North America April 2006

Why Some Districts are `Female Friendly' in Congressional Races. [United States] Of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, 67 are women -- far more than were there five decades ago but obviously far fewer than their numbers in the population. In their new volume, ``Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections,'' two political scientists come up with some genuinely surprising explanations -- and a radical idea for accelerating a change. Barbara Palmer of American University and Dennis Simon of Southern Methodist University have looked at every race with a female candidate from 1956 through 2004, searching for the characteristics of the places where women won -- and why. One finding was predictable. The single biggest barrier to success was simply the fact that most incumbents are men -- and almost all incumbents win. The success rate of women running against incumbents is minuscule. In 10,866 House elections during this period, they found only 13 female Democrats and eight female Republicans who defeated incumbents. But beyond that, it turns out that there are specific characteristics for districts that are friendly or hostile to female candidates -- at least as far as white women are concerned. The scholars could find no significant differences in terms of geography or social characteristics between those districts that elected African-American men and African-American women. Almost without exception, they were heavily Democratic, urban and working class. But the picture is very different for white women. ``Female Democratic House members tend to win election in districts that are more liberal, more urban, more diverse, more educated and much wealthier than those won by male Democratic members of the House,'' they write. ``They come from much more compact, `tonier,' upscale districts than their male counterparts.'' The map that they showed me and is available on their Web site (www.politicsandwomen.com) depicts the clustering of those districts in California, the Northeast corridor and urban areas from Cleveland and Detroit through Chicago, St. Louis, Denver to Portland and Seattle.

26 Apr 06: Equal Pay Day. [United States] Each year, the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) organizes the national observance of Equal Pay Day to raise awareness about unfair pay for women and people of color in America. Equal Pay Day is observed in April to indicate how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year. Tuesday symbolizes the day when women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week. Because women on average earn less, they must work longer for the same pay. For women of color, the wage gap is greater, as shown in our fact sheet.

More Working Women Find They Can't Afford to Retire. [United States] Hazel Shoyrer envisioned retirement as a time for puttering in the garden and traveling. It did not include scouring the help-wanted ads. But after retiring from her job at a hot dog factory after 30 years, Shoyrer was hit with health problems that drained her resources. Now, at 67, she needs to find work. "We think it's going to be the golden years, but I keep looking for the gold," she said with a rueful smile. Shoyrer is among a burgeoning number of women being forced back into the workplace in their late 60s, 70s and beyond. The number of women over 65 in the workforce has increased by 38 percent since 1980, while male participation has remained stable, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Although the traditional retirement backstops--Social Security, company pensions and personal savings--have eroded for many Americans, women are particularly vulnerable because they tend to start working later, earn less and live longer, experts say. For all the economic gains made by women in recent decades, their average income after age 65 is about half that of their male counterparts: $12,080 versus $21,100 in 2004. So, whether by choice or necessity, many are either staying on the job or scrambling to return.

New Face of War: Female Amputees. [United States] Her body had been maimed by war. Dawn Halfaker lay unconscious at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, her parents at her bedside and her future suddenly unsure. A rocket-propelled grenade had exploded in her Humvee, ravaging her arm and shoulder. In June 2004, she became the newest soldier on a path almost unknown in the U.S.: a female combat amputee. It was a distinction she did not dwell on during days of intense pain and repeated surgeries, or even as she struggled to eat on her own, write left-handed and use an artificial limb. But scattered among her experiences were moments when she was aware that few women before her had rethought their lives, their bodies, their choices, in this way. She was part of a new generation of women who have lost pieces of themselves in war, experiencing the same physical trauma and psychological anguish as their male counterparts. But for female combat amputees has come something else: a quiet sense of wonder about how the public views them and how they will reconcile themselves. Their numbers are small, 11 in three years of war, compared with more than 350 men. They are not quite a band of sisters, but more a chain of women linked by history, experience and fate. They have discovered, at various points of their recovery, that gender has made a difference — "not better or worse," as Halfaker put it, "just different."

Women Reject Racial Bias Case Settlement. [United States] Three women who accused the Town of Greenwich of racial bias in a beach access case have rejected a settlement proposed by the state's civil rights agency. The state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities held a hearing Tuesday to approve a settlement it had reached over claims that three women were denied access to Greenwich Point Park last summer on the basis of the color of their skin. However, the three women, Claudette Rothman, Millie Bonilla and Sheila Foster, indicated they didn't want to sign the settlement because they want the town to apologize and admit that it did something wrong. "The individual complainants are not inclined to sign off on the agreement," R. Hamisi Ingram, executive director of the human rights commission said Wednesday. Under the proposed settlement, Greenwich Affirmative Action Officer Kelly Houston and other employees in the town's Human Resources and Parks departments would be required to attend anti-discrimination training classes.

Tax Law Pushes 'Secondary Earners' to Drop Out. [United States] Before joint filing, the United States used a system of "separate filing" for married couples in which tax rates applied to each spouse's income separately. (This is not to be confused with today's "married, filing separately" category that is used in rare circumstances like when one spouse wants to avoid the tax problems of the other.) When the war ended and the costs of war went away, Congress saw an opportunity to reduce taxes, and they wanted to encourage mothers who had entered the work force during the war to go back home. One move--making joint filing mandatory--addressed both goals by lowering taxes on families with only one earner thus discouraging women from working. The Legislative Counsel of the Treasury at the time remarked that, "Wives need not continue to master the details of . . . business, but may turn . . . to the pursuit of homemaking." The joint filing policy hasn't changed since. Because of joint filing, secondary earners in a marriage--still predominantly women--are taxed at significantly higher tax rates than their spouses.

Battered Wives' Pets are the Latest Victims of Domestic Violence. [United States] Susan Walsh told Maine legislators a chilling tale in January. She said she had wanted to take her two children and leave her husband, ending a relationship she found frightening and controlling, but she was afraid he would harm the animals on their Blessed Be Farm in Ellsworth, Maine. In the past, she said in an interview, he had retaliated against her by running over her blind and deaf Border collie, shooting two sheep and wringing the necks of her prize turkeys. "It wasn't just the cats and the dogs I had, it was the sheep and the chickens - I was terrified for their welfare," said Walsh, 50, who is now divorced. "I knew if I were to leave, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them. He had done it before." Experts on domestic violence say accounts like hers are not unusual. They say many men who abuse wives or girlfriends threaten or harm their animals to coerce or control the women.

Sex, Lies, and Government Health Literature for Young Women. [United States] Can young women trust government reports on women's health? This month's issue of Glamour magazine says "No." In an article entitled "The New Lies About Women's Health," the magazine reports that the federal government has posted inaccurate information on federal government websites used widely by young women and that states are now passing laws requiring doctors to give inaccurate information to young women seeking birth control and abortions. Four states, according to Glamour, have passed so-called "Women's Right to Know" laws: Texas, Kansas, Montana, and Mississippi. Doctors counseling women seeking abortions in those states must give them government-sponsored pamphlets that say the risk of breast cancer is increased by abortion. The magazine says that is a supposedly "scientific" claim made by a researcher funded by the antiabortion movement and thoroughly discredited by the medical establishment. Glamour quotes a Texas doctor who says, "The conversation I have is that, 'This is what is written in the pamphlet. I disagree with it ethically and scientifically, but this is what the legislation has forced upon me. That's all I can say.... If I want to be consistent with the law, I have to lie.' " Twenty-four-hour waiting periods for women seeking abortions are widespread and well-known. But this is the first mention I've seen of state laws requiring doctors to give out inaccurate information. There's more. Glamour also reminds us about inaccurate information widely disseminated in federally funded abstinence-only sex education classes. It cites a report released last year by Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, which found that "nearly 70 percent [of those classes] include 'serious medical or scientific errors' such as claims that 'up to 10 percent of women become sterile after an abortion' and that 'premature birth, a major cause of mental retardation, is increased following the abortion of a first pregnancy.' "

