North America

Women in the Workplace – the Trend is Reversing.  [United States] For four decades, the number of women entering the workplace grew at a blistering pace, fostering a powerful cultural and economic transformation of American society.  But since the mid-1990s, the growth in the percentage of adult women working outside the home has stalled, even slipping somewhat in the last five years, leaving it at a rate well below that of men, various studies show.  While the change has been under way for a while, it was initially viewed by many specialists as simply a pause in the longer-term movement of women into the workforce.  But now, social scientists are engaged in a heated debate over whether the gender revolution at work may be over.  Is this shift evidence for the popular notion that many mothers are again deciding that they prefer to stay at home and take care of their children?  Maybe, but many researchers are coming to a different conclusion: Women are not choosing to stay out of the labor force because of a change in attitudes, they say.  Rather, the broad reconfiguration of women's lives that allowed most of them to pursue jobs outside the home appears to be hitting some serious limits.  Since the 1960s, tens of millions of women rejiggered bits of their lives, extracting more time to accommodate jobs and careers from every nook and cranny of the day.  They married later and had fewer children.  They turned to labor-saving machines and paid others to help handle household work; they persuaded the men in their lives to do more chores.  At the peak in 2000, some 77 percent of women between 25 and 54 were in the workforce.  Further changes, though, are proving harder to achieve, stretching the daily challenge facing many mothers at nearly all income levels toward a breaking point.  "What happened on the road to gender equality?" said Suzanne Bianchi, a sociologist at the University of Maryland.  "A lot of work happened."

Miss. House Committee Votes to Ban Most Abortions.  [United States] A Mississippi House committee voted Tuesday to ban most abortions in the state - an unexpected move that left abortion opponents grappling to stake out a position on a proposal that could prompt a lengthy court battle.   The only abortions allowed under the bill would be if the life of the pregnant woman were in danger.  There would be no abortions allowed in cases of pregnancy caused by rape or incest.  It's similar to a bill that South Dakota lawmakers passed last week.  House Public Health Chairman Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, persuaded his committee to put the abortion restrictions into a Senate bill that was originally written to require that sonograms be performed early in pregnancy so the woman could hear a fetal heartbeat.  Holland said he brought up the near ban on abortion because he's tired of piecemeal attempts to add new restrictions year after year.  He said he woke up about 3 a.m. Tuesday and decided to introduce his proposal, and he only told two House staff members about his plans before he made the move.  "I have a strong dilemma within myself on this," Holland said.  "I can only impregnate. I can't get pregnant myself."
Barbour Says He'd Likely Sign Bill to Ban Most Abortions in Miss. [United States] Republican Gov. Haley Barbour said Wednesday that he likely would sign a bill to ban most abortions in Mississippi if it's approved by lawmakers.  The state already has some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation.  The bill that passed the House Public Health Committee on Tuesday would allow abortion only to save the pregnant woman's life.  It would make no exception in cases of rape or incest.  South Dakota lawmakers passed a similar bill last week that was intended to provoke a court showdown over the legality of abortion.  Responding to questions about whether he'd sign a bill with no exceptions for rape or incest, Barbour said:  "It hasn't gotten to my desk yet.  When one gets there, we'll find out, and I suspect I'll sign it.  But I would certainly rather it come to my desk with an exception for rape and incest.  I think that's consistent with the opinion of the vast majority of Mississippians and Americans."  The bill goes to the full House, which could vote next week.  Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, said he believes it will pass the House and move to the Senate.  McCoy told The Associated Press that although he opposes abortion, he always has been willing to make an exception for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.  "As I live longer and longer, the harder and harder it has become for me to accept abortion, period," McCoy said.
Abortion Battle Lines Drawn in Mississippi.  [United States] Politicians in the US state of Mississippi are pushing forward with plans to ban abortion.  The anti-abortion movement says it feels the climate is right for change.  In Mississippi 4000 abortions are performed every year in the state's one remaining clinic.  Mississippi lawmakers hope their legislation could reach the US Supreme Court  The Jackson Women's Health Organisation is an anonymous enough building in the heart of strip mall America.  Anonymous save for the permanent protest outside.  Arriving here is an intimidating, even shocking, experience.  Anti-abortion campaigners hold up enormous and gruesome pictures of aborted foetuses.  They stop every car going into the car park and try to persuade those inside to wind down their windows and take their literature.  The women going into this clinic for an abortion are screamed at.  One protester, a man, yells "Don't go to those demons, don't let them take your money, don't let them kill your baby".  When I ask him why he is being so aggressive, he tells me it's because America needs to know the truth: "Abortion is murder," he says.
