PUSH
JOURNAL MEDIA SUMMARY
March
1-15, 2008
HIV
& AIDS
Senate
Approves AIDS Bill: On March 13, Associated Press Worldstream reported that the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee had approved a $50 billion renewal of an AIDS
spending program, more than tripling the size of the first five-year program.
The Senate bill does not include funding for family planning programs. Many advocates
believe that this a detrimental oversight that undermines any efforts to stop
the spread of HIV. On March 13, Senator Barbara Boxer told CQ Today "I am
disappointed that the bill before us today does not acknowledge the important
links between family planning and global AIDS programs," Read: Associated
Press Worldstream
SEXUAL
AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS
CDC
Study: 1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has an STI: On March 13, several news outlets
reported on a new finding by the Centers for Disease Control that one in four
U.S. teenage girls has at least one of the sexually transmitted infections monitored
in the study: human papilloma virus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes or trichomoniasis.
Among African American girls, the rate was nearly 50 percent. compared to 20 percent
for white teenagers. Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation
of America, said the new findings “emphasize the need for real comprehensive
sex education.” She added, “The national policy of promoting abstinence-only
programs is a $1.5 billion failure….and teenage girls are paying the real
price.” Read: Associated Press, Agence France Presse, The New York Times
Bill Stirs Abortion Debate
in Canada: On March 1, The National Post (Canada) reported that proposed legislation
in Parliament would give legal status to a fetus, making anyone who assaults a
pregnant woman accountable for crimes against both the mother and her fetus. Abortion
rights advocates are protesting the bill, saying it will open debate for the legal
rights of a fetus under abortion laws. Read: The National Post
Advocates
Fight Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya: On March 13, the Christian Science
Monitor reported that advocates are working hard to end female genital mutilation
(FGM) among the Maasai tribe in Kenya. FGM has been banned in Kenya twice, but
ending the ritual cutting of women’s genitalia takes more than laws because
of its cultural significance as a rite of passage to womanhood. Ben Ole Koissaba,
a liberal activist and chairman of the Maasai Civil Society Forum, said ending
FGM in Africa will take education, the creation of new institutions to fulfill
the same cultural need, and patience. "Culture is dynamic, culture can adapt,
but good, sustainable cultural change comes from within," he said. Read:
Christian Science Monitor
WOMEN’S
EQUALITY
International
Women’s Day, March 8, 2008: On March 5 and 8, Agence France Presse reported
on worldwide celebrations of International Women’s day, focusing on inequality
and violence as significant problems for women across the globe. Advocates gathered
in the streets of Afghanistan, Pakistan and neighboring nations to call for change
and equality throughout the Middle East and Asia. "Laws that discriminate
against women are still to be found on the statute books of virtually every country
in the world," said U.N. human rights commissioner Louise Arbour. Read: Associated
Press Worldstream, Agence France Presse, Agence France Presse,
Advocates Call for Central
Women’s UN Agency: On March 6, Women’s Enews reported that two years
after it was proposed, advocates are still demanding the initiation of a centralized
United Nations agency for women. Several UN agencies now handle women’s issues,
including UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund; and the United Nations Development
Fund for Women (UNIFEM). In 2006, total money allocated for all UN women's entities
was only US$65 million. "Often in peace negotiations, involving women is
not a priority, but a stronger UN voice for women would make sure governments
listen to and address women's concerns," said Polly Truscott, an advisor
in Amnesty International's UN office in New York. "In general, it would give
local women greater access to governments and the UN system." Read: Women’s
Enews
Gender
Equality Needed to Meet UN’s Development Goals: On March 7, The Guardian
(UK) reported that a new study by the charity network ActionAid said systematic
discrimination against girls and women in the world's poorest countries is preventing
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. ActionAid said girls in poorer
nations were more likely to be poor, hungry, illiterate or sick than boys and
men, and called on Britain and other governments to make gender equality a priority
issue. Laura Turquet of ActionAid said: "Gordon Brown announced that 2008
would be the year of action on world poverty. But progress can only be accelerated
if the world's governments tackle the real reasons why women are being left behind."
Read: The Guardian
Goldman
Sachs Invests in Women: On March 9, The Financial Times reported that Goldman
Sachs, the Wall Street investment bank, announced it will begin a major philanthropic
effort to upgrade business skills of women in emerging and developing countries.
