Grace Davidson gives birth to baby Amy Isabel after receiving her sister’s womb in 2023
Surgeons are hailing an “astonishing” medical breakthrough as a woman became the first in the UK to give birth after a womb transplant.
Grace Davidson, 36, who was a teenager when diagnosed with a rare condition that meant she did not have a uterus, said she and her husband, Angus, 37, had been given “the greatest gift we could ever have asked for”.
Continue reading...Livia Tossici-Bolt says she was ‘disappointed’ to be convicted of breaching Bournemouth clinic buffer zone
A woman who was given a conditional discharge after being convicted of breaching a buffer zone outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth has claimed she was “not there to express my views”.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, an anti-abortion campaigner whose case has been cited by the US state department over “freedom of expression” concerns in the UK, told the BBC’s Today programme she was “really disappointed” with the conviction “because it’s nothing to do with protesting” and said she would “continue my fight for freedom of speech”.
Continue reading...Livia Tossici-Bolt given conditional discharge and ordered to pay £20,000 costs in case that drew US state department concern
An activist whose case had been cited by the US state department over “freedom of expression” concerns in the UK has been convicted of breaching a buffer zone outside an abortion clinic.
Livia Tossici-Bolt, an anti-abortion campaigner, went on trial at Poole magistrates court last month accused of breaching a public spaces protection order on two days in March 2023 near to a clinic in Bournemouth. On Friday she was found guilty of two charges of breaching the order.
Continue reading...Politician says idea would be ‘compensation for centuries-old injustice’ of children being assigned father’s name
An Italian politician has proposed a law that would make it automatic for babies to be assigned their mother’s surname at birth, a step that would mark a rupture with a centuries-old tradition and has sparked a fiery debate.
Dario Franceschini, a former culture minister from the centre-left Democratic party, argues that such legislation would “right a historic wrong”.
Continue reading...Report reveals scale of abuse faced by women in politics from countries such as Australia, India, Laos and Mongolia
Sexism, harassment and violence against women are rife in parliaments across the Asia-Pacific region, according to a damning report published on Tuesday that lays bare the scale of abuse faced by women in politics.
Based on interviews with 150 female MPs and parliamentary staff across 33 countries across the region – including Australia, Mongolia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Fiji and Micronesia – the study found that 76% of MPs and 63% of staff had experienced psychological gender-based violence, with 60% of MPs saying they had been targeted online by hate speech, disinformation and image-based abuse. An equal number of women were interviewed from each country.
Continue reading...Nearly half of female entrepreneurs surveyed by Cherie Blair Foundation for Women do not have regular internet access
The cost of a mobile data package is all that is holding back many female entrepreneurs in developing countries, according to recent research.
While social media marketing is reported to be crucial by female business owners who have access to it, 45% of women in business in low- and middle-income countries said they did not have regular internet access because of the expense and connection issues.
Continue reading...First such study finds laws on abortion, debt and dress help increase rate of women being jailed twice as fast as for men
Poverty, abuse and discriminatory laws are driving a huge rise in the number of women in prison globally, according to a new report.
With the rise of the far right and an international backlash against women’s rights, the research said there was a risk that laws would increasingly be used to target women, forcing more behind bars.
Continue reading...Police said they had identified Morgan Harris, 39, and had also found more remains of another person
Canadian police have identified the remains of a murdered Indigenous woman at a landfill and found more remains from another person, after a months-long search demanded by the families of victims targeted by a serial killer.
Police said in a statement they had confirmed that human remains found in the Prairie Green Landfill, north of Winnipeg, had been identified as those of Morgan Harris, who was 39.
Continue reading...From Istanbul and Warsaw to Athens and Madrid, activists demand equality and the end of gender-based violence
Women took to the streets of cities across Europe, Africa and elsewhere to mark International Women’s Day with demands for ending inequality and gender-based violence.
On the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city Istanbul, a rally in Kadiköy saw members of dozens of women’s groups listen to speeches, dance and sing in the spring sunshine. The colorful protest was overseen by a large police presence, including officers in riot gear and a water cannon truck.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Marie Tidball tells of her experiences with NHS as report finds 44% higher risk of stillbirth for disabled women
When doctors tried to work out whether Marie Tidball would need a specially designed birth plan, one asked her to lie fully clothed on the bed and spread her legs in the air so they could see how far they could open.
The incident was one of several occasions when Tidball, now a Labour MP, felt neglected during her pregnancy and early motherhood because of the NHS’s failure to adapt on account of her physical disabilities. Tidball has physical impairments affecting all four of her limbs and had major surgeries on both her hips and legs as a child.
