women's rights

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Karzai Demands Review of 'Home Rape' Law

(Newser) - Pressure from British and German leaders over legalized rape in Afghanistan has pushed President Hamid Karzai to order a review of a law governing Shiites, Reuters reports. Karzai said the Justice Ministry would scrutinize the Shiite Personal Status Law and send it back to parliament if necessary. But he said...

It's Time to Put the Breast Pump Away
It's Time to
Put the Breast Pump Away
OPINION
Apr 3, 2009 11:48 AM CDT

It's Time to Put the Breast Pump Away

The mommy wars should be fought over leave time, not formula

(Newser) - We may have taken the "breast is best" argument too far, writes Judith Warner on her New York Times blog. The evidence for the superhuman benefits of breast milk over formula isn't so clear-cut, after all, and it's not worth it to guilt women into pumping when the real...

Critics: Afghan 'Home Rape' Law Worse Than Taliban

Wives can't refuse sex in Karzai nod to right

(Newser) - Critics are blasting a new law in Afghanistan that forbids a woman to refuse sex with her husband or to leave home without his permission, reports the Guardian. The law, opposed by the UN, is viewed as a major step backward for women in a nation whose constitution supports equal...

Activist Pakistani Gang-Rape Victim Marries

Unusual for victims of rape, who are heavily stigmatized

(Newser) - A Pakistani gang-rape victim who shunned custom and rose to global fame by speaking out about her case has defied another local taboo—she just got married. Rape victims in Pakistan face severe social stigma and diminished marriage prospects, prompting many to commit suicide. But Mukhtar Mai went public and...

Woman in Saudi Faces 40 Lashes for Mingling

(Newser) - A 75-year-old Syrian woman faces 40 lashes and 4 months in prison for mingling with two men in Saudi Arabia, CNN reports. Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi will also be deported for allowing the men to enter her home last year. The men, sentenced to lashings as well, told police that Sawadi...

Mauritanian Girls Force-Fed for Marriage

'Torture' returns as ideal of large women makes a comeback

(Newser) - A military coup in Mauritania has erased years of advances in women's rights, bringing a resurgence of the practice of force-fattening young girls to prepare them for marriage, the Guardian reports. "A woman's size indicates the amount of space she occupies in her husband's heart," explains an activist,...

Iraqi Women Pressured to Run for Office, Fill Quota

Many candidates in Anbar are wives of tribal leaders

(Newser) - Iraq has new rules to boost women's rights, but it may take a while for the nation's culture to get up to speed, Time reports. In this month's provincial elections, for instance, 25% of newly elected council members must be female. But in provinces such as Anbar, the idea of...

Anglicans Open Path for First Women Bishops

But deal provides loophole for traditionalists

(Newser) - The Church of England has drafted a plan to allow the first women bishops within 3 years, the Times of London reports. But there’s a catch—to appease traditionalists, parishes that won’t tolerate a woman can have their own “complementary” bishops. Still, members of this special class...

Obama's Early Picks Disappoint His Base
 Obama's Early Picks 
 Disappoint His Base 
ANALYSIS
Dec 23, 2008 3:15 PM CST

Obama's Early Picks Disappoint His Base

Cabinet tally, inauguration choice upset minority groups

(Newser) - Barack Obama has already slighted some of his most vehement campaign supporters. Women's groups are unimpressed by his Cabinet tally: 15 of 20 spots went to men. And the gay constituency is enraged that Obama chose anti-gay marriage evangelical Rick Warren to lead prayer in his historic inauguration. Instead...

Women's Rights Activist Beheaded in Iraq

Hussain headed women's league in Kurdish Communist Party

(Newser) - Armed men yesterday stormed the home of a women's rights activist and Kurdish leader and beheaded her, reports CNN. Nahla Hussain, a 37-year-old married mom of two, was the leader of the women's league of the Kurdish Communist Party. She was alone in her home in the volatile northern town...

