Article here. Excerpt:

'Here's a tale to make any man who has been ribbed for having 'man flu' suddenly feel a whole lot better - it's WOMEN who are worse at complaining of colds and flu, according to new research out today.
...
It is assumed that sufferers of man flu are exaggerating their symptoms to extract maximum sympathy from a few sniffles and force their partners to run after them with tissues, hot water bottles and painkillers.

But now a poll has found that most women admit exaggerating their symptoms to gain attention or to get a day off work.

Men, on the other hand, are revealed as more stoic and less likely to create a fuss or demand attention when ill.'

I think we all knew that anyway...

Story here. Excerpt:

'MURRAYVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in "time-out."

"We thought that meant go sit in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes," Tina King said, tears washing her face as she remembered the child she called "our baby ... a good kid."

But time-out in the boy's north Georgia special education school was spent in something akin to a prison cell -- a concrete room latched from the outside, its tiny window obscured by a piece of paper.

Called a seclusion room, it's where in November 2004, Jonathan hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to hold up his pants.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Perhaps the plumpest appointment in President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet went to a woman: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was nominated for secretary of state. But his track record on picking women for his Cabinet is no different from that of the two presidents who preceded him.
...
"So far the numbers of women don't look great," Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said of Obama's picks. "George Bush started off with this many, and Bill Clinton, at the height of his presidency, had nine out of 19."

Ellen Malcolm, president and founder of Emily's List, said Obama "obviously started off with a bang, with Janet Napolitano, Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice." She added: "We've been disappointed to see women suggested for some positions and not chosen."

Letter here (.pdf file). Excerpt:

'As leaders of women’s organizations and advocates for women’s equality, collectively
representing over 14 million women, we are writing to elaborate on the need for historic levels of women’s appointments and the need to restore and strengthen executive branch offices for women.

We applaud your initial appointments of talented women and we encourage you to further gender balance your White House, Cabinet, and executive appointments. The U.S., with women composing just 17% of the members of Congress, ranks 71st among the world’s parliaments in representation of women. With women so underrepresented in Congress, we believe it is crucial for women’s representation to increase dramatically at the executive branch of decision-making. Many of us will be submitting names of excellent and diverse women for your consideration.

Like you, we believe that we are at a time of real change in our nation’s history. Through both words and actions, you have encouraged and challenged the nation to think transformationally.

Article here. Excerpt:

'What's more, feminists of Hirshman's stripe make ordinary women angry by their replacement of the patriarchal judgment of women's lives with the constant scrutiny and judgment of the feminist matriarchy. Women are weary of being told that they have to sacrifice work for family, family for work, themselves for the greater good, the greater good for themselves, and on and on. Why is it so difficult for feminists to understand that women have deep, complex, often conflicting desires — just like men! — and that human flourishing is not the sacrifice of most of those desires for a lifestyle that some cranky feminist has told us is better than our own? Why are women confronted with two and only two options: the maternal drone or the worker bee? You call this progress?'

Essay here. Excerpt:

'The truth is, Hillary does have extensive experience working in other countries — but not in the way most Americans would expect. During the Clinton administration, she was Bill’s goodwill ambassador, traveling to the four corners of the globe as a high-profile advocate of the feminist agenda.
...
The following year she led the U.S. delegation to China to attend the Fourth World Conference on Women. She delivered the meeting’s keynote speech, making the wrongful assertion that “Women are 70% of the world’s poor.” Clinton narcissistically concluded, “Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.”

Three years later she appeared at a meeting of First Ladies held in El Salvador. This time she made the bizarre claim that “Women have always been the primary victims of war.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'When it comes to Barack Obama’s Cabinet, women offer some intriguing advice:

Gender shouldn’t matter.

That’s the finding of a new national poll of 600 women – two-thirds of respondents said Obama should focus strictly on qualifications and “should not consider gender at all” in building his team.

A mere 3 percent said Obama should appoint an equal number of men and women to his Cabinet. And 27 percent staked out a middle ground – saying Obama should aim for gender balance, but not at the expense of finding the best people, the poll for the Lifetime Networks found.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'(CNN) -- With Sen. Hillary Clinton's expected appointment as secretary of state, women are at risk of seeing a decrease in their representation in the Senate -- and some are putting pressure on New York Gov. David Paterson to make sure that does not happen.
...
Women's advocacy groups are calling on Paterson to turn to what they see as an abundance of qualified women when it comes time for him to make his pick. Paterson has the power to appoint a replacement, who then will face a special election in 2010 to fill out Clinton's term. The candidate would have to run again in 2012 for a full six-year term.
...
NOW, along with the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee, has been urging people to call Paterson to voice their support for a female senator.
...
Lasry said Paterson has an opportunity to give women a "leg up" and send a message to people across the country.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Recently NOW joined with the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE) to recommend policy changes and legislative initiatives that would restore protections in academic as well as athletic programs -- which apply to both girls and boys.

