By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee recently introduced a bill that puts a ceiling on funding for family planning and reproductive health programs at $461 million; this is 23 percent, or $94 million below the current level (and $174 million less than President Obama’s budget request). The bill also calls
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Do you want to do something that will help women around the world?  One big step you can take is to support the Global Democracy Promotion Act (GDPA) – a piece of congressional legislation that calls for permanently ending the global gag rule. What is the Global Gag Rule? The global
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org. Here we are halfway through the year 2013 and it’s time for another World Population Day, officially recognized on July 11th.  This United Nations-designated day is meant to raise awareness on all facets of human population growth.  Given that the world is at 7.2 billion and counting, this is truly a
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org It’s a subject that few want to discuss, but one of paramount importance.  It is the topic of violence and discrimination against girls (including child marriage), which is occurring with increasing frequency. In India, the past few months have brought increased attention to gender violence, based on some horrific, yet sadly
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org If you are concerned at all about world population growth, human rights (and especially women’s rights), and protecting the environment, then you should know about how PHE (Population, Health and Environment) programs can effectively address these issues. PHE projects are relatively new in the development sector, but this holistic approach recognizes
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org This International Women’s Day (March 8th) is a great time to consider the links between women’s rights and empowerment, reproductive health, global biodiversity, and stable population growth, and how tackling these issues can result in a more sustainable world. Investing in women – namely providing education, healthcare, economic opportunities, sustainable livelihoods,
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org It’s easy, if you’re not in the Beltway, to disregard all the machinations emanating from our nation’s capital.  Do or die elections, fiscal cliffs, and now sequestration – budget cuts to end all cuts. $85 billion in federal spending reductions just for this year alone is not a joking matter.  The
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Kudos to Eve Ensler, performer, playwright and activist. For the past year, Ensler has spearheaded a global campaign called One Billion Rising to draw attention to the sadly pervasive crisis of violence against women. This coming Valentine’s Day, One Billion Rising actions will take place all over the world, in at
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Last week, at the Women’s Policy Summit in Sacramento, promoting women’s issues took center stage for a day. An impressive array of California advocates, activists, legislators and others gathered for a conference dedicated to “Advancing Women’s Health, Wealth and Power”. One of the main themes of the day was healthcare –
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org. Forget 2013. Let’s jump ahead to the year 2030. As last year was coming to a close, and just as the global climate talks were winding down in a less-than-stellar performance by most countries, the U.S. National Intelligence Council released a report on how the intelligence community sees the next 17
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