The World Split Open by Ruth Rosen Read Free Book Online

includes many American activists, influences Nigerian courts to overturn a stoning sentence against Amina Lawal for a conviction of adultery.
    President Bush signs the so-called “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban” act, banning many late-term terminations.
    Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian defender of women’s and human rights, is the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
    The U.S. Census’ “American Time-Use Survey” finds that the average working woman spends more than twice as much time on household chores than the average working man.
    A study of female cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy reveals that 70 percent reported sexual harassment and nearly 20 percent were sexually assaulted.
    According to a
Ms.
magazine report, more than eight out of ten women feel favorably toward the accomplishments and goals of the women’s movement.
    2004  Newly elected mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco issues marriage licenses to more than four thousand same-sex couples. The Massachusetts Supreme Court, which had held in 2003 that same-sex couples are entitled to the “protection, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage,” starts issuing same-sex wedding licenses.
    President Bush calls for a constitutonal amendment banning same-sex marriage. The legislation fails in Congress. Revelations about the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo shock the nation. Although Lynndie England and other low-ranking soldiers are found guilty, no high-level administration officials are accused of war crimes or of violating the Geneva Accords.
    President Bush signs the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, intended to confer legal personhood on the fetus.
    The March for Women’s Lives, thought to be the largest protest in the nation’s history, draws more than a million people to Washington, D.C., to defend women’s rights to reproductive health and abortion.
    Ignoring the scientific recommendations of its own panel of experts, the FDA denies women over-the-counter access to Plan B emergency contraception.
    Women’s wrestling is added to the Olympic games and transsexuals are permitted to compete for the first time.
    Congress denies funding for abortions to female soldiers, even for victims of rape or incest.
    Wangari Maathai, an African activist famous for planting trees as part of the Green Belt Movement, and a strong advocate for a sustainable environment, peace, and women’s rights, becomes the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
    PBS anchor Gwen Ifill stumps both Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards during a vice presidential debate with a question about how they would address the AIDS epidemic among African American women.
    The Census Bureau reports the wage gap between women and men widening in 2003, with women earning only 75.5 cents on men’s dollar.
    The four “Jersey Girls,” widows of 9/11 victims, prod a reluctant White House, after 441 days, to create an independent panel to investigate the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
    A congressional report says that two-thirds of the federally funded “abstinence-only” programs contain “false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health.”
    President Bush is reelected. The gender gap (the difference between male and female votes) shrinks to 7 percent, partly due to fears about security and terrorism. The youth vote increases by 9.3 percent.
    2005  Condoleezza Rice becomes the first female African American Secretary of State.
    Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University, ignites a national controversy when he speculates that women may be inferior to men in the field of science. ( By February 2006, he is forced to resign. )
    Islamic women hold the first women-led, mixed-gender Islamic prayer in New York, sparking a worldwide controversy among Muslims.
    South Africa becomes the fifth country—joining the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain,