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Tuesday, 08 March 2011 09:46 |
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March 8 marks International Women's Day — a day to put women, women's rights, and equality on the global agenda. The 2011 theme for International Women's Day is:
Equal access to education, training and science and technology: The pathway to decent work for women.
Young women often face challenges to accessing education, training, and opportunities in the fields of science and technology. Gender inequities, gender-based violence, traditional harmful practices, unwanted pregnancy, adolescent maternal mortality, and vulnerability to Sexually Transmitted Infections, including HIV, make it even harder for young women to compete with men in the global marketplace. However, youth activists from all over the world are working together to achieve gender equality and to fight for young women's sexual and reproductive health and rights.
March 8th provides an opportunity to pay tribute to the progress that has been made towards achieving equal rights for women as well as draw attention to persisting inequities and threats to women's health, especially young women.
Join Amplify and submit your post for our International's Women's Day Blogathon, which starts today and ends this Saturday, March 12.
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Wednesday, 02 March 2011 06:36 |
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by Samantha, Amplify Community Editor
You’ve probably heard the exciting news that on Wednesday the Obama administration announced that Section 3 of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, is unconstitutional, and the Justice Department will no longer be defending it in court. If you learned about this through a friend or overheard it on the radio or on TV, or if you read an article or two on it to try to learn some more details, don’t feel bad if some things were a little confusing. In my research for this blog, I had a lot of “But what does that mean?!” moments. I didn’t understand why someone wasn’t explaining the full story of what’s happening now in language that’s easy to understand, so I decided I would go ahead and write what I wanted to read. It took seven pages of notes to make sense of it all, but I think I have a good enough understanding now of what it all means to be able to explain (at least mostly) everything. And trust me, it’s still exciting. :-)
First of all: What is DOMA?
DOMA is the Defense of Marriage Act, passed 15 years ago in 1996 under President Clinton.
What happened last Wednesday?
President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder (the head of the Department of Justice) decided that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional and that the Justice Department will no longer defend Section 3 in court.
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Monday, 28 February 2011 13:57 |
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Editor's Note: This post was originally published on RH Reality Check.
By Amanda Marcotte
When it comes to the world of feminist writer/activists, I definitely fall on the “writer” side of the line. Most of my life is researching, conducting interviews, pitching pieces, and, of course, staring at my computer, trying to think of a verb that's dynamic but not pretentious. I love giving speeches, but they're usually of the 20-60 minute long variety meant to educate, analyze and entertain (and there's always a Q&A), and I'm always on a roster with journalists and academics. So how was it that Saturday afternoon, I found myself standing outside with feet growing numb in the cold amongst actors, musicians, organizers and oodles of politicians, trying to think of what I could say in 120 seconds that would be meaningful to the crowd of thousands of people waving signs and periodically erupting into chants?
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Monday, 28 February 2011 13:56 |
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by Elizabeth Merck, Manager, Individual Giving
Hey everyone! Through February 28th (midnight tonight!), Advocates for Youth will be giving away limited edition Great American Condom Campaign tote bags to donors who contribute $25 or more online through Advocates' website.
You can see the bag and donate by visiting this link: bit.ly/fVBott
The GACC is a youth-led grassroots movement aimed at making the U.S. a sexually healthy nation. Each year, Advocates provides one million Trojan Brand condoms to students who serve as "SafeSites" on college and university campuses across the country. As SafeSites, these students distribute condoms to their peers, educate them about sexual and reproductive health issues, and organize to improve policies that affect young people's health and well-being.
Your contribution will be used to help young people prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, especially HIV.
Remember — donate before midnight tonight!
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