The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.
Israel
+ Greta Thunberg among hundreds detained in Israeli raid on Gaza flotilla
On October 2, Israel’s military intercepted around 40 boats in a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. More than 450 foreign activists from at least 44 countries were detained, including Swedish climate and human rights campaigner Greta Thunberg. Those deported that weekend allege Israeli forces mistreated Thunberg, describing instances of her being dragged, pushed and paraded with an Israeli flag. Several detainees said they were denied food, clean water and medication.
Thunberg, who is just 21 years old, had already made two prior attempts to reach Gaza with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. Her first voyage in June ended when Israeli forces seized her aid ship and deported the crew. Two months later, she joined a second flotilla sailing from Barcelona. “This is a mission to challenge the extremely violent, business-as-usual international system that is failing to uphold international law,” she told a crowd of supporters before departure.
After about a month at sea, Thunberg’s flotilla was again intercepted by Israel’s blockade. Anticipating her possible capture, she had pre-recorded a video message: “If you are watching this video, I have been abducted and taken against my will by Israeli forces. Our humanitarian mission was non-violent and abiding by international law.”
Thunberg and 160 other Global Sumud Flotilla activists were deported to Greece the following Monday. Israel’s flotilla raid has drawn mounting international criticism, with human rights advocates arguing it highlights the illegality of the Gaza blockade, which has restricted aid to nearly 2.3 million residents throughout the war. When the activists arrived in Greece, crowds greeted them once again, waving Palestinian flags and chanting, “Freedom for Palestine” and “Long live the flotilla!”
Gaza
+ Pregnant women in Gaza face “dystopian” conditions, forced to give birth in rubble.
Deputy Executive Director for Management at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Andrew Saberton told reporters on Oct. 22, that the conditions for pregnant women in Gaza are “like the set of a dystopian film. Unfortunately, it is not fiction… They often don’t even have access to a private space in a tent. We have stories of women giving birth actually in the rubble, beside the road.” Saberton also told of a lack of “even the most basic personal hygiene supplies” in Gaza for those menstruating.
Without access to enough food or clean water, more than 27,000 women face high-risk pregnancies, according to UNFPA. Additionally, 20 percent of approximately 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza are malnourished, and 20 percent of newborns suffer from complications or malnutrition. Women who give birth are forced to leave hospitals almost immediately — if they are able to give birth in hospitals at all — and most babies that would typically remain in the NICU are forced to leave due to a lack of space.
Gaza’s European Hospital was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in May, leaving nearby Nasser Hospital overburdened in supporting pregnant women and newborns. In June, doctors at Nasser expressed fear that mothers were too malnourished to feed their children after already difficult pregnancies. In August, Nasser Hospital was also struck by Israeli forces, but despite the attack it remains one of the few functioning hospitals in Gaza. A UNICEF spokesperson described three premature babies sharing one oxygen source and mothers with their newborns on overcrowded floors of hallways after giving birth.
“Ninety-four per cent of hospitals in Gaza are damaged or destroyed,” Saberton said at an Oct. 22 press conference. “Maternal deaths are on the rise because the drugs that could save mothers are no longer available, and multiple newborns are often crammed into one incubator due to a lack of fuel and equipment.”
The numbers of stillborns and miscarriages in the city are nearly impossible to ascertain, as essential medical services are still under bombardment despite the ceasefire deal. Since the ceasefire went into effect on Oct.10, 104 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces, including 46 children and 20 women.
Sudan
+ RSF capture of El Fasher worsens violence in Sudan, women and children suffer displacement and violence
The city of El Fasher, the Sudanese army’s last major stronghold in Sudan, has been captured by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the country’s paramilitary group. In the days following the capture, the RSF has murdered over 2,000 civilians, and nearly half of the 260,000 now trapped in the city are children. Those who were able to flee—which are majority women, children, and the elderly—now face a dangerous journey.
Reports from the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health show satellite images of probable massacre sites throughout the city under RSF control. A United Nations briefing of the past 18 months reported sexual violence, targeted atrocities such as rape and murder based on ethnicity, and “extreme dangers” for children due to violence and lack of access to food, which has heightened with the control of El Fasher.
The World Health Organization notes that the region has been cut off from humanitarian aid since February, with 24 million people currently lacking sufficient food. The takeover will likely worsen the malnutrition already impacting the region, primarily affecting pregnant women and children. According to the NGO Protection Approaches, the RSF’s strategy when capturing a town is to first cut the area off from food, medicine and internet, before further weakening it with physical destruction, sexual violence and mass killings, in a “deliberate strategy to destroy and displace.” Since the war began in April, 2023, an estimated 400,000 people have been killed, with 11 million displaced.
After 18 months of violence, videos from the RSF have received global attention — including a photo of a woman hung from a tree with her two small children. Throughout the war both sides have used sexual slavery and violence against women as tactics of control and ethnic cleansing. The RSF killed every single patient and their companions in the Saudi Maternity hosptial–the only partially functioning hospital left in El Fasher– killing approximately 460 people. According to Amensty International, “scores” of women have been raped, along with a calculated use of ethnically-motivated murder and sexual violence against civillians in the areas seized.
Pakistan
+ A Pakistani woman has sued the government over unaffordable sanitary pads
Mahnoor Omer, a 25-year-old lawyer and activist from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, has filed a case against the government of Pakistan against the taxation of menstrual pads, claiming it makes them unaffordable for many Pakistani women.
