Category Archives: Women’s rights and gender equality

The world over, people in crisis suffer sexual violence – this scourge must end

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Tackling gender violence in crises requires changes of response and focus – as delegates in Oslo for a major summit will be told

Nomtaz Begum had lived all her life in Myanmar. Two years ago, men in uniform came to her village. They killed the men there, including her husband and three small children, boys aged two, five and 11.

She was raped by six of the soldiers, one after the other. They left after setting her house on fire. Badly burned, Begum and her daughter hid in the forest for four days before they were able to flee, making their way to a refugee camp.

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Pakistan authorities record a dozen cases of ‘honour’ killing in a fortnight

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Legislation passed following murder of Qandeel Baloch in 2016 proves ineffective as authorities fail to pursue cases

The killer was unrepentant.

“I killed my sister because she brought [a] bad name for the family,” he told neighbours in the Kachi district of Balochistan, Pakistan.

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How a rightwing group accessed the White House to spread its anti-abortion agenda

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The outsize influence of C-Fam in the top reaches of the Trump administration has helped turn the tide on the world stage on issues involving women’s reproductive rights

Last spring, Laurie Shestack Phipps, a diplomat at the US mission to the UN, received a set of talking points from the state department ahead of an international women’s conference, setting out clear red lines against mention of “sexual and reproductive health” care.

This had become the norm in the Trump administration, where the once uncontroversial phrase was seen as code for abortion. Use of the word “gender” was also strongly discouraged, as it was viewed as a stalking horse for LGBT rights.

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‘Like any other job’: Indian sex workers lobby for pensions and healthcare

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Five million sex workers vow to vote en bloc in national elections in effort to have rights acknowledged

Sex workers across India are lobbying candidates in the country’s general election to support their demands for better health and welfare services in return for votes.

“We wanted to see which party accepts sex workers as part of the community,” said Kusum (who goes by only one name), president of the All India Network of Sex Workers (AINSW), which is coordinating efforts. “Some express support for us behind closed doors, but never in public.”

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Mali gives top job to UN executive accused of ‘tolerating harassment’

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Michel Sidibé faced pressure to stand down following criticism of his handling of sexual assault allegations in his team

A senior UN official accused of “tolerating harassment and abuse of authority” has been appointed health minister in Mali.

Michel Sidibé faced pressure to stand down from his position as head of UNAids following criticism over his handling of a sexual assault allegation made against one of his deputies.

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Sudan’s female revolutionaries must beware fate that befell women in Libya

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Alaa Salah’s role in Sudan’s protests was not unique, African women have long led change – and Libya’s precedent is especially relevant

At the same time that images of female Sudanese revolutionaries were going viral, the citizens of Tripoli were preparing for an assault on their city. The contrast between the two experiences – jubilation and determination in Khartoum, weary resilience in Libya – could not be greater. But the parallels between the uprisings in Sudan and Libya are much closer that one might think, with hard lessons to be learned.

Having protested against the regime of Omar al-Bashir for 16 weeks, Sudanese women like Alaa Salah became icons almost overnight. In much of the global coverage, the sight of an African woman leading crowds chanting for freedom and democracy was seemingly regarded as novel, even groundbreaking.

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Tunisia invokes sharia law in bid to shut down LGBT rights group

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Judicial harassment and rise in arrests under anti-sodomy law add to climate of tension and fear

One of the Arab world’s most visible advocacy groups defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people is facing closure following legal threats by the government.

Association Shams has been officially operating in Tunisia since 2015, helping the country’s LGBT community repeal article 230 of its penal code, a French colonial law, which criminalises homosexuality with up to three years in jail.

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‘Say no to child marriage’: Bangladeshi women fight for equality – in pictures

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From violence and harassment to the pursuit of simple pleasures like playing football or riding a bicycle, women in Bangladesh encounter innumerable obstacles. Here, those on the frontline of that struggle discuss the challenges they have faced and the hurdles that remain

Girls in Bangladesh talk their way out of forced marriage

All photographs by Muhammad Murtada/British Council

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Girls in Bangladesh learn to talk their way out of forced marriage

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A project in Bangladesh’s Narsingdi district is one of several making inroads on women’s rights, despite a wider conservative backlash that has proved deadly

When Modina Begum heard that a 13-year-old girl in her village in central Bangladesh was about to be married off, she went straight to the girl’s parents and persuaded them to cancel the wedding, rescuing the teenager from a fate Begum herself had escaped.

“I convinced my parents to call off my own marriage, let me finish my studies and become self-reliant before getting married,” says Begum, now 19, as she leads a group of girls in English and digital skills at the Edge club in Narsingdi district, 50 kilometres north-east of the capital, Dhaka. “Now my parents have faith in me and I have the confidence to speak out for others.”

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Campaigners fight to lift ban on morning-after pill in Honduras

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Law against emergency contraception leaves desperate women, including rape victims, forced to buy medication on black market

A pioneering grassroots campaign to legalise emergency contraception is launched in Honduras this week amid ongoing false claims by church leaders, senior doctors and conservative politicians that the medication causes abortions, infertility and cancer.

Honduras is the only country in Latin America where emergency contraception is banned, forcing desperate women, including rape victims, to buy expensive and unregulated contraband pills on the black market.

