California Governor Pete Wilson (Rep) signed a bill on July 14th protecting a woman’s right to breast-feed her baby in public. Wilson supported the legislation because nursing promotes maternal and infant bonding and also reduces health care costs for children. Proponents of the measure believe it will lessen the fear of public disapproval which contributes […]
During an address to the “Vital Voices: Women in Democracy” forum held in Vienna, United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton urged female leaders in former communist countries to work hard for women’s rights. Clinton addressed over 1,000 prominent women leaders, representing 19 post-communist Eastern European countries, at the conference and urged them to banish […]
In 1995, then eleven year-old Valerie Ambrosie won an essay competition designed to generate a name for the Mars rover. Ambrosie suggested that the rover be named after Sojourner Truth, a famous abolitionist and women’s right advocate. Ambrosie wrote in her essay, chosen from over 3,500 entries, “It’s only logical that the Pathfinder be named […]
Health Minister Ismail Awadallah Salaam announced on July 11, 1997 that the Egyptian health authorities will continue to enforce a ban on female genital mutilation despite a June 24 court ruling against the ban. Salaam’s ministry has filed an appeal with Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court challenging the mid-level administrative court’s decision. Islamic fundamentalists oppose Salaam, […]
By July 15, states must turn in applications for $250 million authorized by Congress for programs that promote abstinence as the only way to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Planned Parenthood and other groups that support more extensive sex education, however, point out that an “abstinence only” message to teenage students is unrealistic […]
Award-winning poet Adrienne Rich has declined the 1997 National Medal for the Arts. In explaining her decision to the Clinton Administration, Rich commented that “democracy in this country has been in decline.” Rich expressed her views in a letter written to Jane Alexander, chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts, which administers the awards. […]
After recent medical indications that the diet drug combination fenfluramine and phentermine (fen-phen) may damage heart valves, diet centers have begun to rethink their prescription of the popular drugs. The findings, by doctors at the Mayo Clinic, have already prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to send warning letters to thousands of doctors. Now, […]
Sports fans who attend UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium on July 12 at 7:00 p.m. will watch skilled baseball players pitch breaking balls, make double plays, and hit grand slams. And these talented athletes will be women. For the first time in about half a century, a professional women’s baseball league is beginning its season. San […]
The Boston Ballet believes 22-year-old Heidi Guenther’s recent death resulted from an eating disorder. The 5’3″ dancer weighed 100 pounds, 15 pounds below normal for her height. Her death emphasizes the obsession many individuals in her profession have with staying thin. Studies reveal that eating disorders among professional dancers are twenty times higher than they […]
U.S. Judge James Jarvis, of the Eastern District of Tennessee, has upheld the constitutionality of the civil rights provision of the federal Violence Against Women Act. The provision makes gender-motivated crime, such as spousal abuse, a civil rights violation. Congress used its power under the interstate commerce clause to pass the legislation. After four months […]
A study headed by Dr. Harriet L. MacMillon of the Centre for Studies of Children At Risk at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and published in the July 9th, 1997 Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that approximately 1 in 7 females are sexually abused as children. The study also shows that 1 in […]
Jacqueline Addington has been appointed president of Owensboro, Kentucky Community College. Addington, who currently serves as the assistant vice president for academic affairs at Western Kentucky University, will become the first woman to hold the presidency position at the college. With her appointment, three women will serve as presidents in the fourteen-member University of Kentucky […]
Over 300 women have convened in Vienna, Austria for a three-day conference to analyze women’s role in expanding and building democracy in Eastern Europe. U.S. Ambassador to Austria Swanee Hunt welcomed the participants yesterday and in her opening remarks commented, “The voices of women are vitally important for the creation of democracy.” United States First […]
Legal challenges have delayed California’s attempt to deny prenatal services to illegal immigrant women. Because several groups, including pregnant women, private clinics, immigrants rights advocates, and the California Medical Association, are fighting the cutoff in court, the earliest it can be implemented is now Sept. 1, 1997. Plaintiffs argue that Governor Pete Wilson’s administration’s plans […]
A government study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 10, 1997 discovered that calcium supplements given to pregnant women to prevent preeclampsia, dangerously high blood pressure, are ineffective. The condition occurs in about 5% of pregnant women and endangers the lives of both the woman and child. The National Institutes of […]
Cherie Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is representing a lesbian couple in an employment discrimination case against the British government in front of the European Court of Justice. Lisa Grant, 29, a railway booking clerk and her partner Jill Percey, 38, sued the government claiming that its policy of denying lesbians […]
Pharmacia & Upjohn has begun to air television advertisements for the female contraception method Depo-Provera. The injectable drug provides 99% effective contraception for up to three months with one injection. First sold in the U.S. in 1993, it contains the active ingredient medroxyprogesterone acetate. The drug company has advertised the drug in magazine ads since […]
A Hawaii bill allowing same-sex couples limited benefits traditionally reserved for married couples became state law on July 8th without Governor Ben Cayetano’s signature. The legislature passed the bill in conjunction with passing a proposal to amend the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriages. The legislation came in response to a State Supreme Court ruling […]
Doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and at the medical clinic in Fargo, North Dakota have reported that 24 women who used a popular diet drug combination are suffering from a very rare and serious heart condition. The women developed an unusual and serious heart valve problem and eight of them also have […]
Brenda Hoster, the woman who originally brought charges of harassment against the Army’s top enlisted man Sergeant Major of the Army Gene McKinney, has said she will be willing to testify at the pre-trial hearing assessing the charges under two conditions. Hoster and her attorney will ask the U.S. Military Court of Appeals to order […]
