Europe

Stories about any of the 44 countries on the European continent.

Carré Otis Has Opened a Door for Survivors of Abuse in the Modeling Industry. Will Others Walk Through It?

PUBLISHED 6/16/2026 by

A new legal door opened earlier this month in the fight for survivor justice. But it’s not in the United States, where survivors and advocates continue to press for transparency and investigations into Jeffrey Epstein’s larger network and the modeling industry’s potential role in it. It’s in France.

Carré Otis, a U.S.-based former supermodel and board member of the Model Alliance, filed a criminal complaint in French court alleging rape of a minor and human trafficking by Gérald Marie, a former giant of the modeling industry who led Elite Model Management’s European operations from 1985 to 2010.

The complaint alleges that Otis was 17 when Elite sent her to Paris in 1986 and housed her in Gérald Marie’s apartment, where she “mistakenly believ[ed] that he wanted to support her modeling career.” While living there, Otis alleges that Marie raped her on multiple occasions and later arranged for her to be “provided to other wealthy men across Europe.” The complaint also says Otis was never paid for her modeling work.

Marie has denied Otis’ allegations, and because of France’s statute of limitations, cannot be criminally prosecuted for these particular allegations.

Still, Otis’ recent filing could prove consequential well beyond her own case.

This Week in Women’s Representation: LA’s Next Mayor Will Be a Woman; Ranked-Choice Voting in Maine May Help Elect Back-to-Back Woman Governors 

PUBLISHED 6/12/2026 by

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!

—Los Angeles is sure to keep a woman as mayor, after City Council member Nithya Raman secured a spot in a runoff, currently holding 29 percent of the vote compared to Karen Bass’ 34 percent.
—June 11 marked the birthday of former U.S. Rep. Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to federal office in the U.S.
—On June 16, Washington, D.C., will hold its first primary elections with ranked-choice voting.
—Liberation playwright Bess Wohl is the first American woman to win the Tony for Best Play since 1989.

… and more.

Dispatches From Ukraine’s Frontlines, Where Feminist Organizing Has Become an Act of Survival

PUBLISHED 5/28/2026 by

A lecture and discussion were about to begin in a local public library. It could have been a scene in New York, London or Melbourne. Yet this event was in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, just 25 kilometers from invading Russian forces, where most of the attendees had fled from Russian occupied cities and villages.

The meeting was one of many organized by Natalia Lobach and the Ukrainian LGBTQ+ human rights group, Insight. Lobach said these events aim to create “safe community spaces for people from different age and social groups,” but they are especially “a good way for vulnerable groups to socialize.”

“Putin’s military is trying to destroy us not only physically, but psychologically as well—to take away our identities,” she said. “We are surviving physically, but we are also preserving our identities and our pride. … Isn’t that a kind of miracle, what we continue to do despite the pressure of such a brutal enemy?”

Ms. Global: From Ukraine to Lebanon to Sudan, Women Are Bearing the Brunt of Escalating Global Conflict

PUBLISHED 5/21/2026 by

Around the world, escalating armed conflict, political repression and humanitarian collapse are reshaping daily life for women and girls—often with devastating consequences. From drone warfare in Sudan, to internet blackouts in Iran, to attacks on healthcare infrastructure in Lebanon and Gaza, women are navigating intensifying threats while also sustaining families, communities and survival networks under extraordinary strain. At the same time, women-led organizations and feminist movements confronting these crises increasingly face funding cuts, political repression and shrinking civic space even as demand for their work grows.

Globally, over 676 million women and girls live within 50 kilometers of armed conflict, representing about 17 percent of the female population. This staggering figure—a 74 percent increase since 2010—is tracked and analyzed by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security in partnership with PRIO.

But we also know: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the world’s most urgent crises. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide—and the gendered realities shaping conflict, displacement, political repression and survival.

Conservative Justices Resurrect the Comstock Act, Threatening Abortion Access Nationwide

PUBLISHED 5/21/2026 by

On May 1, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the mailing of mifepristone, one of the most widely used abortion medications in the country, threatening access for patients already facing a shrinking number of clinics nationwide. Although the Supreme Court temporarily stayed the ruling earlier this month, Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissent revealed something even more alarming: a renewed effort to resurrect the Comstock Act, a 19th-century anti-obscenity law once used to criminalize the mailing of abortion- and contraception-related materials.

The Comstock Act’s history is deeply tied to censorship, moral policing and attacks on marginalized communities. Under its broad and subjective definition of “obscenity,” authorities targeted contraception, abortion information, sexual health materials, queer literature and even works of classical art. Its reproductive restrictions disproportionately harmed poor and working-class women, who were often cut off from the safest and most affordable forms of care.

Today, antiabortion activists are once again looking to Comstock as a tool to restrict abortion nationwide—this time through the courts. Thomas’ explicit invocation of the law in the mifepristone fight signals how far-right legal movements are attempting to revive long-discredited morality laws to roll back reproductive freedom and other established rights.

