In 2007 when the Tehrik-e-Taliban forces marched into the town of Swat, the rest of Pakistan watched, aghast and unbelieving. The town was very popular as a tourist destination, its verdant foothills studded with picturesque dwellings: a lush and cool getaway from the sun-baked plains of the rest of the country. Within days signs appeared [...]
During Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement in Kenya, a young Inviolata Mmbwavi stood by as the boys planted trees. Girls didn’t plant trees! Her mother thought, as did most Kenyan mothers at the time, that her daughter should be cooking. “You should be in the kitchen, you should be cleaning and scrubbing pots,” Mmbwavi remembers [...]
When I was growing up in Bangladesh, Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi never ceased to amaze me. Burma is right next door to us geographically, but as a little girl all I understood about the military junta in Burma was primarily what I learned through pictures. I just could not wrap my head around what kind of [...]
Alemnesh was seven years old, living in Amhara, Ethiopia, when her family secured for her a marriage to a much older man. She was expected to drop out of school and take on the burden of household responsibilities. In this new life, Alemnesh would never learn to read or write. She would likely be sexually [...]
Within the next 10 years, the number of people over age 60 will surpass one billion, as the world’s population reaches between seven and eight billion. By 2050, the world’s 80-and-older population will nearly triple. The United States currently has the third highest number of older people (ages 60 and up), but many developing countries [...]
Where are the young women in the fight for global women’s rights? Don’t ask me this stupid question today. Most days I could calmly and politely explain to you where and how young women are doing this work. How it looks different than it did before, that the keywords are different and much of the [...]
UPDATE: Moroccan authorities prevented all access by residents to the Women on Waves ship. The ship was also searched by the authorities, and the ship’s captains were told they had to leave the harbor although nothing incriminating was found. The ship will stay near Morocco as Women on Waves plans its next move. The Dutch [...]
Uruguay became the second Latin American nation to vote to legalize abortion, thanks to a very narrow 50 to 49 vote in its Chamber of Deputies. All it needs is passage by the country’s Senate–which approved a previous version of the bill last December–and the president’s approval to become law. President Jose Mujica has said [...]
One year ago, President Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly after the U.S. signed a declaration ensuring women’s political and economic empowerment. The president has already made serious headway toward the goals of this declaration by issuing an executive order in August that promised to better respond to violence against women globally by creating [...]
The Dutch NGO Women on Waves announced last Friday that it will sail to Morocco with its abortion-providing ship at the invitation of M.A.L.I (Mouvement alternatif pour les libertés individuelles). Twelve miles from Moroccan territory, in international waters, Women on Waves can provide safe and legal abortions according to Dutch law. According to the World Health Organization [...]
