Commentary Archives – Page 91 of 94

Black, Latina Women Locked in Jailhouse, Poorhouse

By Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich ● Commentary ● September 27, 2000

Nationwide, the number of imprisoned women of color has increased by more than 500 percent in 20 years. The writer blames mandatory sentencing, biased cocaine laws and the increase in prison-dependent economic development plans.

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In Booming Economy, Housing Problems Getting Worse

By John Bohm ● Commentary ● September 20, 2000

What if women’s advocates and advocates for affordable housing were to join forces in a new strategic alliance to press for their multiple common goals: affordable housing, welfare reform and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act?

Shampoo, Manicure and Hotline Number

By Gretchen Cook ● Commentary ● September 14, 2000

Beauty salons are intimate gathering places where women chat, confide and nourish more than hair and nails. Now, some are playing potentially life-saving roles in a network helping battered women take care of beauty and bruises, body and soul.

How to Grade Your Child’s School On Gender Equity

By David Sadker ● Commentary ● September 13, 2000

A school’s commitment to gender equity can be easily discerned from bulletin boards and display cases, athletic fields, curriculum content, classroom seating and whether teachers encourage girls to develop a public voice–and boys a “public ear.”

Conservatives Fabricating ‘War on Boys’

By Caryl Rivers ● Commentary ● September 6, 2000

While boys’ problems and some girls’ problems have been exaggerated for political reasons, the fact remains that anti-violence, anti-bullying and anti-harassment messages are good for boys and that both girls and boys need help.

Issue: Making The World Safe Enough For Women

By Linda R. Hirshman ● Commentary ● August 28, 2000

From the “wilding” attacks in Central Park to systematic rape as a war crime in the Balkans, women are vulnerable to violence. Even more than reproductive choice, this writer argues, women must demand a safe enough world.

Candidates: Don’t Underestimate Black Women

By Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich ● Commentary ● August 24, 2000

The publicized “women’s vote” that gave Bill Clinton his victory margin in 1992 and 1996 was really the vote of Black women, not White women. And Black women’s “stealth power” could strike again this year–if Black women turn out to vote.

Cotton Candy GOP: Sweet, Insubstantial

By Tanya Melich ● Commentary ● August 23, 2000

The Republican Convention of spun sugar centrism, compassion and inclusiveness failed to mask the very real and bitter aftertaste of religious fundamentalism, Victorian sexual mores and intolerance.

Summer Opened with Small Victories, Setbacks at UN

By Charlotte Bunch ● Commentary ● August 22, 2000

In this, the first of five essays taking stock of this incredible Women’s Summer, a key leader in the international women’s rights movement assesses the pragmatic Beijing + Five session where women fought hard against the forces of backwardness.

Late-Term Abortions Pose Dilemma Down Under

By Leslie Cannold ● Commentary ● August 22, 2000

The abortion debate in Australia hasn’t reached the fevered pitch of the controversy in the U.S., but the recent highly publicized abortion in Melbourne of a 32-week-old fetus diagnosed with dwarfism illuminates the troubling issue of choice.