Link Roundups 1 of 2

February 3, 2012 by

Link Roundup: The Susan G Komen Backlash and Workplace Discrimination

Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.

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On Tuesday, Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced that it would no longer be funding Planned Parenthood’s breast cancer screening program due to its new policy that blocks organizations under investigation from receiving grants. Though Susan G. Komen denied that its decision was motivated by a secret political agenda, critics pointed out that the new policy was enacted just a few months after U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns launched an investigation to determine whether or not Planned Parenthood had used government funds to pay for abortions. In addition, Susan G. Komen’s newly appointed Senior VP for Public Policy Karen Handel is anti-choice and vowed during her run for Governor that she would eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood for breast and cervical cancer screenings. Despite whether or not Komen’s new policy was a cover-up for political motivations, the organization faced a major backlash and announced on Friday that it would be reversing its decision. [The Atlantic]

A new study reported that while women make up 68% of the voluntary sector’s workforce in the U.K., only 43% of the country’s charities are lead by women. In addition, the study found that women are grossly under-represented in the religious sector, as only 15% of religious organizations have female leaders. [eJewish Philanthropy]

Anti-choice politicians may want to reconsider their stance on women’s reproductive rights. A new report revealed that there is no correlation between restrictive abortion laws and reduced abortion rates. In fact, the report showed that between 1995 and 2008, countries with fewer restrictions had lower abortion rates than countries with more restrictions. [Ms. Magazine]

Dina Bakst, founder and president of A Better Balance: The Work and Family Legal Center, attributed a gap between U.S. discrimination laws and disability laws to the lack of job security for pregnant women. She explained that while federal and state laws protect pregnant women from discrimination in the workplace and the Americans With Disabilities Act requires employers provide disabled employees, including pregnant women suffering from medical complications, with “reasonable accommodations,” “pregnancy itself is not considered a disability [therefore] employers are not obligated to accommodate most pregnant workers in any way.” Hoping to combat this problem in New York, State Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther recently introduced two bills that would require employers to provide pregnant women with reasonable accommodations that are recommended by their health care providers. [NY Times]

Heeb magazine reported that last week, 24-year-old Marina Weisband resigned as director of Germany’s Pirate party. Weisband had been attacked regularly for being Jewish, but denied that anti-Semitic hate mail played a role in her decision to resign. Instead, she attributed her resignation to fatigue and a desire to to obtain her her graduate degree. [Heeb]

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