News
from the Trenches - June Update
by Diane Rae
Schulz
First woman to receive
prestigious Kennedy Award
April 18,
2000
The prestigious 2000
John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award was
presented May 22 to Senator Hilda Solis (D-El
Monte), the first Latina elected to the
California State Senate, and the first woman to
receive the award, for her political courage.
Members of President Kennedy's family presented
the annual award at the John F. Kennedy Library
and Museum in Boston.
Senator Solis took on
entrenched economic interests as she sought
relief for minority communities that suffered
the ill effects of haphazard enforcement of
environmental laws Solis' own district is home
to eight landfills, a federal Superfund toxic
waste cleanup site and several mines and
factories, many near schools. Solis marshaled
support for new environmental justice
legislation, which won passage and was signed
into law by Governor Gray Davis in October 1999.
The legislation is the first of its
kind.
"Senator Hilda Solis
clearly demonstrates why the art of politics is
a noble profession essential to a healthy
democracy," said Caroline Kennedy, President of
the Kennedy Library Foundation. . . She is a
source of inspiration for those who share my
father's belief that one person can make a
difference, and that every person should try."
News Release from The
John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
http://kennedy.nara.gov
Women present Global
Peace Petition on Women's Day
The following petition
was presented to the governments of the world on
International Women's Day, May 26, 2000, by the
Coalition for the Women's Peace Petition
sponsored by the International Women's Tribune
Centre, <iwtc@igc.org>
We Are Horrified At The
Levels Of Violence Witnessed During This Century
And That Women And Children Are The Primary
Victims Of War And Poverty. On Behalf Of Society
At Large, We,The Undersigned Women Of The World,
Demand That Annually, For The Next Five Years,
At Least Five Per Cent Of National Military
Expenditures Be Redirected To Health, Education
And Employment Programmes. By Doing So, One Half
Billion Dollars A Day Would Be Released
Worldwide For Programmes To Improve Living
Standards.
We Also Demand That War,
Like Slavery, Colonialism And Apartheid, Be
Delegitimised As An Acceptable Form Of Social
Behaviour, And That Governments And Civil
Society Together Develop New Institutions That
Do Not Resort To Violence For The Settlement Of
Disputes.
Together We Commit
Ourselves, As Half Of The World's Population, To
Use Our Power To Ensure That These Demands,
Which Will Promote International Peace And
Security, Are Met Through Legislation And
Action. We Resolve That We Will Inaugurate A New
Century That Rejects Warfare And Promotes
Well-Being, Justice And Human Rights.
Visit the Australian
Women's Intra Network
http://www.isis.aust.com/iwd/
Contact: webweave@isis.aust.com
Via
ABIGAILS-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
Sailing the Seas for
Reproductive Rights
Excerpts from an
Interview with Dr. Rebecca Gomperts
from newswecanuse.com May 19, 2000
Women on Waves grew out
of Dr. Gomperts experiences sailing with the
Greenpeace ship the "Rainbow Warrior" and as a
medical doctor providing reproductive health
services, primarily abortions. In South America
Dr. Gomperts met another doctor who told her
about the health problems associated with
illegal abortion in his country. "The urgent
desire to really do something about this problem
came when I learned the degree to which illegal
abortion is a major public health concern, as
the main cause of maternal mortality around the
world."
As a woman and a doctor
she was shocked and immediately felt engaged.
"Since I had personally experienced the impact
that Greenpeace's methods can have, I realized
that one could also deliver reproductive health
services in a legal and safe way on board a
Dutch ship outside territorial waters and by
this I mean not only the delivery of abortions,
which is always a matter of last resort, but
also the provision of contraception and sexual
education - this was the basis for the Women on
Waves project."
The Women on Waves
Foundation is already fully certified as a
charitable organization in the Netherlands,
which means that donations are fully
tax-deductible. The ship, fittingly named "The
Sea Change" will continue to sail "…as long
as there are still countries where women have no
reproductive rights, and as long as there still
are countries with restrictive abortion laws and
women dying due to illegal abortion. We will go
to every country where local women's and/or
reproductive health organizations ask us to
come."
The boat is aimed at
publicity about freedom of fertility as much as
it is a vehicle for abortion services. "Women on
Waves is about women's empowerment, reproductive
rights and women's human rights. It is mostly
poor women who are suffering from the
consequences of inaccessibility of reproductive
health services. Access to reproductive health
services is thus also very important in the
battle against poverty."
"Regarding the technical
question as to how we will get patients on
board, there are two possibilities (I personally
prefer the first):
- Have patients come
on board early in the morning in the harbor
where the ship is already moored and just
sail away to international waters. We will
have to see the women five days before
departure for intake examinations, counseling
and ultrasound. If we keep the time and date
of departure secret to the public, we can
hopefully prevent any major public
intervention.
- The second
possibility is to launch boats to pick up the
women from shore and bring them to the Sea
Change, which will be anchored offshore.
"In response to the
potential for violent acts, we realize that we
will have to be very vigilant --and have
therefore included security as a significant
item in the ship's budget."
"We are a peaceful
organization, just trying to offer a creative
solution to a huge health problem."
Via
http://www.newswecanuse.com
Contact Women on Waves
at P.O. Box 15683, 1001 ND, Amsterdam,
Netherlands
e-mail: info@womenonwaves.org
http://www.womenonwaves.org
For more about Dr.
Gomperts, see Alissa Quart's article, 5/11/00,
in Ms. Magazine online at:
http://www.Msmagazine.com
May 8, 2000
Operation Farewell to
Poverty
Lagos, Nigeria - Queen
Ngozi Babalola, the national coordinator of
Operation Farewell to Poverty, has taken up the
challenge to heal years of injuries inflicted on
the people of Nigeria by poverty and
deprivation
A successful wife and
businesswoman, this sixty-something year old
woman is not considering retirement. She
believes that "Nigeria can only be a happy place
for those who can give a helping hand and wipe
away sorrows in the life of many others." Last
October she formed an NGO to help realize her
dream of lending a helping hand to poor
Nigerians.
Babalola is not a
stranger to public service. She was on the
poverty alleviation committee that designed the
blue-print for the country's poverty alleviation
program.
The NGO, according to
the coordinator, has designed many palliative
programs for Nigerians, which include the
provision of soft loans to would be grassroots
based small scale investors, education and skill
acquisition training programs and many more. Her
NGO is planning to surprise Nigerians by
importing food items and essential commodities
to be sold at cheaper and controlled prices for
Nigerians to enjoy.
The United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) is solidly behind the
organization, and has agreed to help alleviate
Nigeria's poverty through it. "We urge the
international community to continue to identify
with the masses of Nigerians by alleviating
poverty through credible grassroots-based
organizations," Babalola said.
Original article by
Tunde Oladipo, distributed via Africa News
Online at http://www.africanews.org
Via
http://www.aviva.org
May, 2000
Girls are
different! New AAUW study finds that in computer
games, girls want high-skill, not
high-kill
According to a new
report, "Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the New
Computer Age," published by the American
Association of University Women Educational
Foundation Commission on Technology, Gender, and
Teacher Education, girls are critical of the
computer culture, not computer
phobic.
Sherry Turkle, professor
of sociology at MIT and co-chair of the
commission, states, "Instead of trying to make
girls fit into the existing computer culture,
the computer culture must become more inviting
for girls."
"The same reasoning
applies to computer games," argued Sharon
Schuster, president of the AAUW Educational
Foundation. "Computer games don't have to be the
virtual equivalent of GI Joes and Barbies. We
have to think less about 'girls' games' and
'boys' games' and more about games that
challenge our children's minds. When it comes to
computer games and software, girls want
high-skill, not high-kill." Schuster added.
Currently women receive
less than 28 percent of the computer science
bachelor's degrees, down from a high of 37
percent in 1984. Computer science is the only
field in which women's participation has
actually decreased over time. Some conclusions
of the new report are:
- Computer technology
-- Girls find programming classes tedious and
dull, computer games too boring and too
violent, and computer career options
uninspiring.
- Electronic games --
Girls would designgames that feature
simulation, strategy,
and interaction.
"When it comes to
today's computer culture, the bottom line is
that while more girls are on the train, they
aren't the ones driving," stated Pamela Haag,
the Foundation's director of research. "To get
girls 'under the hood' of technology, they need
to see that it gets them where they want to go."
The report is available
in full text at the AAUW website:
http://www.aauw.org
or write to: AAUW Educational Foundation
Research Department RR.INT 1111 Sixteenth St.
N.W. Washington, DC
Via
ABIGAILS-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
May 11, 2000
Good news for women
entrepreneurs seeking financing
Women who have found it
difficult to get loans to start businesses are
now taking to the Internet to try and get
backing. Beginning this week, dozens of
women-oriented Web sites will direct visitors to
www.count-me-in.org, which hopes to gather
donations as small as $5 for a fund that will
underwrite loans to small start up businesses
run by women.
Nell Merlino, who
started Take Our Daughters to Work Day with the
Ms. Foundation, and Iris Burnett, a former
executive of USA Networks, are behind the plan,
hoping to raise a multimillion-dollar pool of
funds for loans ranging from $500 to $10,000 for
women hoping to start or expand their
businesses. The new site will begin accepting
loan applications in June.
Announcing the new
venture, Merlino said, "If a million women get
four friends to give as little as $5, we'll have
$25 million we can use to put women in
business."
Interest rates would
range from 11 percent to 13 percent, with
applicants being evaluated for their business
potential, rather than their earnings or hard
assets.
Via
ABIGAILS-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
Original article from
Associated Press, 5/10/00
April 16, 2000
Via aviva.org
Spain elects two women
as Presidents
Women have been elected
for the first time in Spain as presidents of
both the Senate and the lower house of
Parliament, the government announced on April 5.
Luisa Fernanda Rudi, of the governing Popular
Party, was elected President of the 350 member
Congress of Deputies by an overwhelming
majority, and Esperanza Aguirre, also of the
Popular Party, was re-elected President of the
Senate. As of the March, 2000, election, 99
women representatives are now seated in the
lower house and 52 in the Senate.
Source: El Pais,
3/13/00
April 4, 2000
Chilean woman
journalist wins award
Via aviva.org
Human Rights Watch
announced on April 4 that exiled journalist
Alejandra Matus is one of the recipients of the
Hellman-Hammett journalism awards for the year
2000. She is the author of The Black Book of
Chilean Justice, which is a searing critique of
the judicial system under the dictatorship of
General Pinochet. Immediately after the book was
published a year ago, all copies were ordered
confiscated because the book "violated articles
of the Law of State Security." The police not
only raided the warehouse of the book's
publisher, but all bookstores in the nation's
capital, Santiago, impounding the entire stock
of Matus' expose. Because she feared arrest,
Matus fled the county and was later granted
political asylum in the United States. Her book
is still banned in Chile.
Source: Human Rights
Watch
April 17,
2000
Australian government
to help parents pay for childcare
Via aviva.org
The Australian
government announced on April 18 that it will
provide $200 million to help parents with
childcare costs. Those who want to return to the
workforce or undertake study will be eligible to
receive free childcare as part of the federal
government's new "family policy." The
announcement came after Prime Minister John
Howard conceded that the lack of affordable
quality childcare is the main factor,
particularly for women, affecting their
decisions to returning to work or
school.
Source: Ausfem Poinet,
4/17/00
Website:
http://www.abc.net.au
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