Health, Reproductive Rights & Sexuality

November 7, 2008 Posted by Rita Henley Jensen, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Women’s eNews As The Memo: A Status Report on U.S. Women produced this summer by Women's eNews documents, we’ve seen a decline in U.S. women's wellbeing during the last decade: Our labor force participation is down; the wage gap is persistent, women's health indicators are falling, violence against women is likely to increase during the recession and lesbian or suspected lesbians who are in the military are most likely to be discharged under the Ask Don't Tell policy.  Bias against women is systematic and needs to be addressed in a systematic way. To move women and the issues women care about most from the margins to the center in this new administration, President Obama should hold a joint monthly with the women's caucuses of the House and Senate.   He should also consider the suggestions outlined below. New Appointments, Task Forces, and Advisory Positions I have two strong candidates for the Secretary of Treasury Post and both are brilliant and neither has made public statements insulting women's abilities in math and science, as has Lawrence Summers, who is currently under consideration.  They are: 1. Brooksley E. Born is now chair of the board of the National Women's Law Center. From 1996 to 1999 she was chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission the federal government agency that oversees the futures and commodity option markets and futures professionals.  While at the CFTC, Born served as a member of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets and the Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions. She was fired from her post because she dared to urge tighter regulation of trading in derivatives.  She was given her pink slip by none other than, yes indeed, , Mr. Shortlist for Treasury Secretary himself, best know for challenging the existence of gender bias and for his statement that "innate differences" between men and women might explain why fewer women succeed in those careers.

November 5, 2008 posted by Vivienne Heston-Demirel Apologies for audio problems. It is 7:30 and we are going LIVE.

7:27pm

Michelle Goldberg - journalist/author, specialized in ideology and politics - said she was optimistic but that there were a few dark clouds, namely, anti-gay ballot initiatives that passed in California, Florida, Arizona (anti-gay marriage), and Arkansas (anti-gay adoption). All of the anti-choice initiatives failed. There is a potential for extreme right-wing terrorism, including attacks on abortion providers.

7:45pm

Andrea Batista Schlesinger - Executive Director, Drum Major Institute for Public Policy - just concluded her opening statements.

7:48pm

November 1, posted by Linda Basch 

October 31, 2008 Posted by Linda Basch

Below is my exchange with Susan W. Kaufmann, Associate Director for Advocacy at the University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women, where she addresses issues important to women through research and action.  She holds an MS in environmental advocacy from the University of Michigan.

Linda Basch: What are the key issues facing women in your state?

October 31, 2008 Posted by Linda Basch 

Below is my exchange with Lisa McClain, Director of Gender Studies and an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Boise State University. In addition to her teaching and authoring of books and articles, Lisa is active on issues regarding women and religion, women and disability, violence against women and women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

Linda Basch: What are the key issues facing women in your state as they get ready to hit the polls?

October 28, 2008 Posted by Amy Allina, Program and Policy Director, National Women’s Health Network

October 24, 2008 posted by Linda Basch

October 24, 2008 posted by Silvia Henriquez, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health 

If Latinas had a “cafecito”* with each presidential candidate, what questions would we ask?

October 24, 2008 posted by Vivienne Heston-Demirel

This week marks Health Education Week and Healthcare Quality Week.  In that spirit, we’d like to share with everyone links to sites that are producing wonderful work on issues relevant to women’s health:

October 24, 2008 posted by Linda Basch

As the election draws near, I’m pleased to announce a series of  posts this week from our experts responding to current hot topics in health.