Top Women's News to Cheer This Week

U.S. Congressman Joseph Crowley of New York is sponsoring a bill to outlaw transporting girls overseas to undergo female genital mutilation, reported YourNabe.com June 3. Federal lawmakers outlawed female cutting in the United States in 1996, but some immigrant families are sending their daughters to their homelands to have the ritual performed, reported the article. Crowley, a long-time advocate for women's rights, says this bill will close that loophole and punish violators with fines and up to five years in prison.

More News to Cheer This Week:
President Obama on June 2 extended a wider range of benefits to same-sex partners of eligible federal workers, including access to medical treatment, relocation assistance, credit unions and fitness centers, reported The Washington Post June 3. The move goes beyond a memo Obama signed in June 2009 permitting same-sex partners to use the government's long-term-care insurance and other fringe benefits. This insurance will become available for same-sex partners next month, reports the article. Obama isn't able to extend further benefits to same-sex partners based on federal law, the article reports, but he has reiterated his support for House and Senate legislation to grant all federal benefits to same-sex partners.

Following New Mexico's June 1 primaries, two women--Democrat Diane Denish and Republican Susana Martinez--will be facing off in November's gubernatorial election, reported Albuquerque's KOAT June 3. Their race marks the third time in U.S. history that two women will be running for governor of the same state. Martinez is also the first Hispanic woman nominated for governor by any major party in the country.
The first Saudi Domestic Violence Awareness Forum was held in London May 29-30, reported Arab News June 1. The two-day British event attracted more than 300 Saudi men and women and included six sessions about various medical, psychological, educational, legal and media point of views on family abuse cases.

A study in mice suggests that a preventative breast cancer vaccine might be possible in humans, reported HealthDay May 30. Women may begin taking part in the next stage of the research as soon as next year. If successful, the vaccine would be targeted at women over the age of 40, since the vaccine disrupts breastfeeding and because older women--who have a greater chance of developing breast cancer--are less likely to become pregnant.

Responding to concerns that sexual assault complaints have been mishandled by police in New York, a task force appointed by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly has recommended new training protocols for officers dealing with sex crime victims, reported The New York Times June 2. The new training emphasizes the police department's policies mandating that crime reports be taken and addresses the procedures and sensitivity required in dealing with victims of sex crimes.

Two candidates vying to be the first African American woman to represent Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives will face off in a July 13 runoff election, reported the Tuscaloosa News June 2. Terri Sewell and Sheila Smoot are running for the Democratic nomination for the state's 7th Congressional District. In the June 1 primary election, Sewell, in her first try for elected office, won 37 percent of the vote, while Smoot had 29 percent.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York announced its largest assignment to a minority and women-owned business enterprise underwriter in state history, according to a June 1 press release from the Dormitory Authority. The group selected an investment banking firm headed by a woman: M. R. Beal and Company. The firm's president is Donna Sims Wilson and its founder and CEO is Bernard B. Beal; both are African American.

As health reform regulations begin to take shape, Planned Parenthood has started a quiet campaign to ensure that birth control is counted among the free preventive services that health insurers must cover under the Affordable Care Act, reported Politico June 1.

New York on June 1 became the first state to pass legislation providing domestic workers with basic labor protections, including protection from discrimination and the right to bargain collectively, reported the radio station WAMC June 3. The Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights made it through the state's Senate in a 33-28 vote; it will be combined with a similar bill passed last year by the Assembly. If signed into law by Gov. David Paterson, the measure will require employers to offer New York's approximately 200,000 household workers paid holidays, overtime pay and sick days, reported AOL News June 3, and would serve as a model for the rest of the nation to protect this historically-excluded work force.

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