Abortion Showdown Looms.  [United States] Accused for years of crying wolf, American pro-choice advocates have just seen their worst fears come true.  Last week, South Dakota became the first U.S. state to sign into law a sweeping ban on virtually all abortions.  It makes no exception for cases of rape or incest.  A woman's life, not just her health, must be in jeopardy.  It is just one of 12 states rushing to process similar legislation.  The moves are all deliberately aimed at provoking a legal showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over its landmark 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that gave women the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.  Activists are outraged by South Dakota's pre-emptive move, but far from surprised.  The threat to abortion rights has been looming on the horizon ever since U.S. President George W. Bush walked into the White House, they say.  It was only ever a question of when.  But many ordinary Americans, assuming that access to abortion, regardless of constant pro-life attacks, was a done deal legally, were stunned by the ban and the domino effect it has already ignited.

Tennessee Senate Wades Into Abortion Fight.   [United States] The state Senate on Thursday passed a proposal to amend the Tennessee Constitution so that it doesn't guarantee a woman's right to an abortion.   The 24-9 vote was the first step of many toward officially amending the state constitution.  The measure would go before voters if the General Assembly approves it twice over the next two years.  The state Supreme Court has ruled that the Tennessee Constitution grants women a greater right to abortion than the U.S. Constitution.   Abortion rights supporters are attacking the measure as a stepping stone to prohibiting all abortions in Tennessee if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark abortion decision in Roe v. Wade.  "The resolution is an all-out attack on the women of Tennessee and seeks to rob women of their right to make choices about their own health, safety and personal welfare," said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.
Court Lets Tennessee Issue Anti-Abortion Plates.  [United States] A federal appeals court Friday allowed Tennessee to offer anti- abortion license plates bearing the message "Choose Life."  The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee previously won a ruling from a lower court that said the tag illegally promoted only one side of the abortion debate.  "Although this exercise of government one-sidedness with respect to a very contentious political issue may be ill-advised, we are unable to conclude that the Tennessee statute contravenes the First Amendment," Judge John M. Rogers said in a 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.  Fights over what can and cannot be emblazoned on Louisiana license plates date to 1999, when lawmakers easily approved the anti-abortion "Choose Life" plate, available for an extra $25, with the revenue dedicated to agencies that help pregnant women put their babies up for adoption.  Abortion rights proponents complained the state does not offer those with other political views a similar way to express them.  An attempt to create a "Choose Choice" tag failed in the Legislature in 2002.
Battle Begins to Overturn S. Dakota Abortion Law.  [United States] Abortion rights supporters planned to launch an attack on Friday on a new South Dakota abortion law designed as a direct challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion 33 years ago.  South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican, signed the law, widely considered the most restrictive in the nation, about two weeks ago.  The measure bans nearly all abortions, even in cases of incest and rape, and says that if a woman's life is in jeopardy, doctors must try to save the life of the fetus as well as the woman.  An abortion rights coalition, South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families, said it would lay out its strategy to take down the law in mid-morning news conferences in Sioux Falls and Rapid City.  Abortion opponents have been counting on a legal challenge to the law and hope that the case could eventually take the intensely divisive issue all the way back to the U.S. Supreme Court.  With two conservative justices recently appointed, and Republican President George W. Bush expected to get at least one more appointment before leaving office, abortion opponents believe the court would be primed to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established the right to abortion.  But officials with Planned Parenthood, which operates the only clinics in South Dakota that provide abortions, said a lawsuit may not be filed immediately.

Two More Deaths Reported After Abortion Pill.  [United States] Two new deaths have been reported after women took the abortion pill known as RU-486 but officials do not know if the fatalities are connected to the drug, U.S. regulators said on Friday.  "At this time we are investigating all circumstances associated with these cases and are not able to confirm the causes of death," the Food and Drug Administration said in an advisory to the public.  Four previously reported deaths were linked to complications from a bacterial infection that developed after the women took the abortion pill, which is sold by privately held Danco Laboratories.  In the two new cases, it is unknown if the women had bacterial infections, and if so, whether they were infected with the same rare bacterium identified in the earlier deaths.  The bacterium is called Clostridium sordelli. RU-486, also known as Mifeprex or mifepristone, is approved for terminating a pregnancy of 49 days or less.  Another drug, misoprostol, is given two days later to complete the abortion.  The RU-486 label warns about the possibility of serious or even fatal infections, which also can happen after surgical abortions.  In its alert issued Friday, the FDA urged physicians to be aware of the possibility of infection following RU-486 and to consider giving antibiotics if symptoms appear.  The agency also cautioned against use of unapproved dosing regimens.  The four earlier deaths occurred after women were given misoprostol vaginally, rather than orally.  The approved regimen calls for oral administration of both drugs.