In her lawsuit Omer argues that the high price of pads make them inaccessible for the majority of the population, contributing to the prevailing general stigma against menstruation. The taxation on menstrual pads doesn’t just make them more taboo, but also affects women’s physical health, safety and even school attendance. Taxes on sanitary pads can be up to 40 percent in Pakistan, and critics claim that the tax financially punishes women “simply for being women.”
Omer’s case asks that sanitary pads be declared as essential goods, and the tax be removed. Her September 2025 petition in the Lahore High Court argues that the taxes “discriminate against women and violate constitutional guarantees of equality, dignity, and social justice.”
Mali
+ Schools in Mali close as crisis in the Sahel region worsens; women and children make up four-fifths of those displaced
On October 26, Mali’s education minister suspended schools nationwide due to attacks on the nation’s fuel supply disrupting transportation and electricity access. The attacks from Al Qaeda-linked group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) have targeted fuel tankers as a retaliatory measure against the Malian authorities, as the attacks have affected the price of gas and other commodities in Mali.
Schools are now closed in Mali until November 10th, preventing over 600,000 students from education or access to safe spaces.
Women in Mali, at the epicenter of the displacement crisis in the Sahel region, are experiencing violence, the effects of climate change, and food insecurity. Over 4 million people are currently displaced from the region, and over 400,000 are internally displaced within Mali. The massive displacement is being caused by attacks from militia groups such as JNIM, gender-based violence, and climate change causing a food scarcity crisis in communities of mostly farmers.
Since Oct. 10, 900 health facilities have shut down in the region due to the conflict, cutting off millions from essential and critical care. More than 32 million people across the Sahel region require humanitarian assistance, with hunger cited as the primary reason for displacement. Women and children make up 80 percent of the displaced population, making the issues of gender-based violence, recruitment, and trafficking primary concerns for this humanitarian emergency.
France
+ Paris hosts the fourth Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy
From October 22-23, Paris hosted the fourth Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy, bringing together countries and organizations committed to advancing gender equality as part of their national foreign policy. The conference was created to reaffirm the international community’s shared commitment to defending women’s rights amid growing global backlash, and to strengthen cooperation on feminist diplomacy.
Launched by Germany in 2022, the conference is the only multilateral forum dedicated to women’s rights outside of the United Nations. France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs notes that many countries still have a long way to go in integrating gender equality into their policies. In 2019, France became one of the first countries to officially adopt a feminist foreign policy (FFP), a new kind of policy aimed at holding gender equality as a key part of a country’s interactions with other states, and integrating gender equality into their countries peace, security, trade and education strategies.
The two-day event featured meetings of government ministers and multi-stakeholder roundtables focused on generating concrete, coordinated global action. Today, roughly 15 countries have adopted feminist foreign policies, including Sweden in 2014, Canada in 2017 and Mexico in 2020. Though efforts have been made to illustrate how FFP could work in the U.S., the country has yet to adopt such a policy, and is unlikely to do so under the current administration.
Venezuela
+ Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize
On October 10, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to María Corina Machado, the longtime leader of Venezuela’s democracy movement. The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised her as a “brave and committed champion of peace–to a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.” Forced into hiding for the past year, Machado has continued to organize opposition efforts within Venezuela, inspiring millions with her courage and steadfast advocacy for a peaceful transition to democracy.
This year’s prize recognizes Machado for her efforts for peace and freedom, citing her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
Venezuela currently remains under the harsh authoritarian rule of President Nicolás Maduro, whose regime has been accused by Human Rights Watch of killing, torturing and disappearing pro-democracy activists. Machado, who has fought for reform for over two decades, was the opposition’s presidential candidate in 2024, but her candidacy was blocked by the regime. She then backed a separate party’s opposition leader, Edmundo González Urrutia, helping to organize hundreds of thousands of election observers to ensure a fair vote–one the government refused to recognize despite the opposition’s clear victory.
After receiving news of her win, Machado spoke with President Donald Trump, whom she told CNN deserved the Peace Prize for his Middle East peace efforts. Her remarks came just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Trump to strip legal protections of over 300,000 Venezuelan migrants, amid rising tensions following U.S. military strikes described as anti-drug trafficking operations. Machado, echoing the U.S.’ stance, has called President Maduro the leader of a “criminal narco-terrorism structure” and urged greater U.S. support to end his “war” on Venezuela.
United Kingdom
+ Sarah Mullay named as first woman Archbishop of Canterbury
On Oct. 3, the Church of England appointed Sarah Mullay as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, marking the first time a woman will serve as the global head of the Anglican Christian faith. Mullay, who became the first female Bishop of London in 2018, will become the 106th Archbishop at the Canterbury Cathedral in March, 2026. Mullay inherits a church grappling with declining attendance, internal rifts over gender and sexuality and a loss of public trust after decades of abuse scandals.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior bishop in the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the Anglican Communion spread over 165 countries, and the spiritual leader of more than 85 million worldwide. Before entering the clergy in 2001, Mullay worked as a cancer nurse and later as England’s Chief Nursing Officer in the early 2000s.
Mullay’s nomination drew backlash from conservative factions within the church, highlighting deep divisions over issues like women’s leadership and the inclusion of same-sex couples. Mullay has championed blessings for same-sex couples and spoken out against the misuse of power in the wake of clerical abuse scandals–her predecessor resigned in Nov. 2024, after an independent investigation found he failed to immediately report allegations of physical and sexual child abuse at Christian summer camps.
The Church of England only began ordaining women as priests in 1994, and named its first female bishop in 2015. In her speech that day, she thanked the women who paved the way for her. “Some will be asking what it means for a woman to lead the Church of England,” she said. “I intend to be a shepherd who enables everyone’s ministry and vocation to flourish, whatever our tradition.”
