WMC News & Features
Health Care Reform: Pro-choice Forces Win the First Round in the Senate
Senate Democrats held firm to allow debate to begin on a health care bill that avoids the abortion restrictions of the House-passed measure—and pro-choice activists are mobilizing to keep the heat on. But there are many hurdles ahead.
WMC News & Features
Global Gender Gap Report: Some Gains in Africa
In its country-by-country index comparing the status of men and women, the World Economic Forum finds that Nordic countries remain highest on the equity scale. Here, the co-founder of the Council of Women World Leaders explains the study and its importance to women and girls.
WMC News & Features
November 16, 2009 | Nichola Gutgold |
Politics
Sarah Palin Is on the Road Again, But to Where?
Sarah Palin is back in the news, with an appearance on Oprah and a tour to promote her autobiography that can’t fail to excite her supporters. But can she move beyond her base to become a viable candidate again for national office?
WMC News & Features
Will Progressive Groups Help Feminists Stop Stupak?
After the shocking setback in the House for abortion rights, women’s rights groups turned their attention to the Senate, which could begin debate on health care reform next week.
WMC News & Features
The Democrats’ Dilemma: Their Own Trojan Horse Kicks Free
Democratic leaders have said that the turn-around on abortion contained in the House health-reform bill will not appear in the final version. The author, a Women’s Media Center board member and former president ofPlanned Parenthood Federation of America, explains here why voters who value women’s health cannot sit back and accept such assurances.
WMC News & Features
Taking the Fall for Health Care Reform?
The price for health care reform in the House is women’s right to choose—and, adding insult to injury, the deal was negotiated by the first woman to serve as House speaker.
WMC News & Features
At the UN, Criminalizing Rape as a Weapon
In the last week of October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made headlines and sparked anger in travels to Israel and Pakistan. Her role some weeks earlier was less controversial yet critically important, as she led UN diplomats forward in an action that could ease the suffering of countless women and girls living in conflict zones around the world.
WMC News & Features
From Media Blitz to Women’s Conference: Has Maria Shriver Discerned a Watershed Moment?
A Time magazine cover story and a week of programming on NBC immediately followed the release of The Shriver Report. This week, California’s First Lady will use the findings to engage participants in her annual conference on women. If the continuing activity fails to “ignite a national conversation,” it won’t be for lack of planning and effort.
WMC News & Features
Chronic Illness and Health Care Reform: I’m Too Tired to Fight This By Myself
Health care reform, crucial to all of us, is especially important to the chronically ill, who need coverage of “maintenance medicine”—everyday care that can be guaranteed in a national system. The author is doing all she can, but she needs some help.
WMC News & Features
Afghanistan: Will Obama Listen to the Women?
Eight years ago on October 7, the United States sent troops into Afghanistan. Having just returned from there, the author, co-founder with Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK, brings an open letter to President Obama from prominent Afghan women and their supporters from Pakistan, India and the United States—asking that he send no more troops and work quickly toward a political solution.
WMC News & Features
Health Care: A Lesbian Mother’s Sudden Passion for Reform
As the author found out, the rules of our broken health care system are so baroque, something entirely unexpected can trip you up, threatening family finances. She asks us to help President Obama sell the nation on reform this week.
WMC News & Features
For Wage-Earning Women—A 21st Century Answer
Employed women have a wide variety of needs—equitable wages, reliable benefits, regular hours and flexible schedules—the very issues that unions can address through collective bargaining. Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act can help.
WMC News & Features
Health Care Reform: Post-recess Politics
House and Senate members return to D.C. next week having heard an earful from constituents on health care reform. It falls to President Obama to cut through the confusion.
WMC News & Features
Military Coup Reverses Honduran Women’s Gains in Human Rights
In Honduras, the first military coup of the 21st Century is having a devastating effect on human rights, according to the author, a producer at FIRE (Feminist International Radio Endeavour), which was represented in an international delegation visiting the country this month.
WMC News & Features
Media Blind to GOP Hypocrisy in Health Care Debate
On this Women’s Equality Day, the author suggests that the Republicans should not have a free ride as they deny women reproductive care while sanctifying the doctor-patient relationship and decrying government involvement in the health care system.
WMC News & Features
August 24, 2009 | Nichola Gutgold |
Politics
Secretary Clinton: The Uses of “First Lady Tendencies”
A recent media take on the secretary reveals a truncated view of appropriate diplomatic style. A sense of mission derived from her own experiences drives Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, and the broad scope of her background grounds her work.
WMC News & Features
Health Care Reform—What’s At Stake for Women?
The firestorm about the public option may miss the point for women. Women’s groups have worked with the White House and legislators to put critical expansion of care in all the major health care reform bills making their way through Congress.
WMC News & Features
August 07, 2009 | Peggy Simpson |
Politics
Sotomayor’s Confirmation—What Her Victory May Cost the Republicans
Conservatives tried to convince the Senate, and the nation, that an impressive judge with an impeccable record was simply a product of affirmative action. It didn’t work.
WMC News & Features
Saving Afghan Women from the "Liberators"
The Obama Administration acts as though George Bush abandoned Afghanistan for Iraq and, therefore, an infusion of troops and money will solve the country’s massive problems. But, argues the author, the international community is already engaged and intent on supporting Afghan women. Lasting change must come at the hands of Afghan women themselves—and Afghan men.
WMC News & Features
Liberia’s Difficult Path Toward Reconciliation
Having emerged from a long and violent civil war, President Sirleaf and the people of Liberia try to inch their way toward a just peace, while former president Taylor is on trial for war crimes against the citizens of a neighboring country.
WMC News & Features
Who We Are, and What We See
The author, a psychologist/psychoanalyst, explains how Judge Sonia Sotomayor is naturally informed by her gender and ethnicity as she performs her duties on the bench.
WMC News & Features
White House Focuses on Violence Against Women
Based on her past performance, advocates—including the author, who worked with her in New Mexico—have high expectations for Lynn Rosenthal, the new White House advisor.
WMC News & Features
Reality and Hope at the White House
At a recent White House reception, the author learned, on LBGT issues, the difference between having a leader or an ally in residence.
WMC News & Features
Responsible Solidarity: An Appeal to the Public on the Matter of Iran
The author urges us to stand against the violence threatening the masses of protesters in Iran, but to insist that our leaders not infringe on Iranian sovereignty—as has happened in the past. Her commentary is based on a speech she delivered on Tuesday at San Francisco City Hall.
WMC News & Features
Addressing the Muslim World, President Obama Reached Well Beyond the Arab Dignitaries
The author wonders if his pre-speech visit to a kingdom where women are oppressed weakens his appeal on behalf of women’s rights.