Human Security

From The New York Times:

From Medical Xpress:

The paper, “Workplace homicides among U.S. women: the role of intimate partner violence,” published in the April 2012 issue of Annals of Epidemiology, reports that the leading cause of homicides among women was criminal intent, such as those resulting from robberies of retail stores (39 percent), followed closely by homicides carried out by personal relations (33 percent). Nearly 80 percent of these personal relations were intimate partners.

Risk factors associated with workplace-related intimate partner homicides include occupation, time of day and location. Women in protective-service occupations had the highest overall homicide rate; however, women in healthcare, production and office/administration had the highest proportion of homicides related to intimate partner violence. Over half of the homicides committed by intimate partners occurred in parking lots and public buildings.

“Workplace violence is an issue that affects the entire community,” said NIOSH Director John Howard, M.D. “Understanding the extent of the risk and the precipitators for these events, especially for women, of becoming victims of workplace violence is a key step in preventing these tragedies.”

[...]

From the Christian Post:

The president and CEO of a national women's organization expressed her outrage this week over a study from Penn State University which indicates that the existence of hate groups in a particular county is correlated to the number of Wal-Mart stores.

Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, expressed her anger with the study in an article titled "Elitism of the Left," which appeared on her organization's website on Monday.

"Penn State must have had to do amazing mathematical gymnastics to correlate that the hard-working families who shop at Wal-Mart are members of hate groups," wrote Nance. "But that's the trouble with leftist elites. They hold fast to their egotism and preconceived notions, dismissing everyone who opposes their ideologies as ignorant and bigoted."

The study, titled "Social Capital, Religion, Wal-Mart, and Hate Groups in America," appeared in the April edition of Social Science Quarterly and was conducted by Stephan J. Goetz of Penn State University, Anil Rupasingha of New Mexico State University and Scott Loveridge of Michigan State. The hate group statistics used in the study came from the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Mongtomery, Ala.-based civil rights organization.

Goetz, a professor of agricultural and regional economics, told The Christian Post on Thursday that Nance was wrong about the study in that it doesn't associate any particular demographic with hate groups.

[...]

From Ms. Magazine Feminist Wire:

A bill introduced by Congressman Todd Rokita (R-Ind) would force states to halt programs that provide funding for abortions for low-income women. The bill, HR 4160 (PDF)or the State Health Flexibility Act, was introduced in March and has been added to the Republican budget plan. The bill would move Medicaid to a block grant model in which states are given blocks of money and can individually structure their low-income healthcare plans. Although the Hyde Amendment has prohibited federal funding of abortion since 1976, 17 states have programs that use state money to cover abortions for low income women as part of their Medicaid plans. HR 4160 would make this practice illegal. 

Sara Rosenbaum, a health law expert at George Washington University, says the bill "would block the only avenue left to states that wish to make safe and legal abortions accessible to low income women." Judy Waxman of the National Women's Law Center says the bill "would be a significant change from how current law operates today."

[...]

From The Bellingham Herald:

A recent Cabinet Office survey in Japan shows that 32.9 percent of married women or women who have been married in the past have experienced domestic abuse, such as physical harm or psychological harassment.

According to the survey, 41.4 percent of domestic abuse victims did not tell anyone about the situation. In many cases, they meekly accepted the abuse out of consideration for their children or economic concerns, the survey said. The percentage of women who have experienced domestic abuse has remained constant with the two previous surveys conducted in 2005 and 2008. The survey, which was released Friday, is conducted every three years.

When asked about the details of their experience, 25.9 percent of victims said they were punched, kicked or shoved by their husbands and 6.2 percent were assaulted repeatedly. Multiple answers were allowed.

[...]