Article here. Excerpt:

'Mother-of-three Juliana Nkrumah believes International Womens Day should be a national holiday.

The Quakers Hill resident believes that women deserve a day off from work to celebrate "sisterhood and the milestones achieved for women’s rights".
...
“International Women’s Day is a day that our forbearers made an effort to highlight the situation of all women in work and society, to really push and advocate for changes to bring rights to women,” Ms Nkrumah said.

The day is celebrated as an official holiday in 27 countries and in the United States, the whole month of March is recognised as Women's History Month.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'According to a piece in the feminist blog Bustle, the tradition of men proposing women is “problematic” because it “perpetuates rape culture.”

Yes — not “problematic” because it perpetuates recklessly emotional social media posts, but because it “perpetuates rape culture.”

"The stereotype that men must get women to date them or marry them or sleep with them and that it’s up to women to respond can be problematic — not just because it discourages women from going after what they want, but also because it encourages men to pursue what they want at a woman’s expense,” Suzannah Weiss writes in a piece titled “6 Marriage Traditions That Reinforce Rape Culture.”

“Putting what men pursue over what women want perpetuates rape culture,” she continues.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'An Arkansas woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for slicing open her ex-boyfriend's hand with a knife and biting off one of his eyebrows when he tried to break off the relationship, law enforcement authorities said on Friday.

Latosha Wilbourn, 34, admitted to slashing her 55-year-old former companion during an argument in January 2015 at the home the two shared at Hot Springs, a resort city about 50 miles southwest of Little Rock, police said.

The victim in the attack, Charles Willis Jr., received more than a dozen stitches to his hand and treatment for a bruise to his head after being struck with a stick, police said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Most people would consider the bodies of men and women equally valuable. 

But, when it comes to circumcision, that clearly isn’t true - which is odd considering the procedure removes functional tissue, causes extreme pain, permanently disfigures and forever damages sexual response, regardless of gender.

Oh, and in most cultures where female circumcision is routinely performed, the male equivalent is also done with equally dirty, blunt apparatus. 

Meaning it's less a competition of suffering and more a universal issue of genital integrity.

So, you can imagine my disdain when Dr Paul Turek, a private doctor from California, recently claimed that clamping a boy’s foreskin and cutting it off with a scalpel is meritorious (although, with a lucrative clinic that charges handsome fees, he would say that…) 

Fortunately, as someone with 30 years experience of having a penis, I’m more than qualified to explain why it’s not OK to modify a person's body without consent.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It sounds like an excuse a character from "Mad Men" would come up with to avoid hiring a woman: claiming she can't do the work because she would need several days off each month due to her menstrual cycle.

Yet that is precisely what a company in Bristol, U.K., is doing. The organization, called Coexist, which manages event spaces, isplanning to offer paid leavefor women who are on their periods. The company, which employs 24 women and seven men, believes that giving women the paid time off for their periods doesn't make a business unproductive, but allows women to "synchroniz[e] work with the natural cycles of the body," according to Company Director Bex Baxter.
...
Surely, informing other employers that women aren't very productive when it's that time of the month will be a major win for women's equality and advancement in the workplace.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Madonna is using child abduction laws in an attempt to force ex-husband Guy Ritchie to return their 15-year-old son to her in New York.

The singer, 57, is using the Hague Convention to bring to an end the bitter custody battle over Rocco.

The teenager is living with the Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director in London and has so far ignored his mum’s requests to go home.

Now Madge has launched a case against the film producer, 47, at the family division of the High Court under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

She has also brought a case at the Family Court in New York.

But sitting in the High Court in London yesterday Mr Justice MacDonald told the couple to sort out the problem themselves.

He said it was his “fervent hope” that the singer and film producer could have discussions and reach an “amicable resolution” without further use of the courts.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'But others expressed less positive views about the affirmative consent bill. Wilton, Connecticut resident Shelley Dempsey spoke against the bill after being introduced by her representative, Rep. Gail Lavielle GRD ’81, R-Wilton.

Dempsey, an attorney involved with due-process advocacy group Families Advocating for Campus Equality, said a false accusation of sexual assault against her son, then a Bucknell University student, led to his suspension from the university. He was ultimately reinstated after he was cleared of the charge. She said his situation was only one among many and that the affirmative consent legislation would shift the legal balance away from the accused.

Story here. Charges against the father who turned in a pregnant mom for drug abuse have now been dropped. He had been charged for felony child abuse for not preventing the mother from using drugs. However, no charges will be made against the mother, even though she used drugs while pregnant. Excerpt:

'KTOE News asked Blue Earth County Attorney Pat McDermott about Felony charges filed Friday against 41-year old Daniel Gerald Sturdivant after his newborn baby tested positive for amphetamines and opiates.

McDermott says he reviewed the case and dismissed the charges against Sturdivant. McDermott says his office has also declined charges against the mother of the infant.

Blue Earth County Human Services Child Protection officials are working with the family.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Greek life’s strong systemic adherence to traditional gender roles can make feminism a difficult topic to approach, some University of Minnesota greek students said.