Abortion Protests.  [United States] Leslee Unruh, the South Dakota anti-abortion protester highlighted in the article Abortion Firestorm In Heartland America (March 11) claims that most women who terminate pregnancies regret it.  In fact, most women who terminate an unwanted pregnancy have mixed emotions, including tremendous relief.  But the real devil here is in the details: Ms. Unruh has had an abortion.  At 51, she is not going to need another.  This woman was able to do what she felt best with her body and her pregnancy because the procedure she chose was safe and legal.  Now she wants to make sure no one else has this same right.  The hypocrisy is mind-boggling.
Notification Law Cut Teen Abortions.  [United States] Abortion rates declined significantly among Texas girls -- though some got riskier abortions later in pregnancy -- after the state enacted a parental notification law, researchers say.  The findings could have a strong influence on the abortion debate.  Texas is the biggest of 35 states that require minors to notify their parents or get their consent before obtaining an abortion, although a judge can usually grant a waiver.  Researchers at Baruch College at City University of New York studied the records of teen abortions and births for the two years before the Texas law took effect on January 1, 2000, and for three years afterward.   Abortion rates dropped for girls ages 15 through 18, even though the 18-year-olds were not subject to the law.  But the drop was more pronounced among the younger girls.  Their rates fell 11 percent to 20 percent more than the rate among the 18-year-olds did.
Scant Drop Seen in Abortion Rate if Parents Are Told.  [United States] For all the passions they generate, laws that require minors to notify their parents or get permission to have an abortion do not appear to have produced the sharp drop in teenage abortion rates that some advocates hoped for, an analysis by The New York Times shows. The analysis, which looked at six states that introduced parental involvement laws in the last decade and is believed to be the first study to include data from years after 1999, found instead a scattering of divergent trends. For instance, in Tennessee, the abortion rate went down when a federal court suspended a parental consent requirement, then rose when the law went back into effect. In Texas, the rate fell after a notification law went into effect, but not as fast as it did in the years before the law. In Virginia , the rate barely moved when the state introduced a notification law in 1998, but fell after the requirement was changed to parental consent in 2003. Since the United States Supreme Court recognized states' rights to restrict abortion in 1992, parental involvement legislation has been a cornerstone in the effort to reduce abortions. Such laws have been a focus of divisive election campaigns, long court battles and grass-roots activism, and are now in place in 34 states. Most Americans say they favor them. "It's one of the few areas that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed states to legislate, so it's become a key for lowering the abortion rate," said Mary Spaulding Balch, director of state legislation for the National Right to Life Committee. Ms. Balch said she believed that consent laws were effective. Yet the Times analysis of the states that enacted laws from 1995 to 2004 — most of which had low abortion rates to begin with — found no evidence that the laws had a significant impact on the number of minors who got pregnant, or, once pregnant, the number who had abortions.
Blogger's Post of Abortion Instructions Troubles Both Sides of Volatile Debate.  [United States] A feminist blogger has posted explicit directions online for a surgical abortion, in reaction to the new South Dakota law all but banning the procedure.  Her action troubles activists on both sides of the issue: Is it a harbinger of a return to the era of secret, illegal abortions?  At her "Molly Saves the Day" weblog, the 21-year-old Florida resident uses the pseudonym Molly Blythe.  Given the volitility of the abortion debate, she requested that her real name and city of residence not be used in this story.  In an interview, the blogger said South Dakota's recent ban on abortion -- even in cases of rape and incest -- prompted her post, "For the Women of South Dakota: An Abortion Manual."  The blogger, who has no medical background, said she has been compiling instructions for several years.  She observed an actual abortion, interviewed providers and read medical texts, she said.  She posted directions for a dilation and curettage -- or D and C -- abortion, and plans to next place online the steps for a vacuum aspiration abortion.  "If anyone has a problem with this and they don't think non-doctors should perform medical procedures, there's a simple way to guarantee that won't happen: Make sure Roe v. Wade is not overturned," she said, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

Utah Girl Wins Science Competition.  [United States] A Utah girl won a prestigious science competition Tuesday for analyzing how to protect water quality by improving environmental buffers and changing daily behavior. Shannon Babb of Highland, Utah, earned a $100,000 college scholarship in the 2006 Intel Science Talent Search.  Babb, who attends American Fork High School, spent six months studying the Spanish Fork River drainage system to assess the effects of human and animal behavior.  The 18-year-old concluded that pollution runoff can be reduced by fortifying and replanting the banks along the river, reducing animal grazing in those areas, directing runoff into settling ponds, and educating people about how to discard household chemicals.  Over the competition's 65-year history, winners have gone on to earn more than 100 of the world's most coveted honors, including six Nobel Prizes.  Intel has sponsored the event since 1998.