As a Woman Without a Country, I Was Afraid to Become a Mother. If SCOTUS Limits Birthright Citizenship, Millions More Will Share That Fear.

PUBLISHED 5/7/2026 by

I never knew if it was safe for me to have a child.

For most people, that question is about timing or readiness. For me, it was about something more fundamental. Not whether my child would belong in the United States, but whether I would be able to stay with them, have access to them, and be able to be their parent without fear.

We Must Hold the Line

PUBLISHED 4/18/2026 by

There’s a moment in every struggle when retreat seems like the only rational option. When dictators grow bolder and democracies grow weaker; when the funding dries up and the threats are mounting.

For even the staunchest of human rights defenders, this is often the moment when the temptation to step back, to compromise, to “wait for better times” becomes almost irresistible. But it’s also the moment when it’s most crucial that we hold the line.

Holding the line doesn’t mean mindless stubbornness, or a refusal to adapt. Instead, it means refusing to compromise on core principles, regardless of the circumstances—a collective effort that requires each of us.

To human rights defenders everywhere: When funding disappears, innovate. When governments threaten you, document everything. When allies waiver, remind them what’s at stake.

War in the Middle East Is Devastating the Global Aid System, and Women and Girls Are Paying the Price

PUBLISHED 4/13/2026 by and

In the weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran, the conflict has not only generated massive humanitarian need—it has fractured the global aid system itself.

The renewed U.S. blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz marks a shift from fragile reopening to active restriction, choking already limited shipping routes and delaying the delivery of food, medicine and fuel.

Even before the blockade, many vessels avoided the strait amid fears of mines and retaliation; now, with access further constrained, the consequences are immediate and far-reaching.

As these disruptions compound, it is women and girls who continue to bear the heaviest burden when humanitarian systems break down.

The closure and continued instability of the Strait of Hormuz have sent shockwaves through global supply chains, driving up oil prices, inflating food costs and straining already underfunded aid operations. These economic shocks reverberate far beyond the region, deepening poverty and food insecurity in places where women already face structural disadvantage.

From rising fertilizer costs that threaten crop yields to surging prices for staple goods, the impacts land hardest on women—who are more likely to live in poverty, eat last in times of scarcity, and rely on fragile aid systems for survival.

As the war’s effects ripple outward, they do not simply linger; they intensify. Environmental damage, displacement and collapsing infrastructure are compounding crises that further erode access to clean water, healthcare and safety. For women and girls, these overlapping shocks mean increased exposure to violence, exploitation and long-term instability.

Without urgent efforts to secure humanitarian access and center the needs of women in response strategies, the consequences of this conflict will continue to deepen inequalities and entrench suffering well beyond the battlefield.

Olympic Sex Testing Returns, Reigniting Debate Over Who Qualifies as a Woman in Sports

PUBLISHED 4/6/2026 by | UPDATED 4/7/2026 at 9:30 A.M. PT

The International Olympic Committee recently announced it will again require genetic sex screening for women athletes and bar many transgender and intersex competitors from women’s events beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Games—reviving a policy widely criticized for its scientific flaws and human cost, and underscoring the continued relevance of this Ms. article from the October 1988 issue: “Chromosome Count.”

“I am an athlete, and I am a woman—or at least I believe I am. Yet for women competing on the world stage, that identity has long been treated as suspect, subject to invasive ‘verification’ by chromosome testing that claims to define femininity through a lab result rather than lived reality.

“Since 1968, female athletes have been required to submit to these screenings, where something as complex as sex is reduced to XX or XY—despite the many natural variations that defy such rigid categories.

“But these tests have never been as objective or fair as they claim. Women with no competitive advantage have been singled out, humiliated and even disqualified, their identities questioned and their careers erased.

“The story of athletes like Ewa Kłobukowska reveals the human cost of this policy—one built not on sound science, but on fear, misconception and a narrow, deeply flawed definition of what it means to be a woman.”

The Latest Cache of Epstein Files Haven’t (and Won’t) Spark Wall Street’s #MeToo Moment

PUBLISHED 3/19/2026 by

In 2010, a 28-year-old woman working at the London branch of a Wall Street bank was leaving the office around 10 p.m. when a colleague pushed her against a wall and tried to forcibly kiss her. “A cab driver saw what was happening and physically pulled him off me,” the woman, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions, told me. She reported the incident the next day to her manager, who told her she “should dress for the job I want” and not “like a stripper.” The women quit a month later. “I just wanted out,” she said. “I was mortified.”

What is notable about this story is how common it is. Even now, she said, you can speak to almost any woman who has spent time working in finance and she will know someone who has been harassed or assaulted. Often she has her own story.

That culture, and Wall Street’s willingness to perpetuate it, is back in the spotlight after the latest release of emails linked to Jeffrey Epstein, which are reviving scrutiny of his extensive connections across the industry.