Current Events
GOP Senators Seek Victory on Abortion Vote
Their ranks strengthened in last fall's elections, Senate Republicans are seeking victory on the first abortion-related vote of the new Congress, one day after rejecting any increase in the minimum wage.
U.S. Engages in Tug-of-War at Beijing Plus 10
As delegates across the globe assess the progress of women in the past decade, the United States delegation created uproars by trying to amend the basic document with anti-abortion language. Fifth in a seven-part series on the Beijing Platform.
Foreigners Vie to Adopt Black U.S. Babies
The State Department says the number of Americans adopting babies from overseas has more than doubled in the last 10 years, with couples often citing a dearth of American babies.
But there are plenty of American babies who need homes — African-American babies. And more and more of those children are finding homes abroad, especially in Canada, according to people who work in the U.S. adoption field.
Wal-Mart Jobs and African-American Dreams
The Wal-Mart model of low costs, underwritten by low wages, has cast a shadow on Dr. King's dreams of an American economy that provides stability and prosperity for all workers.
Seven Mistakes Superheroines Make
Why the latest action-babe flicks flopped. Fighting demons: good. Fighting inner demons: bad.
Newsweek's latest cover features a fake photo of Martha Stewart – any wonder people are losing faith in the news?
A week without women? Reality show stirs up town
In Britain, where “Big Brother” and many other reality TV concepts were born, the drive to come up with the next smash series has left a village divided.
The BBC had arranged to remove the womenfolk from Harby in northern England for seven days to see how their men managed without them for a new show called “The Week the Women Went.”
Women Around the World
Apron-wearing women storm parliament
Protesting women wearing aprons and waving kitchen utensils invaded a parliament building in Brazil.
They staged their protest at Sorocaba after a local MP made sexist comments, reports Estado de Sao Paulo
Turkey vows probe into clashes at women's demo
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul announced an investigation into what the EU termed "disproportionate" use of force by the Istanbul police as it quashed a women's demonstration.
Sex-Assault Continues Unchecked in Congo
In the jungles and border towns of eastern Congo, a civil war staggers on, largely ignored. So far tens of thousands of women and girls have been sexually assaulted during this humanitarian crisis, according to Human Rights Watch.
Lesbian Activists in Jamaica Tell Horror Stories
Lesbian advocates in Jamaica are reaching out to the world, bringing public attention to conditions that make them fearful, even in their own neighborhoods
Russian Women Struggle to Survive Domestic Violence
In Russia, 14,000 women are killed each year in acts of domestic violence, and human rights activists are dissatisfied with the government's enforcement of laws against the crime. Sixth in a seven-part series on the Beijing Platform.
Saudi Women Push Dialogue on Rights
On International Women's Day, Rita Henley Jensen reflects on her recent trip to Saudi Arabia, where feisty, educated women are challenging the nation's system of strict gender apartheid.
Taking the Gender Apartheid Tour in Saudi Arabia
Women's eNews Editor in Chief Rita Henley Jensen traveled to Saudi Arabia, to attend an economic forum. She was aware of the many restrictions on women, but once there, appreciated for the first time that the nation practiced gender apartheid
Japan WWII sex slave redress call
Taiwanese women forced to become sex slaves by the Japanese during World War II are campaigning for Japan to take legal responsibility for the crime.
Rape ruling in Pakistan suspended
An Islamic court in Pakistan has suspended a High Court ruling that acquitted five men in a high-profile rape case.
Cash offer to one-girl families
Families having a single girl child in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh will be given 100,000 rupees ($2,300) in an attempt to boost the female population.
In São Paulo the march counted on the presence of 35 a thousand women, about 110 buses had all come of the country bringing women of diverse social movements. It was organized in sections of solidarity, equality, justice and peace, freedom having represented the axles of the Letter
Ten years after the U.N. recognized that women's participation in media was a critical area of concern, trailblazers in rural India are telling stories from the margins of society.
Women Voters Turning Against Blair - Poll
Women voters have turned against Tony Blair despite Labour’s family-friendly policies, a poll revealed today.
Women singers continue to dominate Viet Nam’s music scene, while male singers struggle in the background.
Voices
Hillary Rodham Clinton criticizes Bush abortion stance
The Bush administration's policy of withholding aid from overseas groups that perform abortions is hurting women and forcing clinics to close, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.
For Women, Violence a Universal Threat
As the media buzzed about whether the U.S. would sign onto an important document, women at the actual U.N. meeting focused on violence against women around the world. Last in a seven-part series on the Beijing Platform.
What began with a murder outside a Belfast bar has escalated into the biggest crisis faced by Irish Republicanism in recent years. But just why have Robert McCartney's five sisters made such a huge impact?
When I first heard it, about two weeks ago, it sounded like an American propaganda radio station, complete with announcers with American accents (female)and announcing that this was an historic breakthrough, a new radio station-for women
Women in Hand-to-Hand Combat: The Atlanta Incident
The murder of a judge, court recorder, and a deputy on Friday morning in Atlanta might have never happened if two issues had been addressed years ago, without the politically correct remedy that some saw as the ticking time-bomb it turned out to be.
1. There are some jobs women can do.
2. There are jobs women shouldn’t do.
I’m sure that I’m inviting a Larry Summers response, but someone has to say it.
Lily Tomlin's Evolutionary Career
Together Tomlin and Wagner—who wrote the scripts for most of Tomlin’s routines, including 1985’s Tony-winning one woman show, The Search for Signs…(which Tomlin successfully revived in 2000)—are rather famously partners in life and love as well as in comedy. The Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles even established a new performing arts center in the couple’s name: The Lily Tomlin Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center, and proceeds from ticket sales there go to providing health services for HIV positive patients.
Health Issues
Chemical Soup and Federal Loopholes
Toxic cosmetics ingredients were recently banned in the European Union. Here in the U.S., the $35 billion cosmetics industry is fighting a similar ban tooth and nail.
China begins HIV vaccine trials
China has begun its first human trials of a new HIV vaccine, the state news agency Xinhua news agency reports.
Breast- and bottle-feeding: Is 'better' always best?
When new mothers find that 'informed choice' is no choice at all, it's time for a real debate.
Smoking, drinking among young white women high
"Women at Risk: The Health of Women in New York City," structured around the city's Take Care New York health policy, found that almost a third of college-age white women report having smoked "at least 100 cigarettes" in their lifetime, compared to 1 in 10 of their black counterparts and one in five Hispanics.
Costs Keeping Lesbians From Health Care
A new national survey shows that health care costs and the lack of adequate health insurance are the most common reasons why lesbians have delayed obtaining health care.
Science and Technology
A `geek girl' sees doors opening again
n the late 1990s, when she co-founded software start-up Marimba, Kim Polese was a poster child of the new high-tech economy, landing glamour shots in magazines from Vogue to the Red Herring.
Sundaes and Science aimed at girls
Whether it's learning about the habitats of bats or giving a health check to a golden retriever, fifth- through eighth-grade girls and their moms will have a opportunity to experiment with science without having their male counterparts around.
Business and Financial
Better time-off deal is cold comfort for new parents
More help for working families is likely to be a strong theme of Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's Budget on Wednesday. The Government has just begun consulting on more generous benefits for mothers and fathers when their children are born. And Brown remains convinced tax credits for parents are the right way to help families in work.
Feminist Pork: Marketing Misery and Fear
The issue of intimate partner abuse has been reduced to the level of an advertising campaign. Utilizing techniques most often used to market sportswear and household cleaners, major corporations and entertainers are now allowed to benefit financially from the propagation of misinformation and fear.
Networking event offers women a comfort zone
With their first "women-only" business after-hours function on Thursday, women at the Greater Southington Chamber of Commerce are increasingly networking among themselves to promote female business ownership
Married Women Stuck With McJobs
With their husbands’ jobs insecure and household debts and education expenditures mounting, a growing number of Korean mothers look for low-paid and grueling so-called McJobs. The number of married women working in casual jobs increased by 150,000 over five years from 536,990 in 1999 to 688,000 in 2003. Another statistic shows that as of late last year, 31,000 married women tried to find a job.
