President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spent Monday raising funds for California Senator Barbara Boxer and Washington Senator Patty Murray. Both women face difficult re-election races in 1998. Republican Rep. Sonny Bono may challenge Boxer, and Republican Rep. Linda Smith will run against Murray. Republican organizations have declared Murray’s state as one […]
After a declared boycott of the Walt Disney Company by the Southern Baptist Convention, plenty of Southern Baptists could be found at Walt Disney World. Kay Sanders of Daytona Beach, Florida commented, “I’m not going to boycott. It’s crazy. Kids have to be someplace, and there aren’t many places safer than Disney World. And if […]
The 150-year-old, 292,000-member American Medical Association has elected a female president for the first time in its history. Dr. Nancy W. Dickey, a family practitioner from Texas, was elected by acclamation on Sunday June 22, 1997. The year-long position pays $222,000 and holds mostly a spokeswoman role for the group’s members. Currently, Dickey is the […]
France’s traditional term for a politician, “homme politique”, which translates to political man, no longer describes the members of the National Assembly. The country’s May 25 and June 1 election results brought 63 women to France’s Parliament. Before the elections, France ranked last among the fifteen countries in the European Union in its percentage of […]
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that states can detain sexually violent predators after they have served their prison sentences, even if they are not mentally ill. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that people who are considered mentally abnormal and likely to commit new crimes can be held by the state. The […]
Faced with a Justice Department discrimination suit, the state of Arkansas decided on June 19 to hire 400 women guards in men’s prisons. In an agreement with the Justice Department, the state agreed to pay more than $20 million in back wages to women who, since 1983, did not receive jobs or promotions as prison […]
The board of Emory University decided unanimously on June 19 to prohibit same-sex commitment ceremonies involving lesbians or gay men in the university’s nondenominational chapels. The board’s chair, Bradley Currey Jr., did not find this decision inconsistent with the university’s nondiscrimination policy, which allows faculty, staff and students equal access to university resources regardless of […]
The House has voted 224-296 against the repeal of a ban on abortions at military hospitals overseas. The repeal was part of an amendment to a defense spending bill marking the second straight year a repeal has been rejected. Based on the assumption that women have access to private medical facilities overseas, abortions are prohibited […]
After voting to boycott Walt Disney Co. because of what it calls “gay-friendly” policies, the Southern Baptist Convention has condemned corporate policies that extend health-care benefits to employees’ same-sex partners. President Clinton, a Southern Baptist, responded simply “No” when asked by a reporter if he would support the Disney boycott. Another resolution adopted by the […]
The United States is just a “C” student when it comes to gender equity in education, according to the National Coalition of Women and Girls in Education. The Coalition will release a Report Card on Gender Equity on Monday, June 23, in honor of the 25th anniversary of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits […]
On June 21, Saturday afternoon, when viewers tune in to NBC, they will witness the Women’s National Basketball Association’s first game. The WNBA begins its first 28-game season which will culminate in four teams advancing to single-elimination playoff games in August. With three nationally-televised games a week on ESPN, NBC, or Lifetime, the league projects […]
According to two studies released on June 19, women who take estrogen for years after menopause cut their risk of death from all causes by 37% and of Alzheimer’s dementia by 54%. However, long-term estrogen therapy after 10 years also carries a 43% higher risk of dying from breast cancer. Thus benefits of estrogen therapy […]
A preliminary hearing that will determine whether there is enough evidence of sexual misconduct to court-martial Sgt. Major of the Army Gene C. McKinney will be closed to the public. The Army decided that the hearing regarding its top enlisted man would be closed to the public despite appeals from the defendant and his main […]
Adrienne Bak Ortolano finally received justice last week when a jury convicted Alex Kelly of raping her eleven years before. After the conviction, the 27-year-old woman gave her first interview since the rape in 1986. She came forward because she wanted to give other rape victims courage and show the world she is not ashamed […]
The Democratic women U.S. House of Representatives members will release a Democratic Policy Committee Report on June 19th which outlines how the Republican tax bill harms women. The report will give details on a number of issues. For example, the GOP tax bill cuts the child tax credit for six million families with child care […]
Lifetime Television for Women is seeking to become the leader in women’s sports broadcasting. The television network will begin televising Friday night games of the Women’s National Basketball Association on June 27th. On June 19th, the network will air the second installment of a four part series of sports documentaries. The series, entitled Breaking Through, […]
The Southern Baptist Convention has voted to boycott Walt Disney Co. The boycott includes Disney theme parks and its ABC-TV subsidiary. The church is protesting what it calls Disney’s “gay-friendly” policies, including Ellen’s coming out on ABC. David Smith, a senior strategist for the Human Rights Campaign, commented, “Unlike the Southern Baptist Convention, most people […]
Vinson Champ, a stand-up comedian who travels the college circuit, is allegedly responsible for a string of rapes across colleges in the Midwest area. DNA tests confirm that he was responsible for the sexual assault of a woman at Kenosha’s Carthage College. Other DNA tests indicate that Champ was also responsible for two attacks in […]
Linda Fairstein has served as the head of the sex crimes unit at the Manhattan, NY district attorney’s office for twenty-one years. In her job, she is responsible for prosecuting rapes, family violence, sexual assaults and other sex-related crimes. She says that the rewards of her work are enormous. She commented, “My work is with […]
Chanting “Tanya, Tanya, She’s No Friend. She Gives Guns To Violent Men,” over thirty women’s rights, domestic violence, and anti-gun activists held an informational picket outside of a speech by NRA Lobbyist Tanya Metaska before the Independent Women’s Forum. Metaska’s new book, Safe, Not Sorry, portrays women’s gun ownership as the solution to domestic violence […]
