Articles in Category: Women In the News

Invincible Women

invincible-womens-basketball-team.jpgFor decades, U.C.L.A.’s winning streak seemed as round and fundamental and permanent as the shape of the ball itself.

And yet, it is the Connecticut women, not the U.C.L.A. men, who now hold the major-college basketball record for invincibility.

The Huskies won their 89th consecutive game Tuesday with a 93-62 throttling of Florida State before a sellout crowd of 16,294 at the XL Center, surpassing the 88 straight won by the U.C.L.A. men, coached by John Wooden, from 1971 to 1974.

The top-ranked Huskies (11-0) were bolstered Tuesday by career-high scoring from the senior forward Maya Moore (41 points) and the freshman point guard Bria Hartley (21).

UConn has been so dominant during its run that the average victory margin has been 33.3 points.

Afghan Girls On A Roll: Skateboarding School Offers Hope

By Dawn Montgomery

skateboarding-school-offers-hope.jpgA smiling girl negotiates a half-pipe on a skateboard in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Just a couple of years ago this would have been remarkable. Today it’s an everyday occurrence, thanks to Skateistan, Afghanistan’s first skateboarding school, founded by Australian skateboarders Oliver Percovich and Sharna Nolan.

When Percovich and Nolan arrived in Kabul in 2007, they found that children of all ages wanted to be shown how to skate. Stretching out the three boards they had brought with them, they developed a small skate school. Buoyed by their success with their first students, the pair brought more boards to Kabul and worked toward establishing an indoor skateboarding venue.

This 10-minute mini-documentary titled To Live And Skate Kabul is a fascinating insight into the project:

You

tatiana-grossman.jpgWhen Tatiana Grossman, a 15 year old from Palo Alto, California, learned that as many as three out of four children in sub-Saharan nations never learn to read, she got straight to work.

In the following three years she influenced African government literacy policy, helped establish libraries serving 78 schools and villages in three African nations, became a role model for thousands of sub-Saharan African children who want to read, and spoke with thousands of children and adults in the US and Africa, including dignitaries, educators and students from five nations at the Botswana Ministry of Education’s inaugural International Literacy and Learning Conference.

This month Tatiana learned that she is the first American child to be named a finalist for the prestigious International Children's Peace Prize. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum will bestow the Children’s Peace Prize upon one of the four finalists whose remarkable efforts have most improved the lives of vulnerable children around the world.

Anti Trafficking Worker Anuradha Koirala Is CNN Hero of the Year


Susan notes: hundreds of thousands of women, children and men are trafficked around the world each year. It's a tragedy. The fact that the work of one Nepalese woman who as rescued 12,000 of them has been recognised in the mainstream media is to me a glimmer of hope that one day this completely unacceptable practice will be eradicated everywhere. I'm delighted also that AWR friends and fans helped Koirala win this distinguished by answering my call to vote for her. See more on her story here: Anuradha Koirala Rescues Girls & Women From Sex Slavery.

A woman whose group has rescued more than 12,000 women and girls from sex slavery has been named the 2010 CNN Hero of the Year.
 
Anuradha Koirala was chosen by the public in an online poll that ran for eight weeks on CNN.com. CNN's Anderson Cooper revealed the result at the conclusion of the fourth annual "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute."