Story here. Excerpt:

'Westminster College announces a generous $1 million gift from Ann and Anthony (Tony) Merritt to establish the Tony and Ann Merritt Single Mother Scholarship Fund, the Merritt Athletic Excellence Fund and the Merritt Endowed Athletic Fund.
...
Throughout his career, Merritt truly believed that educating women and mothers provided benefits for everyone in the family. “Tony wanted to help single moms achieve their dream of an education because he believed that helping the mother positively impacts the children,” said Ann Merritt. “Additionally, we also wanted to provide a gift that would help Westminster grow its sports programs to a level of excellence that mirrors its academic programs.”

Article here. Excerpt:

Children of single mothers will not be required to mention the name of the father in government forms in Maharashtra, once the women's policy is approved by the state. Ujjwal Uke, principal secretary of Women and Child Development Department said the draft policy says that in government forms, children of single mothers will have the option of mentioning the name of father or mother or both.

Story here.

'Juneau Police are looking for a 36-year old woman who allegedly stabbed a boyfriend early on Monday morning. The incident happened in a travel trailer on Sherwood Lane in front of at least two witnesses. The woman was apparently upset about the end of a domestic relationship and immediately left the scene after the stabbing.

Juneau Police Lieutenant Dave Campbell says they’ve recovered the knife, but they’re not publically identifying the woman since she has not been arrested or charged yet.

The 46-year old Juneau man went to the hospital for treatment of a 1 1/2 inch stab wound to his left forearm. The injury was not considered to be life threatening.

Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the case.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'An amendment that would allow governments to dissolve companies that do not adhere to a gender quota system of 40% in senior positions has been passed by the European Parliament today.

Another amendment passed will mean that the under-represented gender in the European Union will be given preferential treatment in the recruitment, selection and appointment of non-executive directors.

All 21 of UKIP’s amendments were rejected by the European Parliament. These included provisions such as an opt-out for member states and stopping any possible sanctions on companies.

UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall said: “This legislation is barmy and confirms once more that Euro-fanatics have very little economic sense about them.

“These people seem determined to bring about tokenistic positive discrimination which may lead to businesses that don’t comply being shut down across Europe.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Pat Hussey, the mayor of Tralee, said Fine Gael’s “ridiculous” gender quotas could lead to many situations where “you could have a fantastic candidate overlooked for someone who doesn’t know anything at all about politics”.

He said he was in favour of increasing female representation in politics but “they have families and if they want to be politicians they’ll have to pay exorbitant money into creches* — it’s all wrong”.

Mr Hussey, Jim Finucane, Pat McCarthy, Mairead Fernane, and Grace O’Donnell put their names forward for the Tralee Electoral Area convention on Friday.

It was announced at the meeting that the gender quota directive would be implemented, meaning at least one of the three candidates going forward would have to be female.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Here's a national story with especially strong (and troubling) relevance for folks living in Central Florida.

CNNMoney points out that men, who lost about 6 million jobs during the recession, have gotten only about 70 percent of them back. Women have fared much better.

You can probably guess the industries where most of these missing jobs are from: Construction and manufacturing.

Construction was battered worse than any other industry during the recession. CNNMoney says it accounted for almost 25 percent of all job losses.

It certainly got slapped around here in Central Florida. Construction employment was cut in half, plunging from 92,000 in 2006 to 45,000 in 2011. It's crept its way back to about 47,000 today.

The chief economist for Associated General Contractors calls them the "1 million missing men."'

Press release here. Excerpt:

'Members of the anti-circumcision activist group INTACTION picketed outside the home of Susan Blank, M.D., chairperson of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Circumcision.

The Intaction picketers are demanding the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Task Force retract it’s recently released report (Pediatrics Vol 130 No 3 Sept 2012 "Circumcision Policy Statement") that promotes infant circumcision. Thirty-seven physicians from prestigious medical societies in seventeen European countries recently authored a strong rebuke of the AAP 2012 Circumcision Policy Statement. ...

Article here. Excerpt;

'I always thought that if I had a son I would not circumcise him. I felt the need to challenge this Jewish tradition. It felt like quite a brutal decision to take on behalf of my newborn son, for a covenant that I did not believe in. (I am secular but very culturally identified.) But when I found out that we were going to have a baby boy, the sudden emotional desire to have him circumcised was immediate and very strong.
...
So now I faced what felt like a huge decision, the idea of not circumcising my son. Jude, who is also Jewish, was clear it was something she did not want. For her, cutting off any part of her son’s anatomy for an ancient ritual meant nothing. So why did it all change for me, the moment I found out I was having a baby boy?

