Article here. Excerpt:

'`Assertive little girls are leaders to be celebrated. Assertive little boys are rapists to be medicate`
...
Yep, as Twitchy reported, this is happening: A#BanBossy language-policing campaign launched by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

We wonder if they will accept this compromise?

`If we're going to stop labeling little girls "bossy", can we stop labeling little boys with finger guns "psychotic latent mass murderers"?`
...
That tweet was retweeted 500 times and counting. It does say it all, doesn’t it?'

Story here. Children are being denied contact with famous father who is quite ill in hospital with Parkinson's Disease by step-mom Jean. However the "Dad" in this case is formerly well-known radio personality Casey Kasem who hosted a weekly national program called "American Top 40" until he retired in 2009. The now-adult children simply wish to see their father before it is too late and are lobbying for legislation that would allow this to happen. For more information go to http://www.kasemcaresfoundation.org/. Excerpt:

'But the courtroom stirred and the spectators sat forward when Case No. BP145805 was called, and no fewer than six attorneys lined up before the judge in the matter of Julie Kasem et. al., petitioner, v. Jean Kasem, respondent, in respect to a "conservatorship of person" -- that absent person being 81-year-old Casey Kasem, the radio legend. For decades, Kasem counted down the weekly hit singles on American Top 40 and its spinoffs, exhorting his listeners to "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." Several generations of kids also knew him as the voice of the teenage Shaggy on the Scooby-Doo series. He had taped his last broadcast in 2009, then quietly retired.

Contrary to claims from feminist groups pressing for greater numbers of women on corporate boards, article here. Excerpt:

'They may lack the competitive streak of their male colleagues but women are loath to work together.

A study found two women are less likely to co-operate than two men when one is more powerful than the other.

Similarly, two females of different rank are less likely to work together than a man and a woman.

The finding contradicts the widely held belief that women’s nurturing nature makes it natural for them to help each other out, while men are too competitive to have time for each other.

Researchers said that men may be wired to put their differences aside in order to form alliances. Women, however, are most comfortable with people who are on the same level as them.

Richard Wrangham, of the University of Quebec at Montreal, said: ‘The question we wanted to examine was: Do men or women co-operate better with members of their own sex?

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Norwegian woman pleaded not guilty to murdering her 22-month-old daughter Monday at the opening of a trial where she is accused of drowning the child while following live online instructions.

The woman's British lover, accused of giving instructions for the murder via an online video service, also pleaded his innocence in Oslo District Court.

Yasmin Chaudhry, 28, and Ammaz Omer Qureshi, 35, are accused of drowning the woman's daughter from another relationship by plunging her head into a bucket of water in October 2010.
...
The man, who was in London at the time, allegedly told the woman to "discipline" the child and issued instructions which led to Chaudhry plunging the child's head under water until she lost conciousness.

Chaudhry then called emergency services and reported the incident as an accident. The child died in hospital the following day.

Article here. So tell me Col. Italiano, what would have had to have been the case for the girls' mother to justify stabbing them all to death? Excerpt:

'Authorities in the northern Italian city of Lecco say they have arrested a mother who confessed to stabbing to death her three young daughters.
...
Italiano said the parents had just separated, the father had departed Saturday for Albania, and the mother had no job. Italiano said, "There were economic difficulties, but not serious enough to justify this."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Would you like to know just how dogged states are when it comes to collecting child support? Gilbert Tso’s story offers a good illustration of exactly that. In his case, an Illinois court that plainly has no jurisdiction of the case went ahead and issued a child support order anyway, plus hefty arrearages just so, if it collects anything from Tso, it can chalk it up as another “success” and get paid by the federal government’s Office of Child Support Enforcement. Maybe the Illinois court is onto something. After all, if a court doesn’t have to have jurisdiction of a case to issue a support order, why not issue more of them? Why not pick fathers in Alaska, Maine, Florida, or anywhere else? Hey, you might get lucky, and every time you do, Uncle Sam sends the state more money.

Article here. Excerpt:

In today’s National Post, there is a very thoughtful and serious discussion of whether the phenomena of “rape culture” even exists. It will no doubt receive the usual stream of invective — accusations of trivializing rape, denying that sexual assaults occur, implying that women who drank too much deserved to be raped. Hardly real criticisms in any intellectual sense, but they will come.

These critics — that seems almost too kind a descriptor for them, but alas — don’t seem to understand that a denial of rape culture is not a denial that rape exists or an expression of indifference to the pain it causes its victims. The world is imperfect. Bad or disturbed people commit crimes, including rape; good, well-adjusted people don’t. My heart breaks for children killed by their guardians, and in a perfect world none ever would be, but even 100 children dead at the hands of their parents does not make Canada a child-killing culture, or anyone who’d say so a child-murder denier.
...
Here, where women are socially and legally equal to men, official sympathy for rape victims at every institutional level has created a climate so overwhelmingly sympathetic to female victims of sexual abuse that the emerging cultural danger is injustice to falsely alleged perpetrators. We are gripped by a baseless, but pandemic, moral panic in which significant collateral damage is beginning to pile up.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Increasingly, sexism, if not downright misogyny, is so endemic in society that many of us barely register it. But when we do – when a report like the EU one wakes us up to the hard, cold facts – we have to be very, very careful how we phrase our outrage. God forbid we may upset people. Or be called muck-raking cranks. Some people are very sensitive, we may hurt their feelings (they may sue!), so we have to be very clear and say, "not all men, only some men hate women", and only the "odd man" is actually a "real" misogynist. And of course, we understand and acknowledge that "men suffer from domestic violence too". And of course, we should be talking about women who are violent to their partners as well.