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UN waters down rape resolution to appease US’s hardline abortion stance

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Measure on sexual violence in conflict passes after Trump administration threatened to veto document over references to reproductive health

The UN has backed a resolution on combatting rape in conflict but excluded references in the text to sexual and reproductive health, after vehement opposition from the US.

The resolution passed by the security council on Tuesday after a three-hour debate and a weekend of fierce negotiations on the language among member states that threatened to derail the process.

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Malaysia investigates women who discussed their ‘dehijabbing’

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Move by Islamic authorities condemned as attempt to ‘intimidate women activists’

Three women in Malaysia who held an event discussing their decision to stop wearing the hijab are being investigated by Malaysian Islamic authorities.

The event, hosted over the weekend at the Gerakbudaya bookshop in the Petaling Jaya area, was held to mark the launch of Unveiling Choice, a book documenting the author and activist Maryam Lee’s decision to stop wearing the hijab.

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Bangladeshi teenager set on fire after accusing teacher of harassment

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Nusrat Jahan Rafi was doused with kerosene and burned at her school, dying 10 days later of her injuries

A teenage Bangladeshi girl who reported being sexually harassed has died after being set on fire at school. Police and school authorities had ignored her complaints.

The murder of 19-year-old Nusrat Jahan Rafi, who was doused with kerosene and set on fire at her school in Feni on 6 April, followed her allegations of sexual harassment against her headteacher two weeks before. Nusrat suffered 80% burns to her body and died 10 days later from her injuries.

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‘I lost consciousness’: woman whipped by the Taliban over burqa without veil | Haroon Janjua

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Aziza’s story reflects the growing number of violent public assaults on women deemed to be in breach of sharia law in Afghanistan

One of four women who was recently subjected to a brutal public lashing by armed Taliban fighters in Afghanistan has spoken about her experience, amid an increase of violent punishments given to those violating its strict interpretation of religious law.

Aziza, who like many other Afghan women only uses one name, was rounded up by the Taliban’s shadow police for being out of her house without her husband and not being fully veiled. She was beaten so badly she lost consciousness.

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Teenage girls most at risk amid rising sexual violence in El Salvador – report

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Study reveals 31% increase in sexual attacks since 2017, with many related to gang culture

Rates of sexual violence in El Salvador rose by a third last year, with the majority of cases involving teenage girls.

More than 60% of the 4,304 cases of sexual violence recorded in 2018 involved 12- to 17-year-olds, according to a report published this week by the Organisation of Salvadoran Women for Peace (Ormusa).

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Hearing postponed for ‘private reasons’ in trial of 11 Saudi women

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Defendants, several of whom campaigned for right to drive, given no new date for hearing

A court in Saudi Arabia has postponed a fourth hearing in the trial of several women’s rights activists, a case that has intensified western criticism of Riyadh following the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A court official informed some of the women’s relatives that the session would not take place, citing the judge’s “private reasons”, and could not provide a new date. The public prosecutor said last May that some of the women had been arrested on suspicion of harming Saudi interests and offering support to hostile elements abroad.

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‘For me, it was everything’: the trailblazing school for trans people | Natalie Alcoba

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At 15, bigotry drove Viviana Gonzalez from school. Decades on, a dedicated school in Buenos Aires is putting wrong to right

Viviana Gonzalez vividly remembers her first day of high school.

She was 12, and imagined a future as a doctor, a teacher or an artist. But the school administrator in her home town in Argentina looked at her long hair, noticed the boy’s name on her ID and kicked her out “like a dog”, admonishing her for wearing “a costume”. She refused to cut her hair and wear a tie. “I was already Viviana. I didn’t want to dress up like a boy.”

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Cloth, cow dung, cups: how the world’s women manage their periods

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For women living without access to basic sanitation, menstruation can be especially challenging. Their resourcefulness knows no bounds

All photographs courtesy of WaterAid

From animal skins and old rags to cow patties and silicon cups, women around the world use all sorts of materials to manage their periods each month.

Basic necessities for dealing properly with menstruation, such as access to clean water or a decent toilet, are simply unavailable to millions of women and girls.

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Women are suffering silently in Pakistan – is #MeToo the answer?

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Inclusiveness and an appreciation of cultural nuances are key to changing attitudes in a society where harassment is the norm

When I was in seventh grade in Pakistan, a classmate tapped my best friend’s shoulder and remarked: “Nice bra”. We were 12, and accustomed to friendships with boys. But youthful idealism meant less tolerance for unsolicited sexual innuendo. We marched to the headteacher’s office ready to change the world, only to be asked to repeat verbatim, several times, the words that had been spoken.

“These things happen in co-education,” we were told. The headteacher downsized our trauma, reducing our complaint to a cheap, inflated scandal. The boy escaped without punishment and the message was clear: girls, pick your battles.

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The women leading the calls for revolution in Sudan – video

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As a wave of protests continues against President Omar al-Bashir's 30-year rule, viral images reveal women spearheading the demonstrations, despite the dangers of speaking out against this oppressive regime. Price rises and food shortages first sparked unrest in December 2018, but the biggest demonstrations so far have taken place in recent days, shaking authorities in Khartoum

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