This Is What Rape Culture Looks Like
7/23/09
Yes Means Yes: There is only one rapist alleged [in the Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger case]. But there are so, so many participants… And now, as these details emerge, ESPN has instructed its entire team of reporters to not report any of this information.

Minimum Wage Hike Helps Women
7/23/09
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Today the federal minimum wage is going up from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour. Contrary to popular belief, minimum wage workers are not just teenagers working summers bagging groceries or selling jeans at the mall. Many minimum wage earners are in fact “involuntary part-time workers” because their hours have been cut during this recession. An increase in their wages will make a big difference.

Women: Afghanistan Women Outraged At Proposed Family Planning Law
7/24/09
Guardian, UK: Eight years after the fall of the Taliban, a proposed law in Afganistan is instilling fear in its women.

N. Korea Escalates War of Words, Calls Clinton Vulgar, Unintelligent
7/23/09
Washington Post: The war of words between North Korea and the United States escalated Thursday, with North Korea’s Foreign Ministry lashing out at Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in unusually personal terms for “vulgar remarks” that it said demonstrated “she is by no means intelligent.”

Sotomayor Hearing Test: Did You Catch the Code?
7/24/09
Women’s eNews: Last week’s Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Sotomayor were loaded with insights into competing judicial philosophies and their links to partisan issues, such as a woman’s right to an abortion. Caroline Johnston Polisi cracks the legal code.

Palin Favorability Rating Dips As She Nears Exit, Poll Finds
7/24/09
Washington Post: As Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin prepares for the next stage of her political career, a majority of Americans hold an unfavorable view of her, and there is broad public doubt about her leadership skills and understanding of complex issues, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Do Women Do Better In A Recession?
7/23/09
CNN: Female managers just might have an edge in a rotten economy, says the author of a new book. Here’s why, and how men and women can learn from each other’s strengths.

Study Weighs Threats’ Effects On Abortion Providers
7/23/09
Kansas City Star: An abortion rights group has found that doctors and clinics in six states, including Missouri, that perform abortions “are routinely targeted” for legal and physical harassment, including death threats.

Here We Go Again: Early Morning Amendments Threaten Hiv Prevention, Research, Reproductive Health
7/24/09
RH Reality Check: Several amendments introduced by Republican conservatives for this morning’s House vote on the House FY 2010 Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill (Labor-H) are intended to roll back recent legislative gains on HIV prevention, evidence-based programs, and reproductive health.

Pre-Natal HIV Testing: What About Women’s Rights?
7/23/09
RH Reality Check: Pregnant women with HIV routinely find their human and civil rights sacrificed in the name of the health of the fetuses they carry. Prenatal HIV testing is often the point of departure for the perceived tension between the rights of the mother and the health of the unborn child.

Baptist Leaders Face Challenge On Women’s Roles
7/24/09
NPR: Former President Jimmy Carter left nine years ago. Recently, Carter wrote in the London Observer that a primary reason he left was the denomination’s treatment of women. The Southern Baptist Convention says women cannot hold positions of leadership over men. And now some Baptists say that stand is contributing to the convention’s problems.

Women Connecting Across The Generational Divide: From Gloria Steinem To Courtney Martin
7/22/09
Huffington Post: Gloria Steinem, Helen Thomas, Ana Nogales and Courtney Martin, along with a host of other women, are going to sort through it all, face-to-face, in real time, at a conference convened by Omega Institute called “Women and Power: Connecting Across the Generations.” In essence, the conference sets out to explore how to build bridges across generations that inspire and empower women to change the world.

Afghanistan’s Bravest Woman Brings Her Message To UK
7/23/09
Independent, UK: Five assassination attempts have failed to silence a woman determined to defend Afghans from warlords, drug lords and the Taliban.

Afghan Presidential Candidate: The U.S. Occupation Must End
7/23/09
AlterNet: The past 8 years have done more harm than good to women’s rights in Afghanistan — the U.S. is waging a war, not winning a peace.

In A Complex Family, Death Adds To The Indignity
7/23/09
NY Times: [A landmark decision by South Africa's Constitutional Court] ensures that when a husband dies without a will in a polygamous Muslim marriage, each of his wives is guaranteed legal rights of inheritance.

Stolen From Mongolia For Sex
7/22/09
Global Post: Between 3,000 and 5,000 Mongolians are trafficked every year, according to NGO estimates; the vast majority are women and children recruited by deceit to work in the sex industry. They are lured by promises of lucrative jobs in nightclubs and massage parlors only to find themselves trapped in a system of modern slavery.

Syria: Iraqi Refugee Women Gain Skills As Beauticians
7/23/09
AlterNet: A group of Iraqi refugee women showed off their skills as beauticians at a Saturday morning skills-training program at a Damascus beauty parlor. The training helps women hone their skills so they can find employment in Syria’s “informal economy” – supporting their families in a country where Iraqi refugees lead a bifurcated life.

Women Over 30 Have Newer Birth Control Options
7/22/09
CNN: There are more safe, effective contraception options than ever for women who may be done having children or who are 30-plus.

Female-Exploitation Films Seen In New Light
7/24/09
LA Times: The UCLA Film & Television Archive series “No She Didn’t!: Women Exploitation Auteurs” looks at the unlikely intersection of female filmmakers and the grubby titillation of prison flicks, biker pictures and slasher movies.

Nairn’s Goal Lifts US Women Over Canada
7/22/09
AP via Google: Christine Nairn’s first international soccer goal in the dying minutes Wednesday night gave the U.S. women a 1-0 victory over Canada and a three-game sweep of their friendly series.