Religion
Judge: Christian frat
can ban homosexuals
A federal court has ordered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to reinstate a Christian fraternity which had been denied recognition because its officers refused to sign the university's nondiscrimination policy requiring the group to allow homosexuals to join
Much of the religious right's agenda is in direct contradiction to Christ's own teachings – and most devout Christians know it.
Muslim Women Can Lead Some Prayers: Scholars
Muslim women can lead women in prayers, and children in supererogatory prayers, but they are not allowed to lead the Friday prayer, which is not obligatory on women, said a member of IslamOnline.net's Fatwa team.
The Next Generation
A high school senior has her picture rejected from the yearbook because she's wearing a tuxedo. In most schools, it's still true that blue is for boys, and pink is for girls. What about the kids in lavender?
The children featured in Born into Brothels are growing up fast. Filmmakers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman hope to give them some tools to navigate with.
Comprehensive Sex Ed Helps Teens Make Smart Choices
We hope our health classes would at least provide the facts. But the truth is, many schools use “abstinence-only” sexuality education, which means that a lot of vital information is either deleted—or worse—distorted.
March 05, 2005Current Events
The Birth of Women's History Month
The evolution of March as Women's History Month is a story with many points of origin, non-linear narratives, competing calendars and claims and a denouement of some irony.
US Withdraws Amendment to Global Women's Rights Agreement
In a victory for women, the United States today withdrew a controversial amendment to a United Nations declaration reaffirming the UN Platform for Action on women's rights. The amendment would have specified that in reaffirming the Platform for Action, no “new international human rights were created,” including the “right to abortion.”
U.N. Takes Measure of Women's Equality
This week, government delegates and women's organizations from around the world are gathering at the United Nations to evaluate progress towards reaching the goals for gender equality set in Beijing ten years ago.
Schumer Could Derail Contentious Bankruptcy Law
Women's activists say that a new bankruptcy law--now at a critical juncture in the Senate--robs many women of a crucial protection from job loss and medical calamity and makes it harder to collect child-support payments.
Pregnancy Employment Bias Suits Surge
Female employees charged pharmaceuticals giant Novartis with maternal bias as part of a $100-million gender-discrimination lawsuit last week. The case joins a surge in litigation brought by pregnant women charging job discrimination
Getting married gives couples some important financial protection - and now MPs have finally backed plans for civil partnerships, same-sex couples can win the same rights
Justices Reject 'Roe' Abortion Case
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a challenge to its landmark 1973 ruling legalizing abortion by the woman once known as Jane Roe, who was at the center of the historic case.
U.S. Pushes U.N. on Abortion Declaration
Ten years after a landmark U.N. conference adopted a platform aimed at global equality for women, the United States is demanding that a declaration issued by a follow-up meeting make clear the women are not guaranteed a right to abortion
Schwarzenegger Remarks on Women Anger Many
Could Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have another "woman problem" on his hands? Schwarzenegger made headlines in recent months by deriding political opponents as "girlie men" and ridiculing a group of nurses at a women's conference. Now, an effort to paint the state's teachers as little more than a balky special interest group has angered many critics, who have begun to question why constituencies dominated by women have been subjected to such tough talk.
Are Babies the New Hot Accessory?
Motherhood has a new gloss on it courtesy of advertisers and mainstream media, but many question whether the underlying conditions of mothering in America have undergone any substantial change.
New Poll Finds Bush Priorities Are Out of Step With Americans
Americans say President Bush does not share the priorities of most of the country on either domestic or foreign issues, are increasingly resistant to his proposal to revamp Social Security and say they are uneasy with Mr. Bush's ability to make the right decisions about the retirement program, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll
Women Around the World
Freed Italy hostage arrives home
Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena has arrived in Rome a day after being rescued from her Iraqi kidnappers - and wounded by US gunfire in Baghdad.
(see alsoItaly Rallies Around Reporter Kidnapped in Iraq
he abduction of Giuliana Sgrena, a foreign correspondent at the Italian daily Il Manifesto and specialist on issues for Arab women, has shaken the public opinion in Italy and around the world.)
Muslim woman quits after threats
A Muslim woman in Belgium who received national attention after her employer was targeted with death threats has left her job.
School uniforms may need review
Schools which have uniform policies may have to re-assess the way they are enforced, following a court ruling.
Sweden to allow IVF for lesbians
Swedish legislators are due to amend a law which would legalise fertilisation treatment for lesbian couples.
Arab women increase MP presence
The number of women members of parliament in the Arab world has almost doubled in the last five years, according to a new report.
Pakistan's justice system in spotlight
Three years ago, it was the brutality of the event that left human rights campaigners in Pakistan, and indeed the rest of the world, aghast.
Film-kiss star demands protection
A Pakistani actress has asked her government for protection after she says she received death threats for a kissing scene in a Bollywood film.
'I'm beautiful and HIV-positive'
In the changing rooms behind the stage, 12 women are busy applying make-up and checking their lavish hair-dos. They are all HIV-positive. And they will be judged primarily on their courage and spirit - qualities as invisible as the disease which is weakening their bodies.
66 accused as mammoth child abuse trial begins
A HUGE paedophile trial opens in France today in which 66 adults - 27 of them women - will appear before a court in Angers charged with the rape and abuse of 45 children aged between six months and 12 years.
Covered in layers of flowing black fabric that extend to the tips of her gloved hands, Jenan al-Ubaedy knows her first priority as one of some 90 women who will sit in the national assembly: implementing Islamic law.
When Freedom Gets the Death Sentence
The murder of a Turkish woman and the applauding of the crime by some students have left Berlin shaken and officials pushing for ethics class. But how deep does the concept of honor run among some immigrant communities?
First the women are raped, then they are jailed, fined
Since 2003, when local African tribes took up arms against perceived neglect and discrimination by the central government, thousands of women have been raped. Many of the victims have been branded to ensure that they never escape the stigma.
Health
Elderly Women Benefit from Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Node-Positive Breast Cancer
According to results compiled from several clinical trials that were recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, elderly women with early-stage breast cancer achieve similar benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy as their younger counterparts
Premature birth lays time bomb for girls
Being born prematurely can set off a chain reaction of hormone-related health problems in girls, Sydney doctors have shown for the first time.
Those born weeks before their due date, and who grow into overweight or obese children, are more likely to exhibit the first signs of puberty early, a study of 89 children, mostly girls, treated at Sydney Children's Hospital has found. That in turn can trigger diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome - a hormone imbalance that can cause infertility.
Conference Looks at Health Care for Muslim Women in the U.S
"Patient-centered Health Care for Muslim Women in the United States" is the topic of a conference March 4 and 5 at the University of Illinois at Chicago that brings together consumers, providers and national experts to discuss culturally appropriate health care for Muslim women.
Baby boom in Hong Kong? Not likely..
Hong Kong couples have snubbed a government plea to boost the territory's birth rate by having three babies each, according to a survey published on Friday.
Business and Financial
What's next for Martha Stewart?
Martha Stewart, the millionaire homemaking guru, is out of jail and under house arrest, but what are her prospects for making more money?
Move On Up to the CEO's Office, Marcus Urges Women
"Women are increasingly being educated. They are becoming financially independent. Women need to be assertive on their ideas and decisions. Often these are challenged."
Marcus said women needed to combat the disempowerment that came with ridicule, where they were made to feel that they were not good at anything.
Clean out your financial skeleton closet
You probably have some financial skeletons hiding in your closet. Debts, a horrible credit score, lies, missing money...financial woes you wish would just go away.
Science and Technology
Sperm 'clock' may help rape cases
Forensic scientists say they may be able to use sperm's "death rate" as evidence of when a rape took place.
Relationship sites are a booming online business, as lonely hearts look to 'scientific software' to find mates. But are the biggest players hiding disturbing agendas?
5 women physicists get UNESCO award
Five women physicists have been given the L'Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science awards for fiscal 2005, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has said.
Voices
Mothers of Invention Face Technical Taliban
For Women's History Month, Deepa Kandaswamy points out that women invented paper, produced the pie chart and distilled perfume. But "technical Talibanism," she says, obscures those contributions and handicaps female inventors today.
