North America - July 2005

Pharmacist Says Order Violates Ethics. [United States] A pharmacist has filed a lawsuit alleging the Illinois governor's order to pharmacies to dispense emergency birth control violates ethical beliefs.

Mandatory Contraceptive Prescriptions Eyed. [United States] When she went to a CVS pharmacy in Carlisle, Pa., to fill a prescription for Plan B emergency contraceptive, Rachel said she was shocked to learn that the store would not distribute the drugs on moral grounds.

New Justice Should Emulate Court's First Woman. [United States] Twenty-four years ago, many of us probably jumped to the conclusion that we already knew how Sandra Day O'Connor would be remembered in history: the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

O'Connor Retirement Sparks NOW March. [United States] The president of the National Organization for Women declared a "state of emergency" for women's rights and planned a march on the state Capitol as news of Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement reverberated through the group's annual convention. NOW president Kim Gandy told about 800 NOW members that women need to send a message that they won't tolerate "extremist" judges who set back women's rights.

Feminists on O'Connor: A Mixed Verdict. [United States] Surely your average successful lawyer has faced this dilemma: give up a career or take care of the family. But not the Chief Woman Lawyer of America -- she shouldn't quit to take care of her family, should she? What kind of message does that send?

When It Comes to Governing, Do as We Say, Not as We Do. [United States] In the recent Iraqi election, a quota system forced political parties to place a woman in every third slot of their candidate rosters, guaranteeing women 30% representation in the new Iraqi Assembly. The U.S. stacks up very poorly against this percentage of women in elected national government. Women, on average, represent 15.2% of elected officials around the world; in this same world, American women hold only 14.7% of the seats in Congress, placing the U.S. on a par with Malawi and Sierra Leone.

Women Taking Charge of Retirement Purse Strings, Sort of. [United States] Today, most women no longer have a choice about whether to manage their money. They have money, and almost all of them will have to handle that money without a man at some point in their lives.

Elite Literary Club, Voice for Women for 125 Years. [United States] The Causeries du Lundi is one of the oldest women's literary societies in the U.S. It is both a relic of a vanishing New York and a poignant reflection of the lives women have led over the past century and a quarter.

Women Don't Mind a Man Losing Hair. [United States] Almost half U.S. women do not mind if a man is losing his hair, but 99 percent are against comb-overs, a new survey has found.

Benign Breast Lumps As Harbingers. [United States] The discovery of a lump in a woman's breast often turns out to be from something other than breast cancer, but it can be a sign that a woman is at higher risk of developing the disease. And new research suggests that certain lumps carry higher risks than others.

Margaret Atwood. [Canada] Poet, novelist, and critic, noted for her feminism and mythological themes. Atwood's work has been regarded as a barometer of feminist thought. Her latest book, Oryx and Crake, wonders how humanity will adapt if progress continues unchecked -- the world warms, multinationals prosper, society schisms, and science stays one small leap ahead of morality.

Racism Hurts Nurses. [Canada] Toronto's visible minority nurses may face backlash from their co-workers and superiors if they don't accept an increased work-load and extra shift work, and non-minority nurses benefit from such "systemic racist practices", said a study released by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

Women and Globalization Conference. [Mexico] Agenda includes Globalization and its Effects on Women; Transnational Feminism; Women's Activism against Corporate Globalization and for Women's Empowerment; Globalization, the Environment and Women; plus over 60 papers by scholars and activists.

United Students for Fair Trade. [Mexico] The Fair Trade and Women's Issues Delegation to Chiapas will learn about the impact of corporate-centered globalization on communities in southern Mexico, with a special focus on women's issues, and meet with women's organizations to better understand how these organizations function in their political, social and economic context, examine the role that women play in the movement for social justice and fair trade, and create strategies that strengthen solidarity between people working for social and economic justice on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Fall of Raymoth Notice. [Jamaica] Bruce Golding and the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) scored a noteworthy victory for decency and accountability when they accepted the resignation of their alleged wife-beating Spanish Town Mayor Raymoth Notice.