Democratic Republic of the Congo
+ As cases of the Ebola outbreak surge through the Congo, women and other caregivers are left disproportionately affected with female patients making up two-thirds of all cases
As the recent Ebola outbreak surges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women have made up two-thirds of reported cases. Over 782 cases and 181 deaths have been confirmed from this strain of Ebola since the outbreak began.
The gender discrepancy is not due to a particular medical susceptibility. Instead, scientists say women are more likely to be exposed to the virus than men due to the circumstances of gendered norms. Poverty, employment and education are also factors that contribute to increased exposure to the virus.
In the northeastern province of Ituri, rural health zones are facing the effects of global gender norms: women have less access to education, and therefore jobs. Gendered roles leave Congolese women taking care of the sick, elderly and children, often being the one to first care for a patient or accompany their hospital visits.
Trump’s sudden extraction of USAID resources from the region has left clinics battling the virus under resourced. While foreign aid providers enter Ituri’s clinics in biohazard suits, the local—and predominantly female—nursing staff are often left without facemasks. What’s more, before the sick enter clinics in the DRC, 80 percent first consult traditional healers—who are predominantly elderly women. Treatments they receive there can expose the healers to bodily fluids.
Medical professionals are being exposed to the virus at clinics and hospitals, leaving those who need care for other reasons—including pregnant women—stuck in an impossible situation: risk exposure at the hospital, or fail to get the care they need. Doctors warn of a potential rise in prenatal and postnatal mortality rates, as women are justifiably afraid to go to see doctors for crucial appointments.
“Gender becomes a conveyor belt of illness and death,” said epidemiologist Luke Nyakarahuka to Nature Health.
Illness is also a catalyst for increased gendered violence. In the Congo, 52 percent of women are survivors of domestic violence. Outbreaks increase the risk of violence due to their side effects: “income loss, movement restrictions, reduced access to schools and clinics, fear of infection as a tool of control, and mistrust of health systems that persists from prior outbreaks.” These effects are consistently documented in other epidemics and outbreaks. They take girls out of school, close off care for women and survivors, and women are confined at home with abusers.
Eastern Pacific/Caribbean
+ Trump’s boat strikes have continued to kill hundreds of civilians with no evidence of their involvement in trafficking, whose families are now mourning and suing the administration
In the Caribbean and eastern Pacific waters, a U.S. military campaign striking and sinking boats has killed over 200 since September. While the Pentagon claims that the strikes are targeting drug traffickers and those involved in armed conflict, it has provided no evidence to back up this claim, which legal experts also reject. The New York Times estimates that a dozen passengers on each boat are innocent civilians.
Legal experts have declared that these operations have not slowed the flow of drugs into the U.S. The Trump administration has also claimed that 25,000 American lives are saved with every boat struck, without any evidence of the supposed drugs onboard that have been stopped from reaching the U.S. The strikes are generally secretive, with few bodies, debris or physical evidence being recovered.
The families of those killed in the bombings are now mourning their loved ones and the impact of their community that depends on coastal fishing economies. The mother and the sister of two victims killed in a strike are suing the U.S. government for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing. The two Trinidadian men, Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, were murdered in an Oct. 14 attack returning to Trinidad from Venezuela.
Joseph leaves behind a wife and three children, and Samaroo leaves his father, mother, eight younger siblings and three sons. Both families only realized their loved ones were dead when they saw the strike on social media after losing contact. Hundreds of other families are in similar situations, relying on social media videos due to few bodies and debris being recovered in the wake of the strikes.
The killings of over 200 in the administration’s strikes are “heinous acts of people who claim they can abuse their power with impunity around the world,” said Brett Max Kaufman, senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union.
A Colombian fisherman, Alejandro Carranza, never returned from a fishing trip to catch marlin and tuna in September. His family has filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which is the first major international legal challenge against the strikes. Carranza’s family describe him as a career fisherman, father of four, the primary breadwinner of his family and member of his fishing community.
Beyond the staggering death toll, the communities in Colombia and Ecuador that depend on fishing and other maritime economies are afraid in the wake of the indiscriminate bombings. Between April 11 and May 8, there was a strike nearly every three days. The situation has forced many to stop fishing altogether, which has depleted income and food availability for the families, leaving many women in the household of murdered fishers unable to provide for their children.
Israel
+ Detainees allege sexual and physical assault in Israeli custody, file for recourse in international court
Activists with the Global Sumud Flotilla, who attempted to deliver aid to Gaza by sea earlier this year and were forcibly detained by the Israeli military, are alleging sexual and physical assault while in Israeli custody. Activist Violet CoCo—who returned to Australia in May with 10 other Australian activists—claimed she was detained at gunpoint by the soldiers, beaten, kicked and sexually assaulted after being forced into a shipping container and then thrown into a prison yard. She also says that she was denied access to basic needs and a lawyer, and that the soldiers took photos of her naked body.
