I've worked at United Parcel Service (UPS) for almost 10 years. Initially I got this job because I needed a part-time job with benefits while attending college and UPS seemed like an ideal place to work. Reality set in nine years later when I became pregnant.
At the time of my pregnancy I was classified as a full-time driver. The work that a driver does is extremely demanding, and many of those hired don’t actually last. Being a driver is strenuous and physically exhausting. During the busy season I work up to 14 hours a day under harsh conditions, and during the summer rush, the size and weight of the packages explode.
By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 4:16pm
Consider this: A person applies for a job at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives as a ballistics forensic technician, is well-qualified for the position, and is offered the job. She then tells ATF that she is transitioning from male to female. A few days later, she's told the job has been cut for budget reasons. And then she learns that the job hasn't been cut, it's simply been given to someone else, who isn't transgender.
By James Evans, Bryson Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Medicine, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill School of Medicine at 10:44am
James Evans, MD, PhD is the Bryson Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Medicine at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine. He was a member of the advisory committee to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services on Genetics, Health and Society and spearheaded that committee's task force investigating gene patenting and its effect on patient care. He also filed an amicus brief in the ACLU's challenge to gene patents.
By Ariela Migdal, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 11:03am
This week, the Supreme Court ruled, by the all-too-familiar 5-4 margin, that a provision of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) giving workers time off to care for their own serious health conditions — including pregnancy and childbirth — can't be enforced by state employees in damages lawsuits against their public employers. The decision in Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Maryland effectively stripped many public employees — the majority of whom are women — of the right to job protection when they need to take time off while pregnant. The ACLU had joined an amicus brief arguing that the law was written in a gender-neutral way to provide women workers with the time they needed to go through childbirth and pregnancy-related complications, while ensuring that employers wouldn't discriminate based on the assumption that only women will need to take health-related leave from their jobs. While no opinion garnered five votes, a majority of the Court agreed that the law was not justified as a remedy for a pattern of unconstitutional discrimination against women or pregnant workers.
By Ariela Migdal, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 4:12pm
The New York Times reported yesterday that Wal-Mart is rolling out "women-friendly plans" to buy more from women-owned businesses and to help women who work for Wal-Mart's suppliers. While the company acknowledged that the "majority" of its own employees are women, its plan (as reported in the newspaper) seems to ignore the fundamental disparities in salaries and promotions that were at issue in a nationwide class action lawsuit that the Supreme Court ruled on in June.
By Eliza Beeney, Eliza Beeney, Women's Rights Project at 1:10pm
According to its website, “UC Davis and its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics are committed to gender equity and adherence to federal Title IX requirements.” But it didn’t seem that way to Arezou Mansourian and many of her female teammates on the school’s wrestling team. Last week, a federal court agreed with the women that the university failed to follow the requirements of Title IX, the federal law passed in 1972 to eliminate sex discrimination at institutions that receive federal funding.
By Anna Arceneaux, Staff Attorney, ACLU Capital Punishment Project at 5:39pm
Perhaps because men make up the overwhelming portion of the death row population in the United States, we often don't think of the 61 women sentenced to death, or the 12 women who have been executed in the modern death penalty era which commenced in 1976.
Teresa Lewis, whom Virginia executed in September of last year, was the last woman executed in the United States. Lewis had been convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of her husband and stepson, allegedly to collect insurance money. Prosecutors claimed that Lewis was the mastermind of the murders, which were committed by two men, Matthew Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller. But Lewis, with an IQ in the mentally retarded range, was no mastermind. Shallenberger, Lewis's lover, took advantage of her gender and her mental limitations in convincing her to go along with his plot.
By Elayne Weiss, Washington Legislative Office at 12:41pm
When John F. Kennedy signed the executive order creating the Peace Corps over fifty years ago, he said, "Life in the Peace Corps will not be easy. There will be no salary, and allowances will be at a level sufficient only to maintain health and meet basic needs." It's true that life in the Peace Corps isn't easy, but unfortunately, our government is failing to live up to the rest of this promise when it comes to providing for the reproductive health needs of Peace Corps volunteers, who selflessly give their time and energy to help communities in developing countries.
Who invented our genes? There are many possible answers to this question, but I'm pretty sure your answer wouldn't be, "Myriad Genetics."
But that question is at the heart of our ongoing challenge to patents Myriad controls on two human genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are associated with inherited risk of breast and ovarian cancer. We all have these genes, but people with certain mutations are much more likely to experience cancer in their lifetimes.
Yesterday, Vanessa at Feministing blogged on a study by the Center for Public Integrity about sexual assault on campus. The figure of campus rapes that go unreported is 95 percent—a sad and shocking state of affairs. And for those that are reported, disciplinary actions schools take against student perpetrators include measures such as:
