Article here. "Male-dominated country", indeed! If it's so "male-dominated", how come men and not women are forced to serve in the armed forces? Excerpt:

'SEOUL, South Korea -- Cho Won-hyuk stands in front of his bedroom mirror and spreads dollops of yellow-brown makeup over his forehead, nose, chin and cheeks until his skin is flawless. Then he goes to work with a black pencil, highlighting his eyebrows until they're thicker, bolder.
...
...This socially conservative, male-dominated country, with a mandatory two-year military conscription for men, has become the male makeup capital of the world....
...
Kim Jong-hoon, a 27-year-old tech industry worker in Paju, said the endless media exposure to famous men with perfect skin helped steer his progression from soap and water to an elaborate regime that includes as many as eight steps, from cleanser to eye cream and lotion to a small amount of makeup powder.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A growing number of Jews are in favor of banning child circumcision. These Jews recognize a minor's right to their own body, a right that supersedes the rights of a parent to harm the body of a child in the name of religion.
...
What follows is a collection of statements from Jews who question the ethics and legality of forced under-age circumcision. Jewish Americans Support Outlawing Child Circumcision

"I am a Jewish mother against circumcision and in support of passing Bill 1777. For years I was a certified childbirth educator and now a journalist and filmmaker. I continue to educate people that childbirth is a natural event rather than one filled with unnecessary drugs and other medical intervention, and circumcision is an unnatural event. These are two clear-cut examples of interfering with nature."

- Katherine Mora, Jewish Mother , Testimony before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary'

Action item here. Excerpt:

'The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has just released a new Technical Report by its Task Force on Circumcision, claiming that the “benefits” of routine infant circumcision outweigh the risks. Hard to see how they might draw such a conclusion, because they acknowledge—over and over in the Report—that no good studies have been done on those risks! And the Report IGNORES the growing accounts in medical literature, in the mainstream press and on the internet, of botched circumcisions, sexual dysfunction, psychological impact, and—in at least 100 instances a year—death.

Some guys just lost their jobs because they're male-- in a "male-dominated society", no less. Story here. Excerpt:

'AFP - The labour ministry has ordered the closure of around 100 lingerie shops in the Saudi capital for having men on their sales staff, a newspaper said on Sunday.

Al-Eqtisadiah quoted a ministry official as saying all shops which violate a decree on the "feminisation and nationalisation of jobs" would be shut down. The measure aims to "provide a safe environment for working women," he said.

The ministry at the start of the year banned male assistants from working at lingerie shops, as a first step to be followed by women-only sales assistants at cosmetics outlets.'

Link here. Excerpt:

'An Adelaide woman has admitted killing her five-year-old son by putting methadone in his cordial.

Lisa Anne Collard, 45, pleaded guilty in the South Australian Supreme Court on Monday to the manslaughter of her son Christopher on June 7 last year at their Modbury Heights home.
...
A court has previously heard Collard was trying to treat her son's cold when she put the methadone in a bottle of green cordial.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'If the deadbeat dad phenomenon is a national disgrace, paternity fraud is its oily underbelly.

Attorney Dennis Fuller has spent the past year trying to remedy the fraud that wreaks much the same emotional and financial havoc as the more common failure to pay legitimate support to a son or daughter.

His 12-month mission narrows greatly on Sept. 1, when a legal window closes for men who have long known the child they support is not theirs.

“There’s a remedy for a short period of time,” Fuller said this past week. “If you take the statistics the blood banks give us, and the researchers give us, there should be 128,000 guys in Texas that are paying child support for children who are not theirs.”'

Bill here. Excerpt:

'(8) Engaging women in the scientific enterprise is beneficial to the well-being of women and girls, as well as to global stability and prosperity. Improving access to education and science opportunities for women and girls advances their economic viability, along with that of their families and broader communities. Moreover, the scientific field thrives on exchanges of a broad range of ideas. Including female voices, and those of all minorities, in scientific dialogue leads to more significant discoveries and creative solutions to local and global challenges.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'For much of history, the mark of an enviable woman has been her ability to secure a superior match, through her beauty, cleverness or artful deception. After the civil rights era, that expectation mellowed into something called "homogamy," meaning women marrying men of equal money and education. But that happy place of equilibrium seems to be fading as well. Instead, women have started doing something demographers thought they would never see: They are marrying down, not just in the United States, but all over the world, a phenomenon closely tracked by Spanish demographer Albert Esteve.