'Roe v. Wade': The Divided States of America. [United States] Two hours after South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds signed an abortion ban last month, NARAL Pro-Choice America blasted an e-mail to its supporters: "Is your state next?" The South Dakota legislation and the abortion rights group's warning are early skirmishes in a battle over what states would do if the landmark Roe v. Wade decision were overturned — though both sides concede that may never happen. If it does, a fight that for three decades has focused on nine members of the Supreme Court would be waged instead among more than 7,000 legislators in 50 state capitals. "Now is the time to get moving on this in Ohio," says Tom Brinkman, a state legislator who has introduced a bill to ban almost all abortions. Meanwhile, Kellie Copeland of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio is braced. "Our supporters feel the fight is coming back to the states," she says. What would states do? The conclusions: •Twenty-two state legislatures are likely to impose significant new restrictions on abortion. They include nearly every state in the South and a swath of big states across the industrial Rust Belt, from Pennsylvania to Ohio and Michigan. These states have enacted most of the abortion restrictions now allowed. Nine states are considering bans similar to the one passed in South Dakota — it's scheduled to go into effect July 1 — and four states are debating restrictions that would be triggered if the Supreme Court overturned Roe. •Sixteen state legislatures are likely to continue current access to abortion. They include every state on the West Coast and almost every state in the Northeast. A half-dozen already have passed laws that specifically protect abortion rights. Most of the states in this group have enacted fewer than half of the abortion restrictions now available to states. •Twelve states fall into a middle ground between those two categories. About half are in the Midwest, the rest scattered from Arizona to Rhode Island. The result, according to this analysis, would be less a patchwork of laws than broad regional divisions that generally reinforce the nation's political split. All but three of the states likely to significantly restrict abortions voted for President Bush in 2004. All but four of the states likely to maintain access to abortion voted for Democrat John Kerry. The 22 states likely to enact new restrictions include 50% of the U.S. population and accounted for 37% of the abortions performed in 2000, the latest year for which complete data were available. The 16 states likely to protect access to abortion include 35% of the U.S. population and accounted for 48% of the abortions performed.

Abortion Debate Shuns Prevention. [United States] As two senators on opposite sides of the abortion debate, we recognize that one side will not suddenly convince the other to drop its deeply held beliefs. And we believe that, while disagreeing, we can work together to find common ground. We believe that it is necessary for all Americans to join together and embrace policies that will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, decrease abortions and improve access to women's health care. There is no question that the rate of unintended pregnancy is too high in the United States. Half of the 6 million pregnancies each year in this country are unintended, and nearly half of these unplanned pregnancies end in abortion. It doesn't have to be this way. Most of these unintended pregnancies -- and the resulting abortions -- can be prevented if we eliminate the barriers that prevent women from having access to affordable and effective contraception. In the Senate, we have long championed the Prevention First Act. This legislation would help to reduce the rates of unintended pregnancy in our nation, decrease abortions and improve access to women's health care. Our proposal includes common- ground, common-sense policies. It makes family-planning services more accessible to low-income women. It improves awareness and understanding of emergency contraception, a poorly understood yet highly effective form of contraception. It ensures that government-funded sex education programs provide medically accurate information about contraception. It also ends insurance discrimination against women. Right now, many policies cover Viagra, but not prescription contraceptives. That is wrong, and our legislation will change it. Ironically, those advocating the loudest for an outright ban on abortion are too often the same people who oppose prevention initiatives and instead support making contraception less accessible, particularly for low-income women who are more likely to have unplanned pregnancies.

Realtors Applaud; Women and Patients' Groups Oppose It. [United States] The struggle to control health-care costs appears headed in a new direction: deregulation. Aiming to make health plans more affordable for small employers, Congress is considering a far-reaching reform that would give insurers a new right to scale back benefits, which could affect nearly everyone's health plans, policy analysts said. A federal bill that would preempt state-mandated benefits is pitting advocacy groups such as the American Diabetes Association and AARP against powerful small-business lobbies such as the National Association of Realtors and the National Federation of Independent Business. The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act was introduced by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and co-sponsored by Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Conrad Burns, R-Mont. It would allow private insurers to bypass state regulations requiring coverage of things such as preventive cancer screenings, diabetes supplies and routine women's health care. Insurers also would have to offer an "enhanced" plan that's at least as comprehensive as the state employee plan in one of the five most populous states, though the bill sets up no enforcement mechanism, said Mila Kofman, associate research professor at Georgetown University Health Policy Institute. "This bill is the most fundamental reform effort we've seen in probably two decades out of Congress," Kofman said, noting it may increase the number of medical-bill-related personal bankruptcies. With insurers free to pursue the most profitable options without regard to state oversight, the bill "will lead to people who are either underinsured -- they just don't have enough coverage -- or completely uninsured for certain conditions," she said. "It's great for Wall Street, but it's not what businesses and workers need." The bill also would allow broader rating criteria than what's currently allowed in many states, letting insurers set rates for small groups based on gender, age, health status, geography -- even by industry. Without receiving a hearing, the bill is expected to come up for a Senate vote in early May. In an election year when lawmakers are itching for a health-care plan to take home to their constituents, critics worry that hasty passage may worsen the system's problems.

