Arts & Culture
Military Improves Child Care; Ugandan Detainees Strike
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(WOMENSENEWS)–CheersDespite facing new demands in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States military has continued to improve its child care system, according to a release issued Wednesday by the National Women’s Law Center, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C.The center, which has studied the topic since 2000, noted that the military has strengthened accreditation requirements, integrated programs for teenagers, lowered the cost child care for low-income families and increased the number of military child care spaces.Other News to Cheer About This Week:Rallies broke out in Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and other Asian cities on Wednesday to pressure the Japanese government into providing apologies and compensation for World War II-era women who were forced into roles of “comfort women” (military sex slaves) by the government, reported Reuters.While the government has issued apologies and a private fund for the 70- and 80-year-old women, the efforts have been called insincere and government officials criticized for making demeaning remarks and for approving textbooks that omit “comfort women” from history, Reuters reported.Women involved in small-scale, community banks in Niger have been more equipped to survive their nation’s ongoing food crisis, reported Reuters on Wednesday. The London-based nongovernmental organization CARE International, focused on eradicating poverty, organized the women into pooling money and food into savings over the last few years. Members can take loans from the savings, to start small business endeavors for example, and once profits are earned, the money goes back into the pool for others. The number of 20- to 24-year-old Canadian women who smoke dropped 5 percent in 2004, according to the Canadian Tobacco Use and Monitoring Survey, reported CBC News on Thursday. Men have continued smoking at the same rate, around 31 percent, while 25 percent of women smoke.The California Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a supervisor at L’Oreal, the French cosmetics and perfume company, who resisted her boss’ order to fire a woman because she was not “good-looking enough” and replace her with someone who was “hot,” according to the Los Angeles Times.