Blog of Rights
Aliya
Hussain
09/30/2010

Spread the Word — Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer and Gene Patents

By Aliya Hussain, Women's Rights Project at 12:03pm
08/26/2010

A Vote For Women, A Vote For CEDAW

By Aliya Hussain, Women's Rights Project at 11:08am
In January 1917, Alison Turnbull Hopkins pickets for suffrage outside the White House gate.

During the winter of 1916–1917, suffragists took their long-fought battle for women's right to vote to the nation's capital. Picketing outside of the White House, they urged President Woodrow Wilson to take a stand and support their cause. During a time when the United States was fighting to uphold the ideals of democracy abroad during World War I, these women dared to ask of their democratic rights at home: "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?"

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06/23/2010

Title IX: Looking Back and Ahead

By Aliya Hussain, Women's Rights Project & Ariela Migdal, ACLU Women's Rights Project & Jessica Moldovan, Women's Rights Project at 5:27pm

Before 1972, there was little protection for women and girls against sex discrimination in education. Today, we celebrate the 38th Anniversary of Title IX, recognizing advances that have been made, as well as the work that remains to be done.

Title IX states:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

The statute has opened up equal opportunities for countless women and girls in education, in such diverse realms as equal athletic opportunity and protection of students from sexual harassment by faculty and peers.

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06/17/2010

Scientists, Pundits and Journos Weigh In: Don't Patent Our Genes

By Aliya Hussain, Women's Rights Project & Jessica Moldovan, Women's Rights Project at 1:42pm

For the past year, the ACLU has been working to end patents on human genes, genes we all have in our bodies. The ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against the United States Patent and Trademark Office and Myriad Genetics charging that Myriad's patents on two human genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (BRCA1 and BRCA2) are invalid. On March 29, 2010, a federal district court agreed and ruled that the two genes can't be patented because they are products and laws of nature.

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04/01/2010

Trouble at Home: Domestic Workers Speak Out Against Exploitation and Abuse

By Aliya Hussain, Women's Rights Project at 3:31pm

The work of nannies, in-home caregivers, housekeepers, and other domestic laborers is amongst the most undervalued and under-regulated industries in the United States — a legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and the undervaluation of “women’s work.” In the contemporary context, domestic workers (who are almost all immigrant women of color) routinely face low pay and long hours, and are denied health care and sick leave. Too often they endure racial/ethnic discrimination, physical and other forms of abuse, and many find themselves the victims of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

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