Womenstake, NWLC's Blog

NWLC is Fulcrum for Harvard Title IX Conference

Posted by Jocelyn Samuels, Vice President for Education and Employment | Posted on: April 18, 2007 at 01:53 pm

by Jocelyn Samuels

It was clear that all roads end (or begin) with NWLC, as our current and former employees, clients and colleagues gathered on Friday for a Title IX seminar hosted by the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender.  The seminar, which highlighted Title IX’s upcoming 35th anniversary, addressed how students, university personnel, advocates and members of the public can act to reduce sexual harassment, sexual assault and discrimination against women in athletics.

I gave a presentation on threats to enforcement of Title IX in the area of athletics, focusing on the dangers posed by the Department of Education’s 2005 clarification and the new lawsuit filed by a coalition of wrestlers to challenge longstanding policies mandating that men and women have equal opportunities to participate in sports.

 Read more... Add new comment
Tags: Athletics, Education & Title IX | Add new comment

Mis-Informed Consent

Posted by Jill C. Morrison, Senior Counsel | Posted on: April 17, 2007 at 04:31 pm

by Jill Morrison

South Carolina almost became the first state to require a woman to have and look at an ultrasound before terminating her pregnancy.  Fortunately, the SC attorney general agreed with advocates that forcing a woman to undergo a medically unnecessary procedure and view an image against her will is unconstitutional.

One of the current trends in restricting access to abortion is to say that the new law or regulation is needed to make sure women have full “informed consent.”  A majority of states already have “informed consent” laws for abortion that go far beyond what is required for other medical procedures, and provide women with biased and medically inaccurate information.   Now anti-choice activists are trying to make these laws even more burdensome. We’ve already blogged about a South Dakota law that, in the guise of “informed consent,” would impose a particular ideology on women seeking abortions.

 Read more... Add new comment
Tags: Health Care & Reproductive Rights | Add new comment

A Missed Opportunity

Posted by | Posted on: April 16, 2007 at 08:23 pm

by Jill Morrison & Fatima Goss Graves

“Intersectionality” is a word most people probably don’t come across every day.  It is usually thrown around in law school classes dealing with the –isms, like racism and sexism.  And unfortunately, in the wake of the Imus/Rutgers Women’s Basketball debacle, much of the commentary has missed an important opportunity to bring this idea to the general public: what happens when the –isms combine.

Some people just don’t get it. One reporter asked a player if she was offended more as a woman or as an African-American. This is inane.  Black women in America do not – and should not be expected to – separate out the components of the types of venom spewed by Imus in making his despicable comments.

 Read more... 1 comment
Tags: Athletics, Education & Title IX | 1 comment

About the Blog

Posted by | Posted on: April 16, 2007 at 06:20 pm

Womenstake.org is the blog of the National Women's Law Center.

Read on for more information about the NWLC staff who contribute to Womenstake.org.

 Read more... 3 comments
Tags: | 3 comments
Womenstake's RSS Feed Womenstake's RSS Feed