Article here.

'The U.S. Department of Education has announced $2.4 million in grants to 13 groups to help high school girls in math and science, including $163,559 for Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The four-year grants came on the 37th anniversary of Title IX, which helps to stop discrimination against women in education, including athletics.

"These grants go hand-in-glove with our efforts to improve equity and access for women and girls in the classroom and on the playing field," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.

Under the grant, Pittsburgh Public Schools will track 348 female students from grades 9 through 12 as they complete math-rich career and technical education programs.

The district is partnering with Smart Futures and the Carnegie Science Center's Girls, Math & Science Partnership.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in the 37 years since Title IX was passed, female participation in college athletics is up from 15% to 43%, and the number of female high school athletes has grown from 300,000 to nearly three million.

Duncan also announced $2.4 million in grants for 13 organizations to support projects that will help high school girls gain higher proficiency in math and science, according to a White House press release.

"These grants go hand-in-glove with our efforts to improve equity and access for women and girls in the classroom and on the playing field," Duncan said. "While much has been accomplished since Title IX was enacted, we must continue to push for further progress. The Obama administration strives to remove the obstacle of gender discrimination as a way to increase access to college and careers for all students."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Farrah Fawcett will mostly be remembered as a Charlie’s Angels chick and a pinup girl, but her performance in the Burning Bed was a durable, yet regrettable legacy. Sadly, the 1984 made-for-TV movie that portrayed premeditated murder as not only excusable, but heroic, won’t go with her.

Of course, Fawcett herself should not blamed for the establishment of a myth that propelled a skewed view of domestic violence into the forefront of public consciousness. She was, after all, only an actress playing a part, and playing it well.

Story here.

'SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Police in Salem have accused a sixth-grade teacher of sexually abusing a boy for four years, beginning when he was 13.

Police say the victim, now 21, reported the abuse in May.

They say he was not a student of 46-year-old Susan Alderson of Salem, who was arraigned yesterday on charges of rape, sodomy and sex abuse.

An official of the Silver Falls School District says there's no reason to believe any students in the district were involved.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Adrienne Feistel, a former Rosa Parks Elementary School teacher, here in San Diego, is accused of having had a two-year, sexual relationship with a student, who is now 15 years old.

The relationship allegedly began when the boy was a student at Rosa Parks, as a fifth grader.

According to reports, the boy was "pressured" into the relationship by Feistel. Feistel also happens to be married to a sheriff's deputy but is in the process of divorce.

Apparently, the relationship began when the female teacher moved in with the family of the boy "for a short time." At the time, Feistel was "on leave of absence" from the school.
...
If convicted, she could face several years in prison, according to most reports.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'ALLEGAN, Mich. — A 36-year-old western Michigan woman accused of stabbing her 14-year-old stepson in the back with a kitchen knife has pleaded guilty in the case.

Monica Embree of Dorr Township pleaded guilty Friday in Allegan County Circuit Court to assault with intent to do great bodily harm and interfering with a crime report. Sentencing was set for Aug. 21.

Prosecutors have agreed to drop an attempted murder charge and a felony assault charge in exchange for the plea.'

A link to RADAR's flyer here (.pdf file) summarizing the main 50 mthys around DV. Good resource for people new and not-so-new to the topic of DV.

Story here. Excerpt:

'The gathering along the community's main street celebrated the accomplishments of 10 women who graduated from the Introduction to Heavy Equipment Operation Course.

Each piece of equipment was driven by one of the 10 women from Trout Lake who successfully finished the course offered in the community from June 8 to 19. This is the first time in the territory the course has been offered to a women-only group.

The decision to open the course to just women was made by the Status of Women Council of the NWT which funded the course as part of its Northern Women in Mining, Oil and Gas Project.

The project is designed to remove barriers to women entering non-traditional trades, said Annemieke Mulders, the project's co-ordinator.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The separate Ginsburg dissent alluded only obliquely to her apparent view that strip searching a 13-year-old girl is worse than strip searching a 13-year-old boy, as she implied in an interview with Joan Biskupic of USA Today several weeks ago that has won widespread applause. To illustrate why the court needs more women, Ginsburg complained to Biskupic that some of her male colleagues' comments during the April 21 oral argument showed that they did not understand what a "sensitive age" 13 was for Savana because "they have never been a 13-year-old girl."

I agree that the court needs more women. I also agree that as a general rule, because of anatomical and perhaps other differences, it may well be more traumatic for 13-year-old girls -- I have never been one, but have raised two -- to strip in front of authority figures than for boys to do so.

Article here. Excerpt:

'But none of the stated aims of the Men in Power student organization were cited in either of these news sources. Both media outlets focused on the satirical article and both The Tribune and Feministing missed the point. Instead, the media outlets quietly spun stories to fit their conceptions of what it means to be a feminist and what it means to be a man. Stereotypes have taught us that these groups are mutually exclusive. But real evidence of what Steve Saltarelli and colleagues (both male and female) are saying and doing at U. Chicago shows that it is indisputable that their mission fits well into the larger movement for gender equality.

In fact, Men in Power is a hearty example of grassroots feminism.

Saltarelli agreed to begin Men in Power in order to “discuss issues of masculinity in society.” And he is reported in the Chicago Tribune article as saying that “If we have good men in our society, everyone benefits.”

Article here.

'WASHINGTON (AP) - A longtime advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault has been named to a new post advising the White House on those issues.

Vice President Joe Biden announced the appointment Friday of Lynn Rosenthal, an expert in domestic violence policy. The White House said she will advise President Barack Obama and work with government agencies to ensure that violence against women isn't ignored and the perpetrators are held accountable.

A former director of a women's shelter, Rosenthal was executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence from 2000 to 2006. And she worked as director of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence.'

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Ed. note: White House press release here.

Story here. Excerpt:

'The eldest daughter of Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton was indicted Wednesday on several charges – including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter – in connection with the October 2008 death of a 1-year-old girl she was baby sitting in central Florida

Amanda Brumfield, 29, was booked at the Orange County Jail, where she is being held without bail, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
...
An autopsy revealed a fractured skull and brain injury, leading the medical examiner to rule the death a homicide. Police said Brumfield's explanation was inconsistent with the child's injuries.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON — Both boys and girls are doing better in school, so there's no reason to fear that school systems favor girls at boys' expense, a women's advocacy group says in a study to be released today.

It's the freshest argument in the boys vs. girls debate in education, one in which the group, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), has been a major player.

Having said in an influential 1992 study that the education system worked against girls, it now argues that the real crisis is racial and economic disparities, not gender.

"The mythology of the boy crisis continues to be influential," said Catherine Hill, the association's director of research. One reason, she added, is that "people feel uncomfortable with the success of girls and women."'

Video here. Glad to see this on the Today show, which usually keeps pro-fathers'-rights-related stories and issues off their airplay list.

The BBC reports here today on a 'landmark' case where men have been awarded equal pay to women. Wow. Excerpt:

'A "landmark" legal decision involving three councils in the north east of England could pave the way for 12,000 men to take forward equal pay claims. Financial settlements had earlier been agreed for women workers paid less than men doing similar work. The Employment Appeal Tribunal has now ruled that 300 other male workers were discriminated against as they then remained on lower pay than the women.
...
Mr Justice Underhill said: "It would be surprising and unsatisfactory if the [Equal Pay] Act offered no remedy to men in a situation like the present.

"The case where men and women do the same job but receive different rates of pay is the paradigm of the kind of situation which the Act was intended to prevent, how would it seem if the roles were reversed and the 'piggyback' claimants were not men but women?"