Changes include the criminalisation of voyeurism and follow a string of acquittals in rape cases that triggered protests nationwide
Japan has raised the age of consent from 13, among the world’s lowest, to 16 years old as lawmakers passed key reforms to sex crime legislation.
A new bill, which also clarifies rape prosecution requirements and criminalises voyeurism, cleared parliament’s upper house in a unanimous vote.
Continue reading...Open letter says burden on victims to prove intent leaves door open for perpetrators to claim they were joking
Proposals to tackle sexual harassment in the street in England and Wales do not go far enough because the bar for offences has been set too high, charities have warned.
The Fawcett Society, Girl Guiding and Refuge are among organisations who say the requirement to prove perpetrators intended to cause alarm or distress undermines the provisions of two bills intended to protect women and girls going through parliament.
Continue reading...Study finds the search giant has profited since Roe was overturned from anti-abortion groups buying misleading search terms
Google has made millions of dollars in the last two years from advertisements misdirecting users who were seeking abortion services to “pregnancy crisis centers” that do not actually provide care, according to a new study.
The tech giant has taken in an estimated $10m in two years from anti-choice organizations that pay to advertise such centers alongside legitimate results on the Google search page, according to a new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit group that conducts misinformation research. Its study, published on Thursday, estimates that the search results have reached and potentially misled hundreds of thousands of users.
Continue reading...Leading expert warns of ‘sustained attacks’ on reproductive rights after sentence imposed on Monday
Leading women’s health experts have warned of an attack on women’s reproductive rights and the potential for more prosecutions, following the jailing of a woman for terminating her pregnancy after the legal time limit.
The president of the UK’s leading body for sexual health professionals said that women should be “more worried than they are” following the sentencing, adding that it could lead to sustained attacks on established rights, and efforts to curtail reforms.
Continue reading...Tory MP speaks out amid anger over 44-year-old’s sentence for taking abortion pills beyond legal limit
Abortion legislation is “very much out of date” and should be overhauled, the chair of the Commons women and equalities committee has said, after a woman was jailed for procuring drugs to induce an abortion after the legal limit.
There was outrage on Monday after the woman, a mother of three, was sentenced to more than two years in prison.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ms A’s comments come as another MP, Geraint Davies, faces allegations of sexual harassment
A woman who was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a Labour MP has condemned the party’s complaints procedures as “fake” and “a political stunt” after the launch of a separate inquiry into claims against Geraint Davies.
The former member for Hartlepool, Mike Hill, was found by a tribunal last year to have victimised his former staff member, known as Ms A, after she spurned his advances. She said the party had initially ignored her complaints, then tried to cover them up, and had offered her little support during a four-year fight for justice.
Continue reading...Pro-choice groups condemn rare enforcement of country’s total ban on terminations
A woman in Malta has been charged in court for having an abortion, in a rare enforcement of the country’s total ban on terminations.
The Women’s Rights Foundation of Malta said: “What should have never happened [has] happened today: a Maltese woman was brought to court facing charges of having a medical abortion at home.”
Continue reading...Body of teenager lay untouched until police informant passed by, raising fresh concerns about women’s safety
The killing of a 16-year-old girl in Delhi who was stabbed and bludgeoned to death in an alley as pedestrians walked on has sparked outrage over the safety of women in India.
CCTV footage of the incident shows the teenager was accosted in public by a man, alleged by police to be 20-year-old Sahil Khan, who stabbed her more than 30 times and hit her with a concrete slab.
Continue reading...‘Equal pay generation’ of female workers abandoned by Tories, says Anneliese Dodds, who commissioned research
The so-called equal pay generation of female workers born near the passing of the 1970 Equal Pay Act are unlikely to see the gap close during their working lives, a Labour analysis has shown.
Research carried out for Anneliese Dodds, the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, calculated that such is the slow rate of change with equal pay for women in their 50s, the gender pay gap will not close before 2050 at the current trajectory.
Continue reading...The law, which the governor has promised to sign, will ban abortion before most people know they are pregnant
South Carolina’s state senate approved an anti-abortion bill on Tuesday that would ban most abortions at about six weeks, a period when most people are unaware they are pregnant.
During a special session to decide whether the bill advances to the governor, who has promised to sign it, the Republican-controlled senate launched into a heated debate over the ban.
