TheConversation further describes how Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court hearing is a flashback to how race and crime featured during Thurgood Marshall’s 1967 hearings
The above article includes a huge photograph showing the nominee at a smallish table in middle of the hearing chambers literally surrounded by the hundreds of people involved…
From CalMatters email, signing into law a bill eliminating out-of-pocket costs for abortions and abortion-related services, Gov. Newsom decried “continued attacks on reproductive freedom throughout the country”, calling California a counterweight to Texas and Florida in particular whileDem Cal lawmakers continue to advance reproductive health legislation, including a bill to combine state funding with philanthropy for helping low-income women here and from out-of-state access abortions.
HOW the future of the world’s largest group of religions is female and Black.
…I research women in global Christianity and am frequently asked what percentage of the religion is female. The short answer is 52%. But the long answer is more complicated – women make up a much more substantial part of Christianity than that…
…At the start of 2019, Bill and Melinda Gates released a list of facts that had surprised them the previous year. Number four on their list: “Data can be sexist … There are huge gaps in the global data about women and girls…” My interest was piqued – not only as a demographer, but as a woman and mother of girls…
New research finds thatAbortion pills are just as safe to prescribe based on a patient’s medical history as after an in-person exam,
and
New abortion law in lets relatives of the “preborn baby” sue the medical practitioner who aborts after 6 weeks.Incest and rape are the exceptions providing the girl/woman files a police report & gives the practitioner a copy. Idaho’s governor signed it while admitting “I fear the novel civil enforcement mechanism will in short order be proven both unconstitutional and unwise,”
In his first State of the Union address, Pres. Biden broached a tax policy question of interest to public health experts, neuroscientists and pediatricians too — he urged lawmakers to extend the Child Tax Credit so no youngster has to grow up in poverty. (it’s worth noting the true moral outcome, that helping the individual tends to benefit society: healthier people cost society less and enjoy better lives.)
Apart from the usual political and budgetary calculus, science has turned to brain scans and rigorous studies to [learn] the effects of being raised in poverty and the difference [that could be better for] child development and long-term health…
Initial results from an ongoing study known as Baby’s First Years suggest that providing extra money to mothers may influence brain activity in infants in ways that reflect improvements in cognitive ability….
“How prosthetic penisesin shows like HBO’s ‘Minx’ reinforce existing stereotypes and taboos.”
…As prosthetic penises have become more common in film and on TV [the media eagerly documents the trend with sly, coy, slang-laden headlines… But to me, [this costuming], and the way actors wielding them are deceptively [reported as] “full frontal nudity,” often reinforces existing taboos under a guise of progressivism and gender equality.
So. Dakota hotel & corporation accused of refusing service to at least 2 Native American women and threatening to ban all Native Americans.
For Women’s History MonthPenn State Univ Libraries will host a virtual Wikipedia editathon focusing on Native American women activistsfrom 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29.
h/t Christopher Reeves, dk staff
First Native American woman ever to serve as chair of the Kansas House of Representatives is asked by Republican house member whether her gavel is a tomahawk. At the “mix of laughter and vocal disapproval” he “if”-apologized” to Rep. Ponka-We Victors-Cozad, Wichita Democrat in the chair, rejected the nonapology saying
she wouldn’t devalue Wheeler’s religion, place of worship or culture. She expected Wheeler to offer the same reverence and respect of other Kansans as he did his own religion and culture.
“I would like to think our elected public officials would know and understand this principle,” Victors-Cozad said.“This is women’s history month and I am a proud Native American mother making history for the state of Kansas, and Representative Wheeler did his best to tarnish these accomplishments. I firmly hold him accountable to his words and actions.”
Wheeler, 74, is a member of the Legislature’s joint committee on state-tribal relations [which] provides a bridge between the Legislature and the state’s four federally recognized tribes…
Before the House’s weekend adjournment, Topeka Dem Rep. John Alcala returned to Wheeler’s comment to requesting a genuine apology to Kansas’ three Native American women house members: Victors, Christina Haswood and Stephanie Byers. This incident follows Kansas Commissioner of Education Randy Watson saying in youth he tried to teach children safety (some reports say this was a metaphor for tornadoes) with the warning “You’ve got to worry about the Indians raiding the town at any time.” Gov. Laura Kelly called for Watson’s resignation, he submitted it to the Board of Education, they unanimously rejected it and instead suspended him for 30 days without pay.
