Net Neutrality OK’d, NYC Short on Girls’ Sports

(WOMENSENEWS)–

Cheers

Internet activists scored a landmark victory as the top U.S. telecommunications regulator approved a plan to govern broadband Internet like a public utility, The Guardian reported Feb. 26. Following a very intense lobbying battle, the Federal Communications Commission passed strict new rules that give the body more powers over the cable industry. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that while other countries were trying to control the Internet, the sweeping new U.S. protections on net neutrality – the concept that all information and services should have equal access online rather than corporations receiving faster speeds at higher costs– represented was "a red-letter day for Internet freedom." Find out what it means for women’s media in the Women’s eNews story, "Net Neutrality Survival Basic for Women’s Media."

More News to Cheer This Week:

Oregon lawmakers have introduced the Comprehensive Women’s Health Bill, which would ensure affordable and complete reproductive health care for all women and transgender men in the state, RH Reality Check reported Feb. 26. If the bill passes, Oregon would be the first state to ensure all residents are covered for all reproductive health care, including abortion, under all forms of insurance.

Families of New Yorkers killed by police have launched a campaign to have Gov. Andrew Cuomo appoint a special prosecutor to all cases of police using deadly force, in a letter released on Feb. 25. The group mainly consists of mothers who have lost their children at the hands of police over the past two decades, including the mothers of Sean Bell and Eric Garner.

For the first time ever, the United States has appointed a Special Envoy for the Human Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, NPR reported. In a statement, Secretary of State John Kerry said Randy Berry’s job will be to "reaffirm the universal human rights of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."

Rep. Thomas Murt, R-Montgomery has reintroduced a bill that would establish the offense of "female mutilation" in the Pennsylvania criminal code, PennLive reported Feb. 26. Individuals taking part in the removal of a female minor’s genitalia, including a parent, would face a first degree felony charge.

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, suggested this week that nations remove laws that prevent women from working in order to increase the female labor supply and boost their economies, The Guardian reported Feb. 24.

The social media campaign #AskHerMore, created in February 2014 to fight sexism on the red carpet, marked the Oscars ceremony in Hollywood on Feb. 22. The campaign aims to inspire reporters to ask more creative questions instead of focusing on the dresses worn by women attending the ceremony, CBS News reported. In addition, that night Patricia Arquette in her acceptance speech for best supporting actress in "Boyhood," called on the global audience to fight for equal rights and pay for women in the U.S, Politico reported.

Turkish men are showing solidarity after the brutal murder of a young woman by wearing miniskirts. In recent days, #ozgecanicinminietekgiy, translated as "wear a miniskirt for Ozgecan," has begun circulating, often accompanied with a photo of a man wearing a short skirt, CNN reported. The social media campaign is a response to the killing of Ozgecan Aslan, 20, who allegedly fought off a sexual assault before her body was burned and dumped into a riverbed.

Spain has said it broke up an online network accused of recruiting young women to join the militants of the Islamic State fighting in Iraq and Syria, The Telegraph reported Feb. 24. Four suspects were arrested.

Gender equality is "not just a nice thing to do," former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Feb. 24 at the first Watermark Silicon Valley Conference for Women in Santa Clara. She added that equality for women is necessary to ensure a country’s economic and political stability. "Where women are included you are more likely to have democracy," she said, according to live tweeted accounts of her speech, Newsweek reported Feb. 24.

Jeers

The U.S. Department of Education has found that the New York City Department of Education has violated Title IX. The city department, which operates the public schools in New York City, has failed to abide by the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education and provide high school girls with equal opportunities to play sports as boys, according a press release published by the National Women’s Law Center.

Investigations confirmed that girls in New York City public schools are underrepresented in athletics programs and determined that an additional 3,862 opportunities would be needed to level the playing field for female students.

Women’s eNews first reported on the issue in 2009. Read more in the story "Urban Girls Jump Into the Title IX Gap."

