Free Republic

In the first major speech of her scandal-plagued presidential campaign, Democrat Hillary Clinton explicitly raised the issue of sexual assault on college campuses. Clinton delivered the wide-ranging speech at the Women in the World Summit in New York City on Thursday, according to Inside Higher Ed. “When women of any age, whether on college campuses or military bases or even in their homes, face sexual assault, then no woman is secure,” she declared. “Every woman deserves to have the safety and security they need. That means we have to guarantee that our institutions respond to the continuing scourge of sexual...

A group of women soldiers made history this week after earning a place in the first gender-integrated Ranger Course Assessment at Fort Benning in Georgia. The U.S. Army Ranger School at Fort Benning opened Monday to a class of 19 women and 380 men, according to Stars and Stripes. Over the last four months, 20 women had secured a spot in the course assessment after passing one of four sessions of gender-integrated Ranger Training Assessment Courses (RTAC). One female soldier chose to withdraw. Only eight women and 184 men successfully completed the first four days of Ranger School, after a...

Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said "deep-seated … religious beliefs" have to be changed before the world's women will get full access to abortion. “Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth, and laws don’t count for much if they’re not enforced,” Clinton said, according to The Daily Caller. “Rights have to exist in practice — not just on paper,” she argued about abortion. “Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will." “And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be...

Two years ago, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the nation’s top military officer, laid down an edict on the Obama administration’s plan to open direct land combat jobs to women: If women cannot meet a standard, senior commanders better have a good reason why it should not be lowered. Today, the “Dempsey rule” appears to have its first test case. The Marine Corps just finished research to see if female officers could successfully complete its rigorous Infantry Officer Course.

Two years ago, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the nation’s top military officer, laid down an edict on the Obama administration’s plan to open direct land combat jobs to women: If women cannot meet a standard, senior commanders better have a good reason why it should not be lowered. Today, the “Dempsey rule” appears to have its first test case. The Marine Corps just finished research to see if female officers could successfully complete its rigorous Infantry Officer Course.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Major League Baseball maintained its grades for its racial and gender hiring practices, while its percentage of African-American players remained only slightly above a study's low set in the 2007 season. The annual report issued Wednesday by Richard Lapchick's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida gave MLB an A grade in racial hiring and C in gender hiring.

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) stated that “women appear to me to be more patient” and not as inclined to go to war as men in an interview broadcast on Thursday’s “Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC.

<p>“I suppose it’s fair to say:don’t you someday want to see a woman president?”Thus asks Hillary Clinton,newly declared for the presidency.Or is that re-declared?</p> <p>The problem? Hillary Clinton isn’t a woman. And any Republican who is running for president who thinks she is will deserve the loss coming their way.</p>

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sarah Thomas saw the New York City area code pop up on her phone and started praying it was the NFL calling to say she'd been hired as a full-time game official.Not because that would make her the first woman to hold the job. Her hopes were those of any longtime official on the cusp of working at the sport's pinnacle.

Thomas comes backed with a strong resume, having been the first female official to work a major collegiate bowl game. She joins eight other referees granted first-time employment for league games. "Our incoming officials have all demonstrated that they are among the best in college football," NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said in a statement. "We are excited about having them join us." Thomas had been doing some sideline work for Browns, Saints and Colts minicamp practices in the past, but she truly made her name through a strong resume at the NCAA level.

Last week, Republicans expanded their majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives when 26-year-old Martina White won a special election in the 170th district. Expanding a legislative majority in a state that twice voted for Barack Obama is significant on its own, but expanding it because of the support of a unique coalition of Republican and traditionally Democratic-leading voters in a district in Philadelphia, a city where Republicans have not won an open General Assembly seat in 25 years, is extraordinary. The Republican wave did not end in November 2014, and White is just the latest Republican to win in...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Surveys find that men in U.S. special operations forces do not believe women can meet the physical and mental demands of their commando jobs, and they fear the Pentagon will lower standards to integrate women into their elite units, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press. Studies that surveyed personnel found "major misconceptions" within special operations about whether women should be brought into the male-only jobs. They also revealed concerns that department leaders would "capitulate to political pressure, allowing erosion of training standards," according to one document.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs. And what's wrong with that? I'd like to know," Paul McCartney sings in his 1976 song "Silly Love Songs." Mice might agree. It turns out male mice actually use ultrasonic "love songs" to woo females, using different tunes when they smell but do not see a female and when they lay eyes on their potential lady love, scientists said on Wednesday. "I do think there is more going on with animal communication than we humans have been attuned to," Duke University neurobiology professor Erich Jarvis said....

UN human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein told the Security Council that “the Islamic State is more accepting of ethnic diversity than the western governments that are making war on them.” “Islam is open to persons of every race, color, or ethnicity,” Zeid pointed out. “It doesn’t matter if a person is black or white. As long as he accepts Allah as his master he can be a full member of the umma. This stands in contrast to a long history in which western governments have oppressed and even enslaved persons because of the color of their skin.” In support...

Guess who is the number one violator of women’s rights in the world today? Israel. Violating the rights of Palestinian women. At least that is the view of the UN’s top women’s rights body, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). CSW ends its annual meeting on Friday, March 20 by condemning only one of the 193 UN member states for violating women’s rights – Israel. Not Syria. Where government forces routinely employ rape and other sexual violence and torture against women as a tactic of war. Where in 2014 the Assad regime starved, tortured and killed at least...

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., proposed a resolution Wednesday that warns climate change and ensuing natural disasters will force millions of vulnerable and poverty-stricken women to engage in “transactional sex” in order to provide their families with adequate food and water. Lee’s House Concurrent Resolution 29 says that food and water scarcity will be exacerbated by the effects of climate change, forcing increased “conflict and instability” that will particularly affect the strain on women farmers “who are estimated to produce 60 to 80 percent of the food in most developing countries.” “[F]ood insecure women with limited socioeconomic...

Almost every feature of gun proprietorship for women have been looked at with the exception of an exceptionally key inquiry: What are the reasons that motivates women to buy and own guns? In this last segment of NSSF’s report, we look at the driving variables of a women enthusiasm for owning guns. According to NSSF’s survey, the biggest motivation for a woman’s purchase is personal defense. Almost half of the women in the poll stated either self-defense (26.2%) or home defense (22%) as the “most important reason to own a gun.” Another significant motivator was hunting at 15.3 percent. To...

It appears that those who voted for Barack Obama for president simply because he is black are now urging we vote for Hillary Clinton simply because she is a woman. At a recent public event, Clinton asked her Democrat supporters, "I suppose it's fair to say: don't you someday want to see a woman president?" My answer to that ridiculous remark is-'that would depend on the woman.' That woman should be as qualified as any male candidate but if they believe that Hillary is eligible than that means they plan to vet her as poorly as they did Barack Obama....

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen shamed herself with a vote that no one in New Hampshire should ever forget. That day, to her eternal discredit, she voted against a bill to help sex trafficking victims - on the order of her biggest campaign donor. The bill was the Justice for Victims of Sex Trafficking Act. Among its bipartisan list of cosponsors are Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The bill would create a sex trafficking victim assistance fund, financed by revenue from criminal fines. Just before the bill was to come up for a vote, the abortion...

As the American military prepares to open all combat positions to women by 2016, a British report found that integrating women into combat would reduce effectiveness in battle and could harm unit cohesion. The British report, released in December, found that physiological differences put women at a disadvantage in both strength-based and aerobic fitness tests. Even women who are able to overcome the physiological disadvantage will likely get injured more easily or get tired quicker, making them easier targets and poorer marksmen in combat. “These are about biology rather than character,” the report states. The report found that some of...