The Congressional Caucus for Womens Issues is lining up a solid bipartisan roster for the next session: female heart disease, human trafficking, sexual and domestic violence, women in the military, a backlog of DNA evidence in rape cases.

Layoffs in male-dominated sectors are forcing some traditional couples into role reversals. One woman, now the primary earner, says theres been friction, but now hes taken over in the kitchen and she ignores dirty dishes in the sink.

In Japan, rape is often kept hush-hush. But the high-profile case of one rape victim is challenging the silent treatment and raising questions about police practices. Jane, as the victim is known, is suing police who required her to re-enact the crime.

Given Michelle Obamas impressive credentials, Sheila Gibbons thinks the next first lady is bound to be an innovative first lady. But the medias fixation on her as celebrity wife and mom make it hard to know what to expect.

Profiles of seven outstanding leaders dedicated to improving womens lives: Amy Sananman, Maria Luisa Saacute;nchez Fuentes, Christine Schuler Deschryver, Marilyn J. Smith, Susan Schiffer Stautberg, Johnnie Walker and Jacki Zehner.

Profiles of seven outstanding leaders dedicated to improving womens lives: Sharon Katz, Lilly Ledbetter, Patrick C. Lynch, Rabbi Diana S. Manber, Anika Rahman, Dr. Linda Randolph and Cathi Rodgveller.

Profiles of seven outstanding leaders dedicated to improving womens lives: Roxanne Mankin Cason, Malaak Compton-Rock, Nadia Farjood, Paula J. Giddings, Sara Gould, Dusti Garrison Gurule and Nancy Hopkins.

Womens eNews announces today its 21 Leaders for the 21st Century 2009: one man and 20 women dedicating their lives to improving the well-being of all women and girls. They take their work into schools, board rooms, legislative chambers and beyond.

A year after the murder of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, onlookers say women are losing ground politically. Parliament may be 22 percent female, but they say the power structure is hereditary, male-dominated and often partial to feudal justice.

Womens eNews editor in chief Rita Henley Jensen was treated to a holiday concert that was both exquisite and a pointed reminder of the need for women to be heard in the churches and in other power centers.

Caryl Rivers looks back at the 08 campaign season and toasts Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin for helping to speed up a change virus that has been improving womens access to jobs, power and media.

Rescind the global gag rule. Refund U.N. family-planning. Restore contraceptive subsidy. These are just a few of the Bush-era regulations and policies that womens advocates hope will come undone in the early days of 2009.

An Obama-era Congress will have at least two chances to act against wage discrimination next year. That raises the hopes of some New York activists, but they say theyll continue to lobby for similar state legislation, just in case.

Catholic reformers hope to restore passages praising Mary and other biblical women to the lectionary used in Sunday Mass. A Vatican synod in October called for a review, providing them hope that women may gain a bigger role in church teachings.

With new books from Morrison, Lahiri and Gilpin Faust, female writers had a strong showing in 08. Jane Mayers The Dark Side offers an authoritative investigation of the internal arguments about torture, Guantanamo Bay and the Bush-era CIA.

The outpouring of bad U.S. corporate news has produced a news gallery of mainly male faces. Theres a matching shortage of women on corporate boards, although Rupert Murdoch did tap opera singer Natalie Bancroft for News Corporation last year.

As she looks forward to the U.S. presidential inauguration Ritu Sharma finds herself thinking about girls of color around the world. When she was growing up the princess-like aura of presidential daughters was limited by race. No longer.