“After being kidnapped from international waters, every participant on our boat was stripped of our layers, pushed to a dark torture chamber where five Israeli soldiers waited to beat and abuse us,” CoCo said to ABC. “We were then subjected to days of starvation, dehydration, extreme cold, stress positions at gunpoint in the blistering sun for hours, sleep deprivation and more…”
“There are still almost 10,000 Palestinian prisoners held hostage in Israel’s prison system, hundreds of whom are children, some as young as two,” CoCo said. “Israel wants to shame us but we are not ashamed, the shame is Israel’s, that they would tarnish their souls with such calculated cruelty.”
The flotilla activists were bound for Gaza to deliver aid to Palestinians when they were intercepted and detained by Israel while in international waters. A total of 15 cases of sexual assault have been reported by those who were detained and eventually returned to their home countries, according to the flotilla organizers. Germany and Spain both confirmed multiple citizens returned injured, and Canada said it had learned of “appalling abuse.”
Now, the activists are taking their allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and other violations of international law to the International Criminal Court, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla.
India
+ Indian woman’s death becomes symbol of staggering number of “dowry deaths”
The mother-in-law and husband of an Indian woman, Twisha Sharma—whose death has been the subject of headlines and gone viral online—are now in jail under allegations of their involvement in her May 12 death. Sharma’s family has accused her husband and mother-in-law of torturing her over dowry demands, and eventually murdering her. Sharma was found hanged to death at her mother-in-law’s house, with other injuries on her body. She was 33.
The family alleges that—despite dowries being banned in 1961—the wedding and dowry were not to her in-laws’ “standards,” while her husband’s family claims she was unwell and took her own life.
Thousands of young women in India are murdered annually over dowries, enough for the BBC to remark that “a dowry death rarely makes news.” However, Sharma’s prominence—she is a former pageant winner, and married into a family of lawyers—has drawn particular attention to the issue of dowry-related murders.
The events before and after her death have called attention to what many now claim was a potential cover-up. Sharma’s family released WhatsApp messages where she claims she was tortured by the Singhs and forced to receive an abortion. Her husband disappeared after the murder allegations began, and a key witness claims he was attacked by the Singhs’ friends to pressure him not to testify.
Commentators have pointed out that this case is symbolic to many Indian women who may resonate with Sharma’s inability to leave her abusive marriage and “the cultural camouflage that disguises and normalises modern-day dowry.” The Hindustan Times also writes that the Singhs represent very explicitly the system’s inequities and the way it caves to those in power, especially Sharma’s mother in law, who has “come to represent the impunity of the powerful in a system so corroded that it becomes supine before those who wield power.” The mother in law, a former judge, is now jailed alongside 29 individuals she had sentenced herself.
Mexico
+ Adidas and ethical apparel company accused of exploiting indigenous Nahua women hired to embroider Mexican national team jersey
Apparel companies Adidas and Someone Somewhere have recently come under fire after activists in Mexico claimed that the collaborating brands are exploiting a group of 150 indigenous Nahua women to make their highly sought-after Mexican national team jersey. The jerseys can cost almost $300 each and are hand-embroidered, sought after for their uniqueness.
Luz Valdez, a Mexican activist and social media personality, originally posted a video on the social media platform TikTok accusing the companies of exploiting the Nahua women and profiting off of their craftsmanship. Valdez discussed the conditions of the women and said her information came directly from the women and messages from employees of Someone Somewhere.
@luzvaldezmx ¿Que piensan de todo esto? Nota : Lo que existe en Naupan es IMSS- Bienestar , que es para las personas que no tienen Seguridad social , el IMSS queda a 40 minutos , aunque si Someone Somewhere de verdad quería ayudar y tenerlas bajo la legalidad bien pudo apoyar a las artesanas contratadas a realizar el trámite , el traslado a Huauchinango no es complejo .
♬ sonido original – Luz Valdez
However, in a New York Times interview with the Nahua women, some said they believed the company’s practices are fair and are grateful for the employment opportunity when they otherwise would not be able to find work. Their only complaint seemed to be that the work would soon end with the World Cup.
While a few women were content, according to theTimes, one woman said that her wage could be as low as $0.73 an hour, and the work could be inconsistent. A chief executive for Someone Somewhere also told theTimes that the women were not compensated for the marketing materials and features they have been a part of.
However, Valdez pointed out that artisans may be afraid to criticize their employers, and might accept exploitation due to their personal necessities. “That happens all over the country. But that doesn’t make it any less exploitative,” she told the Times.
