Article here. Excerpt:

"In ridiculing President Obama's establishment of the White House Council on Women and Girls, Kathleen Parker presented a misleading picture of the persistent pay gap between men and women ["Bring the Boys Along," op-ed, March 18].

Ms. Parker would like us to believe that men and women are simply making different "choices," and that this explains the gender pay gap. This view overlooks evidence to the contrary. A study from the Government Accountability Office concluded that even after accounting for "choices" such as work patterns and education, women earn an average of 80 cents for every dollar that men earn.

Moreover, the GAO has found that women with children earn about 2.5 percent less than women without children, while men with children enjoy an earnings boost of 2.1 percent, compared with men without children. So mothers pay a penalty for their choices while fathers receive a bonus.

Equal pay is not just a women's issue, it's a family issue that also affects our fathers, husbands and sons.

Article here. Excerpt:

"The need for some return to sanity is presented pretty clearly in an article in the April issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. The article details how some women find themselves leaving men in favor of relationships with partners of their own gender.

One recently divorced academic describes what attracted her to a future female lover. “She got up and gave me the better seat, as if she wanted to take care of me. I was struck by that,” she said. “I felt attracted to her energy, her charisma. I was enticed. And she paid the bill. Just the gesture was sexy. She took initiative and was the most take-charge person I’d ever met.”
...
"The women interviewed in the article appear to want someone to take charge a bit — there is an attraction to, if not a need for, some hierarchy. And in a culture in which masculinity — well, at least in men — is so often suspect, some women seem to be looking to reinvent the masculine themselves."

Article here. Excerpt:

'FAMILY Court judges seem reluctant to order that children spend equal time with parents in the most bitter and complex disputes, with only 15 per cent of such cases resulting in a 50-50 parenting split.

Mothers are more likely to be granted the most time with their children in the most acrimonious cases contested in court, according to Family Court figures.

Of mothers involved in contested cases, 60 per cent were granted main residence, or the majority of time.

Of fathers in such cases, 17 per cent were granted the majority of time. The analysis is based on almost 1450 cases contested in court that were finalised in 2007-08.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Boston, Mass. - A fathers’ rights group says it is suing the Massachusetts Trial Court for what it says are unconstitutional child support guidelines that are decimating household budgets.

“There are people who are literally being driven out of their homes and apartments because of their inability to pay,” said Ned Holstein, founder of the nonprofit Fathers & Families. “We believe in guidelines that will well take care of all the children and also be fair between the adults. These guidelines do not do that.”

Holstein said the group intends to argue that the child support guidelines, because they have the potential to increase child support payments, represent a tax increase. Under the constitution, he said, only the Legislature has the power to authorize new taxes. The changes, approved in November by the Chief Justice of Administration and Management of the Trial Court Robert Mulligan, took effect Jan. 1, 2009.'

Story here.

'Twenty-five-year-old Teresa Gilman was also sentenced to 30 years behind bars for child abuse resulting in death and four counts of child abuse.

The ninth judicial district attorney says Gilman's son, six-year-old Lorenzo Cabral, Jr. died from blunt force trauma to the head in January of 2007.

Gilman reportedly believed the child was possessed by the devil.

Three other children were home at the time of the killing.

Police say Gilman forced the oldest child to watch the abuse that led to his sibling's death.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Henryville woman is accused of molesting two 12-year-old boys she knew from church and that her husband reportedly coached in a youth football league.

Sheila Granger, 33, is charged with five counts of class A felony child molesting, three counts of class C felony child molesting and one charge of class B felony child solicitation. She is being held without bond in the Michael L. Becher Adult Corrections Complex, awaiting her first court appearance.

Lt. Rachael Lee, a detective with the Clark County Sheriff’s Department, said Granger’s husband coached the two boys in a football program in Henryville. Lee said Granger and the two boys attended the same church.

Lee said Granger knew them “through a personal relationship with the parents of the boys.” She said the investigation began after a school resource officer received information about abuse and followed up on it.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) - A Columbus woman who recanted her story of being sexually assaulted by a man she met over the Internet has been fined and told to pay restitution.

Janae McMahon pleaded no contest to attempted false reporting. Last week she was fined $150 and ordered to pay the court $1,671 in restitution.

The 27-year-old had reported in May last year that a 38-year-old man from Meadow Grove sexually assaulted her after they watched a movie at her home.

