I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Photo by Roger H. Goun
Much has been made of Obama’s “team of rivals” selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. But little has been said so far about what impact this prominent feminist and health care expert could have on the lives of women in other countries. But women’s rights activists say they’re extremely hopeful about the changes that Clinton will bring.
The president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, blogged today about how she believes Sen. Clinton will improve the lives of women worldwide through her new job as secretary of state. It’s something that’s been almost entirely overlooked by the mainstream media:
The selection of Senator Clinton represents an important first step down a new path for American foreign policy — an enormous shift represented by the selection of a champion of women’s health and rights to be in charge of American foreign policy. …
Senator Clinton understands that improving the status of women is not simply a moral imperative; it is necessary to building democracies around the globe. Improving the status of women is key to creating stable families, stable communities, and stable countries. Women’s ability to control the size of their families, regardless of economics, nationality, or culture, has a direct impact on their economic well-being and that of their children. Senator Clinton understands that women’s quality of life directly affects the major issues confronting the globe: national security, environmental sustainability, and global poverty.
In a speech that, by the standards of the Bush administration, sounds positively radical, Clinton addressed the Cairo Plus Five Forum at the Hague in 1999, saying, “Women’s reproductive health and empowerment are critical to a nation’s sustainability and growth … we now know that no nation can hope to succeed in the global economy of the 21st century if half of its people lack the opportunity and the right to make the most of their God-given potential. No nation can move forward when its women and children are trapped in endless cycles of poverty; when they have inadequate health care, poor access to family planning, limited education.”
And by “almost entirely overlooked,” I mean by everyone except today’s Boston Globe:
“This is a new opportunity. We’re very optimistic,” said Daphne Jayasinghe, Amnesty International’s acting advocacy director for Europe/Central Asia and violence against women. The human rights group is pushing for ratification of a UN document calling for an end to gender discrimination, as well as programs to counter violence against women and girls.
…Women’s rights advocates are confident that Obama will lift the so-called “Global Gag Rule,” a US law that prohibits American government funds from going to organizations that perform or “actively promote” abortion as a family planning option. The law was imposed under former President Reagan, lifted by former President Clinton, and reinstated by President Bush.
Further, the human rights groups are hoping for a more assertive approach by the new administration to stop mass rapes of women in war, and a more vocal stance against such practices as genital mutilation and forced marriages for girls.
