A study commissioned by the German government has found that one in seven women in Germany is raped or sexually harassed at least once in her lifetime, yet only five percent report it to the police. The regional officials who published the study estimated that between 150,000 and 300,000 women are victimized each year, with […]
In an interview for the Independent in London, junior environment minister Angela Eagle said that she was in a happy, long-term relationship with a woman. She said the Labour party and her family, including her twin sister who is also a Labour MP, had always been supportive. While she made the announcement “to get things […]
A 40-year-old mother of five, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has made British legal history by suing and winning damages from her ex-husband for rape. Her husband paid her 14,000 pounds ($23,000) last November for the 1992 rape that occurred in their former home, but the woman hasn’t felt comfortable talking about it […]
The Senate voted 98-1 Wednesday to grant domestic abuse victims a temporary exemption from welfare work requirements. This provision waives the current welfare reform law’s requirement that abuse victims to return to work after a year. Although the Senate has approved the proposal three times before, it has been removed from House-Senate negotiations each time.
The Army has reprimanded the former commander of the Aberdeen training base in Maryland for sexual harassment and misconduct that occured while he was there. Major General Robert Shadley plans to contest the action, given that military reprimands have been known to end careers. Twelve staff members at Aberdeen were charged with crimes, ranging from […]
Chancellor Robert Berdahl of University of California-Berkeley said that over the long term, ending affirmative action in admissions will have a devastating impact on the school’s diversity. Since affirmative action programs in graduate schools were banned starting this fall, the number of blacks and Hispanics in Berkeley’s law school has dropped from 52 in last […]
Representatives Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., are sponsoring bills that would require insurance companies to pay for 2-day hospital stays and reconstructive surgery for women who have had masectomies. Because the bill has stagnated in the House Commerce Comittee, the two women are using the Internet to start an online petition to pressure […]
D.C. Police Chief Larry D. Soulsby has promised to fire any police officer who has pleaded guilty to or been convicted of domestic abuse. Soulsby, along with hundreds of police chiefs across the nation, is preparing to enforce the federal Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban. This law went into effect on September 30, 1996, and […]
Harvard University has created a chair for Gender Studies within its Graduate School of Education. “It is an important statement that the issue of gender is now permanently a part of the university, an enduring and vital part of Harvard and its research program, ” said Harvard psychologist and education professor Carol Gilligan, who will […]
An international survey of 1,332 employees and managers in Australia, the United States, Canada and New Zealand found that women managers were thought to work harder than men, to better encourage innovation and change, and to give superior positive feedback to their employees. Women managers were judged better at soliciting new ideas and instituting procedural […]
By a vote of 220-201, the House defeated a bill that would have required federally funded clinics to notify parents in writing five days before providing birth control to minors. While conservatives argued that government aid to clinics encouraged teen sex, opponents of the bill said it would frighten away teens and increase the rates […]
Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, found that survivors of rape and other interpersonal violence were more likely than others to develop health problems and to increase their use of health services. The study, published in a series of three articles in the journal Behavioral Medicine, followed survivors for 3 years after […]
In a phone survey of 1,000 women released yesterday, the American Heart Association (AHA) said only 8% view heart disease and stroke as their biggest health threat, despite the fact women are twice as likely to die from heart disease than from all types of cancer combined. Dr. Martha Hill, president of the AHA, said […]
Former Citadel Cadet Jeanie Mentavlos on Monday filed a lawsuit alleging civil rights violations by The Citadel, the Citadel’s governing board, the officer who oversaw the barracks where she was assigned, and five male cadets. Mentavlos stated, “I’m seeking justice. The major goal here is to make sure that it doesn’t happen to anybody else.” […]
On Monday, September 8, James Anthony Mitchell was convicted for a Feb. 18 anti-abortion arson attack on the Commonwealth Women’s Clinic in Falls Church, VA. Mitchell plead guilty to the crime and received a mandatory 10-year sentence. The clinic had just been firebombed in 1994.
Sgt. 1st Class Robert F. Parrish of the 1st Engineer Brigade, accused of having sex with a female trainee and failing to obey two general regulations, avoided a court-martial and was granted an “other than honorable discharge,” per his request. The court-martial was scheduled to begin today in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Parrish is the […]
Last Thursday, Anita DeFrantz became the International Olympic Committee’s first woman vice president and Gianna Angelopoulos of Athens on Friday became the first woman bid committee president to win hosting rights for an Olympic Games. The achievements of these women are especially impressive given the Games’ history of sexism in the Olympics. International Olympic Committee […]
Former sales representative Lorrie Beno has charged Magna International Inc. with sex discrimination. Beno contends that, while employed at the auto parts manufacturing company, she was routinely grabbed and verbally harassed by male employees, and that her male colleagues regularly entertained auto executives at Detroit-area strip clubs in efforts to gain sales. The suit, filed […]
A U.S. federal appeals court upheld the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in a ruling issued Friday. The ruling consolidated two separate appeals cases involving the Army’s Lt. Andrew Holmes and the Navy’s Lt. Richard Watson, both of whom were discharged from the military after disclosing their sexual orientation. Counsel for Holmes and Watson […]
Paula Corbin Jones is interviewing new counsel in her 3-year-old sexual harassment dispute with U.S. President Clinton after refusing a $700,000 settlement proposed by her lawyers. Jones counsel, Joe Cammarata and Gil Davis, asked for permission to withdraw from the case if Jones refused to settle. Jones refused to grant this permission, and Cammarata and […]
