Category Archives: Women

Nepali woman’s account of rape prompts wave of protest over laws

Posted on by

Calls grow for repeal of statute of limitations and widening of definition of rape after former model makes allegations on TikTok

A young woman’s account on TikTok of being drugged, raped and then blackmailed by a beauty pageant organiser when she was 16 years old has provoked outrage in Nepal and prompted calls to reform the country’s “grossly inadequate” rape laws.

In one of a series of videos, which together have been viewed millions of times, the former model and child actor broke down in tears as she talked about Nepal’s statute of limitations that dictates survivors must report cases of rape within one year of the offence being committed.

Continue reading...

Dismissal of women’s health problems as ‘benign’ leading to soaring NHS lists

Posted on by

Exclusive: Gender bias means debilitating gynaecological conditions are played down, says RCOG president

Doctors’ routine dismissal of women’s debilitating health problems as “benign” has contributed to gynaecology waiting lists soaring by 60% to more than half a million patients, a senior health leader has said.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) president, Dr Edward Morris, told the Guardian that waiting lists for conditions such as endometriosis, prolapse and heavy bleeding had increased by a bigger proportion than any other area of medicine in the past two years.

Continue reading...

Japan to approve abortion pill – but partner’s consent will be required

Posted on by

Delay in approving pill, and the possible $780 cost, reflect priorities of male-dominated parliament, say critics

Women in Japan could be forced to seek their partner’s consent before being prescribed the abortion pill, which will reportedly be approved late this year – three decades after it was made available to women in the UK.

Under Japan’s 1948 Maternal Protection Law, consent is already required for surgical abortions – with very few exceptions – a policy that campaigners say tramples over women’s reproductive rights.

Continue reading...

Actors call for better onscreen representation of women over 45

Posted on by

Open letter signed by more than 100 actors and public figures urges end to entertainment industry’s ‘entrenched’ ageism

Actors including Juliet Stevenson, Meera Syal, David Tennant and Zawe Ashton have called for better onscreen representation of women older than 45 to fight against the “entrenched” ageism of the entertainment industry.

In an open letter signed by more than 100 actors and public figures, the Acting Your Age Campaign (AYAC) called for equal representation in the UK between men and women over 45 and urged immediate action on a “parity pledge”.

Continue reading...

Chile government apologizes to woman for forced sterilization

Posted on by

Doctors performed procedure in 2002 without consent while Francisca was under anesthesia because she was HIV positive

The Chilean state has apologised to a woman who was forcibly sterilised by doctors because she was HIV positive.

The woman, known only as Francisca and then 20, was diagnosed with HIV in March 2002 while pregnant with her first child. But while she was under anaesthesia during a Caesarean section, doctors at a public hospital performed a surgical sterilisation on the grounds that it would be irresponsible for an HIV-positive woman to have more children. When Francisca woke up after the operation, she was informed by a nurse that she had been sterilised without her consent.

Continue reading...

CPS guidance ‘makes things worse’ for rape survivors, victims’ commissioner says

Posted on by

Vera Baird calls for therapy notes to be excluded from criminal trials, as they are in Australia

New guidance designed to give rape victims confidence to get therapy before their trial “makes things worse” for survivors and lessened their protections, according to the victims’ commissioner, Vera Baird.

The guidance issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) aims to “alleviate victim concerns that accessing counselling could damage the prosecution case,” but Baird echoed concerns from campaign groups that they, in fact, reduce protections and called for therapy notes to be excluded from criminal trials, as they are in Australia.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

Continue reading...

The network of organisations seeking to influence abortion policy across Europe

Posted on by

The ultra-Christian, anti-abortion and far-right network is allegedly seeking to replicate anti-choice efforts in the US

A network of ultra-Christian, anti-abortion and far-right organisations is building momentum in its quest to influence abortion policy in Europe as the US supreme court considers striking down Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalised the procedure in America.

