President Alberto Fernández is expected to put forward a bill to legalize abortion in Argentina when the legislative session opens on March 1. The bill would be a victory for the country’s abortion rights activists who began a grassroots movement in 2018 to push for a legalization bill. Fernández made abortion access a focus of […]
Women at the Forefront of Protests in India Over Citizenship Laws
Women are some of the most vehement opponents of two new laws in India that endanger the citizenship rights of groups such as Muslims, impoverished women, lower castes, and LGBTQ people. Enacted in December 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Act accelerates the process to obtain Indian citizenship for undocumented refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The […]
Fiscal Policies Can Increase Female Workforce Participation
Equitable workforce opportunities for women are beneficial to everyone, but research from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that female workforce participation still lags greatly behind that of men. Due to the stubborn persistence of gender gaps in wages and educational opportunities, the average female workforce participation rate is 20 percentage points behind the male […]
British Political Party’s Divide Deepens Over Transgender Inclusion
Last week multiple senior members of Britain’s Labour party endorsed a “trans equality manifesto” that supports more inclusive party values and claimed that anyone with transphobic views should be thrown out of the party. Backlash from this controversial charter comes with a call to produce evidence for transphobia allegations. The two women in the center […]
Women and Children Make Up Majority of 800,000 Syrians Forced to Flee
During a Syrian military campaign backed by the Russians aimed to clear opposition in northwest Syria, more than 800,000 Syrians have been forced to flee their homes. Most of these refugees are women and children. This mass removal of people will most likely continue to occur as entire towns and communities seek safety in areas […]
Documentary About Skateboarding Girls from Afghanistan Wins Oscar
At the 92nd Annual Academy Awards, a documentary featuring young girls learning to skateboard in Afghanistan won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. According to Diaa Hadid, International Correspondent for NPR, Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl), features a group of young girls in the Afghan capital of Kabul “clutch[ing] […]
Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite Makes History at the Academy Awards
The South Korean film Parasite made history last night at the 92nd Oscars when it was named Best Picture. “This is very first Oscar to South Korea,” director Bong Joon-ho said in his first acceptance speech of the night, after he and fellow writer Han Jin Won won for Best Original Screenplay. The cast and […]
Switzerland Passes Amendment Banning Homophobia
On Sunday, Swiss voters participated in a referendum deciding whether they wanted to extend Switzerland’s racism statutes to sexual orientation, and 63.1 percent voted in favor of it. Previously, Switzerland did not have a law protecting the LGBTQ community, but this amendment is a big step in the right direction. Nearly two years ago lawmakers […]
Karen Pierce Appointed First Female British Ambassador to US
Karen Pierce has been appointed as Britain’s first female to hold the prominent position of ambassador to the US. Pierce is currently serving as the UK’s permanent representative to the United Nations. Pierce, has served as a diplomat for much of her career, joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1981, and holding diplomatic posts in several […]
One Year after Peace Deal, Many Children in Central African Republic Still Suffering
Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of the most recent peace deal between the government of the Central African Republic and the 14 major armed groups involved in a civil war. The peace deal of February 2019 was the eighth agreement regarding the civil conflict in seven years. The African Union and United Nations took on […]
Female Russian Journalist and Lawyer Attacked in Chechnya
Famous Russian journalist, Elena Milashina, along with lawyer Marina Dubrovina were assaulted by a gang of men and women in the lobby of a hotel in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. Milashina is well-known for exposing the kidnap and torture of gay Chechen men. Chechnya, a federal subject of Russia, has been ruled by President […]
Grassroots Activists Work to Find Solutions to End Female Genital Mutilation
Recent efforts in Gambia show the success of frontline activists fighting to end female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM is a global human rights’ issue that has affected nearly 200 million women and girls worldwide. Although frontline activists receive little to no funding, their efforts have seen promising results in countries from Kenya to Gambia. Kenya […]
Finland Introduces Reforms to Paid Parental Leave Program
Finland’s government announced reforms of the country’s paid parental leave program, giving both partners in a family equal amounts of leave and increasing the total amount of leave available to both. Under the old system, maternal leave was 4.2 months, and parental leave was 2.2 months. The new plan is gender-neutral, referring only to parental […]
Women and Children Make Up Majority of Deportees to Guatemala Under New Deal
The majority of the nearly 400 asylum seekers that are being deported back to Guatemala under the Trump administration’s controversial deal with the country are women and children. U.S. immigration officials have denied the opportunity to seek asylum of 378 migrants from Honduras and El Salvador as of Tuesday of this week, forcing them to […]
Gender-Based Violence on the Rise as Climate Crisis Continues
The climate crisis is becoming increasingly linked to violence against women and girls, and gender-based exploitation is rendering attempts to curb the adverse effects of environmental degradation ineffective. There are increasing calls for more intersectionality in governments and institutions’ efforts to combat the climate crisis while centering girls and women in their strategies. Over the […]
Australian Feminist Fanny Finch Finally Being Recognized
Australian feminist trailblazer Fanny Finch received a new memorial at the Castlemaine General Cemetery in central Victoria just a few months before the 163rd anniversary of the day she became the first woman to cast a ballot in Australia. Finch was immortalized in the Melbourne-based newspaper The Argus two days after she cast her vote, […]
Legal Abortion Upper Limit Raised to 24 Weeks in India
The Union Cabinet of India, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which will raise the upper limit for abortion to 24 weeks from 20. Union minister Prakash Javadekar said that this was passed as “here was the demand from section of women, doctors and […]
U.S. Healthcare Spending Exceeds Most Other Countries According to the OECD
In comparison to the twenty countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)- Australia, Chile, Germany, and France, just to name a few- the United States is grossly overspending on basic healthcare. While the median country in the OECD spends roughly nine percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare, […]
New Oxfam Study Shows Women’s Labor is Underpaid and Undervalued
A recent study by international nonprofit Oxfam shows that the state of global economic inequality is out of control. Oxfam highlights the severity of this inequality and the negative impacts it has on women by shining a light on the fact that: the world’s richest 22 men having a greater combined wealth than all of […]
Murder of Activist and Artist Sparks Protests Against Femicide in Ciudad Juárez
Isabel Cabanillas de la Torre, 26-year-old artist and active feminist, was slain on January 18 in the streets of Juárez, Mexico. A week later protesters gathered in the streets to demand justice for her death and bring new attention to Ciudad Juárez’s femicide epidemic that has been allowed to persist for nearly 30 years. Marching […]