On this week’s 51%, we hear from an author about first-born daughters, learn about legislation introduced concerning human trafficking and hear about perhaps alternative views of Mother Teresa. I’m Allison Dunne and this is 51%.
Many of the world’s most high-profile women are first-born daughters. Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel, Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington and Taylor Swift are just a few examples. The study of birth order has fascinated psychologists, sociologists and behaviorists the world over for decades. In her new book The Eldest Daughter Effect, Netherlands-based author and researcher Lisette Schuitemaker explores the similarities she has discovered specifically among first-born women around the world. 51%’s Jessica Bloustein Marshall spoke with Schuitemaker recently about her research.
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was in Rochester, New York recently and announced legislation to provide human trafficking victims with post-conviction relief. In a news conference at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Senator from New York stood with advocacy groups and survivors of trafficking. The bill would clear the victims' records of all non-violent crimes they committed as a minor while being trafficked. Gillibrand, a Democrat, says those who were forced into acts by their captors should not be branded as criminals themselves.
“For a lot of these young men and women they desperately need it because it’s affecting their ability to get loans, to get a college education, to get housing, employment, anything that they need, it becomes an impediment,” Gillibrand says.
Human trafficking is described as a modern day form of slavery affecting millions of people in the United States and abroad. It can involve the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit a person for labor or commercial sex.
CAIRO (AP) — An independent Egyptian daily says the state's top women's advocacy group has filed a complaint with the chief prosecutor against a lawmaker who called for mandatory virginity tests for women seeking university admission. Maya Morsi, head of the National Council for Women, is quoted by Al-Masry Al-Youm as saying she will demand the lawmaker’s expulsion from parliament and a criminal investigation into his actions. She says the lawmaker is harming the reputation of Egypt and its women. The lawmaker said in an interview that virginity tests were needed to combat the proliferation of informal marriages, between students. Virtually expense free, such marriages have become more popular in recent years because of high unemployment among youth and a shortage of affordable housing.
Homeschooling is becoming more common, and studies suggest that military parents are more likely to homeschool their kids. Reporter Patricia Murphy looked into the reasons why.
Texas doctors have done the first womb transplants using live donors in the United States. Four women who had been born without a uterus each received one in recent operations at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Three of the wombs have had to be removed because of poor blood flow, but a hospital statement says the fourth recipient still has hers and is showing no signs of rejection. There have been at least 16 uterus transplants worldwide, including one in Cleveland that had to be removed because of complications. Two doctors from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, which has done the most of these operations, were in Dallas to assist with the four transplants there. At least five births have resulted from the womb transplants in Sweden.
Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa in early September, and Sandip Roy, for KALW, reflects upon that Sunday and how people view her. Mother Teresa is known for her work helping the poor in India.
And that's our show this week. Thanks to Patrick Garrett for production assistance. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock. Our theme music is Glow in the Dark by Kevin Bartlett. This show is a national production of Northeast Public Radio. If you’d like to hear this show again, sign up for our podcast, or visit the 51% archives on our web site at wamc.org. And follow us on Twitter @51PercentRadio
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