Feminist Events Calendar

April-Sexual Assault Awareness Month:
-19th: Equal Pay Day
-22nd: Earth Day
-25th: One Year Anniversary of the March for Women's Lives!
-28th: Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work Day

May-Women's Health Care Month:
-1st: International Worker's Day
-4th: National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Day
-8th-14th: National Women's Health Week

June:
-27th: National HIV Testing Day

July:
-5th-22nd: Meeting of UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

August:
-26th: Women's Equality Day

September:
-10th: International Gynecological Awareness Day

Contact Us!

Call us toll free at either the East coast office (1-866-444-FMLA) or the West coast office (1-866-471-FMLA) . You can also email us at campusteam@feminist.org. We are always happy to hear from you and answer any questions or concerns!

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This is your E-zine, and we are always updating and changing to fit your needs, so please let us know what you think of our new format! Email campusteam@feminist.org with any suggestions, ideas, or comments.

FMF's Global Conference a Resounding Success!
With over 400 people in attendance from nearly 100 campuses and 36 states, the National Collegiate Global Women's and Human Rights Conference April 9-11 was a huge success! We would like to thank everyone who attended for their participation and energy. We also want to give special thanks to all the speakers who made this Conference so informative and moving for attendees and organizers alike.

Visit the Conference website for follow-up information on the Conference, downloadable versions of Conference materials, and information on the upcoming regional Global Women's and Human Rights Conferences. Stay active by signing up for global alerts so that you can get involved in campaigns across the country from the Feminist Majority Foundation and other organizations who attended the conference.

Equal Pay Day
In order to match a typical man's 2004 earnings a woman must work all of 2004 plus work until April 19, 2005. According to the 2004 U.S. Census, women on average earn 76 cents for every dollar the average man earns. Raise awareness on your campus about women's economic status in the U.S. on April 19th and all year 'round with our NEW Pay Equity factsheets.

Update Your Info on Feminist Campus!
Are you graduating this year? Going abroad? Transferring? If so, make sure to update your information on FeministCampus.org! Just sign in at www.feministcampus.org and click on 'Update your Profile'

Extraordinary Fundraising Efforts
Students across the country did a fantastic job fundraising to attend the National Collegiate Global Women's and Human Rights Conference. We would like to give special recognition to the Portland Community College (OR) FMLA, which raised over $5000 to send nine students to the Conference.

University of North Carolina-Wilmington
UNC-Wilmington FMLA President Chelsa Nelson and two of her friends are doing Operation Freefall 2005 to raise money for Speaking Out About Rape (SOAR) the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), and the Rape Crisis Center of Coastal Horizons Center, Inc. In her personal statement Chelsa says, "On April 30, 2005, we'll be participating in the nation's boldest, highest-altitude and most daring effort to put an end to sexual assault. It's called Operation Freefall 2005. We'll be joining thousands of people at skydive centers across the country who will take to the sky, jump, and then float gently back to earth to raise awareness and money for sexual assault." Read more!

University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
At the end of March, the FMLA at University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign held their 3rd annual “Sex Out Loud” a sexual health awareness fair. With the "Sex Out Loud" event, the group seeks to create a safe forum for students to “learn anything and everything they could possibly want to know about sex,” according to FMLA Vice President Jenni Purdue. A number of groups were featured at the event, including U of I's Sexual Health Peers showing people different types of sex toys, and Campus for Choice selling t-shirts. There was a special performance of the Vagina Monologues, a DJ, and booths with information on a variety of issues.

Kutztown University
Kutztown's FMLA had a successful Take Back The Night recently. About 80 students showed up to see the comedian Rene Hicks who appeared on Hanging with Mr. Cooper. They invited her because they wanted to start making TBTN a celebration for victims of domestic violence and assualt. Following the event, they marched around campus and downtown Kutztown yelling, "Stop Hate, End Rape, and Women and Men Unite, Take Back the Night."

University of Maryland-College Park
The affiliate group at the University of Maryland-College Park, Feminist Activists of Maryland, raised $300 for the DC Abortion Fund when they pledged to $50 (up to a maximum of $300) for each anti-choice protester at a rally this past Friday.

Marymount Manhattan College
The Marymount Manhattan College FMLA will be having an anniversary party on April 25th to celebrate the 2004 March for Women's Lives.

George Washington University
On March 30th, the George Washington FMLA co-sponsored a coffeehouse with Amnesty International as part of Amnesty's "Stop the Violence" Campaign.

New FMLAs!
We would like to welcome 6 new groups to the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance community this week!!

