“In an environment where people are disgusted with politics in general, who represents clean and change? Women.”
-Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, commenting in a NYT story about Democratic women running in nearly two dozen House races

“We don’t have an all-woman cabinet. I toyed with that, but what I decided was to put women in charge of all the major areas – justice, finances, commerce, the police directorate. All of this sends a strong message. (Loud audience applause at this!) Women have a higher level of integration into society, based upon our experience.”
-Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, speaking in Washington DC this week
Reproductive Rights

Tennessee to require DNA from abortions – AP
Doctors performing abortions on girls younger than 13 years old would be required to preserve a sample of the fetal tissue for law enforcement under a bill passed by the Senate on Thursday. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation could use those samples for DNA tests to help prosecute rapists, said Sen. Roy Herron, the bill’s sponsor. “Whoever has sex with a child 12 years of age or younger is committing rape, whether force is involved or not, and they ought to be prosecuted,” he said.

General

Feminism — the monolith that still doesn’t exist – Tribune-Star Opinion
I have seen many Women’s History Months come and go, great gains made in economic, social, athletic and educational opportunities for females. No matter the year or decade, no matter the heel-height of fashionable shoes or the length of trendy skirts, no matter who is in the White House — or not — somebody still pops up with another sweeping condemnation of “feminism.” As if the term represented a monolithic army, marching in lock-step to commands of a powerful cabal of “feminist leaders.” As if. The latest expert executioner of feminism is a plucky college student named Noel Stanger. She has taken time off from her studies at the Thiel College to be an intern at the so-called conservative Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute in Herndon, Va.

American gets 9 years for Okinawa rapes – AP
A U.S. military civilian employee was sentenced to nine years in prison for two rapes on Okinawa, court officials and media reports said Friday. Dag A. Thompson, 36, was sentenced for the rapes in 1998 and 2004, said Naha District Court official Tatsuhiko Toguchi. Court officials refused to give further details about Thompson, including his home town. Japan’s Kyodo News said he was a civilian employee working on Kadena Air Base and was arrested in 2004. It said both victims were in their 20s.

Katrina Donation Ignites Debate – Houston Chronicle
As Barbara Bush spent two hours championing her son’s software company at a Houston middle school Thursday morning, a watchdog group questioned whether the former first lady should be allowed to channel a donation to Neil Bush’s Ignite Learning company through Houston’s Hurricane Katrina relief fund. “It’s strange that the former first lady would want to do this. If her son’s having a rough time of it, couldn’t she write him a check?” said Daniel Borochoff, founder of the American Institute of Philanthropy, a Chicago-based charity watchdog group. “Maybe she isn’t aware that people could frown upon this.” Some critics said donations to a tax-deductible charitable fund shouldn’t benefit the Bush family. Others questioned whether the Houston Independent School District violated district policy by allowing the company to host a promotional event on campus.

Politics

Women Wage Key Campaigns for Democrats – NY Times
If the Democrats have their way, the 2006 Congressional elections will be the revenge of the mommy party. Democratic women are running major campaigns in nearly half of the two dozen most competitive House races where their party hopes to pick up enough Republican seats to regain control of the House. Democratic strategists are betting that the voters’ unrest and hunger for change — reflected consistently in public opinion polls — create the perfect conditions for their party’s female candidates this year.

Protesters try to shout down Sen. Clinton during speech – AP
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech on women and equal pay was interrupted twice Thursday by anti-war protesters at a Long Island university. The 26 protesters, in an audience of about 300, shouted out “Stop the war” and “Troops out now” as the Democratic senator from New York spoke at Stony Brook University. They said Clinton supported President Bush and the war in Iraq.

International

Brazil to Hand Out a Billion Free Condoms – IPS
As a key part of its vigorous campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS, the Brazilian government is planning to distribute over one billion condoms free of charge this year. “The government campaign in Brazil is straightforward, like nowhere else in Latin America,” said Frederico Meyer, a minister at the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations.

Interview: Accelerating African healthcare – UPI
In the mobile, fast-paced United States, many of us don’t give a second thought about jumping in our cars and driving off. But in Africa, a lack of reliable transportation gives a new meaning to the term “traffic jam.” Without vehicles, healthcare providers are blocked from reaching rural areas — one of the most overlooked crises in Africa, according to Andrea and Barry Coleman, founders of Riders for Health. For the past 15 years, these motorcycle enthusiasts have developed efficient and cost-effective techniques for maintaining transportation in harsh conditions of rural Africa. The Colemans, who recently received a $765,000 grant from the Skoll Foundation to further their initiative, spoke to United Press International about how they’re working to leave inefficient healthcare in the dust.

South Africa Rape Trial Dashes Hope for Change – Women’s eNews
The high-profile rape trial of South Africa’s former vice president Jacob Zuma alarms advocates for rape survivors, already upset by the weakening of a once-promising bill on sexual offenses.