Women are largely doing this out of necessity. In every continent except Africa, women are more likely to have a college degree than the men around them. This means that in their late 20s and 30s, when most people get married, women's earning prospects are brighter. So they have no choice but to marry someone who in a Jane Austen novel would have been declared an unsuitable match.

Article here. Excerpt:

'HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF SANGAMON COUNTY is planning a first next month — for women only.

Executive director Sarah Mackey said women-only build days have proved popular with Habitat for Humanity chapters elsewhere in the country. She said the first such workday here will involve exterior repairs to a home. The date has not yet been scheduled.
...
Mackey said women volunteers are sometimes uncomfortable, at least at first, when working on traditional projects combining men and women.

“It can be intimidating for women who are not familiar with construction tools or terms or processes,” said Mackey. “The women-build provides a safe environment where women can come together, and learn together, and try new things.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Call me biased, but the data does seem to suggest women are smarter than men. Or, at least, they aspire to go to college more and are more likely to graduate with degrees than men are.
...
The problem with the gender imbalance in higher education isn’t that more women are enrolling in higher education. The problem is that men aren’t keeping pace.

While a stabilized gender gap that swings in favor of women doesn’t seem like such a bad thing, men need degrees just as much as women do.

More education pays off more, literally. A study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce shows workers with at least some post-secondary education fared better through the recession than those without any.

A generation of undereducated men will contribute less to the economy, and leave future generations with fewer role models in education to look to.

If men fail to catch up and the gender disparity grows wider, you don’t need to go to college to see the implications.'

Bill here. Excerpt:

'To increase the participation of historically underrepresented demographic groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and industry.
...
(e) Authorized Activities- An eligible entity that receives a grant under this section shall use such grant funds to carry out the following activities designed to increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics:

(1) Online workshops.

(2) Mentoring programs that partner science, technology, engineering, or mathematics professionals with students.

(3) Internships for undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

(4) Conducting outreach programs that provide elementary school and secondary school students with opportunities to increase their exposure to the fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.

(5) Such additional programs as the Director of the National Science Foundation may determine.

Articles here. Excerpts:

'The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Domestic Relations Rules Committee has reviewed and proposed updates to the child support guidelines, which will go into effect later this year. The Committee, as required by federal law, reviews the child support guidelines at least every four years in order to assure that they appropriately reflect current economic data on the costs of raising children.

The Committee's Recommendation 116 was guided by Jane Venohr's economic study. Jane Venohr, Ph.D, is a research associate with the Center for Policy Research. She is regarded as the nation’s leading expert on child support guidelines, having worked with over 25 states to develop and update guidelines.'

and

'Significant amendments to the Mississippi child support guidelines went into effect May 22, 2012. The amendments were to MCA 43-19-103, which sets out the bases that the court may use to deviate from the statutory child support calculation guidelines.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Women Get Free Preventive Care, Men Get To Go Pee Up A Rope
Robert Franklin posts at Fathers & Families:

The Affordable Care Act mandates well woman exams, including a variety of preventive screenings, for all women completely free of charge, no deductibles, no co-pays. But it does nothing of the kind for men. Whatever we may think we need in the way of preventive care, we pay for; the ACA leaves us on our own. When it comes to preventive care, the ACA rations our preventive care according to our ability to pay, but requires providers to screen women at no cost.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A new report by the federal government shows high school girls outpacing boys when it comes to planning for college, enrolling, and completing a degree. Yet boys are doing better on Advanced Placement exams and college-entrance tests.

Looking at education trends by gender and across racial/ethnic groups, the National Center for Education Statistics' Higher Education: Gaps in Access and Persistence Study reports among the freshman class that began in 2008-09, a lower percentage of males (71.8 percent) than females (78.9 percent) graduated with a regular high school diploma.

The NCES asked 9th graders to indicate the highest level of education they expected to achieve. Fifty-nine percent of the girls expected to complete a bachelor's or graduate/professional degree compared to 53 percent of boys. This pattern held for white males and females (56 percent vs. 63 percent) and black males and females (54 percent vs. 61 percent), according to researchers.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A jilted lonely heart who tried to frame her ex-lover for rape after he refused to rekindle their affair has been jailed.

Janet Higginbottom, 36, got drunk and dialled 999 at 2am falsely claiming she had been stalked and then raped in the street after being followed home.

Manchester Crown Court heard how Higginbottom of Broadbottom, Hyde, then identified her ex as the culprit, wrongly claiming he had fled in a car after the incident even though he was at home all the time.

Higginbottom’s unnamed former boyfriend was later arrested in a 4am raid in front of his current girlfriend and held for 11 hours.'