Elements of the network originally came together under the name Agenda Europe, holding yearly summits across the continent between 2013 until at least 2018, by which time it had grown to comprise 300 participants, including politicians and Vatican diplomats.

Continue reading...

Women in England with breast cancer may qualify for drug that buys ‘precious’ time

Posted on by

Nice approves Keytruda, which with chemotherapy can lengthen survival of women with triple negative breast cancer

Women with advanced breast cancer in England will be able to benefit from a new type of immunotherapy on the NHS after a U-turn by the medicines watchdog.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has overturned its draft rejection of Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and said women in England can take the drug in combination with chemotherapy.

Continue reading...

Male Afghan TV presenters mask up to support female colleagues after Taliban decree

Posted on by

#FreeHerFace campaign gathers force as high-profile men rebel against crackdown on face coverings in Afghanistan

Male TV presenters in Afghanistan are wearing face masks on screen to show solidarity after the Taliban issued an order that all women on news channels must cover their faces.

In a protest dubbed #FreeHerFace on social media, men on Tolo News wore masks to mimic the effect of the face veil their female colleagues have been forced to wear after a Taliban crackdown.

Continue reading...

Racism in UK maternity care risks safety of Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity women – study

Posted on by

Participants in charity’s year-long inquiry describe being ignored and feeling patronised and dehumanised

Systemic racism within UK maternity care is risking the safety of people from Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity backgrounds, often with devastating consequences, according to a report by the childbirth charity Birthrights.

More than 300 people with lived and professional experience of racial injustice in a maternity setting gave evidence to an expert panel chaired by Shaheen Rahman QC, a barrister who specialises in clinical negligence, as part of the charity’s year-long inquiry into the issue.

Continue reading...

Taliban enforce face coverings for Afghanistan’s female news presenters

Posted on by

Move is part of hardline pivot after militants hinted at more moderate restrictions when taking power last year

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have begun enforcing an order requiring all female TV news presenters in the country to cover their faces while on air, as part of a hardline shift that has drawn condemnation from rights activists.

After the order was announced on Thursday, only a handful of news outlets complied. However, on Sunday most female presenters were seen with their faces covered after the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice began enforcing the decree.

Continue reading...

‘A huge achievement’: first woman wins UK’s Fisherman of the Year

Posted on by

Ashley Mullenger talks about the difficulties of finding the right boots and lifejackets, and getting more women into the industry

Being a woman in the male-dominated fishing industry has presented some challenges for Ashley Mullenger, who has become the first woman to win a Fisherman of the Year award.

“It’s little things like the ankle cut on the boots we wear – for men it’s wider and you need to have good ankle support on a boat when you’re working on a moving deck. It took me a while to find boots suitable for commercial fishing and for women,” she says.

Continue reading...

‘Any number of rights could be next’ if Roe v Wade goes, says Buttigieg

Posted on by

US transportation secretary says supreme court’s ruling could determine future generations’ freedoms

Pete Buttigieg, the US transportation secretary and the first openly gay member of a US administration, has expressed his worry that the expected overturning by the supreme court of the 1973 landmark decision which made abortion legal, may be the start of a series of eliminations of other groundbreaking rights and protections.

Earlier this month a leaked document showed that five conservatives on the nine-justice supreme court had voted to reverse their predecessors’ ruling in Roe v Wade nearly 50 years ago. The provisional ruling could lead to abortion being outlawed in more than half of US states unless it is changed substantially before becoming final.

Continue reading...

Statue of fossil-hunting pioneer Mary Anning to be unveiled in Dorset

Posted on by

A nine-year-old pointed out what was missing in Lyme Regis. Her long campaign has now borne fruit

It all began with a curious nine-year-old and a question that she asked her mother. Where in their hometown of Lyme Regis was the statue of Mary Anning, the pioneering Victorian fossil hunter who, she had recently discovered, had lived and worked there?

