Single Women

LONDON - More than three decades after Britain produced the world's first test-tube baby, Europe is a patchwork of restrictions for people who need help having a child. Many countries have strict rules on who is allowed to get fertility treatments, and recent court rulings suggest nothing's likely to change anytime soon. France and Italy forbid single women and lesbian couples from using artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, or IVF, to conceive. Austria and Italy are among those banning all egg and sperm donations for IVF. Germany and Norway ban donating eggs, but...

By State Senator Katherine Clark Despite many decades of progress, women still earn less than men in the United States.  According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010 women's earnings were 81 percent of men's.  Massachusetts mirrors the national trend. This data also show that women continue to make impressive gains in educational attainment.  Among women aged 25 to 64 who are in the labor force, the proportion with a college degree has more than tripled in the past 40 years — from 11 percent in 1970 to 36 percent in 2010.  And women's...

CAIRO — Year after year, the 42-year-old Saudi surgeon remains single, against her will. Her father keeps turning down marriage proposals, and her hefty salary keeps going directly to his bank account. The surgeon in the holy city of Medina knows that her father, also her male guardian, is violating Islamic law by forcibly keeping her single, a practice known as “adhl.’’ So she has sued him in court, with questionable success. Adhl cases reflect the many challenges facing single women in Saudi Arabia.

LONDON - More than three decades after Britain produced the world's first test-tube baby, Europe is a patchwork of restrictions for people who need help having a child. Many countries have strict rules on who is allowed to get fertility treatments, and recent court rulings suggest nothing's likely to change anytime soon. France and Italy forbid single women and lesbian couples from using artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, or IVF, to conceive. Austria and Italy are among those banning all egg and sperm donations for IVF. Germany and Norway ban donating eggs, but...

Ben Flajnik (FLAN'-ick), who proposed to Ashley Hebert and was rejected on ABC's "The Bachelorette," is getting another chance at finding love on camera. The network confirms it has tapped the 28-year-old northern California winemaker to star in the next season of "The Bachelor. " The show will return in January for its 16th season. On "The Bachelor," single women live in a house together and compete for the affection of a single man. So far, no bachelor has gone on to marry the woman he picked while on the show.

By State Senator Katherine Clark Despite many decades of progress, women still earn less than men in the United States.  According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010 women's earnings were 81 percent of men's.  Massachusetts mirrors the national trend. This data also show that women continue to make impressive gains in educational attainment.  Among women aged 25 to 64 who are in the labor force, the proportion with a college degree has more than tripled in the past 40 years — from 11 percent in 1970 to 36 percent in 2010.  And women's...

My friend and I want to go on a girls' vacation next month somewhere outside the United States and have considered everything from Mexico to Ireland. Trouble is, Ireland's prices have gone up and it is tough to find a beach vacation that caters to two 30-year-old single women. Everything caters to couples or families. Any advice on where to go? T.M., Boston It may seem like everything caters to couples, especially in the honeymoon capital south of the border. But if you don't mind lounging on the beach next to a couple who may or may not come up...

"American Idol" runner-up David Archuleta will take a break from his singing career to serve a two-year proselytizing mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The contestant from the 2007-2008 season made the announcement during a Christmas concert Monday in downtown Salt Lake City, according to KSL.com. The 20-year-old Miami native, who grew up in Murray, Utah, said he's not quitting music, but feels a strong call to serve the church. A video of the concert on Archuleta's website shows him overwhelmed with...

If Sigmund Freud were alive, and his practice were cut down to nothing by therapy-resistant insurance companies, and he became desperate, and he found his way to an executive job at a reality-TV production house in Hollywood, he might have proposed "Momma's Boys," a new dating series that premieres tonight at 10 on Channel 7. This is "The Bachelor: Oedipus Complex," with three young men shopping for girlfriends with their mothers in tow. ...

MADRID - A Spanish woman who deceived a US fertility clinic about her age and become the oldest woman to give birth has died at 69, leaving behind 2-year-old twins, newspapers reported yesterday. Maria del Carmen Bousada gave birth in December 2006 after telling a clinic in Los Angeles that she was 55, the facility’s maximum age for single women receiving in-vitro fertilization. Guinness World Records said the 66-year-old was the oldest on record to give birth and the case ignited fierce debate over how much responsibility fertility clinics have over their patients.

"American Idol" runner-up David Archuleta will take a break from his singing career to serve a two-year proselytizing mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The contestant from the 2007-2008 season made the announcement during a Christmas concert Monday in downtown Salt Lake City, according to KSL.com. The 20-year-old Miami native, who grew up in Murray, Utah, said he's not quitting music, but feels a strong call to serve the church. A video of the concert on Archuleta's website shows him overwhelmed with emotion and crying as he talks about his...

Ben Flajnik (FLAN'-ick), who proposed to Ashley Hebert and was rejected on ABC's "The Bachelorette," is getting another chance at finding love on camera. The network confirms it has tapped the 28-year-old northern California winemaker to star in the next season of "The Bachelor. " The show will return in January for its 16th season. On "The Bachelor," single women live in a house together and compete for the affection of a single man. So far, no bachelor has gone on to marry the woman he picked while on the show.

CAIRO — Year after year, the 42-year-old Saudi surgeon remains single, against her will. Her father keeps turning down marriage proposals, and her hefty salary keeps going directly to his bank account. The surgeon in the holy city of Medina knows that her father, also her male guardian, is violating Islamic law by forcibly keeping her single, a practice known as “adhl.’’ So she has sued him in court, with questionable success. Adhl cases reflect the many challenges facing single women in Saudi Arabia.

If Sigmund Freud were alive, and his practice were cut down to nothing by therapy-resistant insurance companies, and he became desperate, and he found his way to an executive job at a reality-TV production house in Hollywood, he might have proposed "Momma's Boys," a new dating series that premieres tonight at 10 on Channel 7. This is "The Bachelor: Oedipus Complex," with three young men shopping for girlfriends with their mothers in tow. ...

My friend and I want to go on a girls' vacation next month somewhere outside the United States and have considered everything from Mexico to Ireland. Trouble is, Ireland's prices have gone up and it is tough to find a beach vacation that caters to two 30-year-old single women. Everything caters to couples or families. Any advice on where to go? T.M., Boston It may seem like everything caters to couples, especially in the honeymoon capital south of the border. But if you don't mind lounging on the beach next to a couple who may or may not come up for air, Mexico is...

When Jacqueline Kennedy married shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968 on his private Aegean island Skorpios, tongues wagged from Greece to Greenwich. The story line was simple: She married him for money, and he married her for effect. She was, after all, arguably the most famous and beautiful woman in the world, and he was one of the richest, three decades older than she. Whether there was love, or even just affection, or whether this was about mutual security of some kind, it all seemed irrelevant.

When Jacqueline Kennedy married shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968 on his private Aegean island Skorpios, tongues wagged from Greece to Greenwich. The story line was simple: She married him for money, and he married her for effect. She was, after all, arguably the most famous and beautiful woman in the world, and he was one of the richest, three decades older than she. Whether there was love, or even just affection, or whether this was about mutual security of some kind, it all seemed irrelevant.