Carole Joffe, in the Longview Institute, writes, "...as we enter a new era, with the end of the Bush presidency coinciding with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, I see different types of reproductive horror stories emerging. These stories transcend the abortion divide. They speak squarely to the economic devastation facing Americans across the political spectrum, and how this crisis impacts people's reproductive lives. Three recent items in the news serve as examples."

For the Austin Chronicle, Belinda Acosta writes, "Walking through the Convention Center during the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in years past, it didn't take a demographer to note that the crowd was predominantly white, male, and 30-ish. Not that that's surprising. Internet and computer access largely depend on means, knowledge, and information. But if it's called the World Wide Web, one has to wonder if that world is really that worldly or wide and how broadly that Web is cast and to whom."

Raina Kelley writes in a Newsweek Web Exclusive about the issue of domestic abuse and the public eye's focus on Rihanna and Chris Brown. "While we can argue about how much of all that is true, it really doesn't matter. This sad story doesn't have to be verifiable for it to potentially warp how Rihanna's hundreds of thousands of tween fans think about intimate relationships...Celebrity scandals may have a short shelf life, but what we teach kids about domestic violence will last forever. So rather than 'raise awareness,' here are five myths that anyone with a child should take time to debunk."

Dahlia Lithwick writes in the Los Angeles Times, "Last month, former U.S. Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr sent out a warning to President Obama: GOP senators won't readily forgive the president for his Senate votes against Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr."

Rhonda Copelon writes for On The Issues, "When one compares what is done to a woman in an advanced domestic battering cycle and to prisoners subjected to torture, the situations are frighteningly similar. But only recently have they begun to be equated legally and culturally. How would the world be different for women if domestic violence were treated as torture or as cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment?"

Navanethem Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, writes: "Women still do not get equal pay for equal work, and do not enjoy the legal protections afforded to others in the workplace. . . . In many countries, laws restrict women's access to financial independence, discriminating against them in matters of employment, property and inheritance."

Kirk Simple writes in the New York Times, "Since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, a more egalitarian notion of women's rights has begun to take hold, founded in the country's new Constitution and promoted by the newly created Ministry of Women's Affairs and a small community of women’s advocates."

Allison Stevens from Women's eNews writes, "On the day that President Obama unveiled his budget for the upcoming fiscal year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and advocates gathered at the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to press Congress to do more to prevent an everyday event that causes millions of needless deaths around the world: childbirth."

Washington Post staff writer Monica Hesse presents arguments for and against Oscar night's gendered acting award categories. Hesse also addresses the lack of a female presence in nominations for other types of awards--and in speaking roles in the films themselves.

A video posted on YouTube by Insider Exclusive about the U.S. Supreme Court case of Martin v. Howard University and Alice Gresham Bullock. In 1997, Howard University Law Professor Dawn Martin was stalked on campus by a delusional serial stalker, Leonard Harrison. The National Organization for Women (NOW) and the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), joined by additional women's and victims' advocacy groups, filed an Amicus Brief in this case, stressing the need to protect stalking victims from employer retaliation. NOW President Kim Gandy was interviewed for this video.

Al Neuharth, founder of USA TODAY, writes in an opinion piece that President Obama must make sure the stimulus plan is implemented in a manner that doesn't "sabotage" American women. NOW President Kim Gandy is also quoted in support of this position. Neuharth's viewpoint, he says, is influenced by the wage discrimination his mother faced during the Great Depression, and the difficulties he encountered in carrying out his own equal-opportunity business policies.

In an article for MTV News, Gil Kaufman interviews NOW President Kim Gandy for her perspective on the alleged domestic-abuse incident between singers Rihanna and Chris Brown. Kaufman explores the tendency to "blame the victim," a phenomenon that Gandy says "has gone on as long as I can remember, both in sexual assault and domestic violence."

The New York Times' editorial board writes that, with regard to the country's rising rate of unemployment, "state welfare programs do not seem to be rising to the challenge." Implicating the federal government as well, the editorial offers legislators concrete suggestions to improve welfare policy, asserting that "civilized societies make sure that when people are in desperate need of help, the money is there to take care of them."

In the Los Angeles Times, James Oliphant and Thomas H. Maugh II recount the beginning of Justice Ginsburg's career as a "trailblazing advocate for women's rights." Continuing her defense of women's issues as a member of the Supreme Court, the article details Ginsburg's ardent support of equal pay and abortion rights in opinions she both wrote and, for "forceful" emphasis, delivered aloud from the bench.

NOW activists scored a victory! President Obama signed the SCHIP bill, which included health care for children and pregnant women who are legal immigrants. Robert Pear in the The New York Times reports: "The House gave final approval on Wednesday to a bill extending health insurance to millions of low-income children, and President Obama signed it this afternoon, in the first of what he hopes will be many steps to guarantee coverage for all Americans...In a major change, the bill allows states to cover certain legal immigrants -- namely, children under 21 and pregnant women -- as well as citizens."