Planned Parenthood Funded; Wage Gap Unchanged

(WOMENSENEWS)–

Cheers

The Senate voted down the bill to defund Planned Parenthood with a vote of 53 to 47 along party lines, reported the Los Angeles Times April 14. The bill was not expected to pass the Democratic-led Senate after Republicans insisted a vote be made. Like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, the provision was dropped as a rider on a 2011 spending bill but will now be voted on by the Senate and House as a standalone measure.

The Republican-led U.S. House, in largely symbolic votes, voted Thursday to ban federal grants to Planned Parenthood and the use of government funds to implement the health-care overhaul law, Bloomberg News reported April 14. The vote on Planned Parenthood was 241-185, according to results posted by C-Span.

More News to Cheer This Week:

Men across the country are walking in heels this month in "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes," marches to raise awareness about rape, sexual assault and gender violence, reported the Daily Femme April 11. For a list of marches this month, check out the "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" Web site.

The British government is funding the first accredited domestic violence training program in Saudi Arabia to begin this month, reported the Lapido Media , a charity’s media outlet, April 13.

The University of Delaware’s Resident Ensemble Players will perform "O Beautiful," a satirical play about the politics of abortion by former TV writer and playwright Theresa Rebeck until May 15, The New York Times reported April 14.

Domestic abuse related deaths in England and Wales will be automatically reviewed by all agencies involved, including police, health services, local authorities, probation, voluntary groups and any other bodies connected to the victim, reported BBC April 12.

After criticism of last year’s male-dominated shortlist, the Cannes film festival placed four female filmmakers in Palme D’Or running, the festival’s most coveted prize, the Guardian reported April 14.

Cathy E. Minehan, former CEO and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston for 13 years, will be the new dean starting Aug. 1 of the Simmons College School of Management in Boston, Mass., the first MBA program designed for women, announced Simmons College April 12.

Jeers

In light of Equal Pay Day April 12, reports were released showing a discrepancy still exists in the pay between men and women.

Research, released April 11 and conducted by the National Partnership for Women & Families with the American Association of University Women, found full-time working women in New York are paid on average $8,590 less than their male counterparts. The National Partnership stresses the harm the gender gap has on families, with 63 percent of women contributing to more than a quarter of their families’ income and more than a million households headed by women.

The report says if the gender gap were eliminated, full-time working women could afford 64 more weeks of food, 4.4 more months of mortgage and utilities payments, 9 more months of rent or 3 more years of family health insurance premiums.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research released its latest figures on the gap between women and men’s wages April 12 showing the largest pay gap is between female and male personal financial advisers.

The National Partnership for Women also highlighted pay inequity, offering a state-by-state breakdown of how much less women are receive for comparable work than men.

More News to Jeer This Week:

Bills banning abortions after 20 or 22 weeks of pregnancy, based on disputed medical evidence, were signed into law this week by governors in Kansas and Idaho. Also, anti-abortion bills in Texas are moving through legislation.

In the wake of possible federal cuts to family planning, the Texas House approved $61 million in cuts from the state’s Department of Health Services Family Planning program, which gives grants to family planning clinics, reported the Houston Chronicle April 11.

A 14-fold increase in honor killings in the last seven years in Turkey, according to a government report, sparked debate about government efforts, reported the Christian Science Monitor April 14.

India counted only 914 girls aged six and under for every 1,000 boys, the lowest sex ratio in the recorded history of modern Indian, Eurasiareview reported April 14.

More than half of married women in Zambia have suffered physical abuse since age 15, according to a report released in 2009. The Global Press Institute reported that 93 percent of women said their attackers were husbands, partners or boyfriends.

A woman drove into the Hudson River in Newburgh, N.Y., killing herself and three children after a domestic incident, reported the Associated Press April 13.

The Poppy Project, run by Eaves Housing, a charity pioneer group in Britain that helps victims of sex trafficking, lost a £6 million (almost $10 million) contract to the Salvation Army, reported the Guardian April 11.

Noted:

Planned Parenthood abortion clinics are separate from those in the organization that offer family planning and other health services, said anti-abortion activist Joe Pojman, of the Texas Alliance for Life, in an interview with The Texas Observer. Despite this fact, he says he is unhappy that sometimes abortions by the organization are performed in the same building as those services.

Women, children and students took to the streets in Syria April 13, lending their voices to a month-long uprising that President Bashar Assad insists is the work of a foreign conspiracy, reported the Associated Press.

Women wearing veils were detained in France April 11 after protesting the new ban on women covering their face in public, reported the Washington Post.

The United Nations superagency for women has raised one-third of the $500 million of its first annual spending plan, said Michelle Bachelet, under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women.

A new report from the Guttmacher Institute, the nonprofit sexual health research organization, shows that only 2 percent of Catholic women rely on natural family planning, indicating that practices of Catholic women are in line with women of other religious affiliations and adult American women in general, Reuters reported April 13.

A transgendered man in New Jersey filed a discrimination lawsuit April 8 against his employer who fired him for holding a job only men can do: watching men urinate in a cup for drug testing at a treatment center, reported the New York Times April 10.

Very tight braiding or weaving is linked to a permanent type of hair loss that affects many African American women, new research published in the Archives of Dermatology suggests, MSNBC reported April 11.