The U.S. ranks as the 31st most dangerous country for women, 55th in maternal mortality, 43rd in closing the gender pay gap, 85th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to healthcare. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’ most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.
Liberia/Sweden:
+ In major blow to sexual and reproductive health and rights funding, Sweden ends aid to Liberia
Liberia’s second-largest donor of humanitarian aid, Sweden, just pulled its annual funding from one of the world’s poorest countries to focus more on its own defense spending and to support Ukraine. Sweden was previously Liberia’s biggest charitable supporter on issues of gender inequality and sexual and reproductive health and rights, providing nearly $587 million total since 2008. The withdrawal also comes amongst a larger draining of support from Western countries.
The Swedish program has sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Liberia for nearly 20 years under a bilateral development cooperation agreement. These funds had supported postwar recovery, the Ebola crisis of a decade ago and gender equality. USAID funding withdrawal has already left Liberia’s health clinics without contraceptives, and though the U.S. and Liberia reached a $176 million bilateral health cooperation arrangement, it also came with a tightening of abortion regulations.
The Liberian civil wars left over a quarter million people dead and many affected by sexual violence, victims who rarely saw justice. Rape was used as a weapon of war, and sexual violence remains widespread. Simultaneously, poverty and a lack of family planning and sex education have led to nearly half of all pregnancies in the country being unwanted. About fifteen percent of pregnancies end in abortion, despite it being restricted, leading to an estimated 38,000 illegal abortions annually. These account for about fifteen percent of Liberia’s maternal deaths.
Sweden also announced last December that it would end bilateral development assistance to Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique and Bolivia, and that it would be redirecting that assistance to Ukraine.
Without the support for sexual and reproductive health and rights previously provided by Sweden, clinics will be left without basic contraceptives and programs supporting women’s political and economic engagement will go unfunded.
Germany
+ Far-right AfD win in German state signals political rise of fascism and antifeminism
A far-right party won a decisive victory in the German state Saxony-Anhalt in September, signaling a terrifying success for fascism’s global rise. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was only a few seats away from being the first far-right party to control a state-level government since World War II. And in early October, AfD lawmaker Tobias Rausch won state parliament speakership, marking the first such win for an AfD politician.
Anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Muslim, pro-Russia and neo-Nazi sentiment has gained both popularity and mainstream support in tandem with AfD’s rise. The party’s September win netted them nearly 44 percent of the vote. Since the AfD has entered the Bundestag and other political spaces in the last 10 years, it has become the “key antifeminist party player” of Germany according to researchers. Simultaneously, a study finds that the party “strategically focuses on radicalising anti-gender and anti-trans positions in recent years” alongside its antifeminism
The anti-immigrant sentiment has made many in Germany fear for their livelihoods and safety. One woman, Fatemeh, told The Guardian, “They might send us back to Iran. … As a converted Christian, that could mean the death penalty for me.”
The AfD’s manifesto for the Saxony-Anhalt region demands a “complete, 180-degree” change to how the country approaches immigration. For example, it declares it would educate refugee children separately and redirect integration funds for immigrants to “remigration.” It also demands to stop recognizing fleeing Ukrainians as refugees.
Elon Musk was quick to show his public support for the AfD in over a dozen posts, to which the Saxony-Anhalt leader of the party, Ulrich Siegmund publicly replied. Musk also “wants German schools to focus less on responsibility for the second world war and whose top staffers include four former members of a banned neo-Nazi youth group.”
South Africa
+ Twelfth woman’s body found near Johannesburg increases fear of potential serial killer on the loose
At least 12 women have been killed over the past two months in the South African municipality of Ekurhuleni. Three bodies were recently found between September 25 and 28. The first body in the string of murders was found on July 15.
Arrests have been made in three of the cases that appear unrelated to others. However, the similarity in the nature of the killings was enough for police to warn the public of a potential serial killer in the area.
The murders have been harsh reminders of the high levels of femicide and violence against women in the country.
Some of the missing women’s bodies were found dumped by roads. One of them was Elizabeth “Tsontso” Moselakgomo, who went missing while jogging last week and was found days later. Running clubs organized a memorial run, while other communities held prayer services.
Advocates for women’s rights, political and civil organizations marched to a police station demanding perpetrator accountability and increased safety measures for women and children.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates globally of 44 homicides per 100,000 people, though these numbers do not identify gender. However, South Africa’s Human Rights Commission indicated that every single day, an average of six women were murdered between April and June 2026.
Haiti
+ Armed group attacks Haitian community, kidnapping over 50 people
On Aug. 23, armed men stormed the community of Kenscoff, in the hills outside of Port-au-Prince, killing 47 people, including five children. Over 50 people were kidnapped by the gangs, and their whereabouts remain unknown, in one of Haiti’s largest mass kidnappings in recent times. Twenty-two of the victims had been seeking shelter in a church when they were executed. Now, police are attempting to help return home hundreds of civilians that were forced to flee.
While this has been the most deadly attack on Kenscoff thus far, it is not the first. This follows a July attack on Kenscoff by armed groups as well, leaving a total of 164 people dead and 71 kidnapped. A January 2025 attack on the community was by armed groups that were affiliated with Viv Ansanm. Over the past decade, local armed vigilante groups have formed large criminal coalitions that control up to 90 percent of Port-au-Prince.
A leader of the gang that kidnapped threatened the director of Haiti’s national police that he would kill all 50 hostages if a single gang member is hurt in authorities’ attempts to secure the communities, according to a video posted on social media.
In total, armed violence currently has displaced at least 1.5 million people in Haiti. In the first half of 2026, more than 3,050 people were killed, 1,400 injured and 800 raped, according to the U.N. Nearly all of the rapes were in collective acts of gendered violence. Eighty one people have been kidnapped, a number that is likely an undercount, given that many families do not report kidnappings in order to negotiate directly.
The strength of the armed groups has increased after former Haitian President, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in 2021. In the wake of this power vacuum, the government has yet to hold national elections, and the most recently elected senators left office in 2023, leaving the country with no elected lawmakers since.
Elections to replace the lawmakers have been scheduled, but have been canceled several times thanks to security concerns—though an election is scheduled for this coming December. Armed groups continue to cite the instability as a justification for their violent actions.
International efforts have been made with little success, and remind many Haitians of previous foreign intervention that has caused human rights abuses. Meanwhile, Haitian police have also allegedly collaborated with armed groups at times and face accusations of corruption.
Israel/Palestine
+ The United Kingdom and 11 other countries introduce sanctions on Israel’s West Bank after three years of genocide
After almost three years of continued bombardment and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza resulting in an estimated 73,000 deaths, more than half of which are women, children and the elderly, the United Kingdom has finally introduced sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. U.K. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Edward Miliband said publicly the sanctions opposed the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians. The U.K. is joined by Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, which have all also enacted sanctions.
These sanctions “introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law, or that they are actively considering these and other measures, in accordance with their national procedures.” They will take six to nine months to take effect, and according to the countries involved, have the intention of ensuring that a two-state solution would still be a future possibility. However, they wrote, an “unprecedented level of settler violence and settlement expansion” in the West Bank currently “undermined” this possibility of a two-state solution.
These sanctions target companies and people who support services for settlement expansion and individual settlers accused of violence against Palestinians. England has also closed its consulate in East Jerusalem. France said it would “put an end to its commerce with Israeli settlements in Palestine.”
According to Al Jazeera, “Israeli settlements and outposts across the West Bank are illegal under international law.” Settlers set up unofficial outposts around Palestinian villages, then harass local residents to drive them out, until establishing their own formal and permanent settlement often receiving retrospective approval from the Israeli government.
The sanctions were announced after attacks escalated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians living in the West Bank. After, Israel issued a tender for 1,200 homes, which would effectively divide the north and south areas of the West Bank. This makes the future of a Palestinian state nearly impossible.
However, 130 legal experts have written to the U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and said the sanctions “fall far short” of the obligations of the international court of justice’s finding that the occupation is unlawful. They specifically called out the discrepancies between the U.K.’s sanctions on Russia compared to those on Israel.
United Kingdom
+ Great Britain now bans trans people from many public restrooms and changing rooms
At the beginning of August, a new statutory code of practice came into effect across Great Britain, which includes England, Scotland and Wales. Effective since Aug. 5, the code issued by the U.K.’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) restricts bathrooms, changing rooms and hospital wards according to the person’s assigned sex, rather than the gender with which they identify.
Under the new code, trans people can now be lawfully excluded from using single-sex facilities of the gender they identify with. According to the code, trans people should instead use gender-neutral facilities or ones that match their biological sex. In addition to bathrooms, changing rooms and hospital wards, the code also applies to domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers and many other places.
