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WOMEN'S FUND OF MISSISSIPPI UPDATE
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E-News for the Week of July 22, 2010
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Analysis: Women Still Sparse in Mississippi Politics (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal)
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Mississippi, Delaware, Iowa and Vermont are the only states that have never sent a woman to the U.S. House or Senate, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Mississippi has never had a female governor, and it has elected only two women as lieutenant governor. The state now ranks 47th for the proportion of females in the state legislature, says the center at Rutgers.
American women have exercised the right to vote for nearly 90 years, but, as these facts illustrate, politics is still mostly a men's game in Mississippi. Chalk it up to the culture, and to family considerations. Women still run for office here in smaller numbers, and some have a tough time raising money to be competitive. The most successful female politicos in Mississippi have been single or divorced. Many others have had no children or very young children.
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Op-Ed: "Should the State Tighten Regulations on 'Payday' Lenders?" (Clarion Ledger)
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According the author of the op-ed, Mississippi should no longer allow payday lenders an exemption from the 36% interest rate cap that applies to other legitimate financial institutions. For example, in Mississippi, to avoid the usury law on small loans, the payday lenders convinced the state to create a new statute. This statute allows payday lenders in Mississippi to charge one of the highest interest rates in the country - 572 percent. The author is calling for a 36% rate cap on payday loans. (The Women's Fund is part of this coalition working to cap the interest rate.)
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Op-Ed: "Slavery, Seduction, and Sex" (New York Times)
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According to Kristof: "There's a misperception in America that "sex trafficking" is mostly about foreigners smuggled into the U.S. That exists. But I've concluded that the biggest problem and worst abuses involve not foreign women but home-grown runaway kids. No strategy has worked particularly well...But a starting point is for law enforcement to go after pimps rather than the girls. That's the only way to break the business model of forced prostitution. The Swedish model, adopted in 1999, is to prosecute the men who purchase sex, while treating the women who sell it as victims who merit social services. Prosecution of johns has reduced demand for prostitution in Sweden, which in turn reduces market prices."
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Difficult Births: Laboring and Delivering in Shackles (NPR)
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It's a practice so hidden, many don't realize it exists: the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth. Across the U.S., there are stories of women going from jails or prisons to hospitals, where they labor and sometimes even deliver while restrained with handcuffs, leg shackles or both. In recent years, a growing number of states have moved to ban the practice. Ten states now have anti-shackling legislation: California, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia - and as of two weeks ago, Pennsylvania.
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Studies Show Promise in Curbing AIDS in Africa (Los AngelesTimes)
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In a breakthrough study, the use of a vaginal microbicide is shown to reduce chances of HIV transmission in women by more than half. This is considered especially important because women have borne the brunt of the epidemic in Africa. In Africa, men rarely use condoms or other methods that might prevent transmission of the virus, and their wives and partners are generally powerless to convince them to do so. Further, girls and young women are often forced into sexual activity because of their families' abject poverty.
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Our Mission:
The Women's Fund of Mississippi
is dedicated to improving
the lives of women and girls
by promoting social change and
economic self-sufficiency through
advocacy and strategic grantmaking. |
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