White Women

SOME WHITE women say they will stand up for affirmative action as women."Women's jobs and futures are on the line," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Fund for a Feminist Majority."

For decades, African-Americans have been sentenced to prison at far higher rates than their proportion of the population would suggest. In 2000, black men were incarcerated at nearly eight times the rate of white men, while black women were nearly three times more likely to be imprisoned than white women. But for the first time in recent memory those disparities appear to be narrowing, according to a new study. If the trend continues it could have implications for the racial makeup of prison populations across the U.S., including those in Maryland.

For decades, African-Americans have been sentenced to prison at far higher rates than their proportion of the population would suggest. In 2000, black men were incarcerated at nearly eight times the rate of white men, while black women were nearly three times more likely to be imprisoned than white women. But for the first time in recent memory those disparities appear to be narrowing, according to a new study. If the trend continues it could have implications for the racial makeup of prison populations across the U.S., including those in Maryland.

Women who enter menopause before their 46th birthday are twice as likely to suffer a stroke or coronary heart disease, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. The risk from early menopause is true no matter the ethnic or racial background of a woman, the study found. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of American women. The results are the same for women who enter menopause naturally as those who have hysterectomies or ovary removal, said Dhananjay Vaidya, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and leader of the study published.

WASHINGTON -- Contrary to the intent of affirmative-action laws, the share of federal highway money going to black contractors has been shrinking for nearly a decade.More work reserved for disadvantaged businesses is going instead to white-owned companies that are controlled -- at least in name -- by women.The Federal Highway Administration's numbers are striking.Since 1985, the annual share of federal highway money for African-American contractors has been cut almost in half, to $286 million, while the share for companies owned by white women more than doubled, to $879 million.

CHICAGO When you look at economic progress in the last 40 years, black women remain at the bottom of the career ladder.Despite "undeniable improvements in their economic positions, black women continue to be considerably more likely than white women to get stuck in low-wage service occupations," said Marilyn Power, economist and professor at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y."Upward mobility from low-end, low-paying jobs that have no benefits nor career tracks means going into clerical work or technical and professional jobs," said Power, who has a doctorate in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Women who enter menopause before their 46th birthday are twice as likely to suffer a stroke or coronary heart disease, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. The risk from early menopause is true no matter the ethnic or racial background of a woman, the study found. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of American women. The results are the same for women who enter menopause naturally as those who have hysterectomies or ovary removal, said Dhananjay Vaidya, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and leader of the study published.

Over a three-year period, Maryland has registered HIV-infection levels for childbearing women that are among the highest in the United States, says the state health department's AIDS Administration.Only three other states -- New York, New Jersey and Florida -- and the District of Columbia, have HIV-infection rates for childbearing women that exceed Maryland's.While the dramatic rise in rates seen between 1988 and 1989 was not repeated in 1990, the number of childbearing women infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

ALTHOUGH the Clinton administration sees poor education and limited job skills as major contributors to unemployment, the Labor Department's own statistics show that more education doesn't always yield higher salaries.In 1983, for example, U.S. workers with no high school diploma had an average unemployment rate of 10.7 percent, while the jobless rate for college graduates that year was only 2.9 percent.Yet a breakdown of workers' earnings by educational attainment shows that the relationship between learning and earning does not necessarily follow across race and gender lines.

Black women who give birth to extremely small babies are nearly three times as likely as white women to have had medical conditions that led to the premature delivery, according to a study released today.The finding may help explain why the black infant mortality rate is about twice the rate for whites in this country and underscores the need for better health care for women before and during pregnancy, researchers said."In some measure, our very low birth weight problem is a legacy of poor women's health, period," said Dr. Paul Wise of the Harvard Medical School, one of the authors of the study appearing in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

The Baltimore City Police Department and the local media deserve an "A" for muscling the disappearance of 17-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes onto the national stage. But the national media deserve a failing grade. Ms. Barnes, a straight "A" black student from North Carolina, vanished Dec. 28 while visiting relatives in Baltimore. After unprecedented local media saturation and 24/7 police searches failed to discover the missing girl, Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for the Baltimore City Police Department, pleaded for the national media to give Ms. Barnes' disappearance the same broad coverage as that given other missing young women.