Suit Seeks to Save Women's College.  [United States] Amid the continuing debate over the role of women's education in American colleges, six Tulane University alumnae and nine students filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block the school from dismantling a historic women's college as part of a sweeping restructuring plan launched after Hurricane Katrina.  The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, seeks an injunction blocking Tulane from closing its 120-year-old H.  Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, one of the nation's first degree-granting colleges for women.  The suit also seeks to bar the university from tinkering with Newcomb's endowment, which has been estimated at $40 million and is separate from Tulane's $745-million endowment.  The lawsuit accuses Tulane, one of the most important institutions in Louisiana and the largest private employer in New Orleans, of violating the terms of the contract that established Newcomb.  Josephine Louise Newcomb made the original donation in 1886, establishing a school that would be a "work of the spirit" for young women and naming the institution for her daughter, H. Sophie, who had died as a teenager.
Women Out-Perform Men in NCAA Graduation Rates.  [United States] There you have it.  Women are smarter than men.  That's one possible conclusion you can draw from a study released Wednesday by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.  The study, which examined the graduation rates for teams headed to the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, shows that women's basketball players do far better academically than men's basketball players.  Ninety-five percent of the women's teams graduated half of their players.  Only 64 percent of the men's teams did the same.  "I think part of the divergence is that women have always been told that to achieve success in a male-dominated world that they have to be better than men," said Richard Lapchick, the Institute's director and the study's principal author.  "Part of being better, part of working harder, is in the classroom."  Lapchick stopped well short of saying the study shows women are smarter than men.  So did Jack Kahn, a psychology professor at Curry College in Milton, Mass., and the co-chair of the Boston chapter of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism.  He said men, in general, are taking a dimmer view of reading, writing, analyzing and conceptualizing then women.  "I think what you're seeing is a national trend of women being more engaged in college than men are," Kahn said.  "One of the things that we see, which is unfortunate, is that men seem to view the activities that are associated with college are not masculine."
Pentagon Seeks to Explain Rise in Sexual Assault Reports.  [United States] Defense Department officials are touting a jump in reports of sexual assaults in the military as a sign that new victim confidentiality policies are working, and as an indication that more victims are coming forward for medical treatment and counseling. But outside experts are more skeptical of the 40 percent increase in incidents reported in 2005. They say more time is needed to show that the military's cultural attitude toward sexual abuse is truly shifting. The second annual report mandated by Congress on the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, released earlier this week, found that in 2005, there were 2,374 reports of sexual assault involving a service member as a victim or perpetrator, up from 1,700 in 2004.
Top Firms for Female Executives Cited by NY Group.  [United States] A women's group released its list on Monday of top U.S. workplaces for female executives, from Bon Secours Richmond Health System, where four-fifths of employees are women, to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where everyone reporting directly to the top executive is female.  Rounding out the top 10 were Colgate-Palmolive Co., Federated Department Stores Inc., General Mills, IBM Corp., Inova Health System, Marriott International Inc., Merck & Co. Inc. and Principal Financial Group, according to the National Association for Female Executives.   "We do this list so that women can look at it, they can see what the numbers are at these companies and make their choices wisely," said Betty Spence, president of NAFE.
