[San Francisco, November 16. Image via Getty]

SAN FRANCISCO - NOVEMBER 16: Heidi Kooy holds one of her chickens as she walks through her yard which she calls the 'Itty Bitty Farm in the City' November 16, 2009 in San Francisco, California. Heidi Kooy is one of many Americans that have started to raise chickens in their urban yards to try and save money on food costs during the economic downturn and to find a safer alternative to factory farmed food. Chickens provide eggs and natural fertilizer for gardens while eating the bugs that could harm the crops. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

[Qaryut, West Bank; October 27. Image via Getty]

A Palestinian farmer from the West Bank village of Qaryut reacts in front of Israeli soldiers on October 27, 2009. Five Palestinian farmers were wounded in clashes with armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank, Palestinian security services and witnesses said. AFP PHOTO/MARCO LONGARI (Photo credit should read MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images)

[Paris, October 1. Image via Getty]

A member of French Young Farmers association (Jeunes Agriculteurs) waves a flag on October 1, 2009 in front of the Eiffel tower in Paris during a demonstration to call for a new policy adapted to the global economic downturn and its effects on the agriculture sector. The Young Farmers association holds a national day of protest in several French cities to denounce the 'severe crisis' that affects the sector. AFP PHOTO OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI (Photo credit should read OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI/AFP/Getty Images)

[Cambria, Wisconsin; August 27. Image via Getty]

CAMBRIA, WI - AUGUST 27: Ariel Phillips, 14, and niece of Rebecca Sauer, looks on as prospective buyers inspect the cattle at the Sauer's auction August 27, 2009 in Cambria Wisconsin. Farm owners Gene Sauer and Rebecca Sauer are forced to sell off their lot of equipment and cattle to pay the bills and stay out of debt. The Sauer farm is another small farm operation that has been hit by the recession. Gene drives a semi truck and Rebecca recently lost her job after 7 years. (Photo by Darren Hauck/Getty Images)

[Sarajevo, August 26. Image via Getty]

A Bosnian farmer distributes fresh vegetables to citizens, in front of the building of Constitutional Court in Sarajevo on August 26, 2009. A group of Bosnian farmers decided to distribute a quanity of their produce to citizens for free in protest against the lack of legislation to protect a market quota for domestic agricultural produce. AFP PHOTO/ELVIS BARUKCIC (Photo credit should read ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP/Getty Images)

[Berlin, May 25. Image via Getty]

BERLIN - MAY 25: Farmers protest for higher prices on May 25, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. Several thousand farmers from across Germany had come to demand a solution for the agriculture finance crises. (Photo by Alex Domanski/Getty Images)

Pacelle says Sarah Palin led "a program that promoted aerial gunning of wolves and bears." But California animal farming may be scarier than Alaskan bear-hunting. Earlier this year, a Humane Society undercover investigation of a Southern California slaughterhouse led to the biggest beef recall in US history. Humane Society videos showed cows too weak to stand being dragged by chains and shoved by forklifts. Pacelle says, "I do worry about post traumatic stress disorder with our investigators because they see the worst things that humans do to other creatures."

Prop. 2 would hopefully change things. It requires that pigs, hens, and calves be able to "stand up, lie down, turn around, and freely extend their limbs" by 2015. Seems like the least we can do, but some critics say it's part of a stealth campaign to turn America vegan, or that it will put farmers out of business and drive up egg prices (“Do we want chickens to flap their wings?" asks one farmer. "Or do we want to eat?”).

Pacelle counters that any competent farmer should be able to adapt to the new standards by 2015. And he's not interested in getting Americans to quit eating meat. "We're a pluralistic society," he says, "and we have pluralism when it comes to food as well." As a vegetarian, I can get behind this — there's nothing I hate worse than when meat-eaters assume I want to rip the hamburgers out of their hands. But what do you, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike, think about factory farming and its regulations? Is it enough to treat our animals better, or should we all be going veg?

Putting Animal Cruelty on the Ballot [Time]
The Barnyard Strategist [NY Times]

Microloan organization Vision Finance, which started a program in the Rwandan town of Masaka three years ago, says that while the majority of borrowers are female, "four out of five defaulters are men." Jeanine Mukandayisenga, one of the businesswomen in Masaka who benefited from microlending, tells the Post: "They say that women care more about the family, but I do not know if that is true...I think it has more to do with the self-control woman show in hard times. We know how to survive when men despair."

But women aren't just thriving as money managers in Rwanda; women hold 48% of seats in the Rwandan parliament, which, according to the WaPo, is the highest percentage in the world. And it's not like Rwanda is an anomaly. The World Bank says that "in India's great economic transformation of the past 15 years, states that have the highest percentage of women in the labor force have grown the fastest as well as had the largest reductions in poverty." One of the most encouraging aspects of female success in Rwanda is that women are being seen differently by the culture as a whole. "Today, woman are in business; before, if a woman had some money, she would have to give it to the man," Rwandan high schooler Eric Muhire says. "They could not compete against a man. But now, they are competing and doing better."

[Image via The MotherHood]

Earlier: Justine Henin Retires • Basket-Weaving Brings Women Together
Money Doesn't Make The World Go Around, But It Helps