Pins and needles

A contraceptive that stops your period for three months can?t be all that good for your health, now can it? And there is enough scientific evidence that injectable contraceptives such as Depo-Provera? and Net En expose women to the risks of osteoporosis and cancer. Women?s groups and NGOs such as Sama, Saheli, All India Democratic Women?s Association and Delhi Science Forum have written to the Union health minister, Anbhumani Ramadoss, after the pro-injectable group ? including Parivar Seva Sanstha in collaboration with the government, UN Population Fund and Population Foundation of India ? met earlier this week to discuss contraceptive methods.

Known killers

A report recently released by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found women are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than a stranger. Foreign-born women are at the highest risk. The findings also show the number of women killed by their partners has remained steady, despite an overall decrease in female homicides from 1995-2002. Foreign-born black and Hispanic women are three times more likely than US-born African-American and Hispanic women to be victims of intimate partner femicide, according to the study. Carolyn A. Kubitschek, a lawyer and expert on domestic violence, highlights the shortage of domestic violence shelters. "One of the big dilemmas is where can these women go," she told New York Times.

Girls will be girls

According to a new study conducted by the UK research agency, Trade Union Congress (TUC), the entrenched split between traditionally ?male? and ?female? careers is just as glaring among today?s teenagers as among the elder generation. It shows that 14 per cent of young men work in manufacturing, compared with just 6 per cent of women .TUC?s Brendan Barber, said: ?Until we address the images of jobs for the boys and jobs for the girls, the equal pay gap will not go away.?

Less is not more

Iranian lawmaker Eshrat Shayeghi is backing the removal of the concept of gender equality from a state development plan. ?Bringing up the issue of gender justice is a case of bullying men,? she said. She said she was supporting a decision by the conservative-dominated Parliament to delete a phrase in the ?Fourth Five-Year Development Plan? (2005-2010), which aimed at considering equal training and employment opportunities for women as men. All that?s very well, but isn?t it a bit much to want to do away with the notion of gender justice altogether?

Bush warning

Expected incoming chair of the US Senate judiciary committee Arlen Specter cautioned George Bush not to make nominations to the Supreme Court who would overturn abortion rights. ?The President is well aware of what happened, when a bunch of his nominees were sent up, with the filibuster,? Specter said. ?When you talk about judges who would change the right of a woman to choose, to overturn Roe v. Wade, I think that is unlikely.? Specter also warned, ?If you have won a race that is won by a percentage or two, that?s not a traditional mandate,? indicating Bush had should watch his back.

Overheard? a survey conducted by the online Match.com revealed that women prefer supportive and sensible men to cads, much like Bridget Jones choosing the supportive Mark Darcy over sexy but shallow character Daniel Cleaver. Some women would beg to differ!