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U.S. Women's Museum Set To Open

Containing a mix of multimedia, interactive and traditional displays to tell the stories of women's lives, the nation's first women's museum will open on Sept. 29, 2000, in Dallas.

The Women's Museum: An Institute for the Future features 11,000 square feet of exhibit space located on three levels, The stories contained within the museum cover 500 years of American women's history. It is expected to draw approximately 500,000 visitors per year.

For a virtual tour of the museum, visit SBC Communications.

Discrimination Causes Economic, Societal Losses

A broad range of evidence from around the world shows that systematic discrimination against women and girls causes extensive suffering and lost opportunities, and holds back efforts to reduce poverty, improve health, according to a United Nations Population Fund report.

The study, "State of World Population 2000" report, states that millions of women are denied reproductive choices and access to health care, contributing each year to 80 million unwanted or mistimed pregnancies and some 500,000 preventable pregnancy-related deaths.

Other findings include the following:

One woman in three will experience violence during her lifetime, most often at the hands of someone she knows. Each year 2 million girls are at risk of genital mutilation.
Women's lack of control over sexual activity and its consequences is a major factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS, now the fourth most common cause of death worldwide and the leading killer in Africa, where infected women outnumber infected men by 2 million.
Two-thirds of the 300 million children without access to education are girls, and two-thirds of the 880 million illiterate adults are women.

To see the full report, visit the United Nations Population Fund.

Millions of Kids Without After-School Care

An estimated 4 million 6- to 12-year-olds with employed mothers are regularly without adult supervision when not at school, according to new research from the Urban Institute. The report finds a greater incidence of self-care among 10- to 12-year-olds, particularly those in higher-income families, in families with mothers who work traditional hours, and in families who are white.

The report, "Child Care Patterns for School-Age Children with Employed Mothers", looks at a variety of child care arrangements, including the time children regularly spend caring for themselves or staying with a sibling younger than 13 during the school year, defined here as self-care. Other arrangements studied include care in a before- or after-school program, by a non-relative outside of the child's home, by a nanny or babysitter, by a relative, or by a parent.

"We are particularly concerned about the younger children and children in low-income families who regularly spend time unsupervised each week," notes the report. "These children face the greatest challenges while in self-care and may have the most to gain from structured, supervised activities."

For more on the report, visit the Urban Institute.

Building H.O.P.E. For The Future

The Second Annual Single Mothers conference hopes to bring a ray of H.O.P.E. (Happiness, Opportunity, Progress, and Education) to single moms Saturday, Sept. 16, in Salt Lake City.

The conference is being held at Salt Lake Community College South City Campus, 1585 South State Street, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The cost is only $1 when pre-registered, $2 at the door but space is limited. Dr. Peggy Stock, president of Westminster College and a former single mother, will be the keynote speaker. Almost 40 seminar leaders are ready to teach single mothers everything from childcare to car repair. Lunch is included and moms will take home $30 worth of donated products including personal hygiene products, school supplies for the children, toys and snacks.

There will also be a resource fair with many organizations that offer services to single mothers. For registration information, call Jennifer at (801) 977-7781.

Entertainment Markets Violence to Kids

The entertainment industry aggressively markets violent movies, music and electronic games to underage youths even when they have been labeled as appropriate for adults only, according to the U.S Federal Trade Commission.

Key Commission Findings

Movies:
• Of the 44 movies rated R for violence selected for the study, the Federal Trade Commission found that 35 of them — or 80 percent — were targeted to children under 17. Marketing plans for 28 of those 44 movies — or 64 percent — contained express statements that the films' target audience included children under 17.

Music:
• Fifty-five music recordings with labels warning of explicit lyrics were selected for review; the FTC found that all were targeted to children under 17. Marketing plans for 15 of those recordings — or 27 percent — expressly identified children under 17 as part of their target audience.

Games:
• Of the 118 electronic games with a "mature" rating for violence selected by the FTC for its study, 83 of them — or 70 percent — targeted children under 17. The marketing plans for 60 of those games — or 51 percent — expressly included children under 17 in the target audience. Documents for the remaining 23 games showed plans to advertise in magazines or on television shows with a majority or substantial under-17 audience.

Source: "Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children"

According to the testimony, although all three industries studied have self-regulatory systems that purport to rate or label their products to help parents make choices about their children's entertainment, the Commission found that members of all three industries routinely target advertising and marketing for violent entertainment products directly to children. The Commission believes that these advertising and marketing efforts undermine each industry's parental advisories and frustrate parents' attempts to protect their children from inappropriate material.

In response to the findings, the Commission believes that all three industries should take additional action to enhance their self-regulatory efforts. In addition, the Commission believes that continuous public oversight is also required and that Congress should continue to monitor the progress of self-regulation in this area.

The report was conducted in response to a request from President Clinton on June 1, 1999, as well as similar requests from of Congress.

Help for Working Families in Washington

Hard working Washington families trying to make ends meet now have a place to turn for information on state and federal benefits that can help them through lean times. A new informational campaign in the state of Washington called "Help for Working Families," which launched statewide on Aug. 23, provides information on four programs that can help with the costs of food, childcare, children's medical coverage, and collecting child support.

The new Help for Working Families program has specially trained financial workers staffing a new toll-free informational hot-line (877-980-9131) to help families learn about these programs. In addition, a Web site is available for information.

100 Best Companies for Working Mothers

Corporations that prove to be "family-friendly" have the power to attract and retain talented employees, as well as benefit their bottom lines, according to Working Mother magazine's 15th annual report on the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers."

The magazine's selection of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers," published yearly since 1986, has become an international benchmark of corporate human resource trends that advance the interests of families in the workplace.

Working Mother selected 2000's 100 Best Companies based on five criteria: child care, leave for new parents, flexible work arrangements, work/life benefits such as elder care and adoption assistance, and opportunities for women to advance. Editors looked at a range of supportive company offerings, including health insurance premiums, availability of time off to care for sick kids, mentoring programs and extras such as on-site gyms and other conveniences.

The top 10 standout companies from the list were:

Allstate Insurance Co.

Bank of America

Eli Lilly and Co.

Fannie Mae

IBM Corp.

Life Technologies, Inc.

Lincoln Financial Group

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.

Novant Health, Inc.

Prudential

For a complete list of the 100 companies, visit Working Mother magazine.