(March 2004)
Urszula Masny-Latos, issue editor, writes:
This month’s issue of Mass Dissent celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8th by focusing on those women who have little to celebrate, and by honoring those who seek to give such women a voice.
We open with an article by Jessica Fry recounting the government’s investigation of Drake University School of Law’s Chapter of the NLG. Though four peace activists, as well as the University itself, were ordered by subpoena to turn over records following an anti-war rally in Des Moines, a public outcry from the legal community forced the government to withdraw the subpoenas.
In an article on Executive Order 452, Julie Patino and Barb Dougan explore Governor Mitt Romney’s abolishment of affirmative action for public employees in Massachusetts. EO 452 was issued without any input from the groups it affected most: women and minorities. While public outcry has forced Romney to reconsider his move, the gains made for women by affirmative action over the past 34 years are by no means secure.
Marguerite Helen considers the treatment received by women in the American prison system, where the inequalities that led them to jail are viciously intensified.
In an article on women and the global AIDS pandemic, Brook Baker explores the causes and consequences of the rise of HIV/AIDS among girls and women, particularly in Africa. Considering the staggering number of women affected by AIDS in developing countries, the U.S.’s moralistic, misogynist response appears absurdly irrelevant, and out of touch.
On a positive note, Elizabeth Sweet describes the work of Gail Pendleton, who fights for the rights of immigrant survivors of domestic abuse through the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women. By allying lawyers and trained advocates with the survivors themselves, the network brings a new vitality to bear on the legal and legislative systems that determine the rights of these women.
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