Biden’s White House staff is falling into place, and Cabinet members are being announced: Antony Blinken will be Biden’s secretary of state; Linda Thomas-Greenfield will become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Michèle Flournoy will be secretary of defense; John Kerry will focus on climate change; Alejandro Mayorkas has been nominated secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; Avril Haines has been nominated for director of national intelligence; and Jake Sullivan will be the national security adviser.
Category: Global
How to Intervene If You Witness Street Harassment
Have you seen someone being harassed and simply looked away because you don’t know what to do? Learn how to safely intervene through Hollaback!’s free online training.
Qatar and Us: The Violation of Women’s Bodies Has a Long History Among Western Nations
After multiple women were subject to invasive physical examinations after a newborn infant was found in the trash in Hamad International Airport in Qatar, it was framed as a one-off example of a human rights violation.
What those women endured in Qatar was horrifying, but the practice is one with a long global history.
“Governments should be as outraged at the conduct of the United States and their ongoing invasive and unnecessary inspections of female genitalia as they are at Qatar.”
The Weekly Pulse: Thanksgiving Could Be a “Massive Superspreader Event”; Dolly Parton Behind COVID Vaccine
In this edition of the Weekly Pulse: Thanksgiving could become a “massive superspreader event”; experts grow “more and more concerned” as Trump stalls transition of power; a global rundown on the state of reproductive health and rights; and, a look at how school reopenings have been prioritized in Europe.
Weekend Reading: Biden Owes it to Women to Appoint a Gender-Balanced Cabinet
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: the impact that elected women have in legislative bodies; wins for women in the 2020 election; tipping the gender balance in Congress; Moldova has elected their first woman president; Alaska voters approve ranked-choice voting; the Biden-Harris administration must appoint a gender-balanced Cabinet; the women President-Elect Biden is considering for his administration; the Nevada state legislature will be 60 percent women in 2021; and suggested feminist reading.
COVID-19 Threatens Decades of Progress on Gender Equality. This World Children’s Day, We Must Fight Back.
COVID-19 has left no one untouched, but it has had an especially pernicious impact on girls—most particularly those from already marginalized communities.
From a dramatic rise in sex trafficking in Malawi, to spiraling rates of sexual violence in India, from subversive restrictions on access to abortion in the U.S. to an increase in teen pregnancy and female genital mutilation in Kenya, it is clear that COVID-19 is an existential threat to gender equality.
Bipartisan, Global Opposition to Trump’s Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Despite several warnings from security experts and allies, including from his own party, Trump is set to further reduce U.S. troops from Afghanistan—from 4,500 to 2,500.
From Legal Battery to Contractual Sterilization: The Politics of Women’s Incarceration in the Middle East
Not only are laws about migrant women’s bodies resulting in the mass incarceration of women in the Gulf, they are also producing a chain reaction in the form of a generation of children who are stateless.
As we celebrate the first woman of color vice president in America, let us also take that celebration transnationally to continue to build solidarity with feminist networks across oceans.
Despite Warnings, Trump Pushes for Afghanistan Withdrawal
Soon after President Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper in a Tweet on November 9, the President appointed Chris Miller, as acting Defense Secretary and Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor as Miller’s senior advisor. Both are loyal to the President and are strong opponents of maintaining a U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
Ratifying the Escazú Agreement Will Support Women Land Defenders and Protect Nature
Across Latin America and the Caribbean, women land defenders each carry their own stories of persecution and violence. But a transformative multilateral agreement—the Escazú Agreement—could provide a promising path forward.