A new U.N. agency strives to put women front and center, and it’s headed by a lady with plenty of experience being at the helm. Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet will preside over the new super-agency, UN Women, which will incorporate the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on […]
Global
Global Roundup: Uganda Outs Gays; Mexico’s Bravest Woman; Abortion Railroad
This week: India sends cash to pregnant women, a Ugandan newspaper outs 100 gays and lesbians (and endangers their lives), Congolese women transcend victimhood and march against rape, Polish women travel to Germany for abortions and 20-year-old Marisol Valles Garcia becomes Mexico’s bravest citizen. INDIA: With Millennium Development Goal #5 as its target, India announced […]
Young British Feminists: Rumours of Our Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
In Britain, much like the U.S. and Canada, the refrain “young people aren’t feminists” has been depressingly constant over the past decade–both from right-wingers who decry feminism and left-wingers who long for it. Young women today aren’t interested in feminism, the argument goes. And even if a small minority do identify as feminists, they’re too […]
U.S. Woman Writes From Inside Iran’s Most Notorious Prison
Memoirs by political prisoners shed light on a world unknown to most of us–a world of forced confession, threats and psychological torture. American journalist Roxana Saberi’s new “Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran”, an account of 100 days in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, serves as a small window into the closed world […]
Global Roundup: South African Strikers, Malawi “Witches” and More
This week South African trade unions reached a hard-fought settlement, Malawi activists sought the release of women jailed for witchcraft, an Australian couple charged with procuring an illegal abortion is off the hook, Nepal considered raising the legal age for marriage and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked to put cell phones in the hands […]
The Best Place to Be a Woman
I had the opportunity to speak with Saadia Zahidi, head of the World Economic Forum’s Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program and one of the authors of its annual Global Gender Gap Report. It looks at 114 countries around the world and analyzes “how well they divide resources and opportunities amongst male and female populations, […]
Global Roundup: Brazil’s Elections, Congo Rapes Arrest, More
This week, Brazilian presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff wins the popular vote but heads to a runoff, the U.N. arrests a Congolese officer for leading the rapes of more than 300 women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indian protests against the EU-India trade agreement get violent and Liberia launches Africa’s second radio station for […]
The Cross-Dressing Girls of Afghanistan
Life & Style is not happy with Angelina Jolie’s daughter, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, and her boyish new look. The four-year-old’s short hair, boy’s pants and total lack of frilly summer dresses has got the tabloid crying child abuse. And as Feministing notes, this media frenzy over a young girl who dresses like a boy reminds us […]