The program, called 10,000 Women, will initially involve more than a dozen universities
and graduate schools, such as Harvard Business School and the UK’s Judge
Business School at Cambridge University, and will focus on developing countries
such as Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Rwanda. The program is based
on research that shows that closing the gender gap in employment in key emerging
markets could lift per capita income 10-14 per cent above baseline forecasts by
2020. Read: The Financial Times
VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN
Avon
and UNIFEM Team Up to End Violence Against Women: On March 5, Xinhua General
News Service and the Associated Press reported that Avon and UNIFEM had created
a public-private partnership focused on women's empowerment and ending violence
against women. Avon Global Ambassador and actress Reese Witherspoon joined the
cause to unveil the "Women's Empowerment Bracelet,” and Avon pledged
to match the first US$500,000 in bracelet sales. Avon has also committed $1 million
to the UNIFEM-managed UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. "Every
economic opportunity created for a woman helps a child, helps a community and
raises awareness and education," Witherspoon told the AP. "Women who
feel economically empowered are much more likely to stand up for their own rights
and the rights of their children." Read: Xinhua General News Service, Associated
Press
Gender-based
Violence High in Kenya: On March 10, Africa News reported that UNFPA, the
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Christian Children's Fund (CCF) had performed
a rapid assessment of gender-based violence in refugee camps in Kenya. The assessment
said that although the actual number of incidents is hard to ascertain, they are
common and women express fear of violence when sleeping in close quarters with
men. The agencies said sexual violence was being used to "terrorize individuals
and families and precipitate their expulsion from the communities in which they
live.” Read: Africa News
POPULATION
China’s
One-child Policy Will Stay Unchanged: On March 6 and 11, several media outlets
reported that the Chinese government had knocked down reports it might be changing
its controversial one-child-per-couple population policy. Zhang Weiqing, minister
of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said changes to the
policy will not be made for roughly a decade, when a surge in adoptions is expected
to end. China, the world’s most populous nation with more than 1.3 billion
residents, has prevented an estimated 400 million births through the one-child
policy enacted in 1973. Critics have pressed the Chinese government to end the
policy on grounds it has led to sex-selective abortions and many forced abortions
and sterilizations. Professor Ji Baocheng, of Renmin University, said the one-child
policy is causing a host of problems for China such as a deepening gender imbalance
and a rapidly aging population. Professor Ji told China’s National People’s
Congress “the time is almost ripe” for an adjustment in the one-child
policy. Read: Globe and Mail (Canada), The Telegraph (UK), The Wall Street Journal,
Associated Press, Agence France Presse, Xinhua Economic News Service, The Straits
Times
EDITORIALS
and COLUMNS:
On March
6, The Wall Street Journal published an editorial about the possible end to China’s
one-child policy and possible economic and social ramifications. “The top
brass worry that if they were to relax the policy -- for example by switching
to a two-child policy -- the ensuing flood of babies would overwhelm schools and
hospitals, threatening the stability on which they have built their rule. Then
there's the loss of face, not to mention the fear of repercussions. How do you
tell a mother who has been forcibly sterilized or who was forced to undergo an
abortion that it was all a big mistake?” Read: The Wall Street Journal
On March 13, the Los Angeles
Times published an opinion piece by Patty Kelly, an anthropology professor at
George Washington University, about her time studying a legal, state-monitored
brothel in Mexico. Kelly said that although the brothel had some problems with
sexually transmitted infections and violence, it was far safer for both clients
and sex workers than the streets and criminalized operations. Kelly said the U.S.
should follow Mexico’s example and legalize paying for sex, which an estimated
one in 10 American men will do at some point in his lifetime. “Saying that
all sex workers are victims and all clients are demons is the easy way out,”
Kelly wrote. “Perhaps it's time to face this fact like adults (or at least
like Mexico) -- with a little less moralizing and a good deal more honesty.”
Read: Los Angeles Times
On
March 13, The New York Times published a column by Nicholas Kristof about the
legacy of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s law to crack down on prostitution.
The law Spitzer passed focused on punishing johns and pimps rather than prostitutes.
It was modeled after a Swedish law that has seen considerable success. “We’re
not going to end the world’s oldest profession, any more than we’ll
ever end the world’s oldest crime, murder,” Kristof wrote. “But
mounting evidence from around the world suggests that a demand-side crackdown
would drive some pimps to peddle pirated DVDs instead of pubescent flesh —
and that would be a positive legacy of Governor Spitzer’s tenure that might
balance its tawdry hypocrisy.” Read: The New York Times
On
March 11, the Philadelphia Inquirer published an opinion piece by Janet Fleischman,
senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies HIV/AIDS
Task Force, about the lack of family planning funding within the newly reauthorized
PEPFAR. “With the reauthorization of PEPFAR in 2008, a new U.S. administration
in 2009, and PEPFAR's ongoing choices about implementing programs, the United
States has an unprecedented opportunity to integrate family planning and HIV programs
to strengthen U.S. HIV/AIDS strategy. Having accomplished so much in PEPFAR's
first phase, the U.S. should heed the evidence and promote this integrated approach
as a key component of its AIDS policy.” Read: Philadelphia Inquirer
On March 4, The Calgary Herald
(Canada) published an editorial about the newly common trend of sex-selective
abortion worldwide. It has become a problem in countries like China ad India where
traditionally boys are preferred over girls. Now the trend has spread to Canada
and the United States, where couples are using at-home sex determination tests
to decide whether to terminate the pregnancy. “Aborting babies for being
the wrong gender was never what those who fought for women's reproductive choice
had in mind. The ethics here have sadly lagged far behind on this issue, but catching
up should be a straightforward issue. Treating human beings as commodities that
must meet their consumeristic parents' specifications is simply immoral.”
Read: The Calgary Herald
On
March 3, The Guardian (UK) published an opinion piece about the need for worldwide
education, advocacy and government action to reduce maternal mortality, which
claims the lives of more than 536,000 women annually across the globe. “In
development circles there is agreement about what needs to be done. Governments
need to make it happen. Slender budgets -- and not just in health -- fail to reflect
women's needs. In Bangladesh, educating girls has been the key to reducing maternal
deaths. Educated young women are more likely to seek antenatal care, and more
likely to give birth in clinics.” Read: The Guardian
On
March 1, The Washington Times published an editorial about the new United Nations
campaign to eradicate violence against women. The Times stressed the need for
action, not just motivational rhetoric, on the part of UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon: “In so many of its previous endeavors, the United Nations issues
stern warnings and pronouncements against a societal ill or regional conflicts
only to see problems escalate because there is no means of enforcement. While
it is laudatory to highlight the issue of violence against women, it is ultimately
up to the member states themselves to institute no-tolerance policies. This age-old
plague can and must be reversed, but it will take not only glossy campaigns but
also vigilant policing to make that happen.” Read: The Washington Times
---
The
above summary is produced by the Communications Consortium Media Center, 401 Ninth
Street, NW, Suite 450, Washington, DC 20004, 202.326.8700. Redistribution is encouraged
with credit to CCMC.
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