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Sex trafficking and exploitative employers are serious hazards. But a May 14 report also finds that families free daughters from early marriage when households depend on them for remittances.
A former U.S. federal judge, Nancy Gertner took on many civil rights cases, starting in the 1970s, as a lawyer. In this excerpt from her memoir, “In Defense of Women,” she recounts helping to defeat an anti-choice law in Massachusetts.
NEW YORK–"In Mexico, many girls do not have to play at being prostitutes. They are forced by organized crime into prostitution", says Silvia Calderon, with a firm voice.
The dogs barking and women whispering do not distract Silvia. The Mexican mother tells her story via cell phone from a street in Mexico City.
"The injustices are already part of everyday life in this country," she states with anger.
With the support of an Israeli labor rights organization, Palestinian female workers in a West Bank settlement are heading back to court for better pay and working conditions from Royalife, a company that makes bed linen for export.
Seven who are snapping at the heels of Hillary Clinton are featured in a new documentary narrated by girls ages 9 through 12. The tweens’ focus is their need to know why a woman has yet to be a U.S. president.
(WOMENSENEWS)–CheersIn commemoration of World Population Day on July 11, the United Nations Population Fund has called on men around the world to become partners in maternal health care.”Experience shows that men’s involvement and participation can make all the difference. By discouraging early marriage, promoting girls’ education, fostering equitable relationships and supporting women’s reproductive health and rights, progress is made,” said Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the Population Fund’s executive director. “It is time for all men as fathers, brothers, husbands, community and religious leaders, and government officials to become partners in maternal health.”About 525,600 women die annually from pregnancy and childbirth complications. Every minute, a woman loses her life. And for every woman who dies, 20 experience serious complications such as obstetric fistula, a debilitating childbirth injury that affects more than 2 million women around the world.The U.N. will work with governments and other partners to guarantee that every woman has access to three reproductive health services saving women’s lives: voluntary family planning, skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetric care if complications arise during delivery.
In a landmark year for feminist art, the opening of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art in the Brooklyn Museum of Art offers a final refuge from tokenism and exclusion. Does institutionalism also mean the end of a dissident era?
The U.S. Navy ceased bombing practice on Vieques, Puerto Rico, in May 2003, but female activists say the military left health troubles behind. They are leading a push for more research and compensation from the government.
(WOMENSENEWS)–CheersBreast cancer rates in the United States dropped by 7 percent from 2002 to 2003, possibly as a result of millions of women who discontinued hormone replacement therapy, the Associated Press reported Dec. 15. The analysis was reported at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.Breast cancer cases dropped most among women 50 and older, the age group taking hormones. In 2003, there were only 124 cases per 100,000 women, the biggest decline in the breast cancer rate since the 1970s. That year, nearly 200,000 cases of breast cancer had been expected, but about 14,000 fewer women actually were diagnosed with the disease.The decline in the number of women taking hormone replacement therapy came just after publication of the Women’s Health Initiative trial in 2002, which revealed that health risks among recipients were elevated, especially for breast cancer and stroke.”This is big news,” said Dr. Jay Brooks of the Ochsner Health System, in Baton Rouge, La.
NPR’s Anne Garrels was the voice of Iraq during the 2003 invasion and her reports from the war zone have been a highlight of the network’s coverage. Now she sees only bad options in Iraq but intends to cover the country as long as possible.