Continue reading...Cost of period products has risen and campaigners say saving is not being passed on by retailers
The Treasury is analysing whether the removal of the “tampon tax” – trumpeted last week by Rishi Sunak as one of the benefits of Brexit – has helped lower prices at all, amid concerns the saving is not being passed on by retailers to women.
Responding to a written question from the Labour MP Ruth Cadbury, the government said a tax reduction was able to “contribute to the conditions for price reductions” and it was “looking into whether this important zero-rating is being passed on by retailers to women as intended”.
Continue reading...Free app designed to shed light on ‘mental load’ overwhelmingly carried by women when it comes to chores
The Spanish government is hoping to encourage men to do more at home by developing a free app that will log how much time each household or family member spends on domestic chores.
Announcing the measure in Geneva earlier this week, Spain’s secretary of state for equality, Ángela Rodríguez, said the aim was to shed light on the invisible “mental load” overwhelmingly carried by women when it comes to domestic tasks.
Continue reading...Gabriella Gonzalez, 26, was shot in the head in a parking lot by Harold Thompson, 22, shortly after she ‘shrugs off’ his chokehold
A 26-year-old woman from Texas was shot and killed by her boyfriend after getting an abortion in another state, Dallas police said.
He was jailed on a murder charge as of Friday.
Continue reading...Executives holds talks with both sides after screening of gender critical documentary was cancelled
Edinburgh University hopes to defuse a crisis involving gender critical and pro-trans academics after clashes over the screening of the film Adult Human Female.
University executives are holding talks with both sides after pro-trans activists prevented the gender critical documentary from being screened on campus for the second time late last month, by blockading a theatre where it was due to be shown.
Continue reading...Xu Zaozao’s case is widely followed in a country where women’s rights have become increasingly prominent
A single Chinese woman has begun an appeal in her legal battle for the right to freeze her eggs, a procedure only available in China to married couples.
Xu Zaozao took legal action in 2019 after a Beijing hospital refused to freeze her eggs but a Beijing court dismissed her case in July 2022.
Continue reading...UN children’s agency welcomes drop in number of underage brides, but warns 12 million girls still getting married each year
The number of child marriages is declining worldwide, but at too slow a pace for any hope of eliminating the practice this century, Unicef, the UN children’s agency, has said.
In a new report, Unicef tentatively welcomed the reduction but warned that it was nowhere close to meeting its sustainable development goal of ridding the world of the practice by 2030.
Continue reading...Health ministry gives green light to two-step treatment made by British pharmaceutical firm Linepharma
The abortion pill will become available in Japan for the first time after the health ministry approved a drug used to terminate early-stage pregnancies.
Abortion is legal in Japan up to 22 weeks, but consent is usually required from a spouse or partner, and until now a surgical procedure had been the only option.
Continue reading...Advice comes despite charity’s warning that social media figure is fuelling shocking growth of misogyny in schools
Teachers are being advised by the government not to discuss social media influencer Andrew Tate, the “king of toxic masculinity”, with pupils – despite schools reporting a rising tide of misogyny and sexual harassment from boys as young as nine.
One small charity, Diversify, based in Rotherham, which runs school workshops about inclusion, receives about 25 calls a week from primary and secondary schools across England who want help dealing with sexual harassment and “shocking misogynistic incidents”. Many cite the influence of Tate, who is under house arrest in Romania for suspected human trafficking and organised crime. Tate’s TikTok videos tell boys that a woman belongs to her boyfriend; girls who don’t stay at home are “hoes”; and rape victims must “bear responsibility” for their attacks.
Continue reading...Some women are turning to escort work to meet basic housing costs, charities warn
Women are increasingly being forced to engage in “survival sex” because of the cost of living crisis amid worsening conditions for Britain’s most vulnerable.
Charities warn rising costs paired with years of underfunding mean women, including those with trauma and mental health issues, are having to turn to sex in exchange for housing or to meet other basic needs.
Continue reading...Universal reproductive healthcare committee urged to better credential and train midwives as experts warn of ‘abortion deserts’
Australian midwives are calling for expanded roles, including prescribing medical abortions, as they warn of “abortion deserts” where women cannot access the healthcare they need.
In an inquiry hearing on Friday, midwives are also set to call for broader rights to prescribe contraceptives.
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