Continue reading...New method reported to cut number of false positives by 87% has been registered with regulator for approval
A new swab test could help hundreds of thousands of women a year in the UK who may have womb cancer avoid having an often painful invasive procedure to detect the disease.
About 800,000 women annually go to see a GP because they are suffering from abnormal bleeding from their uterus and then undergo uncomfortable and stressful investigations to identify the cause.
Continue reading...‘Sluggish’ pace in tackling gender pay gap and worsening employment levels push UK back to 18th in PwC index of OECD countries
Women’s worsening unemployment and participation in the workforce has pulled the UK behind Canada to its lowest ranking for workplace equality among large economies in a decade.
The “sluggish” pace of change on women’s earnings relative to men’s – which means closing the gender pay gap could take more than 30 years at the current pace – has knocked the UK back one place to 18th in the Women in Work Index produced by advisory firm PwC.
Continue reading...USAid cuts to clinics dispensing antiretroviral drugs will be ‘death sentence for mothers and children’, expert warns
Sweeping notices of termination of funding have been received by organisations working with HIV and Aids across Africa, with dire predictions of a huge rise in deaths as a result.
After the US announced a permanent end to funding for HIV projects, services across the board have been affected, say doctors and programme managers, from projects helping orphans and pregnant women to those reaching transgender individuals and sex workers.
Continue reading...Image posted on social media rekindles idea that prospective new chancellor has a Frauenproblem
Six beaming election winners huddled around a table and not a woman among them: a viral social media image of the man likely to be Germany’s next chancellor and his transition team has revived longstanding questions about whether Friedrich Merz can bridge a persistent gender gap.
“Not great optics” was among the more generous of the thousands of comments on the post by Merz’s Bavarian ally Markus Söder, which seemed to hark back to another time.
Continue reading...Deaths of 22 women reported this year include 240% rise in January, campaigners say, as abusers act ‘with impunity’
Almost two dozen women have died due to gender-based violence across Nigeria in 2025 alone, activists and civil society organisations have said in a call for a state of emergency.
According to Femicide Observatory, run by the Lagos-based nonprofit Document Our History (DOHS) Cares Foundation, there were 17 cases reported in January, a 240% increase from the same period last year, with an additional five by 16 February. More than 100 femicides were documented in 2024.
Continue reading...Peter and Barbie Reynolds were detained in Bamiyan provice for ‘teaching mothers parenting with children’
The Taliban have arrested a British couple in their 70s for “teaching mothers parenting with children”.
Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, were detained when returning to their home in Bamiyan province on 1 February.
Continue reading...An independent standards authority says the industry must learn from recent scandals and create safer working environments
New guidelines will be issued this week for the UK’s creative industries after a series of scandals including reports of inappropriate behaviour by Gregg Wallace and Gino d’Acampo, and bullying allegations on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) will set new standards with the aim of stamping out bullying, harassment and discrimination, and address “power imbalances”.
Continue reading...As one of the last female-run stations in the country is silenced, a former broadcaster gives an inside view of the crackdown on women working in the media
When the Taliban began marching towards cities across Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, Alia*, a 22-year-old Afghan journalist, found herself doing some of the most important work of her short life and career.
In the weeks leading up to the Taliban takeover in August, Alia’s voice on the radio became familiar to many in northern Afghanistan. She reported on the withdrawal of foreign troops, the siege of government offices and on the detention of former officials in her province.
Above all, Alia reported on the situation for women and their fears and concerns – emotions she was experiencing herself. As the Taliban gradually began imposing restrictions on them, Alia was documenting history repeating itself.
Swingers, which aims to celebrate the sport’s feminist history, will take over the Flinders Street station ballroom as part of the 2025 Rising festival
The acclaimed author and film-maker Miranda July is among a group of artists who are building a mini-golf course in Melbourne to celebrate the sport’s little-known feminist history.
Swingers: The Art of Mini Golf will take over the Flinders Street station ballroom, an abandoned space above the busy Melbourne railway station, as part of the city’s annual Rising festival.
Continue reading...US vice-president’s comments, part of a wide-ranging tirade against Europe, called inaccurate and misogynistic
JD Vance has been labelled an “extremist” after he launched a broadside against the UK’s efforts to protect women seeking an abortion.
The US vice-president’s criticisms of UK and Scottish policies on safe access zones around abortion clinics – part of a wide-ranging tirade against Europe on Friday – were derided as inaccurate and misogynistic by a number of groups, politicians and governments.
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