• Rollins College (FL) FMLA
• Campus Women's Organization, a new affiliate group at University of Pittsburgh (PA)
• SIRENS, a new affiliate at Bucknell University (PA)
• SARO (Students Advocating Reproductive Options), a new affiliate at Allegheny College (PA)
• GSS0 (Gender Studies Student Organization), a new affiliate at University of Southern Maine
• ROW (Race of Women) a new affiliate at Florida Gulf Coast University

Title IX Critic Approved by Judiciary Committee Despite Questionable Record
April 14, 2005--The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved Thomas Griffith for a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Griffith was approved 14-4, with Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy (VT), Edward Kennedy (MA), Joseph Biden (DE) and Russell Feingold (WI) voting against him. Griffith will now face a full Senate vote. More

Senate Delays Vote on FDA Chief as Lawmakers Fight for Choice
April 14, 2005--Citing anonymous allegations on Wednesday against Lester Crawford, President Bush's nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration, the Senate Health Committee has postponed a vote on his nomination. Crawford has been serving as the agency's acting commissioner for over a year. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), the committee's chair, announced on Wednesday, however, that the committee needed "more time to address issues that have been raised" about the nominee, reports the New York Times. Enzi refused to provide any details of the allegations. While the White House normally conducts background checks on presidential nominees, it is unclear if Crawford's background check included the allegations, reports the Associated Press. More

Supreme Court Ruling Strengthens Title IX, Protects Whistle-Blowers
March 29, 2005--The US Supreme Court ruled today that those who are the victims of retaliation for drawing attention to Title IX violations can sue under the 1972 federal law prohibiting sex discrimination at institutions receiving federal financial assistance for education programs and activities. The court ruled 5-4 in favor of Roderick Jackson, a basketball coach in Alabama who claims that he was fired for complaining that the girls' basketball team was forced to use substandard facilities and equipment and was denied funding equal to that received by the boys' basketball team. Jackson's case was dismissed by lower federal courts, including the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that Title IX does not allow any specific right to sue over alleged retaliation, only over direct discrimination. More

Women Protest Pharmacist's Refusal to Fill EC Prescriptions
March 28, 2005--A pharmacist's refusal to fill two prescriptions for emergency contraception (EC) on February 23 was the cause of a protest outside an Osco, Illinois drugstore last week. The protest, organized by Planned Parenthood, draws attention to a problem that is becoming increasingly widespread -- that of pharmacists refusing to fill women's prescriptions for contraceptives because of what they cite as religious beliefs. "Women should never be denied basic health care services by pharmacists who choose to impose their own beliefs on others," Steve Trombloy, president of the Chicago Area Planned Parenthood, told the Chicago Sun-Times. More

More Feminist News

Pakistan's Islamists Introduce Bill Banning Women in Advertising
April 15, 2005--Pakistan's conservative Islamist party alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), introduced a bill to ban women from appearing in advertisements. The proposed bill seeks to imprison any ad agency that uses women models. More

Kenyan Women Take Complaints of Rape by British Military to the United Nations
March 31, 2005--Several hundred Kenyan women from the Samburu and Masai tribes seeking compensation for being raped by the British military 15 years ago are taking their case to the United Nations. The British Department of Defense has recorded 2,187 complaints of rape by British soldiers over a period of 25 years, reports BBC News. Women in central Kenya are preparing to protest the delay by the British Army and Kenyan authorities in addressing the rape allegations. More

More Global Feminist News

"The Struggle for Women's Rights at Home and Abroad" with FMF Deputy Director of Global Programs, Sara Hasan Nagy and panelists from ChoiceUSA and CodePink. Read the chat!

Get Active!

Equal Pay Day
Many of you will be graduating in the coming years, and when you look for jobs you will be affected by gender-based pay inequities. So use the action ideas on the right to raise awareness on your campus about women's economic status in the U.S. on April 19th and all year 'round!

1. Wear red to symbolize how far women and minorities are “in the red” with their pay.
2. Contact your members of Congress
   Call or email your House Representatives and Senators to tell them how important fair pay is to you!
3. Host a forum on women's experiences in the workplace.
   Invite local businesswomen to discuss their experiences balancing work and family, dealing with sexual harassment, and building relationships with other women in the office. You might also invite members of the Chamber of Commerce to discuss what is being done on a local level to remedy the pay gap.
4. Set up an informational table in a high-traffic area on campus.
   Stock your table with these NEW fact sheets from the Feminist Majority Foundation. Hand out Pay Day candy bars or packs of Equal sweetener with statistics about the pay gap attached.
5. Host an “Unhappy Hour” on campus (modeled after Business & Professional Women USA events), or hold a Pay Equity Bake Sale
   Sell Shirley Temples or baked goods and base the charges on the wage gap statistics—for example, white men pay $1.00, African American men pay 78 cents, white women pay 76 cents, African American women pay 65 cents, Hispanic men pay 63 cents, and Hispanic women pay 54 cents.

National Committee on Pay Equity

Business and Professional Women Foundation
Includes a radio public service announcement

National Organization for Women

Institute for Women's Policy Research

Text of the Equal Pay Act of 1963

Global Week of Action
This week activists and campaigners in more than 70 countries will be engaging more than 10 million people in the cause of trade justice. This is the Global Week of Action and it's the largest-ever mobilization for trade justice, and a unique opportunity for campaigners and people living in poverty to come together to insist that world leaders change the rules of trade and help to make poverty history.

For more information see:
www.oxfamamerica.org
www.april2005.org

EC ePSA from Advocates for Youth
You can still view Advocates for Youth's Emergency Contraception ePSA (electronic public service announcement) called Emergency Contraception: A Puppet Parable of Politics & Polemics! View it online at http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/ec/

Find a feminist internship or post-graduate job!

Job Search Tips:

• Volunteering for a few months or a year can be a great introduction to the nonprofit world. Check out Idealist.org for a list of organizations that can help you find the opportunity you want.

Each issue will have new tips to help you succeed in finding a feminist internship or job. Have a great tip for this section? Submit it to campusteam@feminist.org!