However, the code also states it could be discrimination against a trans person if they are forced to use facilities related to their biological sex. It offers gender-neutral spaces as a solution.
It remains unclear how these new rules will be enforced, considering that it is expressed in the code that it would be inappropriate to demand an individual provide verification of their biological sex or questioning them at facilities.
Though part of the UK, Northern Ireland is the exception to the ruling. The nation has a distinct and separate legal framework regarding trans people’s access to single-sex spaces and is still reviewing the changes.
+ British man on trial for allegedly drugging and sexually abusing wife with 12 other men
Following his arrest in 2025, a British man who stands accused of drugging and sexually abusing his partner went on trial in early September. The unidentified man is in his 60s and from the northwest English town of Stockport. His identity remains hidden because he cannot be named under U.K. law to protect the anonymity of his wife, the victim.
Although the man initially denied all accusations but then pleaded guilty to 15 charges, he then pleaded guilty to 45 additional counts, the Greater Manchester police said on September 14. Amongst those charges are 16 counts of rape, seven counts of sexual assault, one count of administering substance with intent and one count of sharing intimate photos or videos.
Twelve other men have also been accused of conspiring with the man to abuse his wife between 2023 and 2025. These other defendants are accused of a range of different crimes, such as sexually abusing the victim and administering substances that would render the victim unconscious and therefore facilitate the abuse. The men’s ages range from 28 to 74. A 13th man has also pleaded guilty to conspiring to rape and drug the woman.
Various media outlets have noted the close resemblance between this case and the case of Gisèle Pelicot from 2024 in France. Pelicot was also drugged and raped by her husband and dozens of other men while she was unconscious.
Tibet/Nepal
+ Devastating floods leave 100,000 affected along Tibet and Nepal border
More than 1,400 died and almost 6,000 are still missing in Tibet and Nepal after floods and avalanches destroyed a 45-mile stretch of land near the Trishuli River. Almost 100,000 people are affected by the disaster. Stories of people stuck under rubble long past the 72 hour window—which rescuers tend to believe is the most likely chance for finding survivors—continue to be literally uncovered.
The total reconstruction loss was first estimated at $5 billion, but assessments continue. Moreover, the loans needed to deal with the catastrophe would send Nepal into a debt crisis. The country has asked for specialized and technical international help in rescuing people and identifying and storing bodies.
Despite the utter loss to human life and natural resources, Nepal has hardly contributed to its cause: The country only produces 0.1 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally.
Chandika Shrestha’s family had already performed her last rites days earlier. She had been buried for 10 days when locals heard her cry from the three-story building, so buried, only the top peeked out of the mud. Her husband is still missing, last seen in the streets making sure others knew to flee.
Liechtenstein
+ Nation changes its laws to allow women to inherit the throne
One of a few dozen countries that still have a royal family, Liechtenstein, a tiny nation with a population of around 40,000 in central Europe, changed its laws to allow women to become monarchs on Aug. 15.
In a statement, the Princely House of Liechtenstein said that instead of male-only succession, the future firstborn child of the ruling royal family will now be heir to the throne, regardless of gender.
“With this change in the law, we want to ensure that both the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Princely House are led by the person who has been best prepared for this responsibility,” Hereditary Prince Alois said in a statement.
The rule change will not affect the succession line for now, since the current monarch, Prince Hans-Adam II, has a son as his first-born, Hereditary Prince Alois. However, it will apply for all future descendants of Hereditary Prince Alois’ and Hereditary Princess Sophie’s four children.
This new law puts Liechtenstein in the majority of nearby nations with royal houses, who mostly also have changed the rules to allow women to ascend to the throne.
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A note from Ms. editors: We want to hear from you for The Majority, a new campaign collecting stories about how reproductive freedom has enabled readers to build the lives they want and need.
Poll after poll shows a majority of Americans support reproductive healthcare access. Yet public debate overlooks the lives shaped by abortion access, contraception, IVF, miscarriage care, maternal healthcare or comprehensive sex education—countless women who chose to pursue an education, have children, not have children, protect their health and chart their own future. What’s your reproductive freedom story? Add your voice. Together, these stories will help show not only why reproductive freedom remains a majority value, but also what it makes possible.
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