Uncategorized

U. Penn Women’s Athletics Short-Changed

In a report to the federal government, the University of Pennsylvania revealed that men’s athletic programs receive more than twice the funds of women’s athletics. Although this is a violation of Title IX, which states that men’s and women’s athletic programs must receive virtually equal funding, the university said they were making progress. Title IX […]

Uncategorized

Women Journalists Recognized

The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) honored three women with Courage in Journalism awards last night. The speakers and presenters included noted women journalists such as Katherine Graham, Judy Woodruff, Cynthia Tucker and Cokie Roberts. The $2,000 awards went to women who have put their lives at risk for news — Bina Bektiati, a freelance […]

Uncategorized

Lesbian Coach Sues School for Illegal Firing

Wendy Weaver, a coach and teacher at Spanish Fork High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, is suing Nebo School District for firing her because she is a lesbian. Weaver was fired as coach last summer after she divorced her husband and moved in with another woman. The principal told her that she would also […]

Uncategorized

India Skeptical of Plan to Help Girls

The government in India has planned an aid package for over two million girls in the country’s poorest families. They say they will give families who make less than $314 a year $14 when a girl is born, and $14-$28 a year for their schooling. The media suggested that selfish government employees will keep the […]

Uncategorized

HHS Gives $1 Million For Girls’ Programs

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala announced last week that $1 million would be awarded to four community-based projects and one national campaign to help young girls. “With these grants, communities can work together to help young girls stay healthy, stay active, and make the most of their lives,” she said. The […]

Uncategorized

Catholic Hospitals Restrict Women’s Health Services

In an alarming trend that is increasing each year, secular hospitals are merging with Catholic hospitals and cutting off all reproductive health services. The mergers, which are often done to keep financially-struggling hospitals open, are becoming more and more common. For example, in New York City, a Catholic health maintenance organization purchased a statewide Medicaid-only […]

Uncategorized

Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Louisiana Parental Consent Laws

Yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to reinstate a Louisiana law that requires minors to get parental consent for abortions, agreeing that it caused “undue interference” with young women’s abortion rights. Although the Supreme Court has upheld parental-consent laws in other states, the Louisiana law was unique because it did not explicitly state that judges had […]

Uncategorized

Journalist Nancy Dickerson Dies

Noted radio and television correspondent and independent producer Nancy Dickerson died at age 70 on Saturday. She broke through barriers in the 1950s to be among the first women to cover politics and world affairs. She rejected a job as “women’s editor” at the old Washington Daily News because “writing shopping and food columns…seemed outlandish […]

Uncategorized

Vigil Draws Attention to Domestic Violence

On Saturday, October 18, over 1000 women and men from all over the country and the world participated in the National March To End The Silence in Washington DC. Organized by the National Silent Witness Initiative, women and men from all fifty states and seven countries marched on Washington in memory of all the women […]

Uncategorized

Women Leaders Decreasing Worldwide

Last month, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hosted a party for foreign ministers with only one requirement — they must be women. At the party of eight women, with two women unable to attend, the foreign ministers discussed the political progress of women. Worldwide, there are only four female heads of government, 10 U.N. ambassadors […]

Uncategorized

Young Boys Charged in Sexual Assault

Four Bronx boys, all 8 and 9 years old, have been charged with sodomy for forcing a 9-year-old girl to perform oral sex on the Public School 44 playground. Bronx detectives are looking for a fifth boy and possibly a second victim. Police say that three boys held the girl down while the other forced […]

Uncategorized

Hillary Clinton Condemns Domestic Violence

Saying that domestic violence “is not just an assault against a citizen, but that it does undermine democracy itself,” Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke on the topic at a conference of mostly women on Monday. “Domestic violence can never again be dismissed, as it so often has in th epast, as part of a country’s traditional […]

Uncategorized

International Feminist ‘Oscars’ Awarded

At the world’s biggest book fair in Germany last week, 23 feminist writers were awarded the first “Women’s Book Oscars.” An international panel chose non-fiction books that have “changed the world over the past 25 years.” Feminist classics such as Germaine Greer’s “The Female Eunuch,” Kate Millet’s “Sexual Politics” and Gloria Steinem’s “Outrageous Acts and […]

Uncategorized

Russia’s Women Suffer Setbacks

Russia’s interior ministry recently reported that the numbers of reported rapes are dropping, yet rape crisis centers say that the number of calls they receive has been consistent. Rape counselors estimate that fewer than 5% of rape victims report the crime to the police, with even fewer rapes actually being registered by the police. The […]

Uncategorized

Female VMI Cadets Recruit For Next Class

The Virginia Military Institute’s first class of women will actively recruit more females for next year’s class, talking to them personally and becoming a part of a marketing campaign to attract more women to the formerly all-male school, say admissions officers. Assistant Director of Admissions Terri Wheaton Reddings said “We’ve got to keep the momentum […]

Uncategorized

Lesbian Relationship Not Adultery, Lawyer Argues

In a bizarre semantic twist, divorce attorney Rosalie Davies is using Pennsylvania’s law on adultery to argue why her lesbian client should get alimony from her ex-husband. At issue is whether or not lesbian sex, occurring outside of heterosexual marriage, is considered adultery. If it is adulterous, lesbians can be denied alimony under the state’s […]

Uncategorized

Hillary Clinton Gives Feminist Speech in Argentina

Hillary Rodham Clinton was greeted with applause and cheers by Argentine women for her speech on reproductive health and domestic violence. “Hillary is a radical feminist, and we welcome that here,” said lawyer Liliana Tojo. “Access to quality health care — especially family planning and reproductive health services — is crucial to advancing the progress […]

Uncategorized

Pilot Wins Sexual Harassment Suit

A jury awarded $875,000 to Tammy S. Blakey, the first woman at Continental Airlines to attain the rank of captain of an Airbus A300 passenger plane, for sexual harassment yesterday. Blakey filed the suit in 1993, alleging that male pilots left pornographic pictures in cockpits, some with her name written on them. One picture left […]