Harvard President Larry Summers' speech does prove something about the status of women in the sciences.
The 'Fat Bitch' sandwich is the latest target of the language cops on one US campus
In Texas, among the nasty horrors awaiting us is H.B. 1212, mandating parental consent for the performance of an abortion
'Women's Day is good for womanhood'
“Women’s Day is a good day to celebrate womanhood. It is great to have a dedicated day to oneself. On that day our association is going to have a programme where women will come together and take an oath to protect their integrity and fight for their rights.”
Women `worse off than 10 years ago'
The rise in forced prostitution, forced labor and human trafficking has made life for many women worse now than a decade ago, a UN report says
Mama Betty Calls On Women to Re-Examine Fight for Social Rights
WOMEN must re-examine their fight for social rights, said former first lady Mama Betty Kaunda yesterday.
Commenting on the commemoration of the forth-coming International Women's Day that falls on March 8, Mama Betty said the International Women's Day was a wake-up call for women to reflect on their contribution towards a just society.
The Next Generation
Trend: Health-Conscious Teens Toss Make-Up
Female teens are taking on the cosmetic industry, leading a national campaign to educate girls about phthalates and other toxins in nail polish, shampoos, hair dyes and facial cleansers.
What are the challenges faced by women who would like to start a business?
That is one of the questions participants in the Young Women's Entrepreneurship Essay Contest, held through April 9, can choose to answer.
The contest is open to young women in the Kansas City area who will graduate from high school in May.
Over 70 per cent girls in MP keen on sex education
ANS Bhopal March 4: Over 70 per cent of girls in Madhya Pradesh want sex education to be imparted in their schools, a survey report says.
The survey, conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Voluntary Health Association (MPVHA), also says that 80 per cent of the girls were unaware of physical changes occurring in their bodies during adolescence.
The pluses and minuses of directing girls into math
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd heard that and suggested sexists such as Summers partly explain why more men than women rise to the top science jobs.
Career experts heard that and suggested that women feel uncomfortable in math or science classrooms because they’re often dominated by men. They said future bosses can be found among people working in manufacturing or sales and not from female-dominated human services departments.
Girls grapple with success against boys
Girls wrestling boys isn't new, but their success has reached new heights. Some have won their way into state tournaments where no girls have gone before.
February 20, 2005Current Events
Congresswoman Maloney Prevented from Testifying on EC for Rape Survivors
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) was prevented from testifying on Thursday about the need to include information on emergency contraception in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) guidelines for the treatment of sexual assault victims before an advisory committee working to strengthen the federal Violence Against Women Act. Rep. Maloney was told that if she did not leave, security would escort her out, according to her office. A spokesman for DOJ told Newsday that Maloney was asked to leave because she had not registered to speak in time.
'Artful' strippers escape censure
A US strip club has managed to sidestep laws banning total nudity in public by offering customers the chance to make drawings depicting its dancers.
A single mother on trial has a right to be judged by a jury of her peers. But what if the jurors can't find childcare for their own children?
Harvard Creates Task Forces For Recruiting Female Faculty
The president of Harvard, moving to counter widespread criticism of his comments last month on women’s science capabilities, announced initiatives Thursday to improve the status of women on the faculty, including a commitment to create a senior recruiting post.
Lynne Stewart Guilty; Faces Up to 35 Years in Jail
In a blow to the ability of lawyers to defend clients suspected of terrorism, a jury in Manhattan today found radical lawyer Lynne Stewart guilty of aiding terrorists.
She was found guilty on every charge as were co-defendants.
New Gloss on Motherhood, But Few Changes
Motherhood has a new gloss on it courtesy of advertisers and mainstream media, but moms and other observers question whether the underlying conditions of mothering in America have undergone any substantial change.
Mixed Gender Lessons Found in Fall of Fiorina
Until last week, Carly Fiorina was the sole woman in a select group of top chief executives. Her fall from the pinnacle leaves opinion divided about whether this is a blow to women. With $21 million severance, some see new gender equity at the exit doors.
Women's Groups Ready for Budget Fight
Women's rights activists are readying a major offensive to save dozens of federal programs that aid women from the budget ax, the opening salvo in a likely turbulent year marked by battles over Social Security and judicial nominees.
Mother chooses sterilization over murder trial
n Atlanta mother who pleaded guilty to killing her newborn child has agreed to a medical sterilization procedure to avoid prison.
The plea deal Tuesday halted the murder trial of Carisa Ashe, 34, who has seven other children, after she consented to undergoing a tubal ligation, in which the fallopian tubes are cut and tied to prevent pregnancy.
AG backs legalizing same-sex marriage
After playing a key role in the efforts to fight legalization of gay marriage a year ago, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly said yesterday that he now favors allowing legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and that he will oppose any efforts to ban them.
Fat hits the fired at Atlantic City casino
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa has told cocktail servers that if they pack on too many pounds, they'll get an unpaid suspension to lose the weight - or be fired.
The policy will apply to anyone gaining more than seven per cent of their body weight; weight gain related to pregnancy or a medical condition will be exempt, casino officials say.
Grant to guide way onto the path of women's history
The History Channel has awarded a $10,000 grant to the Boston Women's Heritage Trail and the Codman Academy Charter School to develop a historic women's walking trail in Dorchester.
The money is one of the channel's Save Our History grants, given to 29 historical organizations nationwide to engage children in the preservation of local history.
Women Around the World
Polish Parliament Drops Vote to Liberalize Abortion
Poland's Parliament voted 199 to 183 to drop a measure that would have liberalized the severely restrictive abortion laws in a country that currently has a very powerful Catholic hierarchy. According to Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, the measure would legalized abortions up to 12 weeks gestation and called for sex education to be taught as a separate subject in junior high schools.
Afghanistan to appoint 1st female governor
President Hamid Karzai is preparing to appoint Afghanistan's first female provincial governor, his spokesman said Tuesday, in another step toward reviving women's rights trampled by the former hardline Taliban government.
Dozens killed in Iran mosque fire
Initial reports have suggested the blaze could have been caused by a kerosene heater in the women section which ignited a woman's chador.
Uganda ban on Vagina Monologues
Uganda's authorities have banned the play The Vagina Monologues, due to open in the capital, Kampala this weekend.
S Korean schoolgirls demob happy
Two South Koreans have graduated from school in one of the most tense places on earth, the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.
Gay-friendly award for NHS trust
A health organisation is celebrating making it into a list of the top gay-friendly employers, published by rights group Stonewall.
Soweto tunes in to hear cheating husbands exposed on air
Thursday nights are a dangerous time to cheat on your wife in Soweto. It is an evening when men who sleep around risk being unmasked on one of the township's most listened-to radio shows.
A white wristband does more than show support - it changes lives. Julia Stuart talks to the girls weaving their way to a better future
The World Health Organization is following six women around the world to compare their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth. Here, they describe their experiences of having their babies
Chilean Women Chalk Up Income Gains
Ten years after the U.N. called for the strengthening of women's economic rights, Chilean women's work-force participation lags Latin America. But some analysts say that's not such a bad thing. The second of a seven-part series on the Beijing Platform.
African Women Snared by Two Legal Systems
Ten years after the U.N. called for the strengthening of women's legal rights around the globe, African women's rights are still often caught in the tangle between traditional and civil laws. The first of a seven-part series on the Beijing Platform.
Valentine's Day = Freedom-to-Marry Day
It might be Valentine's Day, but it's also World Freedom to Marry Day. That gives Pauline Brock the chance to compare same-sex marriage norms on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border and show how women are pushing this civil-rights movement.
Burkina’s women learn to fight malaria through loans
For years, Clarisse Tangkwano had no idea mosquitoes spread malaria. All she did know was that fevers, nausea and headaches regularly gripped her family.
But since a credit agency taught Tangkwano how malaria spreads, the mother of four has bought a mosquito net.
Raped Darfur women wrestle with fate of babies
"The rapes never stop, sometimes there are more, sometimes less," she said, accusing militiamen known as Janjaweed of the crime. "Now the Janjaweed babies are being born and the girls are throwing them down latrines," she said.
"Better the babies are lost this way than we carry the burden," she said, falling silent as she stared into her coffee cup.
Health
Marital rowing 'good for wives'
Women who argue with their husbands are warding off heart disease and other causes of death, researchers believe.
Physician says more people need to know heart disease risks
Business and Financial
The clearest evidence to date of women's increasing presence at the helm of U.S. car dealerships could be found last month at the renowned Plimsoll Club atop the New Orleans World Trade Center.
New Alliance Helps Women Business Owners
reeport Maine: Maine Small Business Development Centers (Maine SBDC), headquartered at the University of Southern Maine, and the Women’s Business Center at CEI (WBC) launched a strategic alliance today to strengthen business technical assistance to Maine’s small business community, particularly women-owned businesses.
Science and Technology
'Natural' breast implant advance
US scientists say they have made a breakthrough to produce natural breast implants using human stem cells.
Female scientists 'undervalued'
Women are more successful than men in gaining their first academic post but feel winning promotion proves more difficult, a new study says.
Voices
An interview with Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! — the only “daily, grassroots, un-embedded, international, independent news hour” in America today.
The U.N.'s rape of the innocents
Kofi Annan must have the world's thickest set of industrial-quality earplugs.
How else can he block out the cries of Congolese girls raped by United Nations "peacekeepers" sent to protect the innocents from harm?
Alan Keyes' daughter:
I'm a 'liberal queer'
Lesbian says she doesn't mesh well with 'conservative Republican'
Religion
The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and Their Salons
The Jewish Museum will present The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and Their Salons from March 4 through July 10, 2005. From their debut in the 1780s to their emergence in 1930s California, Jewish women’s salons served as welcoming havens where people from different classes and creeds could openly debate art, music, literature, and politics
Bible translation stirs gender debate
The release of a new Bible translation this month pushes to the forefront a hair-splitting debate among evangelical Christians. Depending on whom you ask, the Today’s New International Version Bible is either a way to connect with a new generation or a paean to the feminist agenda.
The Next Generation
Fresh-faced and 16. So why are girls like her buying anti-wrinkle cream?
Cosmetic manufacturers are accused of making profits from teenagers who, claim campaigners, may damage their young complexions by using unsuitable products. Steve Bloomfield reports
Girls Will Be Boys in London Fashion Shows
Girls will be boys, or at least borrow from their closets, as seen in coquettish cross-dressing references sprinkled throughout the autumn/winter 2005-6 collections on show at London Fashion Week.
Sudan's 'lost girls' fear repatriation after peace deal: UN official
housands of young Sudanese girls are reluctant to return home to southern Sudan from refugee camps around Africa after last month's landmark north-south peace deal for fear they will be sold into marriage, a senior UN official said Friday.
Girls Hope for Right Chemistry
Prof Robert Winston, president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, said: 'We hear much about the declining numbers of students opting for science at A-level and university, but very little about the achievements of young people.
About 30 middle school girls slid, stepped, clapped and grooved as their hip-hop dance instructor called out different steps.
February 13, 2005Current Events
Lawmakers probe women-in-combat policy
A House of Representatives committee is looking into the issue of whether or not female service members are being put in land combat positions in Iraq despite Pentagon rules forbidding the practice.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, says his panel has ordered an investigation into current practices involving female soldiers in the Army.
A new front in abortion battle
The next step in abortion opponents' efforts to scale back abortion rights was taken in Congress last week with the introduction of the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act.
Like the last battle -- the 108th Congress's ban on the procedure some call partial-birth abortion -- the legislation is designed to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, even as Roe v. Wade remains law.
The legislation would not ban any procedures. Instead, it would require doctors to tell women considering abortions who are 20 weeks pregnant or more that "there is substantial evidence" that the fetus will feel pain. The doctor would then have to offer the woman anesthesia for the fetus as part of the abortion
Police defend prostitution tactic
Metro police spent almost $120,000 over a three-year period to foster encounters, mostly skin-on-skin, between confidential informants and prostitutes in an effort to further Nashville's crackdown on the illicit sex trade.
Confidential informants pocketed more than $70,000 of that, with the rest going to providers of sexual services, according to police records from 2002 to 2004.
Feminine males 'more attractive'
Men with feminine faces will be luckier in love as most women are attracted to them rather than masculine men, Liverpool University scientists say.
Gays lobby for marriage over civil unions
Not only is a promising lawsuit for full marriage moving through courts, but Connecticut is far ahead of the nation in supporting marriage equality
Male Body Images Suffer in Western Societies
Western men have a much more distorted view of their own bodies than men in Taiwan, according to a new study.
Dean elected as Democrat leader
The US Democratic Party has chosen the former presidential candidate Howard Dean to be its new party chairman.
'Religious abuse' at Guantanamo
Terror suspects held at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are being subjected to routine religious humiliation, some detainees claim.
Iraqi election results unveiled
The full provisional results of last month's national elections in Iraq are being announced.
Budget Proposal Cuts Billions From Medicaid
The proposal for the federal budget for 2006 released this week contains billions of dollars of cuts in Medicaid funding and a restructuring of the health care program that would put millions of American women at risk.
Women Lose With Social Security Reform
Women live longer, earn less and fill more caretaking roles than men. For all these reasons they have a lot to lose if Social Security is changed, says economist Heather Boushey. So who would win? Wall Street brokers spring to her mind.
Traffic to Web Site Soars after Summers' Gaffe
The backlash to Larry Summers' belittling comments about female scientists has been a boon for a new Web site that encourages students and professors to check out the under-representation of women on their own science faculties.
California Sues U.S. Over Budget's Abortion Ban
California is challenging the Weldon amendment passed with this year's spending bill. The amendment allows the federal government to deny funds to states that require medical professionals to provide abortions or abortion referrals.
In perhaps the best Black History Month event so far, subversives are gathering in living rooms across America Tuesday. Their plan: to watch "Eyes on the Prize,'' the epic 1986 documentary series on the civil rights movement, which has been banned from television and video stores because of rights restrictions on archival material used in the documentary.
What happened to the women held at Abu Ghraib? The government isn’t talking. But some of the women are.
Some Iraq veterans are returning home, only to face homelessness and mental problems. Meanwhile, the VA is MIA.
Women learn better in single-sex groups
One of the world’s top business schools, the IMD in Lausanne, has decided to organise a course restricted to women participants – with encouraging results.
Women Around The World
U.N. Sharply Rebukes Iran Over Women's Rights
The United Nations on Sunday painted a damning portrait of women's rights in Iran, saying they had insufficient right of appeal against violence and were being sentenced to death on flimsy evidence.
Saudi, Gulf Women Disagree Over Segregation Issue
As is normal with conferences and other events in Saudi Arabia, the sexes were segregated at a workshop which concluded on Tuesday at King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU). The reason for the workshop was to find ways to implement Crown Prince Abdullah’s document on higher education.
The sexual segregation annoyed a number of women participants from neighboring Gulf countries. The Gulf women refused to join their colleagues in the women’s section and remained with the men.
Rwandan denies genocide charges
Defence lawyers for the first woman to be charged with genocide at the international tribunal for Rwanda have begun presenting their case
'Cannabis gran' remains defiant
The woman known as Britain's "cannabis gran" explains why she eats marijuana five times a day - and why she'll keep on doing it despite the threat of a jail term.
The price of beauty in South Korea
The South Korean capital, Seoul, has a reputation as the place to go for a nip or a tuck. But despite being an unregulated industry, thousands seem willing to risk injury in pursuit of a perfect body.
Arrests in Malaysia migrant probe
Malaysian police have arrested a number of government officials on suspicion of selling residency permits to criminals involved in people-trafficking.
Abortion Debate Divides Australian Government
A push by church leaders to limit access to late-term abortions in Australia split the conservative government on Wednesday, prompting Prime Minister John Howard to call for calm on the issue.
Mirza makes Indian tennis history
Teenager Sania Mirza completed a superb week at the Hyderabad Open by becoming the first Indian in history to win a WTA singles title.