MMIW — Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women state task forces’ progress around the US
HOW Melissa Lucio went from abuse survivor to death rowexplains the ways interrogations traumatize their targets. And Petition from the Innocence Project Stop the execution of Melissa Lucio.
Melissa Lucio is facing execution on April 27, 2022, in Texas for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah — a crime that never occurred. Mariah died two days after accidentally falling down a steep flight of stairs and Melissa has maintained her innocence on death row for more than 14 years…..
…..Coerced false confessions are a leading cause of wrongful conviction and even more prevalent among women wrongly convicted of killing a child, like Melissa. As a survivor of lifelong sexual abuse and domestic violence, Melissa was especially vulnerable to police coercion, but at trial she was prevented from presenting any evidence that would have explained why she falsely confessed during the interrogation.
Why are Women Disappearing From Research Careers? And How to Get Them Back —
Get the science right. h/t DoctorH
Male MD+PhD article writer, a SCIENCE professional, describes the situation and suggests remedies. Interestingly, as supportive as he intends this article to be, its wording also illustrates how even well-intentioned & workplace experienced male feminists are suffused with misogynistic cultural assumptions (probably in the same way that antiracism and antipoverty advocates etc may be): ■ verbs and verb-forms that depict women as essentially passive ■ rights depicted as having been “given” rather than battled for to force out of the hands of men wanting to restrict rights ■ UN’s rights campaigns said first to “commemorate” women’s past achievements and contributions —as if saying we earned equal human status across history hence should be given our rights, rather than that we ARE equally human hence ENTITLED to equal rights— and that such campaigns “propose ways” to remedy inequities, not that they demand implementation of proven strategies for priotizing equal rights, which by golly are also proven to benefit the world and society as a whole. ■ implications that women create the obstacles and burdens of conventional motherhood & family through freely desiring and choosing it, rather than that psychological, financial, and legal factors FORCE women into that position, when the removal of force and an equal role for men would vastly decrease both the actual LACK of “choices” and bring the massive societal cost of remedies into manageable scale. ■ No acknowledgment that women might be choosing to work in applied science rather than research, far less what the factors in such choices might be…
a “masculinity contest culture” – [an] atmosphere of ruthless competition that glorifies the more negative aspects of masculinity, like aggression. To thrive or even survive in these work cultures, employees must appear tough, conceal any weakness, put work above all else, be willing to step on others, and constantly watch their backs.
Central Park was created largely as a solution to a health problem. In the mid-1800s, New York City saw a rapid rise in population that created “crowded, unhealthy conditions,” and the park was devised as a way for city dwellers to experience a more rural environment without leaving town. In 1858, workers began constructing the park, planting half a million trees, shrubs, and vines. The end result cemented the city’s status as a “world-class destination.”
h/t Jeff Graham
Today, the link between nature and human health is as clear and as urgent as ever. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that simply spending time in natural environments can have significant positive effects on a wide range of mental and physical health issues, from diabetes to anxiety. Over the last decade, a rising number of health professionals have begun to prescribe “doses” of time in nature to patients and to advocate for the rise of nature prescription programs throughout the world.
Like the construction of Central Park, the nature prescription phenomenon is, in part, a response to urbanization. Over the past few centuries, the rise of agriculture, the Industrial Revolution, and the development of increasingly complex technologies have led to westerners leading highly sedentary, screen-centric lifestyles in manmade surroundings….
from medscape —Does the US [even] Have Enough Abortion Providers? (nope)
and
from KHN As States Impose Abortion Bans, Young Clinicians Struggle to Travel Far To Learn the Procedures because medication-abortion alone cannot meet the full range of needs, but the numbers of those practitioners is constantly dwindling.
Aside from farmers on behemoth tractors at one extreme and famous male chefs at the other, food is usually considered ‘women’s work’. Yet the Institute of Food Technologists’ promotion of their annual FIRST (= Food Improved by Research, Science, and Technology) conference offered THIS graphic, demonstrating yet another STEM awareness recognition gap.