Buzz-Worthy Female Roles Once Again in Short Supply.  [United States] It's easy to forget that Hollywood was once a woman's town -- a town owned by the Avas, Ritas and Lanas.  But the truth is that these days it is the Toms and Clints, the Heaths and Joaquins, even the Philip Seymours who rule the industry roost.  And as we move from red carpet to red carpet during this awards season, it is clear that the way this year's most admired films tell it, men alone are doing the world's -- and the film industry's -- heavy lifting.  They are discovering America ("The New World") and each other ("Brokeback Mountain ").  They are searching out terrorists in "Munich," wheeling and dealing in the Middle East ("Syriana"), and bringing down McCarthy at home ("Good Night, and Good Luck").  They are writing dark, important books ("Capote") and even harpooning the big beast ("King Kong").  But what of the women?  Where have they gone?  For the most part, the current fare seems to be channeling the 1950s, with female characters offered up only as accessories -- ornamental but unnecessary.  And so, in the movies with muscle, we see them as nurturing friends ("Capote"), neglected wives ("Brokeback Mountain," "Syriana"), pregnant helpmeets ("Munich") and objects of lust ("Match Point," "King Kong").  Has even one heroine turned up this season who is as compelling as, say, a penguin?
Study Warns Women About Spring Break.  [United States] The American Medical Association is warning girls not to go wild during spring break. All but confirming what goes on in those "Girls Gone Wild" videos, 83 percent of college women and graduates surveyed by the AMA said spring break involves heavier-than-usual drinking, and 74 percent said the break results in increased sexual activity. The women's answers were based both on firsthand experience and the experiences of friends and acquaintances. Sizable numbers reported getting sick from drinking, and blacking out and engaging in unprotected sex or sex with more than one partner, activities that increase their risks for sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. The AMA is trying to call attention to underage drinking among women because their bodies process alcohol differently and put them at greater risk for health problems, Dr. J. Edward Hill, AMA's president, said Tuesday. The AMA-commissioned online survey queried a nationwide random sample of 644 college women or graduates ages 17 to 35 last week.
'Sexiest Woman': Scarlett Johansson.  [United States] Scarlett Johansson tops a lovely list of the "100 Sexiest Women in the World," in a poll of readers by FHM magazine.  "One of the best things for a woman to hear is that she is sexy," the 21-year-old actress, star of "Match Point" and "Lost in Translation," said in a statement.  "I'd like to thank FHM's readers for the huge compliment."  Angelina Jolie is No. 2 on the list, followed by Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson, Keira Knightley, Halle Berry, Jenny McCarthy, Maria Sharapova, Carmen Electra and Teri Hatcher.  Johansson ranked ninth on last year's list.   Jolie was No. 1  "It's remarkable how Scarlett Johansson has caught the attention of our readers," said Scott Gramling, the magazine's U.S. editor in chief, in a statement.  "Her sultry voice and striking beauty certainly have a lot to do with that, but so does the confidence she exudes."
Everyone Seems to Know What Women Want, Until You Check the Research.  [United States] What exactly do women want out of life?  Regardless of the complexity of the question, the answers are readily available by the hundreds.  All you have to do is pick up a magazine, newspaper or "self-help" book and it will be revealed, neatly simplified, packaged and made readily digestible for a readership with an apparently insatiable curiosity about the desires and needs of women.  But how accurate are those answers?  More to the point, how reliable is the research upon which they are based?  In her new book "Are Men Necessary?" (Putman, $25.95, 352 pages), New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd writes about "an epidemic of professional women missing out on husbands and kids."  But a University of Michigan study shows that the percentage of married women with advanced degrees has grown, not shrunk, over time.  Time magazine, in a March 2004 cover piece, found that more and more women were leaving high-powered jobs to raise children, but the Center for Economic Policy has debunked the "opt-out" trend, stating that the number of highly paid women in the labor market has remained steady over the past few years.
How Many More Women Must We Mourn?  [Canada] "Wife, 2 children, slain in beds," read a headline last week, followed by an all-too-familiar subhead: "Husband charged with three murders."  In the same week that the United Nations invited us to celebrate International Women's Day, we are reminded of the shameful reality that many women in Canada fear for their lives in their own homes.  The statistics are grim, but lest the murders of Wendy, Victoria and Jesse LaFleche be interpreted as a tragic rare occurrence, they bear repeating:  One in four women in Canada will fall victim to abuse by an intimate partner.  Our health-care system will spend $1.5 billion treating abused women.  Three to six women are murdered each month by their current or former partners in Ontario.  At Family Service Association of Toronto, we work with abused women who are making difficult and courageous choices about how to deal with violence from their male partners.  We assist women who have been abused to find safety and rebuild their lives.  But sometimes our support is limited to helping women be as safe as they can while continuing in an abusive relationship.  This is not because these women are foolish or masochistic.  It is because they fear for their children, because they cannot afford to live separately, because of strong cultural beliefs about keeping family together and potential isolation by their extended family, or because they know that they may be killed or injured by their partner as a result of leaving.
