Some of the 800,000 women serving in the quota seats simply allow their husbands to attend council meetings in their stead. But other women have used their power to shift money from road and construction projects to preschools, health services, sanitation, and safe drinking water. In an effort to further attract the women s vote, Indian Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda says he will propose an amendment to reserve one-third of the seats in the national Parliament and state legislatures for women. Yet the new federal welfare bill signed by President Clinton gives welfare recipients just five years to find a job before their benefits are cut off. The computerized registry would allow law enforcement to get information about sex offenders living in their jurisdiction, no matter where those sex crimes were committed.
Sex offenders tend to have a high rate of repeat offenses.
Now Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans to start the first chain gang of women prisoners next month. Arpaio says he does not believe in discrimination in the jail system. Copyright 1996, The Feminist Majority Foundation and New Media Publishing Inc.