Pretty soon, we're apologising for saying that we live in a sexist world (we do) which overwhelmingly benefits the male sex (it does) and that we're concerned about the level of violence directed against women (we are). Soon after that, we're agreeing that yes, men certainly do terrible things to women, but women can be just as bad, if not worse, and before you know it, the discussion is no longer about endemic societal misogyny and violence against women but about the dubious effects of feminism, and whether militant 'feminazis' are destroying society as we know it.

I noticed this in many of the comments about articles on the EU report: "Why is this report only about one gender?" "Surely men suffer more violence than women?" (Eh, not at the hands of women.) "Why does female violence go almost unreported?"

Article here. Excerpt:

'Amane Gobena of Ethiopia won the women's race and Gebo Burka of Ethiopia won the men's race in the 29th Asics L.A. Marathon.

Gobena, 31, won in 2 hours 27 minutes 37 seconds, collecting $25,000 for the victory.

Burka, 26, clocked a 2:10:37 to win a marathon for the first time. He also won $25,000.

Gobena won $50,000 for winning the gender "challenge." The women were given a 17:41 head start and Gobena finished 41 seconds ahead of Burka.

Joshua George won the men's wheelchair race in 1:33:11.

Tigist Tufa of Ethiopia was second in 2:28:04 and Lauren Kleppin of the United States was third in 2:28:48 in the women's race.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Victorian Liberal backbencher Sharman Stone has suggested her colleagues should look to Labor for ideas about how to get more women into politics.

"I'm beginning to think very seriously that really, the Liberal Party, we have to do more," Dr Stone told AM.

The Labor Party has long had a quota system in place, although it is yet to achieve its target of getting women into 40 per cent of its seats.

The Liberal Party is opposed to the Labor model of quotas, arguing candidates should be preselected on merit rather than gender.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been criticised for the make-up of his cabinet because it includes only one woman, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Dr Stone, speaking ahead of today's International Women's Day celebrations, said she was very disappointed to see her Liberal colleagues recently dump Mary Wooldridge from the safe Victorian state seat of Kew.

She said the Liberal Party needed to do more to ensure women are preselected in winnable seats.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'“All I could visualize, to be perfectly honest, was being a teacher, a social worker and a secretary,” said Rep. Susan A. Davis, D-Calif.
The women of Congress are working to change that dynamic and empower young women to see themselves in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — careers.

The women of Congress are working to change that dynamic and empower young women to see themselves in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — careers.

The congresswomen joined leaders from businesses, nonprofits and global corporations for a luncheon Wednesday hosted by the nonpartisan Million Women Mentors. The almost 150 people in attendance dined together to celebrate MWM’s efforts to promote mentoring young women in STEM fields.
...
To bridge the gender gap and bolster the U.S. labor force, female leaders say young girls need to see STEM careers as an option through mentorships and exciting hands-on education.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Universities should be required to set “diversity targets” to recruit more women into traditional subjects to address a gender divide at the heart of the education system, according to Britain’s biggest business group.

A major report from the Confederation of British Industry will call for drastic measures to boost the number of girls studying disciplines such as physics and maths to a high standard.

The study – to be released this week – will say that all school sixth-forms, colleges and universities should draw up recruitment targets designed to create a more balanced intake on A-level and degree courses.

Girls currently outperform boys at A-level and are more likely to go to university and graduate with a good degree.

But the CBI claim that too many are being shunted onto traditionally “feminine” subjects such as the arts and insist changes are needed to reverse long-standing gender stereotypes among teachers, pupils and parents.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'It’s White Ribbon Day on Beacon Hill. 22News spoke with lawmakers, men and boys throughout Massachusetts about their vow to end violence towards women.

One in seven women in Massachusetts has experienced rape in their lifetime. Now, men from Beacon Hill and around the state pledge to lower that statistic.

“I take the pledge because I said the women in my life deserve better. They deserve to be safe. If I can feel safe, they should be able to feel safe,” said University of Massachusetts Amherst student, Scott Greene.

The issue hits close to home; nearly half of all women in Massachusetts have experienced some type of sexual violence other than rape. The White Ribbon Day Campaign hopes to change that statistic by urging men and boys to take a stand and help end violence towards women.'

Story here.

'A mother was arrested this week, on charges that she assaulted her 3-year-old daughter after the child destroyed her cellphone by cooking it in the microwave oven.

Police sources told CBS 2 that Krystle Reyes, 28, was arrested at her apartment on West 49th Street in Hell’s Kitchen at 5 p.m. Thursday, after neighbors called 911 to report a commotion.

When officers arrived, they found the girl in the bathtub with a cut below her right eye, as well as bruises on her back, right arm, left ear and neck, sources said.

Reyes told police she grabbed the girl by the arm, placed her in the tub and smacked her, sources said.

The child was hospitalized and the city Administration for Children’s Services was notified, sources said.

Reyes was charged with assault of a child less than 7 years old and reckless endangerment, police said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Some people argue that determining custody is fairly simple — in their view, that parent who provided the primary care during the marriage should be awarded primary custody subsequent to divorce.

This argument recently surfaced in response to National Parents Organization’s founder and chair Ned Holstein’s interview on National Public Radio. An Indiana attorney who Blogs for Babble, a website sponsored by Disney wrote this:

“In Indiana, the judges will look at a series of factors in determining which parent should be the primary custodian of the children. What it basically boils down to is which parent has been acting as the primary custodian of the children? Which parent has been changing the kids’ diapers? Which parent helps the kids with their schoolwork? Which parent gets up in the morning and gets the kids off to school? Which parent spends the most time with the kids? Which parent does the kids’ laundry?”

Did you get that judges? The primary caregiver gets the primary custody. Done. Next case...