Women's group in financial 'crisis'
Canada's most influential lobby group for women's rights has been so crippled by debt and abandoned by women across the country that it's now too broke to answer the phone. Sources tell CP the 30-year-old National Action Committee on the Status of Women is begging the federal government to forgive unpaid taxes

Air Force reports 92 accusations of rape in Pacific region
At least 92 accusations of rape involving Air Force personnel in the Pacific were reported to military authorities between 2001 and 2003, according to a new study. The findings singled out serious flaws in the reporting of sexual assault claims and assistance to victims.

The five-month review was the most comprehensive report of its kind by an Air Force command and has led to a servicewide investigation into how sexual assault is reported, how it can be prevented and how commanders deal with victims. Investigators said Monday that conditions varied among installations, depending on the services available on and off bases

Gay-marriage ban fizzles in Michigan
In a vote variously regarded as another sign of the impending apocalypse or merely the evolution of public attitudes on homosexuality, the Michigan House fell eight votes short Tuesday in an effort to ask voters to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman.
It was the first, and possibly last, legislative test of how Michigan would respond to growing pressure from advocates of gay and lesbian rights for recognition of same-sex unions.

Bill would remove force from definition of rape
No means no, some lawmakers say, and a victim should not have to physically resist a sexual assault for a rape to have occurred.
House Bill 923, introduced by Del. Anthony G. Brown (D-Dist. 25) of Mitchellville in February, would change the legal definition of rape, eliminating the need for force to be present. The bill has 50 co-sponsors.

Ugandan women get divorce rights

Women in Uganda can now divorce their husbands for cheating on them, a constitutional court has ruled

Judge: 'Girls Gone Wild' Not Child Porn
A videotape of an underage girl exposing her breasts is not child pornography, a judge decided Tuesday in a criminal case against the producer of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series

Soldier who said she was raped sounds off
A soldier who said she was raped at a desert post in Kuwait said the Army initially denied her counseling and asked her to take a polygraph
Sgt. Audra Wood said in an interview with Dateline NBC that after the alleged attack last November, Army officials told her the best therapy was to get back in line with the rest of the unit, which was preparing for its mission in Iraq.

Truancy or illness?
Jolene England spent 30 days shut in her modest brown ranch home claiming she was too sick to go to class, but the Gwinnett County school system says the 15-year-old has been truant.
In a dramatic enforcement of Georgia's mandatory school attendance law, Jolene's parents, William and Betty England, were arrested in January and charged by Gwinnett County school police with failing to send their daughter to school

Justice linked to advocacy group
.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has ties with a women's rights advocacy group, it was reported Thursday.
Ginsberg has lent her name and presence to a lecture series co-sponsored by the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, an advocacy group that often argues before the high court in support of women's rights that the justice champions, the Los Angeles Times said.

Embryo Produced From Frozen Ovarian Tissue
The prospect of restoring fertility to women affected by treatment for cancer and other diseases is drawing closer after scientists produced a normal embryo from transplanted frozen ovarian tissue.

Cancer treatments induce premature menopause and infertility in hundreds of thousands of women every year. Scientists hope that one day women's fertility can be preserved by removing and freezing ovarian tissue before cancer therapy and transplanting it back later.

Suspects in Fresno sex sting win discrimination ruling
About 40 men caught in a sex-sting operation in Roeding Park could have been the targets of discriminatory prosecution, a judge has ruled.
If the ruling stands through a hearing next month, the defendants could have the charges against them dismissed

Saudi women get the vote
Saudi Arabia, one of the world's most male-dominated countries, is preparing to break with tradition and risk the wrath of religious conservatives by allowing women to take part in its first elections.
Plans for municipal elections, a key step towards modernisation and democracy, were announced in October, but the government gave no public indication of whether women would be included as voters or as candidate

ACLU can pursue suit over 'Choose Life' tags
A lawsuit by the ACLU challenging Tennessee's yet-to-be issued ''Choose Life'' specialty license plate can proceed, a U.S. District Court judge ruled yesterday.
The state attorney general's office had argued that the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee lacked standing to pursue the lawsuit and had wanted the case dismissed at the outset

Civil disobedience adds to battle over same-sex marriage
In the last month, local officials in six states from New York to Oregon have opened their doors to lines of same-sex couples hoping to be married, providing a rare instance in the nation's history of individuals using the power of their government offices to commit acts of disobedience and fuel the engine of social change.

Experts attack baby blues 'myth'
Too many new mothers are wrongly labelled as having postnatal depression, researchers have claimed.
They are set to tell a conference in London this weekend that the estimate that a fifth of new mums suffer depression is "wrong".

Britain's Father's Rights Activists Rock Family Law Establishment
British Father's Rights activists have staged another protest demanding fair treatment from Family Law policy makers — this time at a Labour Party Conference attended by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The group, Fathers 4 Justice ( F4J ), who campaign for the right of children to be brought up equally by both parents after divorce or separation, took their message to the streets of Manchester on Friday and to the doors of the conference

No Middle Ground
The irony couldn’t have been more chilling on Friday when George W. Bush was questioned about his support for the hate amendment–aka the federal marriage amendment that would enshrine discrimination in the U.S. Constitution–during a meeting with German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Here is Bush, standing next to a leader from a country that has certainly seen its share of hate in the 20th century, but which now has among the most enlightened policies in Europe regarding gays, who have partnership rights in Germany.
"I believe it is important to affirm that marriage of a man and woman is ideal," Bush said, "and the job of the president is to drive policy toward the ideal."

