The Most Important Financial Journalist Of Her Generation
7/17/09
The Nation: At 53, Gretchen Morgenson is at the height of her career, read and feared in the corridors of power running from Wall Street to Washington. As a reporter and columnist (a controversial dual role), she is enormously productive.

The Place Of Women On The Court
7/12/09
NY Times: Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “[Being a woman on the Supreme Court has] almost like being back in law school in 1956, when there were 9 of us [women] in a class of over 500, so that meant most sections had just 2 women, and you felt that every eye was on you. Every time you went to answer a question, you were answering for your entire sex. It may not have been true, but certainly you felt that way. You were different and the object of curiosity.”

As ‘Spouse,’ First Lady Does Mostly As The Romans Do
7/8/09
Washington Post: First lady Michelle Obama has a singular designation during her short stay in Italy while the president attends the G8 Summit in L’Aquila. She is the “spouse.” The G8 organizes these events with a keen eye to the traditional roles of men and women. While the men are off saving the world during a working lunch, the women are just lunching. No matter that there are no small number of women running many corners of the world. The G8 still seems to be adjusting to that notion.

U.S. Journalist Says Broke North Korean Law, Seeks Amnesty
7/9/09
Reuters: U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly called on North Korea to release them on grounds of “amnesty,” implying for the first time that the U.S. government believes they committed an offense.

Senate Takes First Step Toward Banning Global Gag Rule
7/10/09
RH Reality Check: During the Senate Appropriations Committee mark-up yesterday, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) proposed an amendment to the foreign aid appropriations bill that would permanently negate the global gag rule by stipulating that foreign NGOs should not be disqualified from receiving US family planning assistance based on their providing services that are permissible in their own countries and legal here.

Intolerable Abuse: Harassment Of Women Firefighters A Warning Siren For Houston Officials
7/9/09
Houston Chronicle: The shocking harassment of two Houston women firefighters, the only female members of Fire Station 54 at Bush Intercontinental Airport, has rightly outraged city officials and the general public.

From Bikinis To Burqas, The Feminist Politics Of Clothing
7/10/09
RH Reality Check: How can so many American feminists have come out against a burqa ban in France when the burqa, along with other excessively modest religious garb, appears to be a classic tool of gender oppression? The answer is that singling out the burqa as the only article of clothing patriarchal enough to merit legal regulation – or even strident criticism – is racist.

What Kind Of Mother Leaves Her Kids?
7/10/09
Marie Claire: Divorcing dads give up custody every day. Increasingly, so do moms. So why are they judged more harshly for it? Three women tell their story.

Sexist Jokes Linked To Battering Women
7/10/09
UPI: Sexist jokes favor mental mechanisms linked to violence and battering against women in people with macho attitudes, researchers in Spain said.

Historian Studies Origins Of Rural Feminism
7/9/09
AP via Capital Press: The usual explanation for the spread of feminism in the nation’s rural areas – basically, trickle-down from urban centers – doesn’t take into account the whole picture, an Illinois agricultural historian says. Jenny Barker-Devine, an assistant professor at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Ill., said farmers’ organizations may have done a fair amount of consciousness-raising themselves.

WHO Approves Cervical Cancer Vaccine Cervarix
7/9/09
AP via USA Today: The World Health Organization has approved a second cervical cancer vaccine, this one made by GlaxoSmithKline, meaning U.N. agencies and partners can now officially buy millions of doses of the vaccine for poor countries worldwide.

Irish Women Challenge Abortion Ban In European Human Rights Court
7/9/09
RH Reality Check: The case has been taken to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg by three women known as A, B and C. The case focuses on whether the women’s human rights were infringed because they were unable to terminate their pregnancies in Ireland. The women claim the restrictive nature of Irish law on abortion jeopardized their health and wellbeing.

In South Africa, Rape Is Linked To Manhood
7/9/09
Mail & Guardian: A recent report published by Interpol said South Africa had the highest rape rate among its member states. Police figures record about 54 000 rapes in South Africa in 2006 — nearly 150 per day, or one for every 925 people in the country.

Peru’s Pregnant Women Dying At ‘Scandalous’ Rates
7/9/09
CNN: Pregnant women in Peru are dying at scandalous rates, according to the author of an Amnesty International report into maternal mortality in the South American country.

Abortion Pill Study Suggests Way To Limit Infection
7/9/09
NY Times: A large study of the pills used to induce abortion has found that infections are rare but can be made even less common if the pills are taken by mouth instead of vaginally, and with antibiotics.

Delivering Affordable Health Care
7/8/09
American Prospect: Hospital deliveries are now the norm, but home births may actually be better for women — and government’s pocketbook.

Kate Gosselin To Attend California Women’s Forum
7/9/09
AP via Google: Maria Shriver’s annual women’s conference has always been an A-list affair, and this year’s event is no different. Cindy McCain, Elizabeth Edwards, Katie Couric, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and actress Kelly Preston are among the featured speakers. But the guest likely to draw the most attention is a relative newcomer to the media spotlight — reality TV personality Kate Gosselin.

Commissioner’s Ouster Imminent: Bivens Settles After Top Players Revolt
7/10/09
Boston Globe: It appears that Carolyn Bivens couldn’t overcome a powerful letter crafted by many of the LPGA Tour’s top players, asking for her immediate removal as commissioner. According to multiple reports, Bivens has been let go, with GolfDigest.com reporting that a financial agreement was reached Wednesday night.

Women’s Golf Goes Holistic
7/10/09
Wall Street Journal: Instead of focusing only on a player’s stance or swing, Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott say they take players’ spiritual, social, physical, mental and emotional needs into account as well, suggesting remedies that often have little to do with technical golf and have included listening to iPods, playing Sudoku, jumping up and down or staring up at the trees during downtime on the course.