New York: Women exposed to high levels of certain kinds of pollutants are less likely to give birth to male children. That's the startling finding of a new study that reviewed data on pregnant women in San Francisco who were exposed to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of banned environmental pollutants, in the 1950s and 1960s. And it's not an isolated finding either, reports ScienceDaily. Similar exposure is thought to have occurred in Wales, after a quarry on the edge of Groesfaen village near Cardiff was used as a toxic dumping ground from 1965 to 1972.

At 35, when Harpyari first held a pen and wrote her name it was a child-like scrawl. However, with it, she etched a lasting story of empowerment.

The prevalence of anaemia among adolescent girls has been reduced from 52.4 per cent in 2004 to 43.5 per cent in 2007, revealed the Helen Keller International at a seminar on Monday.

Women are in the workplace like never before but they are still more vulnerable than men to unemployment and low-paid jobs, the International Labour Organisation said Friday.

The Union Budget 2008-09 has seen funds for women, minorities and Scheduled Tribes go up substantially. One of the beneficiaries of a 24 per cent rise in allocations for the Ministry of Women and Child Development is a plan to prevent trafficking of girls for which the ministry has chalked out a scheme called Ujjwala. The Budget has kept a provision of Rs 9 crore for the scheme, following sustained campaign by NGOs and international bodies. The ministry's allocation of Rs 7,200 crore for 2008-09 is up from Rs 5,793 crore, the revised estimate for the 2007-08 Budget. A major part of the enhanced allocations would go to Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) that caters to the nutritional and healthcare needs of pre-school children and mothers in rural areas. The ICDS allocation is mainly meant for the hiked emolument for workers and helpers of some 6,284 Anganwadi centres across the country. Another Rs 200 crore has been allocated for a new scheme

The MCD seems to have woken up to a major problem faced by women in the Capital