Lawsuit Accuses Lawry's of Barring Men. [United States] The Lawry's steakhouse chain was sued for allegedly barring men from being servers at its restaurants, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said. The agency said Tuesday that it filed a sex discrimination suit in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday because Pasadena-based Lawry's Restaurants, Inc., has continued a policy that dates back to 1938 of using only women servers. "The practice of denying men the opportunity to work in the higher-paying server jobs is blatant sex discrimination," Anna Park, an attorney for the commission, said in a statement. Lawry's waitresses can earn from $25,000 to $56,000 a year depending on tips while busboys and others typically earn about 40 percent less, she said Wednesday. The suit could involve several thousand people, she added.

Anchor's Chair Was an Irresistible Lure for Couric. [United States] In the midst of the widely publicized negotiations over her future career in network television, Katie Couric called a family meeting, with her parents and two young daughters around the dinner table. Laying out her options — whether to stay on at NBC, where she had achieved enormous success as a co-host of "Today," or to join CBS, which was offering her the position of anchor of the evening newscast — Ms. Couric explained to her daughters that should she take the CBS job her schedule would change radically from morning work hours to evening work hours and certainly the family routine of early dinners together would be disrupted. That the most important people in her life had confirmed her own inclinations surely made it easier for Ms. Couric to decide, as she did officially yesterday, that she would leave the job she had thrived in and loved for the last 15 years for the uncertain, riskier, but historically significant step of becoming the first woman to be the voice and face of an American network news division. Friends, colleagues and others directly involved in Ms. Couric's decision-making described her discussions and experiences on the basis of anonymity because of the confidentiality of the negotiations. Several of them said Ms. Couric never made too much of the concept of a breakthrough for women at the anchor desk. She did say it was a "cool idea," but emphasized that it was not the crucial factor in making her decision.

Andy Rooney to Katie: Welcome to CBS, Now Get Out. [United States] In an appearance today on "Imus in the Morning," Andy Rooney quickly turned down the temperature in the CBS newsroom. Don Imus: "So what do you think of these changes at CBS News?" Andy Rooney: "I’m not enthusiastic about it. I think everybody likes Katie Couric, I mean how can you not like Katie Couric. But, I don’t know anybody at CBS News who is pleased that she’s coming here."

The Women of 'Big Love'. [United States] There was something about playing the three wives on "Big Love," HBO's polygamy drama, that made three fine actresses answer: "I do," "I do," "I do." "I was really shocked at myself for signing on without knowing where it was gonna go, or much of anything else," says Chloe Sevigny, who co-stars with Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ginnifer Goodwin in this unconventionally devout series (following "The Sopranos" at 10 p.m. EDT Sundays; HBO, like CNN, is a division of Time Warner). "But after reading the pilot, I was so moved by it," she continues during a recent communal interview. "And I was fascinated by my character" -- Nicki, the sulky middle wife of Salt Lake City merchant and father of seven Bill Henrickson, played by Bill Paxton.

Power Platforms Make Every Woman an Amazon. [United States] This was going to be great, I told myself. I was going to march into Michael's on West 55th Street, wearing the highest heels to come out of Paris, Lanvin's peep-toe stilettos with 5�-inch cone heels and a 2-inch platform, and they were all going to look up from their Cobb salads with demiportions of Roquefort and - well, it was going to be great. Even for someone who is used to wearing stilettos and monster platforms, the shoes for spring present a special challenge. You just can't escape the fact that they are taller, more outrageous, involving a great deal more design and expense but also, it must be said, a great many more opportunities to humiliate yourself. Who pictures herself on a gurney? And how do you explain it? "It's not like you broke your leg skiing in St. Moritz," Candy Pratts Price, the editor of Style.com, said the other night. "That's a good story. But 'I fell off my platforms'?" Price smirked. The desire to be taller, Amazonian, seems to fit with a society that likes things pumped up - lips an5d SUVs, for example - but that is only a conjecture. A lot of women, in truth, don't need a McLuhan-like explanation of why they want the new shoes. Lisa Anastasia Reisman, who is blond and tan, was in Barneys recently, shopping with girlfriends. She had on a pair of jeans and an aqua sweater with black peace symbols on it. She strapped on a pair of 5-inch, or almost 13-centimeter, Dolce & Gabbana platforms with little flowers embroidered on the sides and stood up. "Now I'm tall," said Reisman, who is 5 feet 3, or about 1.6 meters, as she set off in the direction of the Lanvin display. Then there is Esther Chetrit, a mother of five. Earlier this month, Chetrit was at Bergdorf Goodman. She had already been to Saks Fifth Avenue, where she bought a pair of Yves Saint Laurent heels - "the bondage ones," she said - and now she was on the plumped cushions at Bergdorf, in her jeans and bare feet, looking down at a pair of python and cork platforms from Power Oscar de la Renta and another style, from Azzedine Ala�a, with black patent leather straps and a curving raffia- covered heel.

