Human Rights Approach Needed To Conquer Global Maternal Mortality

As at any international gathering of public health specialists and women’s advocates, there was hope, hype, and a bit of hypocrisy when more than 3500 participants from 140 countries convened for the “Women Deliver 2010” conference in Washington, DC June 7 to 9.  “We’re at a tipping point,” claimed Jill Sheffield, Founder and President of Women Deliver, an organization aimed at monitoring progress toward meeting specific Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations for 2015.

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Time for U.S. Senate to Act on U.N. Women’s Treaty

Indian Women's Trade Union Rally
On Dec. 18, 1979, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, making it a watershed day for women around the globe. This international agreement was Eleanor Roosevelt's dream and is one of the pillars of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The global community went on the record to challenge every government to protect the human rights of women and girls by working together.

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Purpose in the Struggle: A Woman’s Journey Underground and Back

Diana Block's memoir, Arm the Spirit: A Woman's Journey Underground and Back, is an example of a leftist making sense of the world around her, attempting to act with integrity, and searching for political strategy and home. In prose as engaging as a good novel Block depicts her childhood, her politicization, her coming out, her search for the right political program, her experiences with partnering and parenting, and the day to day details of life underground. At the same time the book offers a wealth of history lessons.