Category Archives: Women

Give UK workers right to know colleagues’ pay to prevent disparities, says watchdog

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EHRC says transparency needed to prevent pay discrimination, particularly against women

Workers should have a legal right to know their colleagues’ pay to help prevent pay discrimination, particularly against women, the UK’s human rights watchdog has said.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) made the recommendation in response to government proposals to overhaul equal pay laws, saying workers deserved a right to transparency if they suspected other staff were being paid more for similar work.

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Liechtenstein prince’s ‘surreal’ abortion veto dismays campaigners

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Alois uses the first veto of his reign to quash parliament-approved bill backed by a national petition

The hereditary prince of Liechtenstein has used his veto for the first time in his reign to quash a bill aimed at bringing abortion laws in line with much of Europe.

The legislation was approved by Liechtenstein’s parliament last month after the presentation of a citizens’ initiative signed by roughly a quarter of the nation’s voters.

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Poland’s parliament votes to ease abortion ban but faces likely veto from president

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Measures would remove some penalties for those helping women access abortion but are ‘small-scale step’, say campaigners

Poland’s lower house of parliament has approved two bills aimed at loosening a near-total ban on abortions, in what campaigners have described as a “small-scale step” ahead of protests calling on the government to fulfil its promises to overhaul the country’s laws.

The new measures, which are likely to be vetoed by Poland’s nationalist president, would remove some of the criminal penalties for those who help women to access abortion care and allow terminations in cases of foetal abnormalities.

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University of Arizona sorority member alleges sexual assault at fraternity house

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Student told the university’s police department that assault by two men occurred in August during a night of drinking

A sorority member at the University of Arizona has alleged she was sexually assaulted by two men at a fraternity house during a night of drinking in late August.

The student told the university’s police department that she consensually kissed one of the men at one point while at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house on 26 August but doesn’t remember agreeing to sex, according to search warrant records posted Monday night by KOLD-TV in Tucson.

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‘I felt disgusted’: MEP speaks out over nude deepfakes and urges EU action

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Lena Schilling of Austrian Greens says images are ‘digital violence against women’ and a threat to democracy

An Austrian MEP has spoken out about her experience of being “stripped naked” online without her consent and has urged the EU to take action, as a report found that one in six female MEPs had been targeted by sexualised AI-generated content.

Lena Schilling of the Green party said she had learned last month about nude deepfakes of herself circulating online. When she opened the links, she found herself staring at images from one of her first ever press conferences – but the images had been digitally altered to remove her clothing.

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New Jersey congresswoman LaMonica McIver faces legal deadline after giving birth to second child

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She must decide by the end of the week whether to seek further review of federal charges over a confrontation with ICE agents at Delaney Hall

A US congresswoman who just gave birth to a baby girl faces a deadline this week on whether to seek a rehearing of a federal case against her by the Trump administration after an oversight visit to an immigration detention facility.

LaMonica McIver, 40, represents New Jersey’s 10th congressional district. She gave birth to her second child last Thursday – a rarity for a sitting member of Congress. She is only the 15th member of Congress to give birth while serving and part of a small subset of congresswomen who have school-age children.

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Polish activists launch abortion pill locker to bypass near-total ban

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‘AbortOmat’ in Warsaw offers novel way to challenge country’s restrictions and allow women swift, anonymous access

They call it the “world’s first parcel locker for abortion pills”. Polish campaigners have launched a new means of distribution as part of their ongoing effort to skirt the country’s near-total ban on abortion.

Painted pink and framed by zebra-striped curtains, the 22-compartment “AbortOmat” in Warsaw allows women to access the pills swiftly and anonymously using a six-digit code. The service was envisaged for those who cannot or do not want to wait days for mail delivery due to a missed miscarriage or health complications, or who worry about receiving the pills at home.

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‘An amazing ride’: SpaceX flight led by first Black female commander sets US speed record

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Four astronauts pulled up at International Space Station after eight-hour express flight led by Jessica Watkins

Four astronauts pulled up at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday after launching on an eight-hour express that set a US speed record, and that created further history with the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit.

SpaceX launched commander Jessica Watkins and her crew for Nasa after a three-week delay to fix their Dragon capsule’s leaking fuel system. Thick clouds threatened all morning to halt the countdown but skies cleared enough to allow a safe liftoff from Cape Canaveral at 11.10am (1510 GMT).

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Top South African police officer charged with raping woman, 18, and grooming 16-year-old girl

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Arrest of Shadrack Sibiya comes as country reels from cases of femicide and alleged police corruption and criminality

One of South Africa’s most senior police officers has been charged with raping an 18-year-old woman and grooming a 16-year-old girl, as the country’s police face allegations of corruption and failing to tackle violence against women and girls.

Shadrack Sibiya, who was already suspended from his role as deputy national police commissioner over allegations he interfered with political killings investigations, was arrested on Monday. He is facing charges of rape, people trafficking, promoting the sexual grooming of a child and two counts of grooming a child.

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Thousands of pregnant women in England are reporting domestic abuse. Midwives are struggling to cope

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Exclusive: Analysis ‘lays bare’ something midwives already know from their day-to-day work

About 20,000 disclosures of domestic abuse are estimated to be made to maternity services in England every year, analysis has found.

