• todays lady news

Today’s Lady News: Stripper Sues Club For Unpaid Wages, Claims “Exploitation”

Jessica WakemanMarch 17, 2010 //
  • Exotic dancer Quansa Thompson is suing her former employer, a D.C. strip club called The House, for unpaid wages under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Thompson says the club only paid dancers $20 per day and they are allowed to keep whatever was left of their tips after giving the DJ and bartender a share. Plus, dancers had to pay the owner $80 for missing a shift, even if they were sick. After missing work one day, Thompson said she was banned from the club when she spoke to a union and threatened to sue her boss. Her lawyer says the strip club gets away with it by classifying dancers as independent contractors and said their practices amount to “exploitation.” [Washington Post]
  • Remember we told you about a store selling black Barbie dolls on sale while white Barbie dolls were full price? The Root imagines what the discount black Barbie would say if she could talk. [The Root]

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Today’s Lady News: The World’s First Gender-Less Person

Jessica WakemanMarch 16, 2010 //
  • A British expat has been acknowledged as the world’s first “gender-less” person — on paper, at least. Norrie May-Welby, 48, of Australia, was born a man but had a sex change operation at age 28. These days May-Welby prefers to be called a “neuter” and the British birth certificate does not officially acknowledge a gender. “The concepts of man or woman don’t fit me,” May-Welby said. “The simplest solution is not to have any sex identification.” [Telegraph UK]
  • Anti-abortion protesters have arrived at spring break in West Palm Beach, Florida. Personhood FL Spring Break Tour 2010 has parked two “truth trucks,” showing photographs of aborted fetuses, in Port St. Lucie today. It is still headed to Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and other cities. [TCpalm.com]

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Today’s Lady News: Quotas For Female Managers Introduced At Big European Company

Jessica WakemanMarch 15, 2010 //
  • Deutsche Telekom, the largest telecommunications company in Europe, said it will double its number of female managers in the next five years by establishing a quota. The company plans to increase the number of women in middle- and upper-management from 12 percent today to 30 percent in 2015. [New York Times]
  • As a lesbian in the military, Jene Newsome of South Dakota abided by the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. But when police arrived at her home with an arrest warrant for her partner and found a marriage certificate on Newsome’s kitchen table (the couple had married in Iowa, where same-sex marriage is legal), they informed the military and the 28-year-old Air Force sergeant was honorably discharged. [Essence]
  • A reader of The Sexist snapped a pic of an anti-binge drinking sign at the University of Waterloo in Ontario that warns you shouldn’t drink too much because you might “get raped.” Uh, last time I checked, you don’t “get raped”; rapists rape you. [The Sexist]

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Today’s Lady News: Woman Named Head Coach Of A Football Team

Jessica WakemanMarch 12, 2010 //
  • In a historic move, Natalie Randolph, 29, a teacher at Coolidge High School in Washington, D.C., was introduced as the school’s head football coach this morning. As a former women’s professional football player, Randolph was a wide receiver for the D.C. Divas team. In 1985 a woman was named head football coach for a different D.C. high school, but was removed from the position one day later. [CNN]
  • Four women, including superstar Danica Patrick, will be racing this weekend in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This will be the first time ever that four women have started an IndyCar Series race. [USA Today]
  • A study of over 46,000 has found that women who took birth control pills beginning in the late 1960s lived longer than women who never went on the pill; the pill also, apparently, cut the risk of death from bowel cancer by almost 40 percent. [AP]

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Today’s Lady News: Sara Hurwitz Is The First Female Orthodox Rabbi

Jessica WakemanMarch 11, 2010 //
  • Sara Hurwitz made history last month when she was made the first Orthodox “rabba,” or female rabbi. After complaints from others in the Orthodox Jewish community, the rabbi who ordained her, Rabbi Avi Weiss, has promised he will not give the title of “rabba” to other women. When asked about the controversy, Hurwitz said, “You know, there’s certain language that people have been using for centuries. Any traditional language being associated with something new is difficult for people. And having women as spiritual leaders is a new phenomenon, and so we’re all trying to figure out what the right language is.” [Heeb]
  • Disney is apparently rejiggering their script for a movie about Rapunzel over concerns that it would not appeal to boys after disappointing numbers for their last flick, “The Princess & The Frog.” The title will be changed from “Rapunzel” to “Tangled.” [San Francisco Chronicle]
  • Representative Eric Massa recently stepped down after a male staffer complained of workplace harassment. But after reading Massa’s quote on the incident in question, Bust magazine has quite rightly pointed out there is a sexual double standard going on when it comes to men and women being sexually harassed. [Bust]
  • In related news, aides to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi allegedly had concerns about former Rep. Massa’s inappropriate behavior as far back as October. Pelosi has said her staff only heard about Massa in February. Assuming this is true, it just goes to show men aren’t the only ones guilty of mishandling sexual harassment accusations. [Wall Street Journal]

