Today Obama lifted the gag order on international groups that offer counseling and abortions to women in other countries. According to a Planned Parentood statement, in the pat 8 years, 'Clinics have closed, contraceptive supplies have dwindled, and women were left without basic and critical health care services. As a result, there were more unwanted pregnancies and more unsafe abortions. Today, one woman dies every minute of every day due to pregnancy related causes, including unsafe abortion, and over 200 million women in developing countries...

On this day 36 years ago, the Supreme Court made a landmark decision protecting the right to choose for all American women, and that right has been challenged and threatened ever since. Here's hoping that the new administration that began on Tuesday will keep our best interests at heart, and will begin to undo the eroding of our reproductive freedoms that has occurred over the last three and a half decades. One important way Obama's team can do this, is to strike restrictions on publicly...

Tonight I thought of Lorraine Hansberry, author of 'A Raisin in the Sun' and songstress, Nina Simone.  Simone co-wrote the song and tribute to Hansberry and the Civil Rights movement 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black.' I imagined that these two very talented women, activists and friends would have spoken and sung at the inauguration with joy and amazement!                 Lorraine Hansberry                              Nina Simone ...

If you're like most women who grew up post-Title IX, you probably had some pretty good opportunities to play sports in high school and college. However, Title IX is still a controversial issue as many people believe boy's sports suffer from the policy of ensuring equal resources for athletes of both genders. The fact is, many schools around the country, girls still have less equipment, fewer teams, inferior facilities or less time dedicated to their sports teams than boys. A recent survey by the WNBA and...

The Hawaiian term for grandparent is tutu and Obama shortened the term for his beloved grandmother to Toot. He called her his rock and she was the matriarch that helped raised him and his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng in Honolulu. Madelyn Dunham peacefully died from cancer in her sleep at 86 in Hawaii. Madelyn Dunham was a REAL maverick! She was a feminist trailblazer and moved up from being a secretary to one of the first women vice presidents for the Bank...

It's not exactly shock of the century, I realize, but I still couldn't help but startle at the contempt dripping from a few of Fox's most recent headlines. Wowza, what journalism! Read on for the best of the bunch. And by best, I clearly mean WTF?!     Study: 40 Percent of Women Report Sexual Problems, Most Don't Care While other sources preceed the same story with statements like Almost Half of Women Have Sexual Problems (Washington Post) or Sex Difficulties in Women Not Distressing to Most (Bloomberg),...

This week John McCain criticized the ''Feminist left'' for attacking Sarah Palin. We think he's just frustrated that women weren't fooled by his whole my-VP-pick-wears-a-skirt-so-vote-for-me tactic. Eleanor Smeal, President of Feminist Majority, says, ''Obama/Biden are running on the strongest platform for women's rights of any major party in U.S. history.'' That's why Feminist Majority launched www.FeministsForObama.org, a side-by-side comparison of the candidates on major women's issues like breast cancer research, domestic violence prevention, the Fair Pay Act and reproductive rights. To reach as many people as...

The Hysterical Festival a four-day comedy festival featuring the country's funniest females and is setting up shop in NYC, showcasing various women who are both entertaining and groundbreaking. Its aim is to expand and enrich communities of female comedians who are not only witty and intelligent but also brilliant in their acts. The festival will occur October 15-18 at Comix Comedy Club, The Zipper Theater, Bleeker Street Theater and Tribeca Film Center. Talents include Maria Bamford, I Eat Pandas(pictured above), The Apple Sisters, Claudia...

If you're an American Express card member, you can help a group close to our hearts, Women For Women International , win a big ole grant through AMEX's Members Project. Just log in here , vote within the next eight hours for their initiative called Help Women and Children Survivors of War Rebuild, and with your support it could get funding from American Express to help with their life saving humanitarian efforts. Emily Rems is a feminist writer, editor, rock star, playwright, and occasional plus-size model...

Did you know that October was Domestic Violence Awareness month? Neither did I, but I think I'll celebrate this year by not going to Nevada, which, according to a recent study, ranks #1 in the rate of women murdered by men for the second year in a row. In the annual report from the Violence Policy Center (VPC), which analyzed 2006 homicide data, Nevada, with a rate of Nevada, rate of 3.27 murders per 100,000 is ranked highest, followed by South Carolina at #2 with a...