(WOMENSENEWS)–
Cheers
Mayor de Blasio has begun a rent subsidy program that seeks to move 1,900 homeless families who are victims of domestic violence from shelters into permanent housing during the plan’s first year, The New York Times reported Nov. 10. Counseling efforts will also be increased within public housing, where domestic violence is especially high. Officials said they were also taking steps to relax admission requirements, such as expanding the range of crimes that constitute abuse, in order to place up to 100 abused families in public housing by the end of this year.
More News to Cheer This Week:
Barbra Streisand is lending her voice to a campaign to raise awareness and spark action against heart disease, USA Today reported Nov.12. "More women than men have died of heart disease each year since 1984 . . . Heart disease kills more women than all cancers combined, " Streisand said during an interview with USA Today.
In an attempt to tackle the sexual harassment many women suffer on public transportation in France, feminist group Osez le Féminisme (Dare Feminism) launched a campaign to Take Back the Metro, Buzzfeed reported Nov. 11. The group hopes its posters will "expose the insecurity of women in public spaces and especially on public transport" and symbolically reclaim the space.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. pledged $35 million in funding to help eliminate the backlog of untested evidence in sexual assault cases in cities across the United States, Reuters reported Nov.12. "Around the country, what happens to those kits? What we hear from police and prosecutors is that they want badly to test these kits but they lack the funds," Vance said at a news conference.
McDonald’s workers from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles began travelling to eight countries on three continents beginning Nov. 10 to enlist fast-food workers, The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Nov.13. Women are two-thirds of people employed in low-wage jobs in industries such as fast food. Follow the tour on Twitter via the hashtag #fastfoodglobal.
Forensic Nurse Week from Nov. 10-14th gave the International Association of Forensic Nurses a chance to raise awareness of their work as the first responders to victims and perpetrators of violence who enter healthcare settings. These nurses provide care, collect evidence and provide consultation in a variety of areas including: sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, death investigation, elder mistreatment, corrections, emergency services, mental health and public health.
Jeers
Authorities in India have arrested the doctor they say performed botched tubal ligations that sickened dozens and killed at least 13 women at an unsanitary "sterilization camp" in rural India over the weekend, The Washington Post reported Nov. 13.At least 11 women have died and 62 were hospitalized after undergoing sterilization surgery at a government-run mobile health clinic in India, CNN reported Nov.12. Locals say more than 80 women were operated on in just six hours by one doctor and his assistant. Such surgeries usually require 30 minutes for preparation and sterilization of equipment alone. Each woman was compensated 600 rupees or about $10 dollars and all of the women were poor. India carries out about 37 percent of the world’s female sterilizations.
More News to Jeer This Week:
Two Pakistani brothers were arrested for killing their mother and two teenage step-sisters after accusing them of adultery, I24 News reported Nov. 12. Last year 869 women died in "honor killings" according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
The 2014 midterm elections will not be dubbed the "Year of the Woman," The Brookings Institution reported Nov. 10. The summary finds and the next several election cycles will likely fall short as well. Authors Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox describe an underlying gender gap in political ambition.
Jillian Fisher’s mother has worked at Kmart for 21 years. But her mother still doesn’t know if she’s going to be told to work on Thanksgiving this year, even with the holiday two weeks away, Think Progress reported Nov. 13.
Women in high-achieving fields are paid less than men even with similar levels of experience, Bloomberg Businessweek reported Nov. 14. Women graduating business school reported expecting $14,548 less in annual pay than men. In every field, women were paid less than men based on a survey of graduating MBA’s over 112 schools. Women entering finance reported the largest pay gap with women earning close to $22,000 less than men.
Noted:
Citing insufficient evidence, prosecutors in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office have decided not to file domestic-violence charges against San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Ray McDonald, the San Jose Mercury News reported Nov. 10.
More than 60 percent of Americans think the government should not regulate the Internet, finds a Rasmussen Report survey conducted Nov. 11-12, on the heels of President Barack Obama’s Nov. 9 announcement supporting net neutrality. The Federal Communications Commission is weighing traffic rules for the Internet. In September, as the FCC’s public comment period on whether cable and telecom companies could purchase online "fast lanes," Women, Action and the Media, or WAM!, wrote about why women need net neutrality.
The seven football players charged with hazing and sexual abuse at Sayreville War Memorial High School in New Jersey will be tried as juveniles, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office.
Cities have pushed ahead of states to pass laws barring discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, a report from the Human Rights Campaign found Nov.12.The Municipal Equality Index (MEI) examines the laws, policies and services of municipalities and rates them on the basis of their inclusivity of LGBT people who live and work there. The 2014 MEI rates a total of 353 cities from every state in the nation, which is an increase of more than 60 cities rated in 2013.
The icons on German traffic lights that currently show men walking may soon show women too, The Guardian reported Nov. 14. The German government in Dortmund is debating the introduction of a 50 percent gender quota for traffic-light icons.
A Florida mother is home and tending to her new infant less than a month after surviving without a pulse for 45 minutes following complications from a routine cesarean section, the Associated Press reported Nov. 9.
Rosie Napravnik, the U.S. "girl jockey" pulled a shocker during the Breeders’ Cup last weekend when she announced her retirement, Reuters reported Nov. 9. Napravnik, 26, broke the news after winning one of the biggest races of her career, the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff aboard the prized 3-year-old filly Untapable.
Mormon leaders have acknowledged that the church’s founder and prophet, Joseph Smith took as many as 40 wives, The New York Times reported Nov. 10. One of those women was only 14 when she became Smith’s wife. The Mormon Church banned polygamy in 1890 and now excommunicates anyone who practices it.
