Month: August 2018

United States (Sunlight) – The Office of Refugee Resettlement removed its staff directory from its website, likely between October and December of last year. The change came just before the political firestorm over the Trump administration’s family separation policy at the border and accusations that the office has failed to communicate transparently with the public during the controversy. The Web Integrity Project’s latest report documents the takedown of an entire page containing staff contact information from the website of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the office within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that…

(OpenDemocracy) – Men’s rights activists (MRAs) met in London last month at one of the largest gatherings of anti-feminists in the world. 50.50’s dispatch from the conference aroused an angry backlash, as MRAs mobilised their supporters to try to discredit our report and drown out any positive response to it. They left hundreds of comments under the article and on social media – which run from the misguided but sincere, through foolish and provocative to misleading, abusive, and hateful. They show what we’re up against, and reflect the abuse that women journalists so…

North America (Conversation) – Women in Canada and the United States face extraordinary difficulties in seeking the birth control method of sterilization. When going to medical professionals to ask about the procedure, they often hear something like, “You’ll regret it” or “Get your husband to do it.” The most common reason medical professionals provide for denying women’s voluntary sterilization is potential future regret. There are many studies on the possibility of women regretting sterilization. The most commonly cited study from the U.S. finds that the rate of women’s post-sterilization regret…

Australia (Conversation) – Women comprise 42% of Australia’s homeless population. Not only do many women become homeless due to family violence, homelessness can expose them to further gendered violence. Research shows homeless women experience violence – or feel vulnerable to it – in crisis accommodation, such as private rooming houses and motels, to which housing services often refer them due to the scarcity of more suitable alternatives. For my recently published book I interviewed 15 women aged 18-25 about their experiences of managing homelessness in Melbourne. The women described how…

Florida, United States (Conversation) – Editor’s note: Two large-scale algae outbreaks in Florida are killing fish and threatening public health. Along the southwest coast, one of the longest-lasting red tide outbreaks in the state’s history is affecting more than 100 miles of beaches. Meanwhile, discharges of polluted fresh water from Lake Okeechobee and polluted local runoff water from the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee watersheds have caused blooms of blue-green algae in downstream estuaries on both coasts. Karl Havens, a professor at the University of Florida and director of the Florida…