When is `harassment' a two-way street?
In a recent article in New York magazine, Naomi Wolf detailed an unwanted advance by scholar Harold Bloom, which she said occurred when she was a senior at Yale University some 20 years ago. The famous professor, who was tasked with teaching and grading Wolf, allegedly put his hand on her inner thigh when they were alone together

Scandal at the Spitz
On 7 March a photographic exhibition exploring childhood was launched at the Spitz Gallery in London, as part of the Spit-Lit Festival of women's writing. That evening the police were called and the gallery's windows covered up; by the next day some of the photos had been removed.

Women's mags: proof misery sells
Like a repentant cattle rancher turned vegetarian, Myrna Blyth appears to have turned on her former self. The retired editor of Ladies' Home Journal has written a book dishing scorn on women's magazines - "Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness and Liberalism to the Women of America."

U.S. Women Lack Health Insurance, Access to Care
The first of a series on health insurance and women: Women's eNews looks at research by the Kaiser Family Foundation that shows that a significant number of U.S. women under 64 lack health insurance and that others face barriers to adequate care

Women Reach Top of Police Ranks, Growth Still Slow
More women are being appointed to leading roles in the nation's policing ranks, but the growth of women in large law enforcement agencies has remained slow.

Amnesty Pushing Nations to End Gender Violence
Amnesty International is beginning an international campaign to portray domestic violence as a violation of human rights.

Straight or Gay, Women Attracted to Democrats
Lesbians, transgender women, heterosexual women and gay men are finding common ground in their opposition to the Bush administration's health and social policies. The result, activists say, is a bonanza for the Democratic Party this election year.

Pro-Choice Clergy Raising Moral, Religious Voice
Pro-choice religious leaders are seeking to enter in the abortion debate with views different from the Catholic hierarchy and fundamentalist leaders. Through books and forums, these leaders are bolstering the moral argument for reproductive rights

Gender Studies Matters and Thrives
In a culture saturated with media messages that undermine women, Sheila Gibbons says college gender studies courses offer vital training in critical thinking and intellectual self-defense.

Women's Basketball Gains; Gay Cleric Put on Trial
Women's college-level basketball is gaining popularity amongst live and television audiences.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association women's basketball tournament begins this Saturday, and The New York Times has reported that the competition is attracting more crowds to its live games and registering higher-then-ever television ratings. The upswing is likely to continue with more young female players training for national competition-level basketball and four women's college teams having rated No. 1 on The Associated Press Poll of college teams since January 5.
Protesters have been arrested outside a church trial that may remove a lesbian minister from her post at a Methodist church in Bothell, Wash.
Rev. Karen Dammann, who leads the Bothell United Methodist Church, was married last week to her partner of nine years, Meredith Savage, in Portland, Oregon, where the Multnomah County officials have begun allowing same sex marriages, reports The Associated Press. She is being tried within her denomination because church rules bar ordination of homosexuals who are open about their sexual orientation.

HealthWatch: Should Women Avoid Hysterectomies?
Hysterectomies are the most common major surgeries performed in the U.S., with over 600,000 done a year.
Most are performed for heavy bleeding. Treatment usually starts with hormone medication to try to control the problem, but when that doesn't work, surgery -- which involves taking out the uterus -- is often considere

Middle East Campaign stop violence against women
The launch in Amman, attended by Her Majesty Queen Rania al-Abdullah, comes at the end of a major seminar that gathered activists to discuss ways to eradicate laws and practices that foster violence against women in the region.
"Violence against woman is a global scandal which also affects women in the Middle East and North Africa," declared Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, at the regional launch of the campaign in Jordan.

Women play important role in military
Throughout history, women have broken barriers to serve in the military, some legitimately and some not. Many women worked as nurses on battlefields, while others disguised themselves as men so they could join. Even though the contributions women made were recognized, Americans would not allow them to be fully integrated into the military until 1948, when President Harry Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act.

Democrats start political group for women
Monroe County Democrats on Monday announced the creation of a Women’s Leadership Council, a group that will advocate for women’s issues and support female Democratic candidates for elected offices.
The organization is aimed at giving women greater voice in local politics and promoting more involvement by women in local government, leaders of the group said.

Aids and fewer fertile women slow world population growth rates
The world population is likely to increase to more than 9 billion by the middle of this century, roughly 50 per cent higher than it is now, according to a new study by the US Census Bureau.
But the exponential growth of the past 15 years is expected to slow significantly as some populations age and others are ravaged by Aids.

Women Intensify Fight Against Poverty
Women Investment Fund is a business group that empowers members through entrepreneurial skills.
An association of women known as Women Investment Fund (WINC), last Wednesday in Yaounde resolved to fight against poverty in all its form and to give hope to the African woman as well as restore her dignity. Meeting at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel, WINC presented its results in improving the working conditions of women and their efforts at alleviating poverty.

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