He told police the sex was consensual.'

In today's news section on the front page of Australia's NineMSN, their top 4 stories of the day included 3 stories about female violence:

Court Claim: "Wife admitted to chopping up husband" - Police say wife blasted husband to death with a shotgun, took his body out the back (obviously not a small woman) and chopped him up before hiding bits around the state. Lets see what she gets, my prediction 6 years, out in 3.

Disfigured - Nightclub glassing victim acquitted - A Ms Goldrick admitted pulling a woman to the floor and punching her in the mouth after herself being punched in the mouth, victim a Ms Kelley was also glassed in the face leaving her blind in one eye and scarred for life. Goldrick was acquitted as there was some doubt about where the glass injury came from. I did think that punching someone in the mouth was illegal, obviously not, as she walked free.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A PROMINENT businessman suffered devastating brain injuries in a vicious attack after he was wrongly suspected of raping one of his workers, a court heard yesterday.

John Chalmers, 47, has had to "learn everything again" and step down from a senior role in his family's bakery in Aberdeen – which holds the Royal Warrant – because of the assault.

He had become friends with a woman less than half his age, who's brother mistakenly believed Mr Chalmers had sexually assaulted her.

On Christmas Day, 2007, Steven Macleod, 28, struck Mr Chalmers a blow to the head with a length of wood and repeatedly punched him, causing a fractured skull and internal bleeding. Without prompt medical treatment, he might well have died.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Do teen girls really believe it's easier to claim false rape to their parents and police than to face the consequences of their own dumb actions?

For the second time in less than six months, a south suburban teen has acknowledged lying about a sexual assault to avoid punishment.

In the most recent case, 19-year-old Heather Krueger, of Tinley Park, told police last week that she was attacked while on her way home from the South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade. The assault, she said, happened in the 80th Avenue Metra parking lot in Tinley Park.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In an October 2008 study, researchers from the University of Washington explored the recent increase in infidelity, and the changing makeup of the participants. A greater number of older men and younger women have reported being unfaithful than in earlier studies. However, historically, gauging responses in scientific studies of sensitive issues such as sexual behavior has proven to be a flawed science.

According to The New York Times, which cites the University of Washington’s research, the number of young women who report engaging in extramarital sex is not much lower than that of men. The study reports that 20 percent of men and 15 percent of women under the age of 35 have cheated on their spouses, up from 15 percent and 12 percent respectively.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The news that more than a quarter of England's primary schools do not have a single male teacher might not seem very alarming: in recent years we have come to think of this area of teaching as the preserve of women. In fact, the statistic is testament to a mighty failure of our education system, and one that needs to be put right as soon as possible.

Story here. Excerpt:

'It felt like a high school prom at the White House Thursday night…minus the teenage boys and the spiked punch.

Michelle Obama hosted 110 high-school junior and senior girls from eleven Washington-area schools for dinner and music in the East Room. Sheryl Crow and Alicia Keys performed.

Obama assembled the group in honor of Women’s History Month. She told the group of girls to use the night for networking and to “poke and prod” the successful women in the room “to figure out how they got where they are.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Maidens of Mendacity are at it again, only this time they're speaking from the bully pulpit that President Obama himself established. A couple weeks ago President Obama established the White House Council on Women and Girls. During the March 11 ceremony, Obama explained, "It's not enough to only have individual women's offices at different agencies, or only have one office in the White House."

The very next morning the Office's director, Valerie Jarrett, went on NPR Morning Edition. This is what Jarrett had to say: "Domestic violence is still a major issue, not just for women but also for girls."
...
Each year an estimated 600 Americans are struck by lightning - that's according to the National Weather Service. And each year fewer than 1,500 Americans - men and women - are murdered by their intimate partners.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'As far as I can tell in the first case the abandoner was a man and the second it was a woman and women have emotions that effect their judgment and culpability. Of course the fact that the woman would have been lawfully permitted to kill her child only a short time before abandoning it has nothing to do with the difference in treatment.

As a person who has researched the abortion issue extensively I have noted that what passes for sexism and misogyny is frequently embraced and even promoted by certain quarters to promote the ideals of those who claim to be favour of women. They will condemn statements like the above quote in popular theological writings of the past as patronising and insulting yet when there are benefits to women from being treated as full rational agents they seem quite willing to buy into this line of thought as long as it enables women to avoid criticism.'