A New Year and a New Way to Embrace Life's Uncertainty

Kari Stoever, 12.29.2009

Consultant, Global Health and Development

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Lifting a Third World Curse

Susan Kim, 12.28.2009

Playwright, TV writer. Author: "Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation" w/Elissa Stein

One out of every ten school-age girls in sub-Sarahan Africa routinely skips school about 50 days a year. The reason why is so unbelievable it boggles the mind. It's because they're menstruating.

General Cucolo, Women at War, and Baby Makes Three

Trish Kinney, 12.28.2009

Author of Silver Platter Girl and documentary filmmaker

If women can be punished and sent home, away from the duty that they promised to uphold in their military oath, because they become pregnant, then should they be sent overseas if they have small children, especially infants?

Revenge of the Sperm Donors

Jacob M. Appel, 12.27.2009

Bioethicist and medical historian

A misguided offshoot of the men's rights movement has recently started to assert paternal rights for sperm donors. Now the Irish Supreme Court has granted parental rights to one such donor.

Shopping for a Change

Tess Ghilaga, 12.22.2009

Freelance Writer, Yoga Teacher

Global Goods Partners is a fair-trade, non-profit organization focused on diminishing poverty and promoting social justice by enhancing women-led development initiatives in Asia, Africa and the Americas.

2010 Prediction: Women Will Have Another Horrible Decade

Peter Daou, 12.22.2009

Political consultant, former adviser to Hillary Clinton

As we hurtle into a new decade, one thing you can be sure of (aside from death and taxes) is that women's rights and women's bodies will be violated again and again.

Will One Senator Stand Up for Women?

Wendy Button, 12.21.2009

Who will be our Lieberman? Who will be our Nelson? There has to be someone who will stand for us because when one woman is demeaned in the name of the greater good, that's not progress, that's a sign of a country in deep crisis.

Exclusive: The Aga Khan, Women and Development: The Path of Education

Rahim Kanani, 12.21.2009

Research Associate, Hauser Center for Nonprofits, Harvard University

As development agencies integrate their efforts to reduce the massive inequalities plaguing women and girls worldwide, we must never forget the value of human dignity, and the power of education to dignify.

30 Years of Fighting Discrimination against Women - It's Time the U.S. Stepped Up

Lenora M. Lapidus, 12.18.2009

Today, the United Nations and the world celebrate 30 years of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), ...

U.N. Women's Treaty Can Not Wait for U.S. Senate

Linda Tarr-Whelan, 12.18.2009

Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow and author of "Women Lead the Way"

The path to ratifying CEDAW would be much easier if our Senate, like those of 23 other countries including Rwanda, Argentina, Angola, Costa Rica and much of Europe, had 30 percent women.

CEDAW: I Didn't Know What It Was, Either

Kristina Brittenham, 12.18.2009

Lawyer in Los Angeles, California

Why hasn't the US ratified CEDAW? It's the same reason we're behind on health care reform: there are very powerful lobbies that see CEDAW as a tool for picking their deep pockets.

Sexual Harassment in Pakistan

Nosheen Abbas, 12.16.2009

Dawn columnist

Sexual harassment at the workplace is, to date, not recognized as a punishable offense in Pakistan. In fact, in many situations, a complaint can create more problems for the woman being harassed.

Curbing Carbon's Just the Tip of Our Great Green Leap

Harvey Wasserman, 12.15.2009

Author of SOLARTOPIA! Our Green-Powered Earth

The epic fight over carbon emissions is barely the tip of how we survive. Mother Earth demands that fossil/nukes be transcended. This green-powered leap defines our technological, economic and ecological survival.

What's an Underemployed Gal to Do? Run For Office.

Diane Tucker, 12.15.2009

Writer/producer/director living in Washington DC

The experience of running convinced me that women have a tremendous natural ability for politics. We just have to get over our fear of it and go for the brass ring.

No Woman Left Behind: CEDAW and the Stupak-Pitts Amendment

Yalidy Matos, 12.15.2009

The United States is one of seven countries that have yet to ratify The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Watch Out, You Bloodthirsty Liberals - I'm Voting Pro-Life

Jack Helmuth, 12.17.2009

While driving on the New York State Thruway last week, I passed a car with a bumper sticker that said, "I Vote Pro-Life." Always on the lookout for s...

Feminomics: Hell Hath No Fury Like a Man Devalued

Robert S. McElvaine, 12.14.2009

Author, historian, political activist

To compensate for what men cannot do, they tell women that they may not do other things. Much of history has been shaped by male insecurities, and such insecurities grow in hard times.

Tiger Woods Just Don't Do It for Women Nike

Debra Condren, 12.13.2009

Business psychologist, speaker, author of "Ambition Is Not A Dirty Word"

Nike, 20 percent of whose sales are to women athletes, supposedly supports women and is against sexism. And yet they're continuing to give the ultimate misogynist their full, continued support?

Obama Can Help the World's Women

Rahim Kanani, 12.11.2009

Research Associate, Hauser Center for Nonprofits, Harvard University

In accepting the Nobel, Obama must spearhead a bold and unprecedented initiative aimed at one of the most pervasive human rights violations of the 21st century: violence against women and girls worldwide.

Celebrating International Human Rights Day by saying "No"

Ellen Snortland, 12.10.2009

Ellen Snortland is a writer, self-defense advocate, actor, lawyer, radio and TV personality.

Those who reject violence within their own families are human rights activists Note: This post is a mirror of my column in today's Pasadena Weekly, ...

Health Reform Is No Place for an Abortion Fight

Rep. Lois Capps, 12.09.2009

Congresswoman representing California's 23rd District

The Stupak-Pitts amendment that replaced my amendment goes well beyond the status quo. It would result in a major step backwards for women's control over their reproductive lives.