Friday, March 14, 2014
What We've Been Reading...
Happy Friday everyone! Here is what we have been reading this week:
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women convened in New York
on Monday to begin a two-week review of the development of women in
relationship to the Millennium Development Goals and
discuss how women's empowerment can be accelerated after 2015. The Guardian’s Liz Ford also reported that
many have described this year's CSW as crucial to the ongoing post 2015 debate,
offering the chance to put calls for women's empowerment and gender equality at
the forefront of future discussions of global issues. Click here to read more.
For more information about the summit, be sure to follow UN News Centre.
In other news, only a few days after the Senate blocked the Military
Justice Improvement Act, it unanimously approved a bill that proposes several
different reforms to combat sexual assault in the military. The bipartisan bill was spearheaded by Sen. McCaskill, Sen.
Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE). This bill will eliminate the
“good soldier” defense, meaning that accused soldiers cannot use evidence of
good military character and performance to question an accusation unless it is
directly relevant to the crime. It will also allow victims to challenge their
discharge from the military. The bill now moves on to the House. Read our blog
post about it here.
Moving a little closer to home, students and women’s advocacy groups are
demanding that Dartmouth College strengthen its sexual assault policies, citing
the fact that a freshman was assaulted on campus after her name appeared in a
“rape guide” published on a student-run website. Nearly 50,000 people have
signed onto a petition started by the women’s advocacy group UltraViolet asking
the prestigious school to take serious action to prevent something like from
happening again in the future. Student
groups have also asked the school to list expulsion as the punishment for rape
in the student handbook and to block access to the ‘rape guide’ website on
campus. The school has yet to take any of these measures. Dartmouth is also currently under federal
investigation for potential violations of Title IX, the federal gender equity
law that requires universities to ensure a safe learning environment for
students. Read more about this here.
Our last news
story for this week further demonstrates the importance of involving women in
politics in Massachusetts. This week,
The Feminist Majority Foundation has endorsed Maura Healey, candidate for Attorney
General. The foundation applauded
Healey’s experience in fighting for women's rights, civil rights, human rights,
health care access, education, and consumer protection. Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist
Majority Foundation, called Healey a trailblazer and an impressive advocate for
equality. Feminist Majority also endorsed Marisa DeFranco for US House of
Representatives from Massachusetts’ 6th District. Smeal stated: "She is a
tireless worker and leader on a wide range of issues that advance women's
equality. Marisa is a leader that we need in Congress to advance women's pay
equity, as well as immigration reform, LGBT rights, and social justice issues
such as ending sex trafficking."
Thanks for
reading! Have a great weekend!