Sex ban on DR Congo peacekeepers
UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been banned from having sex with locals after claims of widespread abuse of women and girls.
Women 'driving UK DIY industry'
Women have more DIY projects planned than men and are now driving the home improvements sector, a new report says.
FGM in Kenya: Outlawed, Not Eradicated
Djibouti has just ratified the African Union's Maputo Protocol banning female genital mutilation. But activists in Kenya, which outlawed FGM in 2001, warn that the engrained cultural practice is easier to outlaw than to eradicate
HONG KONG's subway operator is being urged to run women-only train carriages following a claim that as many as nine in 10 female passengers are groped, a media report said today.
Health
In rural Mozambique, savvy marketing of a condom brand has slowed HIV infection rates
South Carolina Supreme Court shoots down wrongful life claim
Patients can successfully hold their physicians responsible for many things when it comes to medical liability, but there's one area where the courts have been extremely reluctant to let patients go: A claim for wrongful life.
Judge rules test-tube embryo is a person
All Alison Miller and Todd Parrish wanted was to become parents. But when a fertility clinic didn’t preserve a healthy embryo they had hoped would one day become their child, they sued for wrongful death.A judge refused to dismiss their case, ruling in effect that a test-tube embryo is a human being and that the suit can go forward.
US, UN Treaty Writers Weigh Abortion Ban for Disabled:
U.N. diplomats drafting an international treaty on the rights of the disabled debated a possible ban on the abortion of fetuses with disabilities in an emotional negotiating session that ended on Friday.
A working text of the convention would prohibit the termination of a pregnancy in the case of a fetus with a disability in countries where abortion was otherwise legal.
HIV parents 'limit child kisses'
Many parents with HIV limit physical contact with their children because of fears they will pass on the virus or catch an infection, a US study says.
Spray to boost female sex drive
A spray that helps increase women's enjoyment of sex has undergone successful trials.
Business and Financial
Bubble bursts for HP's Carly Fiorina
It is a fate that can beckon those considered to rank among the world's most powerful.
African American Women Gaining in Biz Starts
The number of firms owned by African American women is growing four times the average national rate. Analysts say entrepreneurship is the next frontier for these women. They have degrees, work histories and, increasingly, management and sales experience.
Fiorina's ouster gets mixed reviews
Carly Fiorina's ouster from Hewlett-Packard Wednesday wasn't totally unexpected, but for some it was a disturbing end to an otherwise encouraging chapter in U.S. women's corporate progress.
Latinas share business success, lead trend in growth
The number of businesses owned by Hispanic women grew by 39 percent nationwide, to an estimated 470,344, in the five-year period that ended in 2002. That compares with about 9 percent growth for other businesses, according to the Center for Women's Business Research, which draws its estimates from U.S. Census data.
Women share business experiences
Female business owners got together Thursday for the National Association of Women Business Owners conference.
Women promote construction careers
The Mississippi Gulf Coast Chapter 256 of the National Association of Women in Construction started an educational program a few years ago that has been adopted nationally by the NAWIC Education Foundation to promote careers in construction.
Science and Technology
Dolly Scientist Gets Human Cloning License
The scientist who attracted the world's attention by cloning Dolly the Sheep is about to take another major step for medical research: cloning human embryos and extracting stem cells to unravel the mysteries of muscle-wasting illnesses like Lou Gehrig's disease.
Harvard President Puts New Spotlight on Old Problem
Women make up only about one-quarter of the science and technology workforce, although they received more than half of the bachelor's degrees, 44 percent of the master's and 37 percent of the doctorates in 2001. The proportion of women in computer science fields dropped from 30.5 percent in 1983 to 27.2 percent in 2002.
World of technology not the dominion of men
When Targus Inc. contemplated designing laptop bags for a female customer, it went straight to the source: women who work for its longtime corporate clients.
Voices
In an excerpt from 'Can't Stop Won't Stop,' author Jeff Chang looks at hip-hop feminism, neo-soul as marketing strategy and the endless cycle of cool.
Ayn Rand Introduced Me to Libertarianism
It was Ayn Rand and FEE’s founder Leonard Read who changed the course of my life. The reason: Both of them emphasized the fundamental importance of moral principles in political and economic analysis. When it came to moral principles, Rand and Read did not deal in shades of gray but rather in black and white.
Whatever friends and family might say about a wedding, you could usually count on the Church of England to approve. God knows, it's tried hard enough to boost the flagging number of nuptials, from jostling for position with florists and bridal shops at the UK Wedding Show to giving its blessing to remarried divorcees.
Gloria Feldt on why she’s stepping down after nine years as president of Planned Parenthood
Religion
The Rev. Judith Taylor of Christ Church Unity in Quincy views the prejudice as part of the calling.
"Jesus couldn't even preach in Galilee — they ran him out of town," she said. "Nowhere in the Bible does it say a woman cannot be a (pastor). God created men and women equal."
Horror novel assails Mormon treatment of girls and women
Horror comes in all forms. Sometimes it is in events too horrible to endure, sometimes in harsh realities of daily life.
Anglicans fret over divisive issues
The Church of England's general synod, meeting on 14 February, will consider changes that could fundamentally change the church.
The Next Generation
Teen sex increased after abstinence program
Abstinence-only sex education programs, a major plank in President George W. Bush’s education plan, have had no impact on teenagers’ behavior in his home state of Texas, according to a new study.
Get the girls on course - Lora
The 35-year-old professional claims that despite the efforts of the various organisations, not enough is being achieved at grassroots level.
Lora, who is today in Australia after competing in last weekend's Samsung Masters in Singapore, says that women's golf needs greater exposure at all levels.
Program promotes sciences for girls
Going to college and taking difficult math and science courses can be fun. That's the message University of Texas at Arlington faculty members hope to communicate to 13- and 14-year-old girls.
Differences: The ways male and female athletes learn and play require that coaches tailor their instruction accordingly.
At science day, girls research their options
Marybeth Miceli said she was told by one of her college professors that women don't belong in science.
Now, several years later, Miceli, 27, is one of 35 engineers working for Lucius Pitkin Inc. of New York City.
Current Events
Rice and the New Black Paradigm
When it comes to black history, Condi makes cynics of us all.
At a time when religious fundamentalists are gaining ground, Democratic Party leadership is wavering on reproductive rights
Federal Marriage Amendment Reintroduced in Congress
Bush's Radical Right Supporters Use Leverage to Advance Agenda of Intolerance
Women Work for San Franciscans' Human Rights
WILD, which stands for Women's Institute for Leadership Development, is currently working on an ambitious campaign to ensure that groups like African American youth are no longer victims of human rights abuses. In early spring, the group plans to present its plan for a Human Rights Ordinance in San Francisco to the City's Board of Supervisors.
Woman's Place: On Couch, Watching Super Bowl
As the Super Bowl approaches, Kara Falchini speaks up for the growing number of women who are knowledgeable and passionate about a game that only men are supposed to love.
UK grant for raped Rwandan women
Britain is to give a £4m ($7.5m) grant to help women survivors of the Rwandan genocide who were raped and often deliberately infected with HIV/Aids.
Bill clarifies law: Pregnant women can indeed get divorced
Some Washington judges have interpreted state law to mean they can deny women divorces because they are pregnant. A bill promises to clear up any confusion.
New York's ban on gay marriage was struck down yesterday by a Manhattan judge, possibly clearing the way for same-sex couples in the city to legally wed next month.
Health
The very definition of food has been transformed by industry, yet the federal government's dietary guidelines don't reflect that.
Anorexia – the most deadly mental illness – is definitely not just about looking thin
Medicare to Cover Viagra, While Bush Administration Continues to Block Women's Access to 'Morning-After' Pill; Americans Want Equal Treatment of Womens Health Care Needs
Female Physicians Face Higher Suicide Risk
Female physicians face a surprising killer; themselves. Although no research has been conducted on reasons for their especially high suicide rate, people close to the problem suspect heavy work-life burdens and gender bias in the profession.
Pregnancy may hold arthritis key
For the whole of Liz Pringle's pregnancy and for a few months afterwards her body was free from the pain which had haunted her for years.