There wasn’t one, Anya Pearson was forced to tell her indignant daughter. Anning’s lifetime of discoveries – including finding the first ichthyosaur skeleton at the age of just 12 – may have profoundly shaped the emerging science of palaeontology, but in her own Dorset town and farther afield, she had been largely forgotten.

Continue reading...

Taliban orders female Afghan TV presenters to cover faces on air

Posted on by

Female anchors post pictures of themselves being ‘erased’ on orders of virtue and vice ministry

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have ordered all female TV presenters to cover their faces on air, the country’s biggest media outlet has said.

The order came in a statement from the Taliban’s virtue and vice ministry, tasked with enforcing the group’s rulings, as well as from the information and culture ministry, the Tolo news channel tweeted on Thursday. The statement called the order “final and non-negotiable”, the channel said.

Continue reading...

US supreme court abortion reversal would be global ‘catastrophe’ for women

Posted on by

If Roe v Wade is overturned, it will encourage anti-choice groups – particularly in the developing world, activists warn

The probable demise of abortion as a federal right in the US will be a “catastrophe” for women in low and middle-income countries, with an emboldened anti-choice movement likely to raise renewed pressure on hard-won gains, doctors and activists have warned.

The leak this month of the US supreme court’s draft majority opinion, which argued that the 1973 ruling effectively legalising abortion had been “egregiously wrong from the start”, stunned and enraged many in America.

Continue reading...

Former Police Scotland officer hopes ‘torturous’ tribunal win will help women

Posted on by

Ex-firearms officer Rhona Malone, awarded nearly £1m for sexist victimisation, says pain and sacrifices outweigh any compensation

A former armed response officer awarded nearly £1m by Police Scotland over victimisation said the past few years had been “torturous” and no amount of compensation could make up for the pain experienced.

Rhona Malone began her action against the force after a senior police officer said he did not want to see two female armed officers deployed together when there were sufficient male staff on duty.

Continue reading...

Judgment day for ‘narcissistic’ Greek pilot who killed British wife Caroline Crouch

Posted on by

Babis Anagnostopoulos spent 10 chilling hours in an Athens courts calmly describing the murder of his wife

Last week, Greek helicopter pilot Babis Anagnostopoulos stood in the dock of an Athens court and related the circumstances that led him to suffocate his British wife. Over the course of 10 hours he barely paused. Coolly and calmly, from 10am to 8pm, he addressed the tribunal.

He recalled the dream life he had shared with the woman whom he would go on to asphyxiate; his decision to choke her beloved puppy, Roxy, hanging the pet dog from the banister of the couple’s maisonette; his love for his baby daughter, whom he would place next to her dead mother’s body; and his determination in a moment “of chaos” to cover up the killing as a robbery gone terribly wrong.

Continue reading...

‘Unacceptable’: Aviva CEO hits back at shareholder sexism

Posted on by

Amanda Blanc says sexism in business has actually got worse after being told she is ‘not the man for the job’

The chief executive of the insurer Aviva has hit out at sexism in the industry, saying “unacceptable behaviour” has only increased since she took more senior roles in the sector.

Amanda Blanc, who became the company’s first female chief executive in 2020, published a LinkedIn post thanking people for their support after shareholders made sexist remarks at the company’s annual general meeting on Monday. Investors said Blanc was “not the man for the job” and should be “wearing trousers”.

Continue reading...

Afghanistan face veil decree: ‘I’ve lost the right to choose my clothes’

Posted on by

Women say they fear going out in public despite Taliban vow to respect hard-won rights after 2021 takeover

Despite everything that has happened to her country since the Taliban seized power last August, 29-year old Nafisa still never believed there would come a day when she would be unable to feel the sun on her face as she walked the streets of Kabul.

Yet on Saturday, the Taliban’s sinisterly named ministry for the propagation of virtue ordered that Nafisa, along with millions of women across Afghanistan, should ideally not leave the house at all. If they do, they must be fully veiled and never show their faces in public.

Continue reading...