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Africa | Burundi | Crimes

Merck Wants To ‘Empower’ Infertile Women In Africa. Can Music Videos Help?

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In June, an unusual email arrived in the inbox of an NPR global health correspondent. The headline was: "Merck Foundation together with First Lady of Burundi release 'Plus Qu'une Mere' an empowering French Song as courtesy to all infertile women in Burundi and Africa." The email had a link to a video of a performance with an all-female choir. Wearing traditional African clothing printed with the Merck Foundation's logo, they sing a song with lyrics that encourage people not to blame women for infertility. They're performing before an audience of maybe a hundred people, most of them in
North America | United States | Corruption

FDA: Government Recommends Untested, Unlicensed Vaccines for Pregnant Women

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In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the FDA has admitted, for the first time, that government agencies, including the CDC, are recommending vaccines for pregnant women that have neither been licensed for pregnant mothers by FDA nor tested for safety in clinical trials. The lawsuit, filed by Children’s Health Defense (CHD) attorney, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on behalf of Informed Consent Action Network(ICAN), a vaccine safety advocacy group, sought all clinical trial data used by FDA to approve influenza vaccines for pregnant women. The FDA’s terse reply: “We
North America | United States | Corruption

CDC Official Steps Down After Coca-Cola ILSI Scandal Comes to Light

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Two days after it was revealed that a veteran leader within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was assisting Coca-Cola and International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) in influencing world health authorities on issues related to sugar and beverage policy, Dr. Barbara Bowman has now stepped down from her position. Dr. Barbara Bowman, the disgraced former director of the CDC’s division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention began working with the CDC in 1992 and has since been involved with a number of different initiatives within that division which is charged with providing �
International | Corruption

IMF’s Christine Lagarde: “When The World Goes Downhill, We Thrive”

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When we wrote earlier that based on a leaked Wikileaks transcript, which the Greek government interpreted “as revealing an IMF effort to blackmail Athens with a possible credit event to force it to give in on pension cuts which it has rejected”, the article promptly went viral. While it remains to be determined if the IMF indeed made such an implied threat, we attribute this spike in interest to the general public’s surprise that the IMF could stoop to such a low, even by its own standards, level as to use a nation of 11 million people as a lab rat on which to conduct policy experiments.
North America | United States | Ethics

Air Force pilot-turned-congresswoman in dogfight for WWII air women

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Air Force fighter pilot-turned-congresswoman Martha McSally is in a dogfight for a generation of female aviators who paved the runway for her, but not even the president can help, according to a top Pentagon official. The Arizona Republican, who became the first female fighter pilot in U.S. history to fly in combat and command a fighter squadron, is battling to win a place in Arlington National Cemetery for some 1,000 women who flew non-combat missions during World War II. At a House hearing Wednesday, she pressed the acting secretary of the U.S. Army on why President Obama has not taken ac
Middle East | Israel | Ethics

Israeli Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked, going after left-wing human rights organizations

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Israeli Minister of Jusice Ayelet Shaked is known to be a supporter of orthodox, right-wing policies. At the beginning of her tenure as Minister in May, she ordered investigations into Israeli left-wing and human-rights organizations, alleging that they do not report all of their donations properly. She did not make the same demands of any right-wing or Orthodox groups. Shaked’s activity is being criticized due to the fact that she herself received donations to her political campaign in the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign sources, in addition to receiving donat
South Asia | India | Career

Women auto drivers bravely fight all odds in Chennai to work

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This story is not about ordinary women, but the ones who fearlessly fight gender inequality everyday. Chennai, known as the gateway to South India, also acted as a gateway towards women empowerment. Since March 2014, hundreds of women have started driving auto rickshaws in the city. The count is increasing at a fast pace as the passengers feel safe travelling with them. But with such great initiative comes obstacles. This move has threatened male auto rickshaw drivers and their income. Out of anger, male auto drivers harass these women drivers. But these sneers from the male auto driv
North America | United States | Activism

Beth Clarkson, Kansas statistician, suing the state to obtain election records, says voting results don’t add up

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A university mathematician found something that didn't add up, and now she's suing the state of Kansas to make sure every vote counts. Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson requested Sedgwick County release election records for the recent election. This week, Secretary of State Kris Kobach asked a judge to block that request. Clarkson said the election results in some counties, including Johnson County, are impossible to audit. During a celebration for the 95th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Clarkson said, “If we’re not bei
International | Ethics

Why More Women in Law Enforcement Means a More Just and Peaceful World

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When I was 11, my family visited Washington, D.C., and the absolute highlight of the trip was a tour of FBI Headquarters. Without giving away the "state secret" of my age, suffice it to say that J. Edgar Hoover was very much alive and also the Director of the FBI at the time. I asked the guide a question that day that turned out to be quite prescient: "Can girls be FBI agents?" His response: "No, because girls would spend all their time painting their nails." At that tender age, encouraged by parents who told me I had no limits in life, I recognized how incredible his response was. Fifteen
Middle East | Palestine | Corruption

Family members deny Gaza women their inheritances

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Many Palestinian women are being deprived of their inheritances in the Gaza Strip, and the problem is widespread and growing, especially among families who own land. Amina Hassan (a pseudonym) and her three sisters say they became the victims of their brother, who seized most of their real estate inheritance. Amina, who lives in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, told Al-Monitor she and her sisters have been suffering from social and financial problems ever since their brother stole their inheritance in 2007 and they initiated legal procedures to claim it in 2008. She said, �
Latin America | Brazil | Culture

For generations, these Brazilian women harvested the sea, but industry threatens their way of life

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Journalist Zoe Sullivan spent months documenting a small community ofmarisqueiras living south of Recife on the eastern coast of Brazil. Marisqueiras are women who harvest mollusks, crabs and other shellfish from the waters of Brazil's coastal mangrove swamps. It's an occupation they've pursued for generations. But the steady expansion of a nearby port and industrial complex is threatening their livelihoods and their health. We asked Zoe about these women and the challenges they're facing.
North America | United States | Business

10 Women-Friendly Tech Startups

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Ten startups released numbers showing how women-friendly they are, as part of the launch of San Francisco startup Doxa. We’re talking pay gaps, percentage of women at the company (and in tech and leadership), maternity leave, and who gets promoted. Doxa‘s goal is to help women find equitable places to work that fit their personality. Women can take a personality test and browse company profiles not just by women-friendliness, but also by factors like hours and vacation days, happiness and interconnectedness, average tenure and upward mobility, amount of busy work and meetings per week,
Middle East | Israel | Ethics

Israel’s culture minister threatens left-wing artists

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In the few weeks that have passed since she became the minister of culture and sports, Miri Regev, who is a member of the ruling Likud party, has been attacking specific artists and shows. “We won the election and you lost so I can decide that none of your institutions will get any funds,” Regev said recently at a meeting with a few of the leading directors of Israeli theaters. She also added that it is “under my authority to decide where the money goes and I can forward all available funds to the settlements or only certain towns if I wish to.” If artists rebel against her pri
North America | United States | Corruption

Did NAACP president lie about her race? City investigates

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The City of Spokane announced Thursday it's investigating whether the president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP violated the city's code of ethics in her application to serve on the citizen police ombudsman commission. Rachel Dolezal serves as chair of the independent commission, in addition to her work as an adjunct faculty member at Eastern Washington University and president of the NAACP local chapter. On her application to serve on the commission, she identified herself as African-American. But public records, including Dolezal's own birth certificate, list her biological parents as

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