Pregnant employees 'forced out'
Around 30,000 women a year are sacked, made redundant or leave their jobs due to pregnancy discrimination, according to research.
New mums feel pressure to be slim
Virtually all new mothers are unhappy about the way their body looks after childbirth - with a quarter considering plastic surgery, a survey found.
February: Spotlight On Heart Disease In Women
Dr. Mary Ann Malloy, dressed in red along with the anchors of the 11 a.m. newscast, reported on February: Heart Month. There was a national campaign to boost awareness of heart disease in women by wearing red on Friday, Feb. 4.
This year, the American Heart Association has put the spotlight on women. New information reinterated what we already knew; women's risk of heart disease is underestimated by women and their doctors. Women still receive less preventive care and diagnostic tests.
French women don't diet -- they just enjoy every meal
Bonnie Swanson/Contributing columnist
Mireille Guiliano writes about French eating habits in her book, “French Women Don’t Get Fat.”
Caesareans bad for mother and baby: experts
Childbirth experts are warning that new mothers who choose to give birth by caesarean section are exposing themselves and their babies to serious health risks.
Sally Tracy, Associate Professor of Midwifery at the University of Technology, Sydney, said there had been a dramatic increase in the number of healthy women choosing to have caesarean sections.
Women Around the World
More than 150,000 women were pregnant in the 12 countries ravaged by the tsunami, and their needs are only now beginning to be understood.
Ukraine's billionaire 'Joan of Arc' is confirmed as Prime Minister
Julia Tymoshenko, the radical firebrand known as Ukraine's Joan of Arc thanks to her pivotal role in the "orange revolution", was confirmed yesterday as the country's Prime Minister
Planned Parenthood President Resigns
Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for the past eight years, has resigned, the family planning organization announced Thursday.
Lost in Translation: Iraqi Woman Ignores Risk for Career
Despite two alleged death threats from insurgents, one of the few young Iraqi women translating for journalists continues to interpret. A job that has provided her first sense of accomplishment could also cause her demise.
Last week, Tehran's women's swim team beat Armenia and Qatar for a gold medal at the fourth annual All-Women Games for Muslim and Asian Capitals. The Iranian women also received a gold medal in taekwando at the event, which was held in Tehran and attended by some 600 competitors from 17 countries. Sound surprising? It shouldn't.
Old phones to be made into alarms
Unwanted mobile phones are to be converted into safety alarms and given to women at risk of domestic abuse
Women and girls from Honduras forced to work at bar
Dozens of Honduran women and girls were smuggled into the United States and forced to work at a bar to earn freedom from the traffickers, federal authorities charged.
Voices
So Far, Boxer Stages a Rebellion of One
On conservative blogs and TV shows she's been portrayed as obnoxious, babbling, a crybaby and a loud and threatening person - even though she's a tiny woman - for daring to ask Condoleezza Rice embarrassing questions. House Minority Leader Tom Delay called her the leader of the "X-Files wing" of the Democratic Party, and hardly any Democrats have stepped up to defend her.
Art-punk poetess Lydia Lunch tells you things you don't want to hear. She lays it on the line with her new album.
I was supposed to be on the Larry King Live show Monday night. I was asked to be on the show to offer my opinion on the election in Iraq from the perspective of a mom whose son was killed in the war prior to the elections. One of the questions I was going to be asked was: Do I think my son’s sacrifice was “worth it?” Well, I didn’t get a chance to be on the show that night because I was bumped for something that is really important: The Michael Jackson Trial.
Gage Stands Against Mixing Church and State
February 24, 1890: Matilda Joslyn Gage takes on the Religious Right
The girl who is breaking barriers
Sania Mirza, the first Indian woman to get to the third round of a tennis grand slam, has a long way to go but her confidence may get her there, says leading Indian sportswriter Rohit Brijnath
Foudy celebrates women in sports
Former soccer star and past president of the Women's Sports Foundation Julie Foudy was introduced to the FBR Open and the hospitality of the Thunderbirds this week.
Heavily influenced by the emotional rawness of Nirvana and the social messages of early East Coast rap and hip hop, OTEP blends a sharp spoken word style with blistering metal guitars. Shamaya’s background in literature shines through with lyrics that are clear and dramatic. If having one of the few female frontpersons in metal--and its only out lesbian--seems like a recipe for disaster, think again: OTEP played Ozzfest 2001, 02, and 04
The Life and Music of Mexican Legend Chavela Vargas
In the late 1950s and early 1960s in Mexico, singer Chavela Vargas dressed in men’s clothes, drank and smoked cigars like any man, carried a gun with her, and was notorious for her love of women. Some even say that she once kidnapped a woman at gunpoint, but Vargas denies that rumor. However, she doesn’t deny that she gained her slight limp from jumping out of a window because a woman disappointed her in love. If that’s true, Vargas in her youth was every bit as romantic as the music she sang.
The Next Generation
Rock 'n' roll camps for girls are spreading across the country, encouraging fledgling female rockers to turn up amplifiers, bang on drum sets, make raucous music and feel good about themselves.
Young Women Meet in D.C., Create Own Movement
The Younger Women's Task Force, organized with the help of longtime feminists like Martha Burk, hopes to identify the priorities of young women, including those who resist the feminist label.
College girls step into beauty controversy
Each month, the young financial advisor from Huaxia Bank in Beijing spends more than 2,000 yuan (US$240), roughly half of her monthly salary, to beautify her skin, hair, hands and feet, as well as buying brand-name cosmetics and perfume like Chanel, Lancome or Christian Dior.
"It enhances my confidence and it's worthwhile," she claims.
Surprise Cookies Cost Girls $900
Two girls who surprised neighbors with homemade cookies late one night have been ordered to pay nearly $900 to a woman who said she had been so startled that she had to go to the hospital.
Business and Financial
Because lots of women don't feel comfortable buying a new car, a female Toronto auto writer is setting up a series of lectures explaining the process.
KeyBank pledges $1B to women-owned businesses
KeyBank has committed to lending at least $1 billion to women-owned companies in Ohio and 12 other states during the next three years
Business Ownership Among Immigrant Women on the Rise
There's long been an American dream of a man immigrating to the U.S., setting up a business, and providing for himself and his family. Now, a new report shows, immigrant women are embracing that dream, and in higher numbers than native-born women.
Retail Notebook: Moms setting up online businesses
"Women are seeing that they can achieve economic independence and professional ambitions while still attending to their personal responsibilities as mothers," said Sharon Hadary, executive director of the Center for Women's Business Research. "Technology has become a great enabler for these home-based women to have businesses that can be very profitable."
Religion
Men, women equal in the eyes of the Qur'an
A new book titled "Woman's Identity and the Qur'an: A New Reading," has claimed that the sacred Islamic text offers Muslim women the same rights as men.
January 30, 2005Most liberal-minded people rush to defend pornographers' right to free speech. Maybe we should stop and ponder what we are defending
Groundbreaking animated TV comedy The Simpsons will "out" one of its characters as gay this season, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Rabbis' help invoked to ensure abortion rights
Jewish groups are hoping to enlist rabbis in the struggle to ensure that abortion rights are not eroded during President Bush's second term.
A coalition of organizations, led by the National Council of Jewish Women, is asking rabbis across the country to sign a letter that would be sent to U.S. senators if a new Supreme Court nominee is announced, as is expected in the next few years.
Judge upholds traditional marriage
A federal judge in Florida yesterday rejected an effort to extend a Massachusetts same-sex marriage to the Sunshine State, thereby upholding the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA
In a provocative interview, Naomi Klein talks about Bush, the Iraq war and the need for progressives to “answer the language of faith with the language of morality.”
The 10 Worst Corporations of 2004
The year's most egregious price gougers, polluters, union-busters, dictator-coddlers, fraudsters, poisoners, deceivers and general miscreants.
A week before the elections, the streets of Baghdad are rife with confusion about candidates, calls for boycotts and the ever-present fear of violence.
Edward Kennedy explains why he voted against Condoleezza Rice's confirmation as Secretary of State today.
