President Clinton stated in his weekly radio address Saturday that, unless Republicans soften budget cuts in education and health care for the poor, “there is nothing more for us to talk about.” His wording suggests that unless Republicans make changes to the current budget bill, Clinton plans to veto it. In response to Republican threats […]
Wellesley Trains Women for Top-level Executive Positions
Wellesley has produced more top-level executive women than any other college, large or small. Seventy-five corporations recruit on its campus every year and strong networking amongt alumnae and students helps women gain entry into the nation’s top firms. Of Fortune 500 companies, seventeen female directors graduated from Wellesley. And, of female senior executives, 1.8% graduated […]
Detroit Ordered to Distribute $10.8 Million to Over 890 Female Police Officers and Job Applicants
A federal judge has approved a plan for the distribution of $10.8 million to settle a sex-discrimination suit filed against Detroit’s police department. Judge Paul Gadola’s ruling ends a twenty-two year long suit which includes over 890 women who comp lained of systematic discrimination against a class of women. When the suit was filed in […]
GAO Reports Finds Women Underrepresented at Four Federal Agencies
A new report from the General Accounting Office states that while women have made progress, they are still underrepresented at four departments — the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Navy and State. The unequal representation is especially m anifest among the higher grades. The report concluded that, “In general, the relative numbers of women and […]
Maryland Police Chief Sends Message: Racism, Sexism Could Get You Fired
Police officers in Maryland’s Prince George’s County who use racist or sexist language can now can now be fired, fined, or suspended, under a new policy that makes such offenses comparable in seriousness to police brutality. Police Chief John S. Farrell, responding to recent incidences of racism in his department, was quoted as saying he […]
Anti-Abortion Group Must Pay Doctor $8.6 Million in Damages
Three anti-abortion groups — Operation Rescue, Missionaries to the Pre-Born, and the Dallas Pro-Life Action Network — must pay a doctor $8.6 million in damages for harassing and trying to force him to stop performing abortions. A federal jury yester day ordered the payment to Dr. Tompkins who received harassment, abuse, stalking, telephone harassment and […]
House Lawmakers Refuse to Back Down on Welfare Cuts
House Republicans refuse to back down on provisions of the welfare reform bill which deny money to unwed teens who have children and which give states control of school lunch programs. The House and Senate, trying to come up with compromises on their differing versions of welfare reform, have had difficulty reaching consensus. House members […]
Budget Cuts Threaten Mammography Research
Indiscriminate budget cuts threaten to eliminate research vital to improving mammography procedures. The Senate has proposed completely cutting funding for the Defense Department’s Focused Research Initiative (FRI). The FRI includes a $4 million allo cation for the Stanford-Conductus project, which seeks to develop a cost-effective magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) technique for use in detecting breast […]
Appeals Court Rejects Wilson’s Affirmative Action Challenge
A California Appeals Court yesterday rejected Governor Pete Wilson’s suit seeking to abolish five affirmative action laws. The three-member court voted two to one and without comment not to hear the suit which would have eliminated state contracting a nd hiring based on gender and race. Wilson plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court. […]
Texas SEC Lose Sexual Harassment Suit
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt has ruled that males at the Houston office of the Securities and Exchange Commission sexually harassed female employees. Hoyt ruled that Wanderlon Ann Barnes, an African-American lawyer for the SEC who initiated the su it, is entitled to monetary damages because her supervisor engaged in various “sexual and vulgar acts.” […]
Doctors Claim U.K. Officials Misinterpreted Study Results
According to a doctor involved in the study, England’s Department of Health misinterpreted the study’s finding that new forms of birth control pills increased the risk of blood clots. The Department warned that women who take the new forms of birth co ntrol pills double their chances of blood clots. However, Walter O. Spitzer, involved […]
G.O.P. Medicaid Plan to Leave 12 Million Without Health Coverage and Force Closing of Hospital Emergency Rooms
The Consumers Union, who publish Consumer Reports magazine, and the National Health Law Program Inc. report that under the proposed G.O.P. Medicaid reform plan, 12 million Americans would lose their health coverage. Furthermore, because of lack of funding, many hospitals would be forced to close their emergency rooms. The groups based their study on California’s […]
Rebecca Lobo named NCAA Women’s College Player of the Year Award
A Phi Beta Kappa student, Rebecca Lobo led Connecticut’s basketball team to an undefeated championship season. For her work and sportswomanship, the NCAA chose her as the NCAA Woman of the Year. Aside from playing basketball and graduating with a 3.6 GPA, Lobo volunteered for the Paul Newman Hole in the Wall Gang for terminally […]
Small Businesses May Not Discriminate Against Pregnant Women
The California State Supreme Court denied review of an appellate court decision which refused to exempt small businesses from discriminating against pregnant women. The appellate court ruled that pregnancy discrimination exists as a type of sex discri mination and therefore small businesses, (in this case, those with less than five workers), though generally exempt from […]
Defense Department Ends Aid to Minority Firms
Since 1987 the Pentagon has used the “rule of two” when awarding contracts. The rule states that if two or more qualified small disadvantaged firms indicate interest in bidding for a contract, then only disadvantaged firms may compete for it. Last yea r, the rule resulted in $1 billion in federal business going to minority […]
Canadian New Democratic Party Elects Female Leader
On October 14th, Canada’s left-wing party elected Alexa McDonough, 51, as its new leader. For the past fourteen years, McDonough has led the Nova Scotia New Democrats and now faces a large challenge in resuscitating the national party. After winning a race in which she was considered the definitive underdog, McDonough commented, “We have a […]
Men Three Times More Likely to Make Partner in Large NY Law Firms
A study commissioned by the New York City Bar Association and released in late September found that large law firms are three times more likely to promote men to partnership positions than women. Alarmingly, the difference in promotion rates occurs even though firms hire both sexes in roughly equal numbers. Women’s numbers among partnership positions […]
House Passes Medicare Overhaul, Clinton Vows Veto
House Republicans, and four Democrats, passed an historic ove rhaul of Medicare yesterday. The measure, which becomes part of the budget reconciliation bill going to the floor next week, cuts spending dramatically and encourages the elderly to turn to private managed care organizations. In a press conference, Pres ident Bill Clinton renewed his threat to […]
Clinton Backs Anti-Discrimination Bill for Homosexuals
White House officials announced Thursday that President Clinton supports a bill which would outlaw workforce discrimination against homosexuals. Clinton wrote Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), the chief sponsor of the bill, that “Those who face this k ind of job discrimination have no legal recourse, in either state or federal courts. This is wrong.” Clinton’s […]
Nearly Two-thirds of Elderly Women Fail to Get Mammograms
Despite increased risks of breast cancer with age and Medicare coverage of the procedure, nearly two-thirds of women over the age of 65 fail to get regular mammograms. Health officials from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the H ealth Care Financing Administration announced yesterday that only 37% of women receiving Medicare […]