More News to Jeer This Week:

Three teenage girls from the U.K. have disappeared after boarding a flight to Istanbul last week, Jezebel reported Feb. 23. Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, were seen last week on airport security footage. On Feb. 23, the Telegraph reported that intelligence sources inside Turkey said the three schoolgirls were seen traveling with a Syrian male companion in a private car and have likely already crossed into Syria. In addition, Canadian authorities are looking for at least four teenagers, including two women, who may have also flown to Turkey in a bid to join ISIS, CNN reported Feb. 27.

Many recommendations to investigate the violence and murder of aboriginal women and girls in Canada are still being ignored, according to a new report on the issue published Feb. 26, CBC reported.

The founder of hot yoga, Bikram Choudhury, is facing lawsuits by six women who claim he sexually assaulted them, The Associated Press reported Feb. 27. Choudhury’s lawyers have denied the accusations.

Poor women in the United States are five times more likely to have an unplanned births than those who are affluent, according to a recent study, Vox reported. Although women are equally sexually active across all earning groups, the researchers found women who earn less are also less likely to use contraceptives. However high-income women have a much higher abortion rate than lower-income women and use a contraception which results in fewer unintended births

The head of the U.N. climate change panel, Rajendra Pachauri, has stepped down amid claims he sexually harassed a woman working at his office in Delhi, The Daily Mail reported. It has been reported that the woman claims the alleged harassment included unwanted emails, texts and phone messages. Pachauri has denied the accusations.

Women working for Hillary Clinton’s office when she was senator were paid 72 cents for each dollar paid to men, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis of her Senate years’ salary data. From 2001 to 2009, the median annual salary for a woman working in Clinton’s office was $15,708.38 less than the median salary for a man, according to the analysis of data. No reaction from Clinton has been reported.

During a hearing for a bill that would ban doctors from prescribing abortion-inducing medication through telemedicine, an Idaho lawmaker asked if a woman could swallow a small camera for doctors to conduct a remote gynecological exam. The question came from Republican state Rep. Vito Barbieri, The Associated Press reported. He later said the question was rhetorical and intended to make a point.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has toughened his stance on abortion, according to an article published earlier this week by the New York Times. The governor, who has chances of being included in the pick for the presidential primaries for the GOP, announced that he had passed anti-choice legislation in Wisconsin and removed funding for Planned Parenthood.

Heart disease is responsible for 1-in-4 women’s death. A study from the American Heart Association said this happens because most women do not get treated for symptoms of a heart attack, Jezebel reported Feb. 24. The article reports many women do not get treated as they do not want appear to be hypochondriacs.

Noted:

A female Saudi filmmaker won an award for best drama at the Saudi Film Festival, Agence-France Presse reported Feb. 25. Hana al-Omair took the Golden Palm Tree prize for her drama "Complain." It tells the story of a hospital worker who lodges a complaint against a colleague, an act symbolizing everything wrong in her life. Another woman, Shahad Ameen, won second prize in the drama category for "Eye and Mermaid," a fantasy about a girl who discovers her father has tortured a mermaid to extract beautiful black pearls.

Women in the Asia Pacific region lag behind men in securing leadership roles in business and politics despite being better educated, an annual gender equality index revealed on Feb. 27, Reuters reported.

The Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, who launched last year Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women inviting Iranian women to post a photo of themselves without a veil on Facebook, has received a human rights award in Geneva for her initiative, The Guardian reported.

In a report released this week , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that use of long-lasting contraceptive methods–which include intrauterine devices and contraceptive implants–increased nearly fivefold in the last decade among women aged 15-44, from 1.5 percent in 2002 to 7.2 percent in 2013.

In Memoriam:

Dori J. Maynard, the president of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and an advocate for diversity in journalism, has died, the San Jose Mercury News reported Feb. 25. She was 56.

Maria Golovnina, ?bureau chief for Reuters in Pakistan and Afghanistan, has died NBC News reported. Golovnina was 34. The news agency said the Islamabad-based journalist lost consciousness in her office and was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

John C. Willke, an obstetrician who helped establish the modern anti-abortion movement, died Feb. 20 at his home in Cincinnati, The New York Times reported. Willke, whose idea that rape victims could resist conception was widely challenged, was 89. He was a former president of the National Right to Life Committee, the nation’s oldest and largest anti-abortion organization.