion for the International Monetary Fund. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin all urged House Republicans to drop the anti-abortion […]
Ann Sayre, the author who helped gain recognition for British crystallographer Rosalind Franklin, died on Friday from scleroderma, a rare rheumatoid disorder. She was 74. Sayre’s book, Rosalind Franklin and DNA, was published in 1975 and was hailed by feminists for helping to expose Dr. Franklin’s pivotal role in the discovery of DNA and the […]
A National Labor Committee (NLC) report reveals an increase in the use of sweatshop laborers, mainly young Chinese women, by U.S. companies for designer-label clothes. NLC director Charles Kernaghan said, “We found forced overtime, 60-96 hour work weeks, 10-15 hour shifts, six and seven days a week for below-subsistence wages of 13-28 cents an hour, […]
Nicaraguan Minister of Labor Wilfredo Navarro signed a 10-point Code of Ethics that will regulate conditions and labor relations for women maquila workers in the country’s free-trade zone. The women work for maquiladora companies, which help foreign coorperations set up production operations in developing countries so that they can take advanatage of the lower labor […]
Sri Lankan nuns were admitted into the Buddhist clergy for the first time in 1,500 years. Women’s rights activist Sunila Abesekera said that the nun’s order was a victory but that significant Buddhist leaders still refuse to accept women as part of the clergy. Abesekera said, “It is important for people to invite these nuns […]
Three women have been assaulted in a week at the University of Maryland in College Park. Police report that a freshman was beaten and raped, a graduate student was pushed to the ground and kicked repeatedly and a man attempted to assault another graduate student, ordering her to get in her car. The most recent […]
A study released in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that women who exercised before they were pregnant may continue to do so during the pregnancies without negative effects. Kristin R. Kardel and Dr. Trygve Kase of the University of Oslo in Norway reported, “Our results indicate that healthy and well-conditioned women may […]
Federal officials announced that investigations of the Alabama clinic and three Atlanta bombings will be merged into the Southeast Bombing Task Force. The Task Force will combine the recourses of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and state and local agencies in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. The Task […]
Daniela Owen, director of the World Food Programme (WFP) sub-office in Herat, near the Afghanistan border, says that the Taliban’s decree forbidding most women from working outside their homes is obstructing WFP work. Owen said, “The Taliban are not letting our staff monitor our projects.” Although the WFP staff members revised their work methods so […]
Women in the remote village of Malicounda Bambara, Senegal have banned female genital mutilation (FGM). The village, approximately 40 miles from Dakar, is the first community in Senegal to prohibit FGM. Thirteen villages surrounding Malicounda have since prohibited the practice. The women decided to ban FGM after taking classes offered by the government, religious groups, […]
Women whose husbands had recently been murdered in a December massacre demonstrated in front of the Mexican Senate, protesting the death threats and sexual harassment resulting from the women’s and their husbands’ political beliefs. The women said that the government was ignoring the harassment claims and their demands to release Zapatista prisoners. A demonstrator said, […]
Defense Secretary William Cohen declined a recommendation to segregate men and women during military training and instead called for the Navy, Air Force and Army to institute “corrective measures” intended to decrease the mistreatment of women. Cohen said, “We are not going to tolerate the abuse of women in the military.” Cohen gave the services […]
Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney was sentenced to a reduction in rank and a reprimand for attempting to obstruct justice during a sexual misconduct trial. McKinney, who faced 18 charges of sexual misconduct and one charge of obstruction of justice, was acquitted of all sexual misconduct charges. Six women had testified against McKinney, claiming that he […]
Virginia Military Institute freshman, including 23 women, graduated from their long role as rats yesterday as they climbed to the top of a 30-foot mud hill that had been sprayed by fire hoses. This year’s rat line was the first to include women. Twenty-three women endured the school’s long-standing ritual of abuse, which includes push-ups, […]
The Justice Department is investigating reports that United States “sex tour” businesses are sending people overseas to have sex with children in violation of a 1994 law. The legislation bans travel with the intent of having sex with minors with penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment. Tour companies are offering tours of Southeast Asia […]
Women’s chances of being murdered by “intimates,” including current or former spouses or boyfriends, have risen since 1976, according to a Justice Department report, “Violence by Inmates.” The report said, “Intimate violence predominantly affects women as victims …. Violence by an intimate accounts for about 21 percent of the violent crime experienced by women and […]
Mary Shallenberger, principal consultant to California Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, has been elected the next national chair of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Shallenberger will take over at PPFA’s full membership meeting in December. She will fulfill her chair duties on her own time and will not receive pay for the position. Sen. […]
The Taliban militia group sent a letter to Sergio de Mello, the United Nation’s humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan, stating that they would no longer allow foreign Muslim women in the country unless accompanied by a close male relative. If the new law is enforced, U.N. programs for women and girls could face enormous setbacks. The […]