Maryland's infant mortality rate dropped to its lowest point in 2009, according to preliminary statistics, but state public health officials say there is still need for improvement. The overall rate decreased to 7.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in Maryland last year, down from 8 in 2008 — a 10 percent decrease. The teen birth rate also decreased, from 2.8 births to women under 18 to 2.6, with declines recorded for black and white women. "We are so pleased this is showing positive progress," said Frances Phillips, Maryland's deputy secretary for public health.

A new study that suggests that racial differences in biology could be a key reason black women are more likely to die of breast cancer than white women has reignited an intense debate among medical experts about the role of genetics versus factors such as poverty, diet and unequal access to quality health care. For nearly three decades, researchers have known about the disparity in death rates, but they have been puzzled over the reasons why. In Maryland, for example, the breast cancer death rate for black women is 15 percent higher than for white women, even though African-Americans have a lower incidence of the disease.

U.S. soldier sentenced in killing of prisoners VILSECK, Germany: A U.S. soldier pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of accessory to murder and was sentenced to eight months in prison for his role in the killing of four Iraqi prisoners who were bound, blindfolded, shot and dumped in a canal. Spc. Steven Ribordy, 25, of Salina, Kan., also will receive a bad conduct discharge from the Army as part of a plea deal. In addition, he agreed to testify against other members of his unit. Ribordy testified that he had helped stand guard as the prisoners were killed by other members of his patrol in early 2007.

BOSTON - Is there anyone who still remembers the folksy winter tableau? Eight Democratic candidates against the picturesque backdrop of Iowa and New Hampshire. It was a feel-good photo op of diversity. The Democratic Party was black and white and Hispanic, male and female and proud. Our party, its leaders said, looks like America. As for Barack and Hillary? Yes, there were the predictable magazine cover stories asking whether America was "ready" for an African-American or a woman. But these were not long-shot candidates, a favorite son or daughter running to prove a point.

This primary campaign has been quite a learning experience, but the lessons have mainly been bitter ones for women. Here are some things I learned on the way to the Democratic National Convention: * People are more sensitive to racism than sexism. My twenty-something daughter returned home extremely agitated after casting her ballot in the Democratic primary. "This white guy was wearing a T-shirt that read, 'Hillary, cook my food, but don't run my country,' and no one said a thing. If I wore a T-shirt that said, 'Obama, shine my shoes but don't run my country,' I'd be called a racist."

Among recent black college graduates, women now earn more than men, according to census figures, and some sociologists say that may be an economic disincentive to marriage.In fact, black college-educated women have made such financial strides since 1980 that many now earn as much or more than white women with similar education and similar work experience.The big wage gains for black professional women came in the 1980s as the salaries of white professional women rose slightly and those of black men eroded.

THIS SPRING, white feminists and African-American and Latino leaders met in Washington to announce unified support for affirmative action. In Chicago, businesswomen and contractors of color have joined together to do likewise. In Massachusetts, gays and lesbians, white women, lawyers of color and unionists have opposed Gov. William Weld's nomination of Charles Fried to the state Supreme Judicial Court because of Mr. Fried's past opposition to abortion and set-asides. In the San Fernando Valley in California, local chapters of feminist and civil-rights groups plan voter registration drives to stop California's anti-affirmative action movement.

There is a poignant significance to the passing last week of Mildred Loving at a time when a biracial senator leads the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Their stories are connected by time, skin color and a Supreme Court decision. Mildred and Richard P. Loving had been married only five weeks in 1958 when the sheriff burst into their Central Point, Va., bedroom with two deputies. They shined flashlights in the couple's eyes and a menacing voice demanded, "Who is this woman you're sleeping with?"

For scores of attractive, educated and successful black women in their 40s and beyond, home alone isn't just a 1990 blockbuster movie starring a cute child actor. It has become their existence. According to the latest U.S. Census, nearly 50 percent of black women between the ages of 30 and 34 have never been married, compared with 16 percent of white women. And 42 percent of black women of any adult age have never been married. "Black women are the most unpartnered group in the United States," says Dr. Audrey B. Chapman, a family therapist, host of her own talk show on Howard University radio WHUR-FM and author of Seven Attitude Adjustments for Finding a Loving Man. Daunting as these statistics are, imagine the application to a subset of Christian black women seeking to become "evenly yoked" with Christian black men, and you have the focus of Soulmate, the latest DVD documentary by Los Angeles filmmaker Andrea Wiley.