Marie Curie vs. Masculine Science

The Madame Curie Complex, by historian Julie Des Jardins, challenges the prevailing notion that interest and aptitude are enough to rectify gender disparity in science. As she illustrates through a dozen or so profiles of women scientists from Marie Curie onward, when passion and genius take a woman’s shape, the male-dominated scientific community puts her in her place.

Philippine Condom Giveaway Hailed

Today, the Philippine Commission on the Status of Women hailed the Department of Health’s recent condom distribution program, responding to intense disapproval of the program from Malacañang Palace and the powerful Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

How We’re Doing: Women’s Wealth

According to the study, women of color are further disadvantaged by existing wage disparities (Hispanic and Native women linger on the bottom rung), lack of access to the “wealth escalator” (employment and tax benefits), the long-term debilitating effects of public assistance and being targeted by predatory lenders, among others.

Choosing Abortion in Utah May Be Criminal Act

The new “criminal homicide” law takes these a step further: Prior to its ratification, abortion providers alone were threatened with a felony for the provision of “illegal” abortions, but now women who obtain those “illegal” abortions can be charged with murder — as doing so constitutes an “intentional or knowing” act to cause the death of an “unborn child.”

The Verdict: Sex Tourism Gets 20 Years in Prison

Although U.S. federal law prohibits American citizens and nationals from engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors outside the U.S.–even mandating a 5-to-30-year prison sentence for perpetrators–international sex tourism is a growing industry, exacerbated by the global economic crisis, which has pushed scores of women and girls into the commercial sex trade.