Women's College Basketball: Maryland Stuns Duke for NCAA Title. [United States] The improbability of Maryland's stunning, why-not-us drive for a national championship came to a head in one amazing play Tuesday night. With time running out in regulation, the 5-foot-7 freshman guard Kristi Toliver dribbled around two screens and shot a 3-pointer right over Duke's biggest barrier, the 6-7 center Alison Bales. When it sailed smoothly through the basket with 6.1 seconds left, it capped a comeback from a 13-point second-half deficit and sent the game into overtime, where Toliver and another freshman, Marissa Coleman, each hit two free throws to seal a 78-75 victory. "In my opinion, big-time players want the ball in big-time situations," Toliver said. "So I wanted to take the shot." Maryland won its first national title, stunning Duke, its far more experienced Atlantic Coast Conference rival. This was Duke's fourth trip to the Final Four without winning a single title, keeping Coach Gail Goestenkors without a victory in two national championship games and ending the decorated career of the fifth-year senior Monique Currie in heartbreak.

Keith Hernandez: 'Women Don't Belong In Dugout'. [United States] New York Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez's comment that women "don't belong in the dugout" drew criticism Sunday from San Diego Padres manager Bruce Bochy, who supported the female member of his training staff and said he was surprised her gender even came up. Hernandez made the remark during the second inning of New York's 8-1 victory in San Diego on Saturday night. Mike Piazza homered for the Padres and exchanged a high-five in the dugout with 33-year-old Kelly Calabrese, the Padres' massage therapist. "Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair?" Hernandez said. "What's going on here? You have got to be kidding me. Only player personnel in the dugout." Hernandez found out later in the broadcast that Calabrese was with the Padres training staff. "I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout," Hernandez said.

Muslim Women Ask Gym to Keep Single-Sex Pledge. [United States] About 200 Muslim women have asked the Fitness USA workout chain to honor what they say was its promise to provide separate exercise times for women and men. They say they need single-sex workout times to accommodate Islam's standards of modesty. Arrwa Mogalli, 28, of Dearborn, Michigan, said that she agreed to buy a $1,465 lifetime membership with the chain after being promised that its Lincoln Park facility would be open only to women on certain days. This month, the gym in this southern Detroit suburb decided to open up a new part of the center to both sexes every day. Mogalli is among about 200 women with Fitness USA memberships who have signed a petition asking the chain to restore single-sex exercise days for the entire gym or to put up a divider so men and women cannot see each other while exercising.

NASCAR Marketing to Female Fan Base. [United States] A burger-grilling, beer-drinking, RV-driving man who loves the smell of burning fuel and hot tire rubber. That's the stereotypical image of a NASCAR fan. But if they all looked like that, fashion designer Nicole Miller wouldn't create a NASCAR-inspired high heel. Harlequin wouldn't launch a series of novels featuring hunky stock car drivers. And the new company TrackCouture would sew boxy, men's T-shirts instead of skirts and fitted pink tank tops. As fans hit Phoenix International Raceway for this weekend's NASCAR race, expect to see a lot more women at the track than in years past. And anticipate more female-friendly NASCAR products encouraging women to pry open their pocketbooks. Women make up about 40 percent of NASCAR fans and are flocking to the sport more than any other demographic, NASCAR spokesman Andrew Giangola said. "People see this large, loyal, growing fan base," he said, "and recognize the opportunity to target women."

'NYT' Sunday Preview: Madeleine Albright Can Leg-Press 400 Pounds. [United States] In an interview in the The New York Times Magazine that will appear this coming Sunday, Madeleine Albright reveals, among other things, that even at 68, she works out three times a week "and I can leg-press up to 400 pounds." This follows a discussion of how she does not expect to re-marry, partly because, as she says, "I'm intimidating, don't you think?"

