Gender
Last but one country: Women register to vote for the first time in Saudi Arabia
Women in Saudi Arabia are registering to vote… for the first time. King Abdullah issued a royal decree in 2011 granting women the right to vote as of 2015, but many critics doubted whether or not the decree would be followed through with, wary of Abdullah’s past empty promises. Now women are Read More...
Can the Safecity app make Delhi safer for women?
Since the wall near an abuse hotspot in Delhi was painted last December, fewer women are harassed there. Photograph: Salini Sharma/Safecity I was touched at rush hour at the busy Andheri Station. A person passing my rickshaw simply touched my breast and ran away while I sat disgusted and Read More...
8 things feminists are tired of explaining in 2015
Thanks in no small part to viral hashtags, celebrity advocates and dozens of other landmark pop culture moments, it seems that public opinion about feminism is finally changing. But while this decreased stigma is encouraging, it seems the dominant understanding of feminism — and the many Read More...
Colorado drastically cuts teen pregnancies and abortions
Colorado’s teen birth rate plummeted 40 percent between 2009 and 2013. And that's all because the state has provided contraceptive implants or intrauterine devices (IUDs) at low or no cost to low-income women at 68 family-planning clinics across Colorado. The results were startling, not only the Read More...
To counter patriarchy, proud parents in India share photos of daughters
We all know what India's highly patriarchal society leads to. As female are regarded as inferior, they sometimes get killed in the womb, fewer girls attend school, and women are being raped. In an attempt to change that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on all Indians to post selfies with their Read More...
Women in rural Zimbabwe weave their way out of poverty
The Lupane Women’s Centre was created ten years ago in a drought-prone area of Zimbabwe where extreme poverty and bouts of harsh hunger were the norm. Now the basket-weaving enterprise counts 3,638 members and average earnings have increased from one dollar to 50 dollars a month—a decent wage Read More...
The first black female astronaut on fear, self-confidence and belonging
Mae Jemison was the first woman of color to go into space. And that was but one of her many feats. What she has discovered and learned over the course of her career with regard to confronting her fears, growing her self-confidence and taking responsibility for creating community, can inspire every Read More...
Nigeria bans female genital mutilation
Globally, an estimated 100 to 140 million women and girls from nearly 30 countries have undergone genital mutilation, with the highest rates concentrated in Africa and the Middle East. They are about 20 million in Nigeria alone, or 27 percent of the female population. Last Friday outgoing Read More...
Sri Lanka to recruit women for the world's most ambitious mangrove protection project
Half of the world’s mangroves have been destroyed. They play a critical role, however, in mitigating climate change, as The Guardian explains. Hence the government-backed project to protect 21,782 acres in Sri Lanka through the involvement of women from 1,500 local communities. Micro-loans and Read More...
Nobel Peace Prize female recipients collaborate to advance peace and women's rights
Only 16 women received the Nobel Peace Prize over its 110-year history. Nine of them have banded together to create Nobel Women’s Initiative, a project conceived by Jody Williams from the U.S., Shirin Ebadi from Iran, and the late Wangari Maathai from Kenya. They figured that using the power Read More...