The list of women's issues that the new administration will be reviewing is important because eight years of the conservative, anti-women's rights Bush administration has taken a serious toll on our rights. Of course the Supreme Court and conservative congressional leaders have done their share of undermining equal education protections, particularly those established in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A WOMAN who cried rape and got her partner and a friend locked up is today starting a four month jail term.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Dana Doherty, 22, had called police and claimed her then boyfriend Ben Stanworth and friend Martin Massa had pinned her down on a bed and forced her into sex.

Both were arrested, medically examined, kept in the cells and questioned before she owned up and admitted her claims were not true true, Burnley Crown Court heard.

She later told police she had been angry with Mr Stanworth after a row and wanted to hurt him - but she had no reason to accuse Mr Massa.

Doherty, who has convictions for attacking her father and her sister, was said to have a personality disorder. Her solicitor pleaded for her to keep her freedom and said she was on the waiting list for treatment.'

Wikipedia entry here. Excerpt:

'Missing White Woman Syndrome (MWWS) is a term used to describe what is alleged to be a disproportionately greater degree of coverage in television, radio, and print news reporting of a missing person case involving a white woman, compared with cases concerning male or non-white individuals. In the United States, a very small percentage of missing persons are victims of non-family abductions, and these victims are, according to the FBI, the most endangered. The majority of these missing persons are white female juveniles.

The essential features of a missing person said to give rise to Missing White Woman Syndrome are sex,her race, (relative) prettiness, and age. These features are said to provoke positive discrimination in the reporting as news of the disappearance of a young white woman, and so to increase public interest in her disappearance.'

From the article:

'A Baldwin PTA official has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child after she and a 13-year-old boy were caught in the backseat of a vehicle parked behind an elementary school, Nassau police said.

Joan Tuckruskye, 44, of 1111 Steele Blvd., was in the backseat of a 2008 Nissan Pathfinder in a parking lot behind Meadow Elementary on Northern Boulevard with the boy Friday night, said Det. Lt. Kevin Smith.

Tuckruskye and the boy, who police did not identify, were naked from the waist down, Smith said.'

It never ends.

On July 31, 2008, H.Res. 1397 was introduced to commend "the important achievements of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence as it celebrates 30 years of service to local domestic violence shelter and service programs and the victims of domestic violence." [Bill text (.pdf file)]

Last week, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) sent out an action alert urging their supporters to contact their representatives and request that they co-sponsor the resolution. (http://www.ncadv.org/publicpolicy/AlertsandUpdates_112.html)

Story here. Excerpt:

'NEWARK -- The University of Delaware subtracted one sport and added another Tuesday but, in its view, gained in the effort to keep in line with Title IX gender-equity mandates.

Golf will become UD's 13th women's sport sometime in the next few years, athletic director Edgar Johnson said.

And while Delaware was able to preserve men's cross country and outdoor track and field, where team members feared elimination, the men's indoor track program will be downgraded from varsity to club status next year.
...
Men's indoor track and field will be the first sport Delaware has discontinued since another men's activity, wrestling, was axed in June 1991.

There was widespread speculation that men's cross country and both indoor and outdoor track would be cut. Johnson confirmed for a Nov. 12 News Journal story that no decisions had been made, but Title IX put some men's sports at risk.

Article here. Excerpt:

"My expectation is that over the next year or two we are going to see more" cuts of men's teams, Brand said Wednesday in a telephone interview, "and so I am trying, frankly, to pre-empt the argument against Title IX, an unfair argument, I believe, and dissuade universities from going public with this approach.
...
Schools must pass one part of a three-part test to meet the participation requirements of Title IX: have numbers of male and female athletes proportionate to enrollment; have a continuing history of expanding opportunities for women; or meet the interests and abilities of the women on campus.

Schools must consider Title IX because they cannot pass the second or third tests if they drop women's teams.

"Title IX is a factor because fairness is a factor," Brand said.