Franklin Raines, director of the U.S. government’s Office of Management and Budget, announced Wednesday that the next U.S. census will not include a “multi-racial” category. Respondents will instead be allowed to check all the racial categories that make up their heritage. OMB officials believe that this change, along with the creation of new racial categories […]
Lesbian and gay rights supporters are once again criticizing ABC after the network reversed its earlier decision to discontinue the use of parental advisory warnings on the TV show Ellen. Two weeks ago, activists protested the use of the advisory warnings, claiming ABC’s application of the warnings was unfair and discriminatory. ABC backed down from […]
Britain’s women soldiers will now be allowed to have certain jobs on the front lines, Defense Secretary George Robertson said. Seventy percent of jobs will now be opened to women, up from 47% previously. New job opportunities include forward radio operators, combat engineers and artillery gunners. “If we are to properly modernize our armed forces, […]
A Parliamentary committee in the Netherlands recommended yesterday that full civil marriage and parenting rights be granted to same-sex couples. They found that “same sex couples can only be afforded equal treatment if they are allowed to enter into civil marriage. These members do not view the new type of marriage as a break with […]
The Feminist Majority, along with the National Organization for Women, the Ms. Foundation, and other women’s groups, held a news conference deploring the use of sweatshops in Vietnam, Indonesia and China by NIKE. NIKE has spent hundreds of millions marketing to women with empowering advertising about women and girls in sports, but at the same […]
A government panel recommended Tuesday that Japan end its decades-old ban and legalize birth control pills. Because of a legal loophole that allows birth control pills to be prescribed for menstrual pain, an estimated 200,000 Japanese women already use them. However, they must take higher-dose pills than ones that are made in the U.S., which […]
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) will introduce the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act tomorrow at a press conference. The bill would make benefits such as health insurance and retirement benefits available to the domestic partners of federal employees. Some of the bill’s co-sponsors, Nita Lowey (D-Mass.), Elizabeth Furse (D-Ore.) Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Bob […]
Republicans recently surveyed middle-aged voters and discovered that “the gender gap is a significant electoral problem,” said pollster Linda DiVall. The polls were commissioned to help Republicans understand why women vote for Democrats more often than men. The poll found that among all voters, women support Democrats 47%-35%, while men favor Republicans by 47%-37%. Among […]
Robert Acremant, who murdered Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill two years ago, has been given the death penalty. Although Acremant’s original motive was robbery of the women’s property management business, when he discovered Ellis and Abdill were lesbians, he said it “made it easier” to kill them. He thought that lesbians would have no family […]
Toni Carabillo, long-time feminist leader and a co-founder and Vice President of the Feminist Majority, died early this morning at the age of 71. A pioneer of the modern day women’s movement, Ms. Carabillo was a founding member of the National Organization for Women, founded and was the first-ever president of the Los Angeles Chapter […]
The Feminist Majority joined the National Organization for Women and other women’s organizations in deploring Nike’s use of overseas sweatshops which exploit women workers, paying them as little as 20 cents per hour or $1.60 a day in Vietnam – hardly enough to eat on, let alone pay rent, clothing, health care and more. Nike […]
In 1967, Britain passed the Abortion Act, making it the first country in the world to legalize abortion. Other countries quickly followed Britain’s lead, but conservative religious forces still threaten abortion rights. British anti-abortion protesters marked the 30th anniversary of the Abortion Act by forming human chains in cities and towns and carried signs that […]
The Commission on Judicial Conduct in New York ordered on Friday that Judge Lorin M. Duckman be removed, citing years of misconduct. The panel found evidence that Duckman had abused his powers, purposely misapplied the law, and made insensitive remarks for the past several years. Commission Counsel Gerald Stern stated that Duckman had told a […]
Police in rural Chautauqua County, NY, have charged Nushawn Williams, 20, with having sex with young women and girls, knowing he had AIDS. The case came to light when the partner of a female who had sex with Williams became infected with HIV. Nine cases of direct infection through Williams have already been documented, six […]
Anorexia and bulimia are becoming more common among affluent young women, say health authorities in Korea and Japan. Retired epidemiologist Hiroyuki Suematsu says that one in 100 Japanese women have an eating disorder. While Korea and Japan have been hit the hardest by self-starvation, affluent women in the Philippines, India and Pakistan are also becoming […]
New York police officer Michael Ortiz is suing the city’s police department for harassment. Ortiz alleges that he was threatened with revenge, called names and given less desirable assignments after reporting that a superior, Sgt. Daniel Engel, had harassed two lesbian women last March. According to Ortiz, the two women were stopped at a DWI […]
Coming a month after the death of British journalist Ruth Picardie, who died of breast cancer two years after giving birth to twins conceived by in vitro fertilization, a study has been released that shows a link between fertility treatments and breast cancer. The report studied 38 women who had received in vitro fertilization (IVF) […]
The first court in Connecticut designed to deal specifically with domestic violence cases has resulted in the doubling of domestic violence convictions. In the past, because domestic violence cases were part of the criminal docket, they were often dropped and pushed aside by robberies and other assaults. The court’s goals are to stop violence, protect […]
Countless women went home from the Million Woman March in Philadelphia on Saturday with a renewed feeling of sisterhood and a newfound purpose. “It was a great moment for all women across America. It was a chance to express themselves, and to feel their power,” said Sister Gloriastine Muhammed of Macon, Ga. Adriene Breckenridge of […]
U.S. oil company Unocal reportedly has the largest stake — 36.5% — in a consortium of multinational companies just formed to build a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. The consortium also includes Saudi Arabia’s Delta, Russia’s Gazprom, Japan’s Itochu Corp and Inpex, Pakistan’s Crescent Group, and South Korea’s Hyundai. The consortium says […]
