Category Archives: Gender

Designers behind Princess Awesome to launch gender-neutral clothing for boys

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Crowdfunding campaign for Boy, Wonder reaches 50% of target funding in first hour

A children’s clothing company which revolutionised gender-neutral clothing for girls has turned their attention to boys, launching a crowdfunding campaign on Tuesday that reached 50% of its funding aim in the first hour.

Frustrated that they couldn’t find shirts for their five sons with unicorns on them or bright colours, animals, sparkles and rainbows, Eva St Clair and Rebecca Melsky decided to make them themselves.

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Congresswoman makes emotional speech about her gender-nonconforming child – video

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The US congresswoman Pramila Jayapal gave an emotional speech in the House of Representatives about her gender-nonconforming child while advocating for LGBTQ civil rights legislation, saying her child had discovered 'newfound freedom'. Jayapal, a representative from Washington state, spoke out during a judiciary committee hearing on the Equality Act

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Ads about bus stop harassment and ‘bonus wives’ normalise sexism | Rosebell Kagumire

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In the race to attract customers, Ugandan firms show scant regard for the intimidation faced by women on a daily basis

Uganda’s leading telecom company MTN has launched a new advert. It depicts a scene at a city bus stop, which in Uganda we call a stage.

A man approaches the stage, where two women are sitting on benches, one either end. Before he takes his seat between them, he launches into some forced conversation with one of the women reading a magazine. Before the woman responds, the man moves closer to her. The second woman looks on, perhaps just curious, but perhaps concerned.

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‘The metro smashed the old rules’: Indian women drive change – and trains

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Run by an army of women and equipped with solar power and dedicated breastfeeding pods, Kochi Metro is altering the status quo in Kerala

Down on the platform, where the air is intensely muggy in the March heat, a train glides in. The driver is a woman.

The ticket office is run by a woman. A transgender woman helps customers at the inquiry desk. On four of the metro’s stations, passengers can go into a special cubicle to breastfeed their babies.

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Biden condemns ‘white man’s culture’ as he laments role in Anita Hill hearings

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Potential 2020 contender regrets not giving Hill ‘the hearing she deserved’ during Clarence Thomas confirmation process

The former vice-president Joe Biden condemned “a white man’s culture” on Tuesday night as he lashed out against violence against women and, more specifically, lamented his role in the supreme court confirmation hearings that undermined Anita Hill’s credibility nearly three decades ago.

Biden, a Democratic presidential prospect who often highlights his white working-class roots, said Hill, who is African American, should not have been forced to face a panel of “a bunch of white guys”.

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Nasa cancels all-female spacewalk, citing lack of suit in woman’s size

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Space agency blames shortage of outerwear after first-of-its-kind mission falls through

Nasa’s plans for an all-female spacewalk have fallen through – at least in part because the agency doesn’t have enough spacesuits that fit the astronauts.

Early this month, Nasa announced that Christina Koch and Anne McClain would take part in the first-of-its kind mission on 29 March, walking outside the international space station (ISS) to install new batteries. In the past, missions have been all-male or male-female.

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Facebook agrees to ban discriminatory ads in civil rights settlement

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ACLU hails ‘sweeping changes’ after company criticized over ad targeting based on race, gender and age

Facebook is taking steps to block discriminatory ads for housing, employment and credit by preventing advertisers from targeting users based on race, gender, age and zip code.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other rights groups, which sued Facebook for violating civil rights laws with its ad practices, announced the “historic settlement” on Tuesday, saying “sweeping changes” would restrict illegal and discriminatory ad targeting.

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US accused of trying to dilute global agreements on women’s rights

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Draft documents suggest US will refuse to reaffirm commitment to international declaration on women’s rights at New York forum

US officials in New York are attempting to water down language and remove the word “gender” from documents being negotiated at the UN, in what is being seen as a threat to international agreements on women’s rights.

In negotiations at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which resume at UN headquarters this week, the US wants to replace “gender” in the forum’s outcome document with references only to women and girls.

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Julian Burnside: Greens Kooyong candidate quits all-male social club

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Barrister says he has been unable to convince Melbourne Savage Club to allow female members

The Greens candidate Julian Burnside has resigned as a member of an exclusive all-male Melbourne social club, after being questioned about it during an appearance on Sky News on Friday night.

The human rights barrister and candidate for the federal seat of Kooyong declared that “same-sex only clubs are a relic of the past” on Saturday, and said he was resigning from the Melbourne Savage Club – which describes itself as “one of Australia’s oldest private members’ clubs”.