At a Wednesday discussion called, “Feminism is for Everyone,” students explored their definitions of gender equity and dispelled common misconceptions about feminism to help promote it in an academic and social setting, said Jackson Ridl, a men’s engagement student staff member for the Aurora Center.
...
Both women and male peers can help police masculinity in order to lessen the pressure of these societal and greek system expectations in romantic relationships and power structures, Kolb said.

Male allies serve an important role of furthering feminism’s mainstream acceptance and presenting it as a universal discussion instead of a campaign against men, said Zack Gill, a graduate student in school counseling.

“Gender inequality is a man’s problem to change,” he said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'According to the Institute of Women's Policy Research, women in America won't be paid as much as men for the same work for another 100 or so years. But thanks to a new app, we can even the playing field soon. That is, when we go out to eat.

The app, called Equitable, is designed to split group restaurant bills based on gender and racial wage gaps. So if you're a white man brunching with a black woman and a Latina, be prepared to pay a little extra for that avocado toast. Hey, it's not our fault! It's the patriarchy.

According to the app's website, "EquiTable helps you avoid the entrenched discrimination that exists in our society. It doesn't split the bill equally -- it splits it equitably. You pay what you should to balance out the wage gap."

The app uses Bureau of Labor Statistics data in order to calculate who should pay what at the end of dinner or brunch, ensuring that those with less privilege (anyone whose not white and male, basically) pay less to eat.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Despite her many recent successes, actress and comedian Tina Fey argues in a recent interview that now is a “terrible time” for women in comedy.
...
Added the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot star: “If you were to really look at it, the boys are still getting more money for a lot of garbage, while the ladies are hustling and doing amazing work for less.”'

Link here. Excerpt:

'Coexist, where 24 of the 31 staff are women, is no ordinary company. It manages Hamilton House in the city’s bohemian Stokes Croft quarter, running the space for artists, activists and community organisations. There is a restaurant called The Canteen, and Banksy’s Mild Mild West mural showing a teddy bear throwing a petrol bomb at riot police greets visitors.

Baxter said: “There is a misconception that taking time off makes a business unproductive – actually it is about synchronising work with the natural cycles of the body.

“For women, one of these is their menstrual cycles. Naturally, when women are having their periods they are in a winter state, when they need to regroup, keep warm and nourish their bodies.

The spring section of the cycle immediately after a period is a time when women are actually three times as productive as usual.
...
Baxter and her team plan to formulate the policy as part of a seminar at Hamilton House on 15 March called Pioneering Period Policy: Valuing Natural Cycles in the Workplace.

The seminar’s leader, Alexandra Pope, believes “cycle awareness” helps both men and women become more productive at work.

Pope, who describes herself as a women’s leadership coach and educator in the “field of menstruality”, said: “In the past any proposal to allow women to, for example, have time off at menstruation has been derided by men and women alike. In this context menstruation is seen as a liability or a problem. Or as women getting special treatment.

“The purpose of this policy initiative is to create a positive approach to menstruation and the menstrual cycle that empowers women and men and supports the effectiveness and wellbeing of the organisation. To restore the menstrual cycle as the asset it is.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'It's not brave to "speak out" on a topic that the media loves and will defend one on. It is brave to stand up for the truth despite what the media and activists claim is true.

That is the case of Toni Airaksinen, a Barnard College sophomore who penned an essay for the Columbia Spectator dismantling the claim that colleges across the country are fostering a "rape culture."

Airaksinen spends her essay informing readers how a study purporting to show that one-in-five women will be sexually assaulted while in college is misleading. For starters, the study — from the Association of American Universities — uses a "ridiculously wide definition of sexual assault," according to Airaksinen. This definition includes "everything from penetration to unwanted groping," she writes.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The University of Texas at Austin has been sued for allegedly wrongly seeking to expel a male student over accusations that he sexually assaulted a non-UT student in her off-campus apartment.

No criminal charges were ever filed against the male student over the alleged assault. The alleged victim herself never filed an official complaint with campus or city police officers, according to the lawsuit.

But the University of Texas at Austin has recommended that the 21-year-old male student, who is one semester away from earning a degree in physics, be expelled for violating the institutional rules of the college, the suit states.

The attorney for the male student has asked a judge to stop UT-Austin from holding a planned disciplinary hearing at which Title IX investigators for the school have recommended his expulsion.

Court documents state the male student has not been afforded his Constitutional due process rights and that the allegations in question do not constitute sexual assault, among other protestations lodged by the plaintiff’s attorney.'

Articel here. Excerpt:

'We knew the Oscars would be filled with propaganda, but before the awards show even started, singer Lady Gaga pushed a debunked statistic to scare viewers and make her appearance more powerful.

Gaga was there to perform her Oscar-nominated song called "Til It Happens to You," which appeared in the film "The Hunting Ground," which features still more dubious statistics and accusations of campus sexual assault.

"It's such an important song for me," Gaga said prior to the awards show. "One in five women will be raped before they finish college."

No, they won't.'