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Today’s Lady News: Anti-Abortion Group Crashing Spring Break In West Palm Beach

Jessica WakemanMarch 10, 2010 //
  • Guess who is coming to spring break, guys? An anti-abortion group with two “truth trucks,” featuring huge photos of aborted fetuses. The Personhood FL Spring Break Tour 2010 will head to West Palm Beach and other beaches starting next week, where it plans to distribute 30,000 petitions to challenge the constitutionality of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. Talk about a buzzkill. [WPTV]
  • After discovering parole records for John Albert Gardner III, the man accused of murdering 17-year-old Chelsea King, had been destroyed, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered law enforcement to retain all records on sex offenders. It boggles my mind that sex offenders’ criminal records were being destroyed. [AP]
  • This morning 200 Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, who flew military planes during World War II, received Congressional Gold Medals at the Capitol. [AP]

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Today’s Lady News: Muslim Women Protest At Sex-Segregated Mosque

Jessica WakemanMarch 9, 2010 //
  • A group of Muslim women at the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., risked arrest on Sunday when they staged a “pray-in” in the main area of the mosque, which is usually reserved for men. The all-female group of Muslims first tried to share the main area at a “pray-in” in February and this Sunday, they once again pushed themselves into the men-only prayer area. The mosque’s imam interrupted the prayer and police arrived minutes later. [AFP]
  • Gay and lesbian couples are at last allowed to legally marry in Washington, D.C. The District began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples last Tuesday. [Washington Post]
  • Blogger Dayo Olopade at The Root asks: Why are there so few black women politicians? [The Root]

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Today’s Lady News: Happy International Women’s Day!

Jessica WakemanMarch 8, 2010 //
  • For International Women’s Day, The New York Times questions which countries worldwide are the best for women and discovers the United States isn’t listed in the top 10 on four different lists! [New York Times]
  • For the first time ever, Washington, D.C., will distribute 500,000 female condoms for free in areas of the city with high rates of HIV. [Washington Post]

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Today’s Lady News: Utah Ditches Bill Criminalizing Miscarriage

Jessica WakemanMarch 5, 2010 //
  • The Utah legislator who introduced a bill to state government that would punish a woman for a miscarriage due to a “reckless act” has withdrawn the bill. The bill was intended to punish women for illegally aborting fetuses, based on the case of a 17-year-old girl who was seven months pregnant and paid a man to beat her up so she would miscarrying. Carl Wimmer (R) said he will rewrite the bill to make it narrower in scope. [New York Times]
  • The Chicago Tribune published an article called “How To Lose Up To 10 Pounds Before Prom,” because that’s an awesome message to send high school-aged girls, of course. [Chicago Tribune]
  • The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a media watchdog group, has weighed in on Life & Style‘s stupid cover about Shiloh Jolie-Pitt’s “boy” haircut. (Shiloh’s a girl, FYI.) Unsurprisingly, they are not amused. [Fashion Indie]
  • After winning a match with a male competitor, high school senior Paige Nemec of Columbus, Ohio, will be the state’s first female competitor at a statewide wrestling tournament. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

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Today’s Lady News: Saudi Woman To Get 300 Lashes For Court Appearance Without A Man

Jessica WakemanMarch 4, 2010 //
  • A Saudi Arabian woman named Sawsam Salim has been sentenced to 300 lashes and one and a half years in jail for appearing in court without a male chaperone and filing complaints against government officials who harassed her for doing so. Salim first appeared in court unchaperoned in 2004 requesting to get her husband, who could have been such a chaperone, out of prison. In Saudi Arabia, all women and girls must be accompanied by a male guardian to conduct public business. [Ms. Magazine]
  • Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) appeared on “Good Morning America” today and announced that he and 11 other House Democrats will not vote for Obama’s health care reform bill unless more restrictions are put on abortion coverage. Stupak is a sponsor of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which was attached to the House version of the health care bill and is explained in full here. [Mediaite]

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