Friday, May 9, 2014
What we've been reading...
Happy Friday! Here’s a list of what we’ve been reading at MWPC this week:
Around 270 Nigerian girls remain in captivity in the hands of extremist group Boko Haram, after they were abducted on April 15th (exactly 24 days ago) from the school they attended. The Boko Haram group is extremely anti-Western, and have been classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. U.S. First lady Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, other world leaders and celebrities have declared their support for the girls through the use of the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. It is feared that if the girls are not rescued soon, they could be sold into the sex trade, or become child brides. Read more about this here.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to study the feasibility of creating a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C. As ongoing efforts to expose women’s triumphs in the Capitol have been unsuccessful, Joan Wages claims that women, “have essentially been left out of the telling of our nation's history”. Also according to Wages, “In a survey of today's history textbooks, only one in 10 people in the texts are women. In national parks, less than 8 percent of the statues are women. Of more than 200 statues in the U.S. Capitol, only 15 women leaders are depicted.” To read more about the bill, go here.
The organization Planned Parenthood announced that they are endorsing Martha Coakley (D) for Governor of Massachusetts. The organization stated that Coakley is a, “tireless champion for women’s health” and that “Massachusetts can count on Martha to be a leader for health care access, family planning funding, and comprehensive sexuality education”. Read more about Planned Parenthood’s statements here.
As a way to help stay-at-home mothers return back to the workforce, ReacHIRE, along with Fidelity Investments, Panera Bread, Boston Scientific and other companies, has started hiring women for short-term projects as a way to help the women “freshen up” their work skills. The participating companies also benefit from these partnerships, since the “return-to-work internships” participants have extensive professional experience. To read more about these internships, and the companies participating, go here.