How Can You Tell If You're Becoming Militarized? Some Feminist Clues. [Canada] How can you shape what women do "naturally"? How can you keep wages low based on presumptions of ideology of the "dutiful daughter"? How can you tell if you are becoming militarized? These are the kind of questions being asked by American political scientist and author Cynthia Enloe, a visiting professor of women's studies and political science at York University in Canada, invited by the OSIE department at University of Toronto to give a lecture intriguingly called "How Can You Tell If You're Becoming Militarized? Some Feminist Clues." Through her research Professor Enloe has realized that it is not just governments who have a stake in what women can be made to do "naturally" but that this extends to schools, companies, Churches and even families. She has also come to appreciate that it is much harder to make women and girls do the kind of things that are in the vested interest of these institutions than we may think at first. This difficulty, she says, speaks to the underestimated power of women which is revealed by asking feminist questions.

First Female Chief Judge Named. [Canada] Merit, not gender, will make family and youth court Judge Gail Vickery Alberta's first female provincial court chief judge, Justice Minister Ron Stevens said yesterday. Stevens said Vickery will assume the title May 12, when current Chief Judge Ernie Walters completes his seven-year stint as provincial court's top man. Stevens said it was only a matter of time before a woman took the helm to administer the three divisions of provincial court. Vickery will oversee the judges who sit in the provincial criminal division, as well as small claims and family and youth courts. Stevens said Vickery's appointment is precedent-setting, but her gender did not play a role in getting her the post. "You can't be unmindful of the fact that you're breaking new ground," he said. "But that's not why she was selected -- she was selected because she's a demonstrated leader." He said the makeup of the legal profession has changed during the past 30 years and the appointments of women to the bench and to top positions shows that.

Women Have a Crucial Role to Play. [Mexico] Millions of women and girls in poor countries walk an average of six kilometres a day to carry 20 litres of water on average to their homes. Millions of others drop out of school because of the lack of private and separate sanitation facilities. Taking women into account in projects aimed at improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene would help them to lift themselves out of poverty. If women participated in defining these plans, it would multiply the benefit to the community, according to a report presented at the Mar. 16-22 Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico. Water services "are more effective if women have an active role," states the document entitled "For Her It's The Big Issue: Putting women at the centre of water supply, sanitation and hygiene," published by the non governmental Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. This isn't just theory. With women's participation, any kind of project is easier, said Maria Mutagamba, Uganda's minister for Water and president of the African Ministers Council on Water. In "my country and in Africa" at large, there is much work to be done in sanitation, but this challenge is surmounted more easily when women are involved, the minister stated during the presentation of the report over the weekend.

Argentine Experts Study Juarez Murder Remains. [Mexico] As many as 400 women in Ciudad Juarez--just across the border from El Paso, Texas--have been slain since 1993, and their deaths are considered unsolved murder cases. More than 100 have been found dumped in the desert with signs of sexual torture. A team of Argentine forensic experts--which gained fame by using advanced DNA-study techniques to identify people killed in Argentina's "dirty war" of the 1970s--is studying the remains of about 60 women, including those believed to be of Esmeralda, for either first-time identification or to verify previous identifications by state authorities. Esther Chavez, founder and head of Casa Amiga, a Juarez center for abused women, also hopes that positive identifications could give victims' families the ammunition to keep pushing for prosecution of the authorities who haven't found any credible suspects.

Portia Sets Cabinet to Work. [Jamaica] Jamaica’s new prime minister said she expects her Cabinet to quickly get down to work during a swearing-in ceremony yesterday for the government ministers. Portia Simpson Miller, the country’s first woman prime minister, retained most of the Cabinet from the previous administration of PJ Patterson, although she dropped the chiefs of the development and housing ministries. “This must be an action Cabinet for I intend to lead an action team,” said Simpson Miller, who has added the women’s affairs minister position to her responsibilities, while keeping her post as sports minister. “I have put on my working shoes so you had better put on your working shoes.” Simpson Miller, popularly known as “Sista P,” beat three opponents to take over leadership of the ruling People’s National Party from Patterson, who led Jamaica for 14 years. She was sworn-in on Thursday night before thousands of people, pledging to root out corruption, protect human rights, and rid Jamaica of the violent crime plaguing the country.

Another Step Forward for Region's Women. [Trinidad] In just about two weeks time, an historic changing of the guard is due to take place in the Caricom member state of Jamaica, where for the first time in that country's history a woman will assume the duties as Prime Minister. Portia Simpson Miller's assumption of the office will be a red letter day for women across the region, even though she has been twice preceded in other Caricom member states. Eugenia Charles presided with great dignity, strength and purpose as Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica during the 1980s. Then in the 1990s Janet Jagan served for a brief period as President of Guyana. Ms Simpson-Miller has already outlined some of her thoughts about the formation of a Cabinet in her administration and has signalled her intention of making a difference in her country's political direction.