Chicago Police Tackle DV; Female Journalists Harassed

Credit: Robert Thivierge/thivierr on Flickr, under Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

(WOMENSENEWS)–

Cheers

Chicago will train its police officers to better respond to cases of domestic violence, CBS reported Dec. 3. Each year, Chicago police get about 200,000 calls regarding domestic violence, and nearly 40 of those calls end in a homicide. The city will also establish a new shelter that will provide services for victims and their families.

More News to Cheer This Week:

A preliminary reading of the new Egyptian Constitution indicates that Egyptian women for the first time have won the right to full citizenship, according to a press statement from the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights. The current draft says: Nationality is the right of a person born to an Egyptian father or an Egyptian mother. The legal recognition of that person and the granting of official documents proving that person’s personal details are rights guaranteed and regulated by law.

Soroptimist International of the Americas/LiveYourDream.org announced Dec. 6 it plans to launch a global program to provide girls worldwide career guidance. Soroptimist has been empowering girls through international programs celebrating their volunteer work and providing them with access to education/mentoring and strategies to live free from violence. This new program will build on previous work by harnessing the resources of the organization’s 35,000 members in 19 countries and territories to ensure girls have the resources and knowledge they need to achieve their life goals. Financial support will also be available through the program.

As part of a new multi-year national advocacy campaign, the American Jewish World Service launched a major push Dec. 5 to urge the U.S. Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act, which was recently introduced in the House of Representatives.

Saudi women’s rights activists have re-launched a campaign for the right to drive in the country, urging women to get behind the wheel on Dec. 28, Yahoo News reported Dec. 4. Activist Nasima al-Sada said the call for action is a “reminder of the right so it is not forgotten.” Two of Saudi Arabia’s best-known female advocates for lifting the ban on women driving were detained on Nov. 29 after being caught behind the wheel in the country’s capital, CNN reported Dec. 1.

Pro Infirmis, an organization for the disabled in Zurich, Switzerland, created a series of mannequins based on real people with physical disabilities, working with individuals like Jasmine Rechsteiner, a Miss Handicap winner who has spine malformations, The Huffington Post reported Dec. 3.

Same-sex couples have begun to marry in Hawaii after a new law allowing such unions has taken effect, USA Today reported Dec. 1.

Jeers

Almost two-thirds of female journalists taking part in a survey on harassment have experienced intimidation, threats or abuse in the course of their work, according to a study by the International News Safety Institute and the International Women’s Media Foundation, Reuters reported Dec. 2. Most incidents occurred in the workplace and were committed by male bosses, supervisors and colleagues, the poll found.

More News to Jeer This Week:

British Member of Parliament Sarah Champion said some Conservatives make lurid hand gestures towards Labor women during debates in the Commons, BBC News reported Dec. 6. Champion also said women from her party were often taunted while speaking in the Commons chamber.

Former AC Milan and Italy midfielder Gennaro Gattuso said he cannot see a place for women in soccer, Singapore‘s Straits Times reported Dec. 5. “I can’t really see women in football, I don’t like to say it but that’s how it is,” Gattuso said.

Poorer women, older women and smokers are at risk of having a pre-term baby, according to a University of Sydney study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, which also highlights a danger among Aboriginal women, Australia‘s News.com reported Dec. 4.

The number of women in prison for drug-related offenses in Latin America has increased dramatically since the 1980s, a report published by the International Drug Policy Consortium reveals. Between 2006 and 2011, the number of women incarcerated in Latin America almost doubled, increasing from 40,000 to more than 74,000.

Pregnant women who have been deported but are forced to leave their newborns in Britain is becoming an “increasing problem,” according to John Hemming, a British member of parliament, The Telegraph reported Dec. 2.

Egyptian police arrested Ahmed El-Hamrawy, the lawyer who defended 21 women and girls charged at a demonstration for ousted President Mohamed Morsi, CNN reported Dec. 2. Fourteen of the women were sentenced on Nov. 27 to 11 years in prison; the seven minors were sentenced to juvenile detention.

Women’s rights activists in Morocco have criticized the Islamist-led government for excluding them from drafting a proposed legislation to combat violence against women and for seeking to dilute the bill through changes, Al Jazeera reported Dec. 5.

A pregnant woman from Michigan was denied appropriate medical treatment because the only hospital in her county is required to abide by religious directives, the ACLU of Michigan said in a press statement Dec. 2. The ACLU and the ACLU of Michigan have filed a lawsuit on her behalf.

The war in Syria is creating a generation of damaged children, a U.N. report warns, BBC News reported Nov. 29. School-age refugees who have fled to neighboring countries are increasingly cut off from education and forced to work to survive, the study found.

Noted:

New and Renewable Energy Indian Minister Farooq Abdullah apologized Dec. 6 for causing offense after remarking that men were now “scared to talk to women” amid an ongoing public debate about sexual harassment following several high-profile cases, Singapore’s Straits Times reported.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Dec. 5 that he believes Republicans are making progress toward appealing to female voters, but they still have work to do, The Huffington Post reported.

Michigan lawmakers are currently deciding whether to advance a bill that would require women in the state to purchase a separate insurance policy for abortion coverage, even in cases of rape or incest, Think Progress reported Dec. 4.

The French lower house of parliament passed Dec. 4 a reform of a prostitution law imposing fines on clients, a shift to tougher rules that has split the country and angered some sex workers, The Guardian reported Dec. 4.

The University of Notre Dame filed a lawsuit against the federal government over contraception requirements in the health care law, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 3. The university argued that the compromise offered by the Obama administration to resolve a standoff with the Catholic Church fails to address its objections.

Abortions performed in the United States have continued their trend of decline in 2010, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Christian Post reported Dec. 2. For 2010, 765,651 abortions were performed nationwide, representing a 3 percent decrease from 2009.