Former human resources director of the Montgomery County Revenue Authority Geralyn Buell has filed a federal sexual harassment lawsuit against the authority’s board members and its executive director, Anthony M. Shore. Buell asserts that during her first six weeks on the job, Shore subjected her to repeated suggestive comments about her appearance and private life. […]
VMI Prepares to Admit Women
Students who enter the Virginia Military Institute this fall will see major changes in the school. The campus has new lighting and emergency phones, and the barracks house improved latrines and showers. Cadets rooms now have window shades, giving some privacy to all students who previously had none. These changes result from attempts to prepare […]
Hoster Testifies at McKinney Hearing
Retired Sgt. Maj. Brenda Hoster, the first woman to bring charges of sexual misconduct against the Army’s Top Enlisted Soldier, Sgt. Maj. of the Army, Gene McKinney, testified at his pre-trial hearing on Friday, July 25th, and Saturday, July 26th. Hoster testified that during a trip to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, McKinney, came into her […]
Study Finds Women Receive Less Aggressive Care for Heart Disease
A study led by Dr. Lisa M. Shwartz of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, VT has found that doctors are less likely to prescribe potentially life-saving diagnostic procedures for women than men. The study of over 650 heart attack victims found that women appear to fare worse after heart […]
Operation Rescue Founder Runs for Congress
Randall Terry, the founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, has entered the Congressional race in New York’s 26th district. The district, which includes the cities of Ithaca, Binghamton, and Kingston, is currently held by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D). Terry is running under an ultra-right conservative platform. During his speech announcing his candidacy, he denounced […]
Hillary Rodham Clinton Supports Small-Scale Foreign Loans
United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Congress to fund a foreign aid program which provides small scale loans(generally less than $1000) for women and the poor who want to start small businesses. At a speech before the program’s supporters, Clinton said that the program is “one of the strongest tools we can employ […]
Former Supreme Court Justice William Brennan Dies
William Brennan, the former Supreme Court Justice who ardently fought for civil rights and individual freedoms, died July 24 in an Arlington, Virginia nursing home. In his 34-year career on the high court, he helped the Constitution achieve its purpose of protecting the dignity of all individuals, no matter what their rank or standing. In […]
Congress Passes Breast Cancer Stamp Bill
Both chambers of the United States Congress have approved a bill to create a special breast cancer stamp. The House of Representatives and Senate reached a compromise on the bill’s language and have sent it to the White House for President Bill Clinton’s signature. The bill provides for a 40 cent stamp (eight cents higher […]
Kelly Sentenced to 16 Years
A rapist who fled to Europe for eight years to avoid trial was sentenced July 24 to sixteen years in prison. Alex Kelly was an eighteen-year old high school wrestler when two women charged him with rape. One of the victims, Adrienne Bak Ortolano, urged the judge to give her attacker the maximum sentence of […]
Sri Lanka Plans to Allow Abortion in Limited Cases
The On July 23, Sri Lanka announced plans to give women limited access to abortion. The island will make exceptions to its current law against abortion in cases of rape, incest, and fetal deformity. According to National Committee on Women Chair Wimala de Silva, the government is also likely to approve three months’ maternity leave […]
Seven Officers Convicted of Domestic Violence Relinquish Their Guns
The domestic violence provision of the Gun Control Act forced seven Los Angeles Police Department officers who had been convicted of domestic abuse to give up their guns, Chief Bayan Lewis said July 23. The provision, which the federal government passed last year, prohibits anyone with a domestic abuse conviction from carrying a firearm. Lewis […]
Wage Gap Between Women and Men Decreases Yet Remains Significant
On July 24, the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) released “Are Women Catching Up in the Earnings Race?,” a report showing that the wage gap between the sexes has decreased, but women’s salaries still lag far behind men’s. In 1995, women earned 65 cents for every man’s dollar, up 11 cents from 1981. For […]
Tuscaloosa, AL Abortion Clinic Target of 13th Clinic Arson/Bombing of 1997
The July 22nd arson of the West Alabama Women’s Center clinic in Tuscaloosa, AL marks the 13th abortion clinic arson or bombing of 1997 – the highest rate of anti-abortion violence since 1984. The Tuscaloosa clinic sustained massive damage, estimated at $100,000, due to the early morning fire. The clinic has been plagued in the […]
Congress Approves Breast Cancer Research Stamp
The United States House of Representatives has voted 422 – 3 to approve a new breast cancer postal stamp. The U.S. Senate approved the stamp last week. Proceeds from the stamp, which will cost 33 cents, will be used to fund research for combating the disease.
Woman Attempts to Become First Female to Circumvent Globe in Helicopter
Pilot Jennifer Murray, 56, is two-thirds finished with her journey to circumvent the glove in a helicopter. If she completes the journey, she will become the first woman to have ever accomplished that goal. Murray hopes to make the trip in less than 100 days and plans to donate the $800,000 raised to the Save […]
5,000 Women Killed Yearly in India for Lack of Adequate Dowry
A report conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has found that 5,000 women in India are killed each year for not bringing enough dowry to their marriages. While the use of dowries – money and goods women bring to a marriage – is illegal in India, custom still pervades in much of the […]
Senate Votes to Ban Federal Employees’ Health Insurance Coverage of Abortion
By a 54 – 46 roll call vote, the Senate has continued the ban to exempt abortion from federal employees’ health insurance coverage. Six Democrats and 48 Republicans voted to keep the ban; 38 Democrats and 7 Republicans voted to kill the ban.
Taliban Imposes New Restrictions on Women in Afghanistan
The Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist regime in Afghanistan, has imposed even greater restrictions on women. Currently, women in Afghanistan are forced to cover themselves from head-to-foot, may not go anywhere outside without a relative male accompanying them and cannot attend school. Windows in a house’s room which contains women must be colored black so no […]
UNICEF Report Finds Women Live in High Risk of Violence
According to a United Nations report released July 22nd women throughout the world face an unacceptably high risk of violence. Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), commented, “In today’s world, to be born female is to be born high risk. Every girl grows up under the threat of violenceThis […]
17 Arrested for Trafficking Women to Cambodia
Police have arrested 17 people for trafficking women from Vietnam to Cambodia as prostitutes. The network of prepetrators, arrested on July 18th, recruited women from Ho Chi Minh City since 1996 and sold them into prostitution. Already, more than 100 people in Vietnam have been arrested for trafficking women, with the maximum sentence no longer […]