In a letter to Valdez, which she published on her Instagram, Someone Somewhere attempted to justify the treatment of their employees that she called them out on. In the caption, Valdez writes that their letter does not even deny any of what she called them out for in her video—which was mostly anonymous tips and unconfirmed—and even mentions “irregularities” itself.
Global
+ Pride Month 2026 marked by backslide in LGBTQ+ rights: decline in support for same-sex marriage, homosexuality criminalized and transgender people experience barriers to care
This June marks the 56th Pride Month. The modern celebration began in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the historic Stonewall riots — a series of demonstrations by LGBTQ+ people against police raids at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. Although June is a cause for festivities for this reason, the fight is far from over.
Gallup has published a poll that shows a downtick in U.S. approval of same-sex marriage, moral acceptance of LGBTQ+ relationships and endorsement of gender changes. The data shows that support is down from peaks reached in the early 2020s. Gallup found that most of those who have changed LGBTQ+ attitudes identify as Republicans.
The U.S. is not the only nation experiencing a decline in LGBTQ+ support, however. According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)’s Europe Rainbow Map, nations like the U.K., which was once top of the leaderboard for LGBTQ+ rights in Europe, has steadily slipped down in rankings and now doesn’t even make the top 20.
Homosexuality also still remains criminalized in many nations around the world. UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, said that more than one in three countries still criminalize consensual same-sex relations. “Over the past year, Burkina Faso criminalized consensual same-sex relations,” Türk said. He warned that “the trend is worsening.”
Furthermore, the ILGA database shows that consensual homosexual sex is still punishable by death in at least seven UN member states. In five more, there is no legal certainty what the consequences are. Most of these nations are in Africa or Asia.
In most countries around the world, transgender people still do not have access to adequate gender-affirming care. According to Equaldex, gender-affirming care is only legal in 72 nations and is banned outright in 15.
Denmark
+ Mette Frederiksen becomes nation’s first woman to be elected prime minister for three consecutive terms, leading a government with more women than men for the first time ever in Danish history
On June 1, Denmark finally formed a new government after a lengthy 69 days of negotiations between the 12 political parties in the Danish parliament following the election on March 24, 2026. The emerging center-left government is historic in more ways than one.
Social Democrat Mette Frederiksen was officially selected to be prime minister of Denmark for a third consecutive time, becoming the first woman to do so in Danish history and the longest-serving leader of the nation since World War II. When she was first elected in 2019, she also became the youngest prime minister ever in Danish history.
Frederiksen’s election to the role of prime minister three consecutive times, in a world with few women political leaders, remains a symbol of hope for the future of women in politics, especially at such a high level. In the tumultuous global arena and during a time when countries are electing more right-wing leaders, Frederiksen’s re-election remains significant.
Prime Minister Frederiksen has made gender parity in Danish politics a priority during her tenure, forming the first ever government in Danish history with more women than men. The government has 11 women and 10 male ministers spread across the four different parties in power.
Last year in December, Frederiksen was named the second most influential person in Europe by Politico, second only to president Donald Trump. Under her leadership, Denmark has led by example—specifically in terms of defense strategy in Europe regarding the war in Ukraine.
European Union
+ EU pay transparency directive seeks to combat gender-based pay discrimination and to assist in closing the gender pay gap
In 2023, the EU adopted the Pay Transparency Directive, seeking to combat gender-based pay discrimination and to assist in closing the gender pay gap. The 27 member states were given three years to write new rules in accordance with the agreement into their own national laws by a firm deadline of June 7, 2026.
In Europe and in the world, workers generally have limited information on how their salaries compare to others doing similar work. This lack of transparency disproportionately affects women and their income, since they historically have been and continue to be underpaid, even for doing the same work as their male counterparts.
To combat this, all EU member states are now required to enact salary transparency laws to ensure equal pay for equal work. Some of the key requirements for employers listed in the directive include pre-employment salary transparency; employee rights such as requesting information regarding their individual pay level compared to average pay levels; and annual mandatory public gender pay gap reports for companies with over 150 employees.
The directive marks a significant effort in the struggle to close the gender pay gap in Europe, which was 11.1 percent in 2024, according to Eurostat. However, it appears most nations have missed the June 7 deadline to implement the changes into their national laws. According to international law firm Addleshaw Goddard’s policy implementation tracker, as of May 2026, seven out of 27 member states have made no efforts at all to adhere to the provisions laid out in the agreement.
Failing to implement pay transparency would cost women in the EU at least €4.8 billion per year, according to estimates by the European Trade Union Confederation. This amounts to €465 to €700 per woman annually. As ETUC deputy general secretary Isabelle Schömann said, “Equality thrives on transparency. The more we can shine a light on discrimination, the more we can force action to address its injustice.”