The figures are likely to be an underestimate of the true scale of disclosures, according to experts, highlighting the role maternity professionals play in identifying abuse.

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‘We are prey’: discovery of seven women’s bodies fuels anger over femicide in South Africa

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String of female murder victims found near Johannesburg’s international airport, including five in the past week

The discovery of the bodies of eight women around Johannesburg’s international airport, including five in the past week, has prompted an outpouring of fear, grief and anger over a lack of progress in tackling femicide.

When Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo did not return after going for a run on 9 September, her eight-year-old daughter alerted relatives, who contacted police. The 38-year-old’s body was found on Saturday and identified by relatives on Monday. The news of her disappearance had gone viral.

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$15m fund launched to create ‘unstoppable momentum’ to end FGM worldwide

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Her Horizon Fund seeks $100m to stop practice harming 230m women and girls globally

Frontline activists and leaders in the fight against female genital mutilation, which has affected more than 230 million women and girls worldwide, have welcomed an unprecedented $15.5m (£11.4m) fund aimed at creating “unstoppable momentum” to finally end the practice.

The launch of the fund comes as women’s rights are increasingly under attack and donor funding is in sharp decline, particularly for work led by FGM survivors in local communities. It is thought to be the largest single philanthropic contribution to ending the practice of FGM.

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Robin Morgan, child star who became feminist, poet and editor, dies aged 85

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Leading second-wave feminist co-founded Women’s Media Center with Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem

Robin Morgan, a child star of the 1940s and 50s who grew up to become an all-American radical as a poet, essayist, editor and second-wave feminist, has died. She was 85.

Morgan’s death was confirmed Saturday by the Women’s Media Center, an organization she co-founded with Jane Fonda and the celebrated author and activist Gloria Steinem, who died Wednesday.

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Woman, 45, killed in Florence in seventh alleged femicide in Italy since mid-August

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Lorena Isceri was thrown off a motorway bridge, allegedly by ex-boyfriend Federico Vella

A 45-year-old woman abducted and thrown off a motorway bridge near Florence has become the seventh alleged femicide in Italy since mid-August.

Lorena Isceri was abducted on Thursday afternoon, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, Federico Vella, in the Rifredi area of Florence, before being forced into the boot of his car and driven towards a bridge on the A1 motorway.

In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

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Hillary Clinton leads tributes to Gloria Steinem: ‘Her activism was rooted in optimism’

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Ex-secretary of state joins Nancy Pelosi, Jill Biden, Roxane Gay and others in heralding groundbreaking feminist

Leading figures from politics, entertainment and wider society led glowing tributes to Gloria Steinem on Thursday, with Hillary Clinton hailing the American feminist icon who died at 92 at home in New York as “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality”.

Clinton, a former US secretary of state, presidential candidate and first lady, was among the first to jump in with praise early on Thursday when she appeared on the CBS Mornings TV show to share her respect and gratitude for Steinem.

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Female film-makers still being squeezed out of industry, London film festival director says

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Over 40% of films in LFF programme are female-made, but only two of 21 gala films are directed by women

Female film-makers are still being squeezed out of the industry as they progress beyond their debut films, the director of the London film festival has said, adding that “the dial does not seem to be moving”.

Kristy Matheson’s comments came as LFF announced its full programme for this year’s event, which runs from 7 to 19 October. Of the 251 titles, 109 (43%) are made by female film-makers, but only two of the 21 gala films are directed by women.

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‘Fix that little spot’: Danish PM hits back at unsolicited beauty tip from cosmetic surgeon

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Mette Frederiksen, who received message on returning from Ukraine, advises women to embrace self-acceptance

Sick of getting unsolicited beauty tips on social media, the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, rebuffed a male cosmetic surgeon’s offer to “fix” her and advised women in similar situations to embrace self-acceptance.

Frederiksen, a Social Democrat and Denmark’s second female prime minister, posted on Instagram that she had just returned from a trip to Ukraine, where she was subjected to air raid sirens, when she found a message proposing some help with her appearance.

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Concerns grow over increased global ties with Taliban in Afghanistan

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Campaigners fear deeper diplomatic contacts are undermining demands for improvements in human rights

The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive regime despite its systematic human rights abuses.

Five years after the Taliban took power, an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the hardline Islamists, who seized power in Kabul in 2021 after 20 years of brutal insurgent warfare.

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Woman assaulted after Travelodge staff gave room key to her abuser

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Woman had gone to London hotel for ‘night away from the fear’ in latest incident of chain giving keys to men without checking

Travelodge staff gave a room key to the domestic abuser of a woman, who then physically attacked her.

The woman, who is remaining anonymous, told the BBC she was staying in a branch of the hotel in London to escape the man, but he followed her and was given a key by the reception staff.

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Dowry murders in India no longer spark public anger or debate, study finds

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Thousands of women are killed in dowry disputes each year, despite the practice being banned in 1961

Dowry deaths in India no longer provoke the public anger they once did, despite thousands of women’s lives still being lost every year, according to new research.

The killings – women who are murdered or driven to suicide following dowry disputes between families – have also faded from political debate, despite an increase in cases.

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