WMC News & Features
Congresswoman Barbara Lee--a Rebel Inside the House
Now in her sixth full term in the House of Representatives, the congresswoman holds to her radical roots, explaining in her new book just how mainstream those revolutionary programs have become. Currently chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, she spoke to author Emily Wilson of her need to define herself.
WMC News & Features
May 29, 2009 | Erica González Martínez |
Politics
Fearless Judge, Fearful Conservatives
The nation has barely had a chance to meet the new nominee for the Supreme Court, but some are all too ready to resent a woman of such fortitude. The author argues that sexism is evident in the agenda of many of Judge Sotomayor’s opponents.
WMC News & Features
The Death of Abeer in Iraq: One Former Soldier Is Sentenced—What of Those in Command?
A civilian jury has deliberated long hours over the fate of a former Army private in the March 12, 2006 assault and murder of Abeer al-Janabi and her family. His guilt has been determined in federal court. The author argues that it is up to us as citizens to prevent future crimes and protect our soldiers. This is the second of a two-part report on the Paducah, Kentucky trial.
WMC News & Features
The Death of Abeer in Iraq—What We Know Now
Four U.S. soldiers have been tried and convicted in military court for the March 12, 2006 assault and murder of Abeer al-Janabi and her family. Now, in the federal court trial of the last man accused, former Pvt. 1st Class Steven Green, information has surfaced that explains more fully what happened that day. This is the first of a two-part report on the Paducah, Kentucky trial.
WMC News & Features
As Secretary of State, Clinton Can Exercise a Range of Roles
In her current job, Hillary Clinton has found the freedom to express herself in various modes that work for her and for the Obama Administration. She is winning the appreciation of the public and of political and media observers.
WMC News & Features
Ain’t No Women (Like the Motown Women)
There’s a lot to celebrate about 50 years of Motown music—including the careers of two women whose behind-the-scenes efforts helped create a new genre of music.
WMC News & Features
Obama Needs a Frances Perkins by his Side
President Barack Obama has emphasized that affordable health care for all is crucial for long-term economic prosperity. Frances Perkins made that point in 1933. A new biography brings President Franklin Roosevelt’s labor secretary out of the shadows just in time for us to understand why progressive women matter so much as America struggles with economic crisis, war and recovery from callous, corrupt government.
WMC News & Features
May 07, 2009 | Jodie Evans |
Politics
In the Name of Mothers Around the World
The author, co-founder of the grass-roots peace and justice movement CODEPINK and board member of the Women's Media Center, calls on us to honor Mother’s Day as it was originally intended—by the abolitionist, feminist and pacifist Julia Ward Howe.
WMC News & Features
Marilyn French, 1929 to 2009
A brilliant feminist theorist, her 1977 novel, The Women’s Room, connected with millions of women who had no way before of claiming their anger and discontent. And, as Women’s Media Center President Carol Jenkins tells us, Marilyn French was a tender and caring friend.
WMC News & Features
April 29, 2009 | Peggy Simpson |
Politics
First 100 Days—Feminists Give High Marks to Obama
Women’s rights activists give high marks to President Obama for his fast footwork in reversing many policies of the Reagan and Bush presidencies.
WMC News & Features
Reflections on the Observe and Report Date-Rape Controversy
Just in time for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention month, a comedy provokes argument—if not box office success.
Rarely does a film incite responses as diametrically opposed as the new "dark...
WMC News & Features
Tracey Ullman Examines the “State of the Union”
Sketch comedian extraordinaire Tracey Ullman found a comfortable niche on Showtime for her satiric probe of America’s psyche. But no viewer gets to remain complacent under her penetrating gaze.
WMC News & Features
In Iceland, Our Long-Sought Victory in Battling Human Trafficking
On April 17, the last day before Iceland’s parliament adjourned to prepare for elections on April 25, members passed a bill criminalizing the act of buying individuals for purposes of prostitution. Patterned on the Swedish law that addresses the demand fueling the commercial sex industry, the action was hailed as an historic moment in the international struggle against human trafficking. Via Equality Now, here is a dispatch describing the campaign from Gudrún Jónsdóttir, spokeswoman for Stigamot, a women's rights organization in Iceland.
WMC News & Features
Democracy and Pandora’s Box: Family Laws in Afghanistan
For women in Afghanistan, the promise of democracy seems not to include equality, nor protection from the potential of domestic violence. Here, the secretary general of Parliamentarians for Global Action explains the politics behind the proposed oppressive law regulating Shia marriages.
WMC News & Features
April 16, 2009 | Courtney Martin |
Violence against women
New Report Indicates that Rape Kit Backlog Likely a National Crisis
A study of crime labs in Los Angeles indicates that many sexual assault victims wait in vain for prosecution of rapists. The lead investigator for Human Rights Watch, Sarah Tofte, now wants to study backlogs at labs in cities across the country.
WMC News & Features
AmazonFAIL: How Online Social Tools Can Wreak Havoc—and Repair It
The author explains what probably happened over the weekend to threaten sales of LGBT and feminist books on Amazon.com—and how social media instantly jumped into the fray.
WMC News & Features
Media Attacks: Getting Even—and Then Some
Stung by Michael Savage’s attack on children with autism and their parents, playwright Carolyn Doyle, in a one-woman performance currently running in San Francisco, uses her craft to show how a family navigates a mysterious world.
WMC News & Features
Quiet Push to Recognize Suffrage Sites
Spearheaded by New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, powerful chair of the House Rules Committee, legislation was signed into law at the end of last month that will help celebrate the not-so-ancient history of how women won the vote in the United States.
WMC News & Features
Intervale Green Apartments: Green, Affordable—and for Low-Income Women
In a Bronx, New York, neighborhood that once epitomized urban decay, the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation has created apartments that conserve energy, cost less to operate than conventional housing, and are beautiful and healthy places to live. It took the vision of a woman who refused to be discouraged.
WMC News & Features
Afghan Women to Obama: We Must Be at the Table!
The author, a global affairs professor who has worked extensively in Afghanistan, talks to Dr. Masooda Jalal, a political leader and the subject of a new documentary. Her message: women must be involved in peace making; the Taliban and warlords are “only powerful because we allow them to be.”
WMC News & Features
March 30, 2009 | Peggy Simpson |
Politics
Chances Improve for Ratification of CEDAW
The United States has been an odd holdout in ratifying the UN treaty on women’s rights. Now it’s a priority of the Obama Administration, and Senator Barbara Boxer chairs the subcommittee that will hold hearings. Still, there’s no guarantee.
WMC News & Features
Communicating with Jane Fonda
Not content merely to speak to her Broadway audience eight times a week through a critically acclaimed performance, Jane Fonda is blogging daily and twittering nightly. She finds herself hooked on the instant feedback.
WMC News & Features
Patsy Mink: Paving the Way
Kimberlee Bassford discovers a subject for her documentary who had crafted the laws that made it possible for the filmmaker to achieve her education and career.
WMC News & Features
Pondering the Chick Flick
Call it what you like, the genre comes with both good and bad traits. The author suggests that we reward Hollywood at the box office only when it resists its misogynistic tendencies.
WMC News & Features
“Lonely Soldier Monologues” Only Opens an Essential National Conversation
Helen Benedict’s play, now ending its run in New York, focuses attention on enlisted women soldiers with the authenticity of their own words. Now, argues a former Marine, we must go on to recognize ...