WOMEN IN THE WORLD

Send me news of women around the world: gabrielle.friesen@colorado.edu
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02/02/12 The Damaging Effects of False Criminal Allegations
"Boulder Police reported last week that a CU female student falsified the allegation that a black man attacked her last weekend on University Hill. While any kind of violent crime is tragic and deserves the rapid and careful response of the wider community, the falsification of this specific alleged attack carries its own painful ramifications." (read more)

10/27/11 Girl Scouts of Colorado Support Transgender Youth
After a young girl was initially denied enrollement in the Girl Scouts for being trans, The Girl Scouts Organization quickly ammended the situation, enrolling the girl, and reaffirming their stance as an inclusive organization. (read more)

10/27/11 Boxing Federation Wants Female Boxers To Wear Skirts
Women boxers will finally be allowed into the Olympics in 2012, but the Amateur International Boxing Association wants the atheletes to wear skirts in order to appear more"elegant" and womanly."(read more)

10/17/11 Elouise Cobell, 65, Walks On
Elouise Cobell passed away at the age of 65 after loosing her battle with cancer. During her lifetime, Cobell fought the U.S. government in the Cobell vs. Salazar Class Action,over federal governmment mismanagement of over 500,000 American Indian trust funds. She won a $3.4 billion settlement in December 2009, that was ratified by Congress in December 2010.In September, legislation was introduced to award Cobell the Congressional Gold Medal, which has yet to be ratified. (read more)

10/10/11 Yemen: Thousands of women demonstrate, dozens injured
Numerous women have been attacked and injured during demonstrations in support of Twakkul Karman being awrded the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as demonstrations in support of aYemeni revolution. The attacks have generally been carried out by pro-President Ali Abdullah Saleh gangs, in an attempt to stop women from deomstrating. (read more)

10/07/11 Three women's rights activists share Nobel Peace Prize
Yemen's Arab Spring activist Tawakkul Karman, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and activist Leymah Gbowee have all been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Karman is the first Arab woman to receive the prize, and is one of the youngest recipients. Sirleaf is Africa's first elected female head of state. Gbowee is a founder and executive director of Women Peace and Security Network-Africa. (read more)

10/04/11 Anderson sworn in as Mississippi Choctaws' first female chief
Newly sworn in chief Phyliss J. Anderson asks tribal memebers for support in “these uncertain economic times.” She defeated incumbent Beasley Denson twice, after one runoff was thrown out due to alleged voting irregularities. (read more)

10/18/10 Fat Talk Free Week
Coming soon to a college campus near you: a ban on "fat talk." O.K., so the ban is voluntary — and temporary — but it's designed to get students to think about the psychological effect of even seemingly innocuous comments like "Omigosh, you look so good — have you lost weight?" (read more)

8/23/10 How Gender Fits Into the Shirley Sherrod Affair
Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign from her position as the Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the Department of Agriculture when conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart maliciously manipulated a video clip of Sherrod, making her look like a "reverse racist." This Ms. Magazine article examines how Sherrod's gender and race intersect in how this situation has played out. (read more)

4/28/10 CU Boulder alumna Mara Boyd among those arrested in "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" protest
Boyd was discharged from the Air Force ROTC program at CU after revealing she was a lesbian, had limited her activism to speaking about her experience with the policy. The protest earlier this week was her first experience with civil disobedience, and she doesn't think it will be her last... (read more)

4/20/10 Gender Equity is Thwarted by Old Expectations, CU Boulder Team Finds
Many studies have found that even as women have succeeded in historically male-dominated fields, they have not enjoyed a corresponding reduction in domestic work... (read more)

4/15/10 Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller Dies
"We have lost an inspirational leader and a great American, someone who was truly a legend in her own time... as a leader and a person, Chief Wilma Mankiller continually defied the odds and overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to better her tribe, her state and her nation." (read more)

4/15/10 Victory Fund Celebrates Queer Women in Politics
Youtube video from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund about women who have been elected as "out" public officials all across the country. (watch the video)

3/18/10 The Founders of NOW
Sonia Fuentes, one of the founders of NOW (the National Organization for Women), writes about its history and what the other founders are doing today... (read more)

3/18/10 A Reading List for International Women's Day
Happy International Women's Day! Here on UN Dispatch we are celebrating by asking our friends and readers to compile a list of their favorite books, articles, and blogs that touch on the themes of women’s rights and human rights... (read more)

3/11/10 Is Spain moving in the right direction on issues regarding body image? What could we learn?
By now, you've probably heard about a recent decision by Spain to curb the amount of advertising for cosmetic surgery, weight-loss pharmaceuticals, and certain beauty treatments on their airwaves... (read more)

3/8/10 The World's Best Countries for Women
International Women's Day seems like an appropriate occasion to ask which countries do best by women -- and why... Scandinavian countries that have made gender equality and explicit goal and implemented policies such as universal child care and paid family leaves almost always land on the top of the list. The United States lags far behind... (read more)

3/4/10 Gendercide: The war on baby girls
Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared -- and the number is rising. In China and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls... (read more)

3/4/10 Boulder's Sacred Heart of Jesus School denies enrollment of lesbians' child
A preschool student at a Catholic school in Boulder will not be allowed to re-enroll next year because the student's parents are a lesbian couple. Archdiocese says couple living in 'disaccord with Catholic teaching'... (read more)

3/4/10 Former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer
Mankiller served 12 years in elected office at the Cherokee Nation, the first two as Deputy Principal Chief followed by 10 years as Principal Chief. She retired from public office in 1995. Among her many honors, Mankiller has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton... (read more)

2/25/10 Show Me the Women -- In Hollywood
Without women, the greatest moments in film this year would not have been possible. The Women's Media Center celebrates all the women nominated for this year's Academy Awards... (read more)

2/21/10 For women in America, equality is still an illusion
Jessica Valenti of Feministing.com writes: We have no problem condemning atrocities done to women abroad, yet too many of us in the United States ignore the oppression on our doorstep. For all our "empowered" rhetoric, women in this country aren't doing nearly as well as we'd like to think... (read more)

2/21/10 Crusader Rowing Upstream in Cambodia
The most prominent woman in Cambodia’s struggling political opposition, Mu Sochua, 55, is campaigning now, three years before the next election, because she is almost entirely excluded from government-controlled newspapers and television... (read more)

2/20/10 Utah Bill Criminalizes Miscarriage
A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage. What makes this proposed law unique is that it is specifically designed to punish pregnant women, instead of those who might assist or cause an illegal abortion or unintended miscarriage... (read more)

2/16/10 Canadian curler is five months pregnant
Olympic alternate Kristie Moore, 30, is 5½ months pregnant, making her just the third athlete known to be with child during Olympic competition... (read more)

2/14/10 "Gay" Poem Shakes Up The Utah State Legislature
Utah's state representative Christine Johnson decided to read "Say Yes," a spoken word poem written by gay activist poet Andrea Gibson, to the House of Representatives one morning. Despite the poem's lack of "gay" content, local news berated the House of Representatives for having "gone gay" due to listening to this poem about hope, peace, and altruism... (read more)

1/20/10 Women's movement mourns death of 3 Haitian leaders
Three leaders in the Haitian women's movement are confirmed dead, victims of the earthquake. They gave women voices, fought against violence, and made rape in Haiti a crime. Amid chaos after the earthquake, concerns are rising about protecting women and girls... (read more)