Women and black men hired at firms using affirmative action receive job-performance ratings at least as high as white men in similar jobs, according to a study by two Michigan State University professors. Black women, in particular, received higher job performance ratings than white men.

Harry Holzer and David Neumark conducted interviews with over 3,200 employers in four major metropolitan areas in the U.S. They found that affirmative action significantly helped white women to be hired, and narrowed the wage and promotion gaps for women and minorities. In addition, affirmative action appeared to improve the quality of work of white men as well: in firms that did not use affirmative action, white men received lower performance ratings than in firms that had affirmative action programs.

The Preliminary SAT test (PSAT) will be revised this year to give women a better chance of winning National Merit Scholarships.

The PSAT has for years been used as the sole criteria for awarding National Merit Scholarships ã and every year more young men receive scholarships than young women, even though more women take the test and women get better grades in high school and college when matched course-for-course with men. The test-maker's research also showed that the PSAT underpredicts the performance of women in college, and overpredicts the performance of men.

The decision to revise the test is part of a settlement negotiated by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights in response to a complaint brought by FairTest, the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.

Educational Testing Service and the College Board, which manufacture and administer the test, will add a multiple-choice "writing" section to the PSAT. Data shows that women score higher on this section than men, helping to offset the bias against women in the rest of the exam. FairTest had asked that the scholarships be based on classroom academic performance, and not a single test.

Clothes-manufacturing sweatshops have made a comeback in the United States, according to a recent Washington Post article. The mainly female immigrant sweatshop workers are generally paid below the minimum wage, subjected to physical abuse, and required to work overtime in unsafe conditions with no benefits. According to officials in unions and the U.S. Department of Labor, 50% of U.S. sewing businesses violate minimum wage and overtime laws.

In response to consumer outrage at retailers who buy from sweatshops, the Labor Department has set up a "Fashion Trendsetters" Web site listing companies that have pledged to eradicate sweatshops and to try not to buy from them.

The first east-coast "Choose to Laugh, Laugh to Choose" comedy event will take place on May 12, 1997 at the Improv comedy club in downtown Washington, DC. The event will raise money for the Feminist Majority Foundation's National Clinic Defense Project.

"We've held Choose to Laugh, Laugh to Choose events for four years in Los Angeles, and they've all been smashing successes," said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. "Our Choose to Laugh Joke Book has become a collector's item, and people look forward to the event from year to year. This year we decided to bring Choose to Laugh to the East Coast."

In past years comedians have included Roseanne; 1997 American Comedy Award Winner Wendy Liebman; Feminist Majority Expo '96 performers Rene Hicks and Carol A. Lief; and comic/activist Jackie Guerra. This year's comedians are still being chosen.

Women and minorities suffering from workplace discrimination won a Supreme Court case when the court ruled in Robinson v. Shell that former employees are covered by Title VII, the federal law that prohibits race and gender discrimination in employment. The decision reverses a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that former employees are not covered if their former bosses give them bad recommendations or otherwise retaliate against them for filing discrimination complaints.