Watch Vanity Fair editor Judy Bachrach ambush Fox News anchor Bridgette Quinn who expected the garden-variety Fox pap while discussing the Bush inauguration festivities. Instead...
The confrontational founder of Women on Waves is determined to bring safe abortion services to women living in anti-choice countries – any way she can.
The children orphaned by the Asian tsunami are becoming easy targets for human trafficking rings
Leaders Say Vote Decides Equality for Iraqi Women
The fate of Iraqi women's rights will rest significantly on the outcome of today's historic election, say two female leaders. Zainab Al-Suwaij and Ala Talabani say the vote will decide whether women will really become equal citizens or lose their voices.
Women's Rights: Ready to Swim in Mainstream?
Do women need special champions or are they better served when general humanitarian groups commit to their interests? The topic takes on urgency after the U.N.'s leading women's rights group loses a key donor to so-called gender mainstreaming.
Female Entrepreneurs Win Notice for Taking Risk
Female entrepreneurs are sometimes presumed to be more averse to business risk than their male counterparts. But advocates say a study showing their actually high tolerance of risk is helping to clear the air.
Reporters Go Beyond Stewart to Cover Prison Trends
After Martha Stewart's prison-reform appeal, Sheila Gibbons wondered if journalists were neglecting the story of the rapid rise in female prisoners. Instead, she found great work--mostly by female journalists.
Cervical Cancer Tied to Secondhand Smoke
Exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of developing cervical cancer, a new study found. The data are especially crucial to women living in the developing nations, where smoking is on the rise.
TV Show Raises Grim Realities of Emotional Abuse
A husband-and-wife team on a reality-TV show offered the spectacle of an apparently emotionally abusive relationship. This type of abuse is not illegal and experts say many women who suffer it are not taken seriously
In disaster zone, women are key
larmed at the near total absence of women's voices in the post-tsunami recovery and reconstruction now taking place in Sri Lanka, a group of women's associations has quickly formed there. Led by Visaka Dharmadasa, founder of the Association of War Affected Women, they have established the Tsunami Women's Fund and demanded a seat at the table at meetings on policy for rebuilding their country.
Houzan Mahmoud: Why I am not taking part in these phoney elections
I am an Iraqi woman, and I am boycotting Sunday's elections. Women who do vote will be voting for an enslaved future. Surely, say those who support these elections, after decades of tyranny, here at last is a form of democracy, imperfect, but democracy nevertheless?
US staff lose jobs over smoke ban
Four workers in the United States have lost their jobs after refusing to take a test to see if they were smokers.
Actress Stone raises fast million
ctress Sharon Stone has collected $1m (£530,000) to fight malaria in five minutes at an impromptu fund-raiser.
Forced to take part in experiments
Auschwitz survivor, 80-year-old Ima Spanjaard, remembers how her youth was interrupted when she was taken to the concentration camp in 1942, and forced to assist in some horrific experiments on other women prisoners.
Domestic abuse shows 10% increase
The number of domestic abuse incidents recorded by police (in Scotland) has increased by 10%, according to latest figures.
Developing world births 'falling'
Women in the developing world now give birth to fewer than four children on average, according to a major United Nations study on fertility.
For some women in London the rise in equal opportunities in the work place is not moving fast enough, forcing increasing numbers to go it alone
Japan debates female succession
A Japanese government panel has started debating whether women could take the throne in response to a succession crisis in the Imperial Household.
Tracing the last WWII heroines
A search has begun to find Britain's surviving World War II heroines before a monument to them is unveiled in July.
Female governor, two senators mean women rule in state
Never before has a state had a woman in the governor's mansion and both U.S. Senate seats. Also, all of the state Senate's leadership positions are held by women.
Women encouraged to wear red Friday
Wear Red Day, as it is called, is a component of Go Red For Women, the association's national campaign to raise awareness of heart disease in women and encourage women to take charge of their health.
Hollywood tries to turn women's boxing into something it isn't
You see, Rijker is too real for Hollywood's portrayal of women's boxing, a fantasy world where Swank knocks out 12 straight opponents in the first round and then splits a million dollar title fight purse with the ferocious looking Rijker.
WONDER WOMEN, Local home improvement stores headed by female managers
Thirty years ago, people took note as women became managers. Today, as marketing trends show the highly-charged purchasing power of women, companies strive to reflect their customer bases in their workforces. Statistics show that more and more women are becoming managers.
More black women putting off kids to focus on career
More and more black women like her are waiting longer to have children, one of the reasons that the fertility rate has plummeted among blacks since the past decade.
Fertility rates have declined for American women of all races, but an analysis of birth and fertility data shows that the downward trend has been more noticeable and consistent for black women than for any other racial or ethnic group.
Militia Kills 16, Kidnaps 34 Girls in the East
Militiamen armed with guns and machetes killed 16 people and kidnapped at least 34 girls in attacks last week in a remote area of eastern Congo, a U.N. spokesman said.
Women told, 'Work
in brothel, or else'
A provision in the German welfare system is forcing out-of-work women to chose between taking jobs in the sex industry or losing their unemployment benefits.
Once one of the most generous systems in Europe, Germany's unemployment program has been reformed to require those out of work to take jobs for which they are qualified, or lose benefits. In the case of women, females below the age of 55 who have been out of work for a year or more must take any available job offered.
Bunny Flap: PBS Yanks Cartoon Featuring Lesbian Couples
A homosexual advocacy group says President Bush's new education secretary is promoting ignorance about families headed by same-sex couples. The education secretary says PBS is going too far in featuring same-sex couples in kids' cartoons
Bank of America survey asks workers about sexual orientation
Bank of America is urging its more than 175,000 employees to fill out an online survey about job satisfaction. Question 64 asks respondents to "indicate which one of the following best describes yourself."
Iran allows women to run for presidency
Women can run in June's presidential election, Iran's legislative watchdog said yesterday, clearing up an ambiguous article of the constitution
Iran's constitution says candidates should be "rejal," an Arabic word for men
What's wrong with the World's Oldest Mum?
t might be selfish and unnatural - but a woman in her 60s should have the choice to have a child.
Do genes play a role in science gender gap?
Harvard president Lawrence Summers created a firestorm this month when he suggested that may be the case. Studies indeed show that men's and women's brains aren't exactly the same. The question is whether those differences matter.
Pakistani doctor's alleged rape prompts new calls for women's rights
A string of horrific sexual abuse cases in Pakistan, including the alleged gang rape of a female doctor by an army captain and three security guards, has sparked fresh calls for action to tackle widespread violence against women.
SOMEONE send a map to the feminists: They ended up in Cambridge when they should have been in Washington D.C.
Social Security: The Female Problem
As the public debate intensifies over the Bush administration's drive to privatize Social Security, women have a special stake in the outcome.
January 22, 2005Roe v. Wade anniversary raises questions
Coming just two days after George W. Bush's inauguration, Saturday's anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion is dominated by the hopes of one side - and fears of the other - that the president will try to overturn Roe v. Wade through appointments to fill expected high court vacancies
Update on NOW's Wal-Mart Campaign
We are finally getting their attention! This morning, the public was greeted with full page ads in major newspapers from Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The ad blames "special interest groups" and "critics" for spreading "misinformation about Wal-Mart." He says that the public "deserves to hear the truth."
On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, those who remember the days of illegal abortion fight to keep that time a distant memory
A new quartet of superheroes steps up to fight evil. Their turf? The Middle East.
In communities across the country, 'social host' laws passed in an effort to stop teenage drinking are making criminals out of otherwise responsible, law-abiding parents
Urge Labor Department to Keep Collecting Data on Women Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a division of the Department of Labor, has announced that it will stop collecting employment data on women. Please tell the BLS and your Members of Congress that this information is absolutely essential, and its elimination will ultimately lead to an increase in workplace inequality.
The Bush administration's ten most outrageous scandals – an orgy of fraud, mismanagement and corruption
More obese kids are turning to stomach-stapling surgeries and diet drugs. Are these trendy adult treatments the healthiest choice?
Feds Made Interracial Sex America's Taboo
Black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, paid a heavy price for defying interracial sex and marriage laws.