”In a time of destruction, create something.” –Maxine Hong Kingston.h/t njm5000
Asian-American Mothers confront multiple crises of of pandemic, anti-Asian hate and caregiving
In memory of the Atlanta massage spas shootings on March 16, 2021, that killed eight people, including six Asian women, communities around the country gathered a year later to mourn and demand responses to violence against Asian Americans, especially women who work in service industries.
In addition to being exposed to risks at their workplaces, Asian American women who care for children and elders are especially vulnerable to anti-Asian violence. As sociologists and scholars of gender, race, immigration and Asian American studies, we focus on the particular challenges facing Asian American mothers.
Though they face challenges similar to those faced by other mothers confronting the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian American women have the added burden of being seen as the cause of the virus and being disproportionately targeted by hostility and violence that such misconceptions bring on.
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright[1] (born Marie Jana Korbelová) was an American diplomat best known as the first female secretary of state in U.S. history, serving in Pres. Bill Clinton’s administration, among the 64th in that office overall by then.
…Albright then joined the academic faculty of Georgetown University and advised Democratic candidates regarding foreign policy. After Clinton’s 1992 election, Albright helped assemble his National Security Council. In 1993, he appointed her U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a position she held until becoming Secretary of State, 1997-2001, the end of the Clinton administration.
“Abe Foxman, who often dealt with Albright when he headed the ADL and she was first UN Ambassador and then Secretary of State, put it: “She was tough on negotiating and debating issues but a warm caring human being in one-on-ones…. shecould extract an encyclopedia from a passer-by, and make him grateful for it.”
Never fully trusting State Department bureaucrats, she was known to refer to them as “The White Boys.” Adept at outmaneuvering statesmen — always men — who thought they knew much better than she did, she also delighted in subsequent years in the fact that two close friends, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice, later held the office of Secretary of State, too.
She hated macho posturing. If she had a credo, she stated it at the U.N. Security Council in 1996, after the Cuban air force shot down two small civilian craft attempting to flee the country, killing four people aboard. “… this is not cojones,” she said. “This is cowardice.”
In an interview more than two decades ago, Vladimir V. Putin described his younger self, with a hint of self-congratulation, as “a hooligan.” When the interviewer asked if he was exaggerating about his tendency to get into brawls as a schoolboy, Putin took offense.
“You are trying to insult me,” he said. “I was a real thug.”
Masha Gessen, a Russian American journalist and Moscow native, recounts this exchange in a 2012 biography, “The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin,” which was praised as “part psychological profile, part conspiracy study” in The New York Times Book Review. To Gessen, Putin’s unabashed description of himself as “a thug” was key to his self-image: someone who could not be bullied, who would lash out unpredictably if he felt slighted and who relished violence.
Understanding Putin and the forces that shaped him has become an urgent global concern, as leaders around the world try to determine his motivations in launching an unprovoked and disastrous invasion of Ukraine, how to best engage with him and how the conflict might evolve………..
![Roy Wilkins in press conference with Autherine Lucy and Thurgood Marshall, director and special counsel for NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund]." 1956 March 2. Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress.](https://images.dailykos.com/images/204375/large/Autherine_Lucy_and_Thurgood_Marshall.jpg?1454519746 "Roy Wilkins in press conference with Autherine Lucy and Thurgood Marshall, director and special counsel for NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund].\" 1956 March 2. Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress.")
![ATLANTA, GA - MAY 21: People hold signs during a protest against recently passed abortion ban bills at the Georgia State Capitol building, on May 21, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Georgia "heartbeat" bill would ban abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected. The Alabama abortion law, signed by Gov. Kay Ivey last week, includes no exceptions for cases of rape and incest, outlawing all abortions except when necessary to prevent serious health problems for the woman. Though women are exempt from criminal and civil liability, the new law punishes doctors for performing an abortion, making the procedure a Class A felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)](https://images.dailykos.com/images/729209/large/GettyImages-1145344226.jpg?1571419634 "ATLANTA, GA - MAY 21: People hold signs during a protest against recently passed abortion ban bills at the Georgia State Capitol building, on May 21, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Georgia "heartbeat" bill would ban abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected. The Alabama abortion law, signed by Gov. Kay Ivey last week, includes no exceptions for cases of rape and incest, outlawing all abortions except when necessary to prevent serious health problems for the woman. Though women are exempt from criminal and civil liability, the new law punishes doctors for performing an abortion, making the procedure a Class A felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)")
