women

Currently, only four percent of the Canadian construction force is female. Journeyman, a national program that helps mentor, support and promote women working in construction, hopes to change that. But drumming up female interest in a male-dominated industry is only a small part of the program's mission.

Though a majority was for it, the Senate could not garner the 60 votes needed to move a bill – sponsored by Kirsten Gillibrand and other Senate Democratic women – that would have placed military rape and other sexual assault trials outside the chain of command forward.

The Lone Star state jumped into the spotlight this week – a movie-worthy filibuster by Wendy Davis, a flood of demonstrators taking to the capitol, and a ramped up war of words between Texas Republicans and Democrats.

The California Chapter of the National Organization for Women announced that they will be waging a very public campaign to call on Governor Brown to remove the provision in the budget bill that eliminates domestic violence enforcement mandates from police officers and departments.

Women have been hit especially hard by cuts to the Medi-Cal program in recent years. And access to care for women will be even more challenged in coming years if large corporations like Walmart continue to avoid their responsibility to pay a fair share of health care costs under the Affordable Care Act.

Political momentum to address the problem of military rape has been building since the Pentagon released statistics last month showing that sexual assault increased by 35 percent between 2010 and 2012. Senators have rushed to draft legislation to hold attackers accountable and provide support for victims. But, at the Senate hearing, officials steadfastly opposed most major changes in the way sexual assault cases are prosecuted. “It will undermine the readiness of the force … [and] will hamper the timely delivery of justice."

A study by the National Partnership for Women and Families finds that Minnesota women who work full time pull in a median salary of $40,416, compared to $50,580 for men. That $10,164 difference (or 80 cents for every dollar men make) is actually more equitable than the 77-cents-for-women-per-dollar-for-men national norm.
Minority women have it particularly bad, the study finds. Nationally, African American women make 64 cents and Latinas are paid just 55 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men.