Oppressive military regimes and prior environmental degradation add unnatural death and destruction to a supposedly natural disaster.
As opportunities to avoid advertising develop – such as skipping ads, blocking pop-up windows – advertisers are working hard to make sure their message is heard, everywhere you go.
Despite pressure, Bush vows 'no women in combat'
President Bush's policy on women in ground combat takes just four words to articulate: "No women in combat."
Despite extended tours of duties in Iraq for soldiers and an Army examination of women's roles, the president told editors and reporters of The Washington Times yesterday in an interview in the Oval Office that he has no intention of sending women into ground combat, a mission for which they are banned under Pentagon policy.
Let's Inaugurate Saner, Safer World for Women
As Jane Roberts contemplates President Bush's $40 million inauguration party tomorrow, she thinks about how much family-planning efforts around the world have lost in the last four years
Teens Opt for Unsafe Sex, Not Parents' Consent
A study suggests that teens would forgo birth control if they needed parental consent to receive it from family planning clinics. The study arrives as lawmakers consider whether to mandate parental notification for clinics that receive federal funds
In Alzheimer's, Women Bear Double Burden
Alzheimer's disease, a form of dementia that typically strikes after age 65, is on the rise in the United States. Not only are women particularly at risk for this progressive, irreversible disease, but they also often act as primary caregivers for others.
Taking the Temperature of Choice on Road
I didn't set out to measure the health of Roe v. Wade when I toured my play "Words of Choice" from New York to 10 states in the past year. But traveling to Missouri and Florida, Virginia and Minnesota, I keep feeling the temperature: signs of liveliness and weaknesses in ways I didn't imagine.
United Nations'
cartoon condoms
The United Nations has launched a series of 20 animated TV ads to stop the spread of AIDS, featuring cartoon condoms named Shaft, Stretch and Dick
Covenant Marriage Movement Continues to Grow
So far only three states—Arizona, Arkansas and Louisiana—are part of the covenant marriage movement, passing legislation that encourages couples to seek counseling before opting for a divorce
Soap opera fighting to save baby girls
In some parts of India there are so few women that men are having to look away from home to secure a bride.
Anti-bullying union boss 'made woman cry in poll dispute'
The man elected general secretary of one of the largest unions on an "anti-bullying" ticket allegedly reduced the organisation's president to tears over her attempts to set up an inquiry into claims of ballot-rigging during his election
Four women were among the first students to graduate from Birmingham University in 1901 - and the presentation ceremony was recorded on recently discovered archive film.
Many Australian in the country's famous outback are finding their lives increasingly lonely as more and more women head to the cities in search of a career.
Cab revamp to protect lone women
About 500 private hire vehicles are to be given a makeover to improve safety for women travelling on their own.
Harvard row over sex and science
The president of Harvard University has caused a stir among academics by suggesting women have less "innate ability" at science and maths than men.
Cuttlefish wimps 'dress as girls'
Diminutive Giant Australian Cuttlefish males have taken to pretending to be female to elbow out larger love rivals, science magazine Nature has revealed.
Sex offenders face lie detector tests
The government today pushed ahead with plans to introduce compulsory lie detector tests for convicted sex offenders released from prison.
Under the management of offenders and sentencing bill, published today, sex offenders could be forced to undergo polygraph tests to check they are fulfilling the conditions of their release.
GOP = Grumpy Old Pornographers
The last presidential election, we were told ad nauseum, was decided on "moral values." But what about the GOP's porn connection
Parent sues district
on Darwin-only rule
After battling a California school district for more than a year over its teaching of evolution, a parent has filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court alleging his constitutional rights to free speech, equal protection and religious freedom were violated.
Bump, grind your way to riches, students told
Students at a Palo Alto middle school learned more than school officials ever expected when a recent "career day" speaker extolled the merits of stripping and expounded on the financial benefits of a larger bust.
Iraqi women divided about whether to vote conservative and lose rights
Women make up about 55 percent of Iraq's population and they're guaranteed a quarter of the 275-member national assembly after elections. Yet, as the posters reflect, they don't speak with a single voice, and they face many obstacles to transforming their impressive numbers into political power.
ND Legislature will consider abortion ban
Anyone who performs an abortion may face a murder charge under legislation introduced by a Minot lawmaker, who concedes the bill's prospects are dim but says it will help keep the issue in the public eye.
A Burkha-wearing babe baring her breasts on the cover of a Polish magazine has ignited a culture mini-war in Brooklyn.
Outraged by what they call an insult to Islam, Yemeni newspaper vendors in Greenpoint are refusing to sell the latest edition of Forum magazine.
Romanian woman, 67, gives birth to daughter
A 67-year-old Romanian woman became the world's oldest mother yesterday, provoking an ethical, medical and religious debate about fertility treatment for older women.
Bills Would Extend Waiting Time for Divorce, Add Adultery Penalty
Lawmakers are pushing bills that would make spouses seeking a divorce wait longer and punish those who commit adultery by causing them to lose their rights to marital property.
OTC Morning-After Pill Decision Delayed
The government has delayed a decision about whether to allow women to buy the morning-after birth control pill over the counter but hopes to act soon, the manufacturer said Friday.
Abortion fight expands to other issues
It's not just about abortion anymore.
As supporters and opponents gear up for Saturday's anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing most abortions, both sides also plan to spotlight other issues.
I can’t believe I’m losing to this idiot. So said John Kerry during the presidential campaign. Judging from the news stories following the election, many of his supporters appear to have had the same reaction—with no sense that the condescension inherent in their candidate’s statement helps illuminate the reasons for the election results.
AFTER LAST November's election results, kicking the feminist left when it's down just doesn't seem very sporting -- particularly at a time when people who openly advocate female subordination as part of their creed have a disturbing amount of influence on the right. But that's all the more reason to be exasperated when feminism devolves into irrelevancy and silliness just when a sane pro-equality message is needed most.
Mike Leigh film 'could trigger abortions'
Doctors have criticised Vera Drake, the award winning film that portrays an abortionist in a positive light, for demonstrating an abortion technique that could result in copy-cat deaths among expectant mothers.
For the second time this month, California's junior senator has thrown a wrench into the works of the second-term White House machine. She did it two weeks ago, when she was the only senator to object to the certification of electoral votes from Ohio. And she did it this week, on the eve of George W. Bush's second inauguration, when she put hard questions to Rice and then cast a committee vote against her confirmation. Ohio's electoral votes were eventually counted, and Rice will eventually be confirmed. But largely because of Boxer, the road has been rockier than the White House had expected; the vote on Rice's confirmation will be delayed until next week so Senate Democrats can have time to debate it.
January 17, 2005Dr. Martin Luther King's oft-quoted "I have a dream" speech was not about far-off visions, it was a call to action
A new doc, 'Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst' alludes to parallels between the taking of an heiress and the taking down of the towers.
Experts Make Treatment of Wartime Rape a Priority
Aid experts are becoming increasingly attuned to the nuances and extent of acts of sexual violence during war. As a result, human rights groups that once considered rape a peripheral human rights and medical issue are now making it a priority.
More States Give Abuse Victims Right to Time Off
Maine and California were the first states to give victims of domestic violence the right to take time off from work to put their lives on a better track. A growing number of states are following their lead.
Dems May Waver on Choice, Repro Rights
As the competition heats up for next month's vote on the chair of the Democratic National Party, a worried buzz is growing that the party's pro-choice position is getting shakier.
Southern Sudan Peace Plan Ignites Women's Hopes
Human rights groups say Sudan's north-south peace accord could be better on women's rights. But women who have been living in exile and marginalized by the 21-year civil war are still celebrating. They say a window of opportunity has just opened.
Diabetes has become so widespread that one in three girls born in the U.S. today will likely develop this life-threatening disease
FCC Indecency Enforcement Called Confusing, Burdensome
Critics of the Federal Communications Commission accuse the agency not only of responding poorly to citizen complaints and enforcing the nation's broadcast indecency laws, but also with creating a burdensome complaint process and offering confusing and sometimes seemingly contradictory interpretations of those laws.
