On Thursday in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Sgt. 1st Class Gary F. Alford was convicted on charges of sodomy, adultery, conspiring to violate a military regulation and three counts of violating a military regulation. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Alford was found not guilty of committing an indecent act with a trainee, […]
The District of Columbia will pay $8 million to settle a sexual harassment suit filed by seven D.C. Department of Corrections employees in 1994. The plaintiffs allege that sexual harassment, including outright demands for sex and punishment for those who refused sex, pervaded the agency. A federal court jury found for the plaintiffs in 1995 […]
President Clinton announced on August 26 that Audrey Tayse Haynes will serve as his deputy assistant and as director of the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach. Haynes will coordinate the work of women’s organizations, federal agencies and the White House staff to ensure that women’s viewpoints are integrated into government policies and […]
A new U.S. Justice Department report released on Sunday, August 24, reveals that nearly half of the 1.4 million people who received emergency-room treatment after a violent attack in 1994 were hurt by someone they knew. Seventeen percent of the victims were attacked by intimate partners such as their current or former spouses or by […]
Lucy S. Howorth, an accomplished lawyer and champion of women’s rights, died on August 23rd of a heart attack. Howorth attended women’s suffrage meetings with her mother and was known for her independent and determined spirit. Howorth, as general counsel to the War Claims Commission, became one of the first women to hold this position […]
On August 19, President Clinton issued a proclamation that marked August 26th as “Women’s Equality Day” and highlighted the progress achieved under the 19th Amendment and Title IX. “In large measure, because of the 19th Amendment and Title IX, our Nation has reaped the rewards of women’s talents, accomplishments, wisdom, and perspective.” The proclamation also […]
According to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper of Stockholm, Sweden, as many as 60,000 Swedish people were forcibly sterilized this century because they had “undesirable” racial characteristics, physical impediments and/or psychological problems. In response to the newspaper articles, the opposition Christian Democratic Party demanded a parliamentary investigation of past sterilizations. A spokesperson for Swedish Social Minister […]
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco reported on Monday, August 25 that HIV-positive men were far more likely than HIV-positive women to transmit the virus to a heterosexual partner. In the study, the male-to-female transmission rate was estimated at 9 out of every 10,000 unprotected sexual encounters and the rate for female-to-male transmissions […]
Dow Corning, in an effort to recover from bankruptcy, has offered to pay a $2.4 billion dollars settlement for breast implant claims. In offering the settlement, Dow makes no admission that silicone breast implants cause disease, but admits that the implants “can cause local complications” and that “rupture may occur.” A bankruptcy court must approve […]
Mary Louise Smith, a lifelong defender of reproductive freedom and women’s rights, died of lung cancer on August 22. In her 82 years, Smith achieved much and inspired many. Smith chaired the Republican National Committee from 1974-1977 and remains the first and only woman to have served in that post. Smith was a founding member […]
The French, who respect and revere their country’s long-established principles of separation of church and state and laicism, or religious tolerance, were angered by the Pope’s plan to visit an antiabortion crusader’s grave on Friday, August 22. A public statement issued by Prime Minister Lionel Jospin’s governing Socialist Party read “the meaning of such a […]
Lt. Col. Michael Child urged Army hearing officer Col. Robert Jarvis to add rape to the many allegations filed against Sgt. Maj. of the Army Gene McKinney, the Army’s top enlisted official. Child alleges that the incident in which McKinney had sex with an enlisted woman amounts to rape because of the abuse of power […]
Twenty women and 538 men entered their first week of basic training, known as “hell week,” today at the Citadel. Cadet Commander Emory Mace addressed the incoming class and promised “zero tolerance” for hazing and swift punishment for those who violate this policy. Two of last year’s four women enrollees dropped out due to harassment. […]
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed its earlier ruling that California’s controversial Proposition 209 is constitutional, the court announced on Thursday, August 22. Opponents of the law had asked the court to reconsider, but their request was denied. Proposition 209, the so-called California Civil Rights Initiative, effectively ends affirmative action policies in the state […]
The Clinton Administration has decided not to support the New Jersey School Board of Education in their decision to lay off a white female teacher to keep on staff a black female teacher with equal qualifications. Although the Clinton administration will encourage the U.S. Supreme Court to stand behind the principle of affirmative action, it […]
A recent study conducted by the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati suggests that calcium supplements do not prevent bone loss in nursing women and are only slightly effective in replacing lost bone after women have finished breastfeeding. In the study, women who took calcium supplements regained bone density at approximately the same rate as […]
Katrina Yeaw hopes to become an Eagle Scout one day, and she feels she has as much a right to achieve this goal as her twin brother, Daniel. Because of her case, the Boy Scouts, who have a policy prohibiting women, atheists, and gay men from being members, may soon have to answer to the […]
Research suggests that a synthetic compound similar to vitamin A may cure cervical cancer cells while allowing normal cervical cells to survive relatively unscathed. Scientists announced that the compound, called N-(4-hydroxyphenyl-)-retinamide, or 4HPR, may be used to cure other types of cancer as well. In the study, 90 percent of cultured cervical cancer cells died […]
Sgt. 1st Class Rita Jeczala, the sixth and final woman scheduled to testify in the pre-trial hearing of Sgt. Major Gene McKinney, alleged that McKinney made improper sexual advances toward her. Jeczala testified that McKinney had grabbed her arm and asked her if she would kiss him. McKinney has been charged with solicitation to commit […]
A federal appeals court upheld New Jersey’s controversial Megan’s Law on Wednesday, August 20. The law requires local police to notify residents if a convicted sex offender is considered a threat to the community. The court, however, did specify that the process used to determine whether or not an individual poses a risk to the […]
