The League of Iowa Human & Civil Rights Agencies

Natalie Randolph to coach Coolidge High School football team

By Alan Goldenbach, Washington Post

Thursday, March 11, 2010

In Natalie Randolph's first season as wide receivers coach at H.D. Woodson High School in the District a few years ago, one of the most difficult moments each week came at the end of the game when t...

Risk and Opportunity for Women in 21st Century

By Katrin Bennhold, New York Times

Published: March 5, 2010

PARIS — Daniel Louvard does not believe in affirmative action. Time and again, the scientists in his Left Bank cancer laboratory have urged him to recruit with gender diversity in mind. But Mr....

One of the great advances of 20th century was increased life expectancy. This advance might have bankrupted Social Security, if it were not for women in the work force. When the Social Security program was created in the 1930s, life expectancy was 60 years, as compared to 75 years in the 1980s and 78 years today. With 1930s life expectancy, a great number of people were expected to pay Social Security taxes while they worked, but never live long enough to ever collect benefits. The early plan...

BRAVADO DESIGNS specializes in breast-feeding bras, which feature cups that unfasten singly and stretchable fabrics that accommodate size fluctuations during pregnancy and nursing. But when it comes to marketing, the bra company emphasizes another type of support: emotional. An information section on the Bravado Web site features dozens of suggestions from Heather Kelly, described as a certified lactation consultant, from hand positioning while nursing (“Imagine you’re holding a s...

In 10 years, our nation will mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. While winning this battle for suffrage was monumental, it wasn't just a step for women in the voting booths—it had a greater significance for social, economic, educational and political equality. Starting next fall, a group of women leaders in Philadelphia will make sure that this work continues in the future.

Inside a red brick house in Falls Church, Bridget Mary Meehan placed a silver chalice of wine and a plate of flatbread on the coffee table in her living room and prepared to lead a sacred, forbidden ceremony. "As we gather around this table, this intimate little house church table, let us remember that God is raising us up, all of us," she said, smiling at the four worshipers who had come to hear her say Mass.

Taking a page from Broadway and George Lucas, Scholastic Inc., the children’s book publisher, is trying for a revival — with a prequel attached. In April the company plans to reissue repackaged and slightly revised versions of the first two volumes in one of its most successful series, “The Baby-Sitters Club,” in the hopes of igniting enthusiasm in a new generation of readers. And just as Mr. Lucas brought “Star Wars” back with a whole new arc of stories th...

One of the questions that Sheryl and I get most often when we give lectures about our new book, Half the Sky, is a variant of: Is religion the real problem? My own take is that religion has often been part of the problem, but that it also can be part of the solution. I’ve seen people kill in the name of religion, and I’ve seen people reject condoms in the name of religion even as a tool for fighting AIDS (which usually means people dying). But I’ve also seen Catholic nuns sh...

The January issue of Consumer Reports just came in the mail, and what I found on Page 8 shocked me. There were two bottles of Nivea body wash: one for men priced at $5.49 and one for women costing $7.49. Why the 2-buck difference? Nivea's reason, according to Consumer Reports senior editor Tod Marks, is that the women's product is made with "skin-sensation technology," which makes it more expensive. I tried to imagine a bigger load of bunk. I failed.

ALBANY, N.Y. - As the economy falters and more people go without health insurance, low-income women in at least 20 states are being turned away or put on long waiting lists for free cancer screenings, according to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network. In the unofficial survey of programs for July 2008 through April 2009, the organization found that state budget strains are forcing some programs to reject people who would otherwise qualify for free mammograms and Pap smears. Jus...