It was a very personal and emotional response. I felt by not circumcising my son, I was effectively cutting off (pardon the pun) his connection with a 5000-year-old cultural history. For thousands of years Jews have performed this ritual as the first and important means of identifying with our tribe/community. So as a self-identifying Jew, the idea of not doing this for my son created a lot of anxiety and confusion in me.
...
I researched the medical pros and cons. There seemed to be no health benefit enough to justify circumcision. The one strong argument I found is about the transmission of STDs among heterosexuals, including HIV, being lower in circumcised males. This might be a good argument for circumcision in a country that has an AIDS epidemic in its heterosexual population, but in the West today we do not face such a situation. And sensible safe sex education and practice has worked well as a preventative measure against sexually transmitted disease.
...

Story here. Excerpt:

'An angry mother and her friend both punched a woman who they said had just admitted having sex with a 15-year-old boy, a jury has been told.

The mother said her teenage son, who previously denied having sexual contact with Kylie Fiona Henry, burst into tears when she again asked him whether anything had happened between them.

“He said, `yes, she forced me’,” the mother told the South Australian District Court on Wednesday.

Henry, 40, a former primary school canteen manager of Ingle Farm in Adelaide, has pleaded not guilty to rape and to an alternative charge of unlawfully having sexual intercourse with a person under 17 in 2011.

The Crown has alleged Henry forced herself on the boy when she moved from the couch to the floor where he had been lying while watching TV in her lounge room.'

Article here.

'Presenting feminist radical Gloria Steinem with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday, President Obama said that Steinem “changed how women thought about themselves.” He also labeled her a “game-changer,” a “disrupter,” and a “champion noticer.” Obama stated, “She’s alert to all the ways, large and small, that women had been and, in some cases, continue to be treated unfairly just because they’re women… because of her work, across America and around the world, more women are afforded the respect and opportunities that they deserve.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'Most people want to earn the big bucks, and for a lot of people working at the mines is a good way to make that happen.

It’s pretty hard to get a job in the mines though, especially at the moment, so how would you feel if you opened the paper and saw an ad for women-only truck driving jobs?

One company has made news headlines because its now allowed to do just that and advertise 50 women only positions.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A BIDEFORD man has appeared on ITV’s This Morning speaking of the trauma he went through after falling victim to false rape allegations.
...
Last month, 25-year-old Loder appeared at Exeter Crown Court where she was jailed for two false allegations of rape.

Loder originally said she had been raped in an alley way in Bideford by two strangers, but after police failed to find any forensic evidence she changed her story and said she had been raped by Fran Syvret in her own home.

But her story fell apart after Mr Syvret showed police photos and a video on his phone which proved Loder had willingly had sex with him.

However, Loder had already spread her lies around Bideford, and Fran and his ex-partner at the time Jane, began to receive a torrent of threats.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'One in three boys at primary school today believe Pink Floyd's Number One hit "We Don't Need No Education" should be rewritten to read "We Don't Need No Spelling and Grammar".

They think the basics are superfluous now spellcheckers have been invented, according to research out today. A similar number say they would never or rarely write anything outside of a lesson.

The study, by the National Literacy Trust, also reveals that one in five say they would be "embarrassed" if any of their friends found them writing out of school.

The boys' lack of enthusiasm for writing contrasts starkly with girls - one out of three of whom say they write out of class every day.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'I always laughed at the joke - "Why do men die before women? Because they can" - until I read the latest report from the Council for Australian Governments titled Tracking equity: Comparing out-comes for women and girls across Australia.
...
Based on the results for the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment of 15-year-olds the average difference between girls and boys in literacy is 37 points, representing one full year of schooling.

In the 2011 PIRLS test girls also do better than boys in reading both internationally and in Australia by 17 points. The advantage girls have over boys is also reflected in Australia's national literacy tests at years 3, 5, 7 and 9 where girls always outperform boys.
...
Since the late '60s and early '70s, mainly due to the rise of feminism and the fact that there are so few male primary school teachers, the way teachers teach and the way classrooms are structured have been feminised.

Essay here. Excerpt:

'Chances are that when you read this, most of your friends and peers are circumcised, you’ve never had a problem with it, and you’re perfectly happy (G-d willing.) But on the off chance that you feel wronged or violated in any way, there’s something I have to tell you. (And no more jokes for this part.)

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry that I let my religious upbringing override my mommy instinct. I’m sorry that I didn’t give you a choice. I wanted to make sure you feel like you belong instead of feeling different the way I did growing up.
...
... Because if I had fully embraced my true belief system earlier, I would have fought tooth and nail to leave you intact. To let you decide if you want to follow in some of your male ancestors’ footsteps, whatever the reason. Every part of you was perfect when you were born, and every part of you still is. I just wish I hadn’t decided to remove part of you without your consent.