RI NOW will be holding a very important membership meeting on March 1 from 7-9pm at Westminster Unitarian. The primary purpose is to finalize our legislative agenda. This is a great opportunity to get up to speed on legislative issues of concern to women and girls in Rhode Island and to help us set our priorities. Refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP to Carolyn Mark at president@rinow.org.

Directions to Westminster Unitarian Church, 119 Kenyon Avenue, East Greenwich, overlooks the intersection of Route 401 and Kenyon Avenue.

From the North: From Rt. 95 South, take Rt 4. Take the first exit, exit 8. Then follow the directions below from Rt. 4.

From the South: From Rt. 4 North, take exit 8A (Rt. 401). Then follow the directions below from Rt. 4.

From Rt 4: At the end of the exit ramp, turn right (east) on Division Street (Rt. 401). Follow Rt. 401 past the second traffic light. At the fork in the road, bear right onto First Avenue. At the next (third) traffic light, at Kenyon Avenue turn left on Kenyon, and turn into the church parking lot at the first driveway on your left.

The Women’s Fund of Rhode Island recently released a mid-decade update to its report on the status of women and girls in Rhode Island, originally released in 2002. The report indicates that Rhode Island women continue to face barriers to political, economic and social equality and that the status of women in the state has deteriorated on several key measures. To see the full report, visit www.wfri.org.

Problem Solved T-Shirt Campaign

RI NOW received a notice from Hardy Girls, Healthy Women, a non-profit organization in Maine, alerting us to the fact that Kmart (parent company Sears Holding Corporation) is carrying an incredibly offensive “Problem Solved” t-shirt in the children’s department. The t-shirt depicts a male stick figure physically assaulting a female. They are running a campaign to have these shirts removed from the shelves. To learn more about this campaign, and to see the t-shirt, visit www.hghw.org.

NARAL Publishes Who Decides? The Status of Women’s Reproductive Rights in the United States

Go to the following link to the recently released report to see how Rhode Island stacks up. You may find some surprising facts you didn’t know.

Read the Report

Planned Parenthood Rhode Island announces its new radio show: “Real Life. Real Talk.®… Sex Education for the Real World”

This new PPRI radio show is hosted by: Pablo Rodriguez, M.D., PPRI Medical Director & Jim Miller, Ph.D., URI Professor and Certified Sex Educator

WHJJ 920AM — Saturdays, starting on February 3 at 5:00 pm

Tune in!

FACT: One-third of Nestle’s chocolate is from West Africa, where over 286,000 children are working in slave-like conditions on cocoa (chocolate) farms.

FACT: Dole is the largest distributor of cut-flowers in the world, the majority of which are imported from Columbia and Ecuador, where farmers and flower workers (often adolescent girls) are exposed to 127 different chemicals, including neurotoxins and carcinogens.

FACT: The three private owners of M&M/Mars Inc. are each “worth” $10.4 billion, while the West African farmers growing the cocoa for M&Ms chocolate are paid an average of $108 annually.

FACT: Despite record profits in 2006, Hershey’s has been accused of buying from contractors who utilize child labor and child slavery on cocoa farms on the Ivory Coast.

TAKE ACTION: Send a message to the chocolate and flower giants to stop child labor, illegal toxic chemical use, union busting, and to pay their farmers a living wage.

On Sunday, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust is expected to be the first woman named to lead Harvard in the university’s history. The National Organization for Women applauds and congratulates Harvard for choosing a woman with exceptional credentials, a proven leader who has dedicated her career to academia, and a role model for young women and girls everywhere.

“NOW is so pleased that Harvard will finally have a female president — and it has only taken them 371 years. Larry Summers, we couldn’t have done it without you,” said NOW President Kim Gandy. “Harvard is in need of bold leadership, a visionary with innovative ideas, and someone who can redefine a university still reeling from the bad taste left by Mr. Summers. Dr. Faust is the right person at the right time,” said Gandy.

When announced, Dr. Faust will be Harvard University’s 28th president. She will replace Larry Summers, who stepped down almost a year ago after his derogatory 2005 remarks about the “intrinsic aptitude” of women in math and science. Dr. Faust was a leading force in efforts to increase the number of female scientists at Harvard.

Dr. Faust has been dean of the Radcliffe Institute since 2001, a renowned historian, a professor, an author, a mother and wife, and she understands the challenges women face. Before coming to Radcliffe she was the director of the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Now more than ever, women are holding high positions,” says Gandy. “With Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust as president of Harvard, women are truly making history,” said Gandy.