Nigeria Struggles to Protect Child Brides

Underage marriage outlawed, but Muslim leaders support it

(Newser) - In northern Nigeria, almost half the girls are married by age 15, and a law outlawing child marriage faces serious resistance from Muslim leaders, the Times of London reports. "We have no choice," says one teen who was brutally raped by her husband. As a result, fistula—a...

What About Michelle's Career?
What About Michelle's Career?
Nov 24, 2008 6:33 AM CST

What About Michelle's Career?

Women debate high-powered exec's switch to 'mom-in-chief'

(Newser) - What will Michelle Obama’s stint as first lady mean for her own high-powered career? Political wives, policy experts, and pundits are all weighing in, reports the New York Times. Cherie Blair tells Michelle to get used to the back seat, while more optimistic observers insist that Obama’s tour...

Gays Leave the Closet, Abortion Moves Back In
Gays Leave the Closet, Abortion Moves Back In
OPINION
Oct 17, 2008 3:26 PM CDT

Gays Leave the Closet, Abortion Moves Back In

1 in 3 women has had one, but so privately even friends don't know

(Newser) - With Connecticut last week becoming the third state to allow same-sex couples to marry, a group once very much stigmatized becomes more and more mainstream, writes Ellen Goodman in the Boston Globe. But even as homosexuals step out of the closet, women who’ve had abortions are stepping in. While...

Palin's Glasses Are a Fashion Spectacle

But is the focus on her look just sexist?

(Newser) - Sarah Palin: Hockey mom, moose-hunter … trend setter? Marie Claire says Palin's $375 designer glasses are “a style hit,” and opticians have been flooded with inquiries about the Kazuo Kawasaki 704s, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  “It’s always been, ‘Men don’t make passes...

Teens Buried Alive in 'Honor Killings' Spark Pakistan Rage

They wanted to choose their own husbands

(Newser) - Nationwide protests have erupted in Pakistan since three teenage girls were buried alive in mid-July in a remote village because they planned to choose their own husbands, reports the Times of London. The girls—ages 14, 16 and 18—were abducted and tortured, then buried still breathing. Two older women...

Koran More Feminist Than Bible: Scholar

Muslim text 'more modern' than Christian regarding women

(Newser) - Certain passages in the Koran give women more freedoms than the Bible, a Dutch philosopher tells Radio Free Netherlands. On the site bibleandkoran.net, Marlies ter Borg compares texts on economic independence, marriage, and divorce from both books to dispel what she calls misconceptions about the Islamic faith. "In...

Iraqi 'Honor Killing' Mother Gunned Down

She had left husband after he murdered their daughter

(Newser) - The ex-wife of an Iraqi man who beat, choked, and stabbed their 17-year-old daughter to death over an innocent crush on a British soldier has been gunned down, the Guardian reports. Leila Hussein had been staying in a series of safe houses while arrangements were being made to flee the...

'Wingnutty' Webb Can't Be Obama VP
'Wingnutty' Webb Can't
Be Obama VP
OPINION
May 28, 2008 8:01 AM CDT

'Wingnutty' Webb Can't Be Obama VP

Loose cannon off-base on women, civil rights; won't get white vote

(Newser) - Many liberals are pining for James Webb to be added to a Barack Obama ticket, but the Virginia senator is “completely unacceptable”—severely lacking on affirmative action (which he has called “state-sponsored racism”), on women’s issues (he’s said females in the military “poison”...

Bush Issues Arab To-Do List
 Bush Issues Arab
 To-Do List 
May 18, 2008 1:06 PM CDT

Bush Issues Arab To-Do List

Improve economies, women's rights, democracy to make peace possible

(Newser) - President Bush addressed Arab leaders at the World Economic Forum today, urging them to make the changes necessary to achieve peace in the region. Citing improving women's rights, strengthening their economies, and bolstering democracy as the major goals, Bush reprised some of the same language from his speech last week...

Afghan Appeals Death Sentence Over Women's Rights Charge

Argues he was tortured into false confession

(Newser) - An Afghan journalism student who has been sentenced to death claims he was tortured into falsely confessing that he had written an article championing women's rights. "I would never let myself write such an article," said the student, 24, in court today in a desperate bid to overturn...

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