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German academics and authors call for end to ‘gender nonsense’

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Open letter hits back at demand for more gender-neutral nouns

A group of German authors, comedians and academics have added fuel to the flames of an increasingly bad-tempered culture war over language bias by calling for a fightback against “ridiculous linguistic constructions” designed to make German more gender-neutral.

In an open letter published by the Dortmund-based German Language Association, signatories including the philosopher Rüdiger Safranski, novelist Peter Schneider, comedian Dieter Hallervorden and the former head of the country’s domestic intelligence Hans-Georg Maassen, hit back against calls for more gender-neutral generic nouns.

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Child marriage in Niger is a cultural issue, not an Islamic one

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A visit to the world’s fifth poorest country has shown me that battling early and forced marriage begins with communities

Islam, for me, is a way of life and the core of my world. As a Muslim woman I have always been encouraged to be who I want to be.

I get frustrated when people say: “Why do you wear a hijab? Isn’t that a sign of women’s oppression?” I choose to wear a hijab; I choose to be an educated and liberated woman and I choose to follow Islam.

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Own a classic Observer photograph from the Women’s Liberation Movement march, 1971

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On Saturday 6 March 1971, women from across the UK gathered in central London to join the first national demonstration by the newly formed Women’s Liberation Movement. Observer photographers Jane Bown and Tony McGrath documented the event for the following day’s paper.

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Emma Watson, Keira Knightley among stars urging better protection of women

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Scores of high-profile signatories mark International Women’s Day by signing letter calling for stronger global political support

• Letter: Women worldwide must be heard and respected

Emma Watson, Keira Knightley, and Dame Emma Thompson are among 76 actors, writers, business leaders and campaigners calling on governments to increase support and protection of women fighting for their rights around the world.

The letter, published in the Guardian to mark International Women’s Day on Friday, says women risk “backlash, censorship and violence” whenever they defend their rights or speak out over injustice.

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Women take to the streets of Pakistan to rewrite their place in society

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Campaigners will march on International Women’s Day to protest against harassment, child marriage and ‘honour killings’

During Jalwat Ali’s school days in Lahore, there were limited spaces to gather with other women, never mind flood the streets with punchy placards.

Public spaces often feel constricted in Pakistan, as though under critical male scrutiny. But over the past few days, Ali has been recruiting dozens of women, from garment workers to domestic helpers who barely get a day off. “To solve any problem, we need to make a collective effort,” she says.

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UK pledges £2m to help end stigma and shame of period poverty

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As well as global funding, Penny Mordaunt announces creation of £250,000 taskforce to tackle problem in Britain

The UK government has announced £2m to support organisations around the world to end period poverty by 2030.

The minister for women and equalities, Penny Mordaunt, also announced £250,000 for the creation of a taskforce comprised of government departments, businesses, charities and manufacturers to come up with new ideas to tackle the problem in the UK.

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Breast-ironing: victims urge stronger action to root out dangerous custom

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Medical experts and victims say practice, deemed by perpetrators to protect girls from sexual harassment and rape, is child abuse

Comfort was nine when her older sister told her she was going to flatten her chest with a stone to prevent her breasts from developing too soon, telling her it was for her own good.

“She said it’s so that girls don’t get abused as children or as teenagers,” Comfort said.

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In the Philippines they think about gender differently. We could too

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The labels we give ourselves can be helpful but restrictive too. Let’s embrace diversity by celebrating fluid identities

We were excited young filmmakers, sitting in one of our first pitch sessions, a panel of executives lined up against us. They had flicked through our script, looked at our mood boards and praised our song choice for the sizzle reel (Man! I Feel Like A Woman). Then the question dropped: “Which one of you is the alphabet person?”

I realised I was the only one holding my hand in the air. Then the guessing game began, as the executives ran through the letters – LGBTQIA+ – until they landed on one that gave them some understanding of who I am.

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Saudi Arabia: detained women’s rights activists to be put on trial

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More than dozen arrested in 2018 and rights groups say some have been tortured

Saudi women’s rights activists detained last year in a sweeping crackdown on campaigners will be put on trial, prosecutors have said.

“The public prosecution would like to announce that it has concluded its investigation and prepared the indictment list against the defendants ... and will refer the case to the relevant court,” the state-controlled Saudi Press Agency said on Friday.

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Only six countries in the world give women and men equal legal work rights

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Sweden and France among states found by the World Bank to enshrine gender equality in laws, but implementation haphazard

If you’re a woman and want to be on an equal footing with men, it’s best to live and work in Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg or Sweden. The World Bank, which has tracked legal changes for the past decade, found these were the only countries in the world to enshrine gender equality in laws affecting work.

The bank’s women, business and the law 2019 report, published this week, measured gender discrimination in 187 countries. It found that, a decade ago, no country gave women and men equal legal rights.

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