Tension is forming between formerly-allied right-wing Christian fundamentalists and the Republican Party. Christian conservatives are threatening to drop their support of the Republican Party because of Party politicians’ less than ardent stance on abortion, school prayer and homosexuality. James Dobson, head of the fundamentalist Focus on the Family group, has said that he is going […]
The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the release of a woman who was jailed for refusing to accept a divorce with no settlement. The 62-year-old woman had left her physically abusive husband and arrived at the Petah Tikva Rabbincal Court for the divorce hearing. The woman was not allowed to consult a lawyer, and her husband, […]
The Russian Frunze Naval Academy, established in 1715 by Peter the Great, admitted its first female student last fall. Lyudmila Yolshina, 17, is the only woman out of 1,500 students and is the first woman to be admitted to a naval academy in Russia. Last February, the school’s commander announced that he would allow women […]
Last Sunday marked the first ever American Women’s College Hockey Alliance championship. Approximately 1,500 people showed up to see New Hampshire win the crown. Although Boston’s FleetCenter held 16,000 less than capacity, Brandy Fisher, a starter for New Hampshire, said “It’s really progressed. My freshman year we didn’t have half the support we have now.” […]
Montgomery County, Maryland police arrested a sixth teenager in connection with the gang rape of a fifteen-year-old girl. All six suspects, ages 15 to 19, will be tried as adults for first degree rape. The victim was first approached by two of the assailants at a bus stop. The girl agreed to go with them […]
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed to grant $14.5 million for projects that would aid women’s leadership training, help children who have been abducted by rebels, and improve crop and economic security in Uganda. Clinton spoke of the U.S. government’s hope to help end the violence in Uganda, where 800,000 people were killed in ethnic […]
Foreign and Pakistani United Nations female staff members in Islamabad have filed 11 complaints of sexual harassment against a U.N. Development Program (UNDP) employee. The U.N. said in a statement that it has sent a team from the New York-based UNDP to investigate the allegations. Asma Jehangir, a women’s rights activist and human rights lawyer, […]
The Maryland House of Representatives voted 70 to 65 to allow the state-funded procedure only in cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger. Currently, abortions to protect a woman’s mental health can be state-funded. The bill must pass before the Senate before it can become law. Senate legislators have vowed […]
Doug Golden, the grandfather of one of the suspects charged with the fatal shootings of four female students and a teacher, and with seriously injuring 10 females at an Arkansas school, said that his grandson probably used the scope on one of the guns to target females. “They were selected because of their sex or […]
Two women have charged a 45-year-old doctor at Washington’s Greater Southeast Community Hospital with sexual assault. The women allege that the assault took place during routine examinations. A 56-year-old Oxon Hill, Maryland woman and a 41-year-old Washington, D.C. woman both reported sexual abuse that Dr. Michael Daniel Lavine claims were acts done for “bona fide […]
Four girls and one teacher were brutally murdered yesterday when two boys, ages 11 and 13, opened fire outside the Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Another female teacher and five girls were listed in stable condition, while three girls and a boy were all treated for injures and released from the hospital. Fourteen of […]
Testimony in NOW vs. Scheidler continued as anti-abortion leaders admitted that they were involved in blockades and activities intended to close down the clinics. Tim Murphy and Andrew Scholberg, former employees of the Pro-Life Action League, testified that they were present at annual meetings with Joseph Scheidler and that they planned blockades and training sessions. […]
Sri Lankan Women’s Affairs Minister Hema Ratnayake said that the People’s Alliance government will pass legislation that requires a minimum of 25 percent representation for women in all elected groups. Although Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister are both women, historian Lorna Dewarajah noted that most of the area’s female politicians were either wives or […]
A Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) report entitled, “Mapping Progress: Assessing Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action,” documents that 70% of countries have drawn up plans for implementing the platform of the Fourth World Conference on Women. Despite these plans governments enacted policies that have impeded women’s access to employment, health care, education, […]
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved legislation that would grant $18 billion to the International Monetary Fund and $505 million to the United Nations for past U.S. dues. Republicans still plan to add anti-abortion language that would forbid the granting of funds to organizations that attempt to aid in family planning. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin […]
The United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) are launching a campaign aimed at heightening global awareness that women’s rights are human rights. The event marks 1998 as the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Human Rights Year. The Face to Face campaign will include […]
Protesters in northern New South Wales are refusing to let Ross Mining, one of Australia’s largest mining companies, go ahead with plans to mine ancestral land, citing loss of birthrights, including sacred lands and sites, by Aboriginal women. Ross Mining officials have reached an agreement with the New South Wales Lands Council and a regional […]
The United Nations announced that it has shut down its operations in Southern Afghanistan, the geographical center of operations for the Taliban army, because of harassment by the Taliban and restrictions placed on women humanitarian workers. U.N. spokeswoman Sarah Russell said, “The decision (to withdraw) was prompted by persistent interference by the Taliban authorities in […]
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand an Ohio appeals court ruling, in Voinovich v. Women’s Medical Professional Corp., that overturned a ban on “partial-birth” abortions. The Supreme Court justices did not offer an explanation for the decision. Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia all voted to hear the case. Thomas said […]
The settlement reached in the class-action sexual harassment case, Martens v. Smith Barney, has been deemed “unconscionable” by lead plaintiffs Pam Martens, Judith Mione, and the New York City and New York State chapters of NOW. A statement by the plaintiffs declared that the settlement is “yet another dirty deal from Wall St.” Under the […]