Women Still Scarce in Boardrooms.  [Canada] There is a "glacial" rate of change in the gender makeup of the corporate boardrooms of Canada's largest 500 companies, suggests a report released yesterday by research group Catalyst.  In 2005, women held only 12% of all board seats among FP500 companies, up from 11.2% in 2003.  Nearly half of all the FP500 companies (47.2%) still had no women on their boards.  "We're continuing to see a slow rate of change," said Sonya Kunkel, senior director, at Toronto-based Catalyst Canada. "Certainly the percentage of women board directors currently doesn't reflect women's influence and impact on the Canadian economy as wage earners, as managers, professionals, consumers and so on.  "To see more substantial change really requires the number of companies with women board directors to increase and that companies realize that having only one woman on their board is not enough."  In 2005, the number of companies with a critical mass of women in the boardroom (25% or more) increased by only one, to 63 companies.  Laurie Milton, associate dean, graduate programs, at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business, has been studying corporate boardrooms since about 1994 and said the pace of change has been "incredibly slow."
Canadian Turcotte Earns Gold Medal in Women's Weightlifting.  [Canada] Maryse Turcotte of Brossard, Que., won a gold medal in the 53-kilogram class of women's weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games on Friday.  Turcotte finished first with a Games-record 188-kilogram total.  She lifted 80 kilograms in the snatch, then had a Games-record 108-kilogram effort in the clean and jerk.  Dika Toua of Papua, New Guinea was second at 181 kilograms (78 in the snatch, 103 in the clean and jerk) while Australia's Nadeen Latif captured the bronze medal at 152 kilograms (66 in the snatch, 86 in the clean and jerk).  Turcotte's medal was Canada's second in weightlifting at these Games.  Marilou Dozois-Prevost of Montreal won silver in the 48-kilogram class on Thursday, Canada's first medal of this competition.  Turcotte, 31, won two gold and a silver at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, where women's weightlifting made its debut.  The veteran lifter, who took up the sport in high school after handing out medals at a competition, is a 12-time Canadian champion and has competed at every senior world championship since 1995, never finishing out of the top-10.
Rape Victims Denied Abortions.  [Mexico] State officials across Mexico routinely deny rape victims legally allowed access to safe abortions, a human rights group reported Tuesday.  The study by the New York-based Human Rights Watch was presented three years after Mexico drew international criticism when a teenage rape victim was denied an abortion and brought her case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Little has changed since then, the report said.  "Again and again, we are finding the same cases of women going through the first trauma of being raped and then going through another trauma at the hands of government officials," study author Marianne Mollmann said.  Titled "The Second Assault: Obstructing Access to Legal Abortion in Mexico," the 92-page report was based on interviews with more than 100 lawyers, doctors, officials and rape victims across the country.  It cited the case of a 12-year-old rape victim from a village in southern Mexico who was denied an abortion despite repeated requests by her and a social worker who tried to help her.  "I went to the health centers linked to Social Security. I went to the public hospital. I went to the offices of those in charge," the social worker, Hilda Chavez, said in the report.  "Everyone turned their back.  They said: 'It is not possible.'"  Mexican law permits abortion in all 31 states and the capital, Mexico City, for women who have been raped or whose health is in danger because of a pregnancy.  But in 29 states, there are no clear legal or administrative guidelines on how to guarantee access to safe and legal abortions, the report said.
Sex Dolls Fight Machismo. [Mexico] The ads feature dolls, dressed as secretaries and maids, who have to put up with leering and groping from male colleagues. Officials say the aim of the campaign is to make clear that women are not sexual objects. President Vicente Fox acknowledged on Wednesday that Mexico has to do more to overcome widespread machismo. "Our society still has a long way to go in overcoming hangovers from the past, eradicating prejudice and changing habits," he said. However, Mr Fox has himself caused offence recently by joking that women were just "washing machines with two legs". The launch of the campaign, which also includes billboards and radio ads, coincided with International Women's Day on Wednesday. It is scheduled to run until mid-April. "No woman should be treated like an object. Sexual harassment is degrading and it's a crime," says a voice-over at the end of the TV ad. Correspondents say machismo runs deep in Mexico, where it is common for men to have mistresses, and in some cases, set them up in a second home. Women generally earn less than male colleagues and have fewer opportunities for promotion - inappropriate behaviour toward them is said to be relatively frequent. Mexican officials have also acknowledged that the country still has a problem with domestic violence against women.

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