As part of a new revolution, South African women are making efforts to rewrite parts of our history in a way that is reflective, inclusive, and honest about the contributions the likes of Madikizela-Mandela have made during the struggle.
As of August 1, the Netherlands has instituted a ban on burqas and niqabs in public places, including hospitals, educational facilities, police departments, public museums, and public transportation. This recent policy change stands in stark contrast to the common narrative of Dutch people as tolerant and progressive, and highlights just how pervasive populism and Islamophobia currently are in Europe.
The Helms Amendment and has caused damage to women all over the world by limiting U.S. funding for family planning all over the world.
As I watched the mainstream media cover this day this year, I noticed that hardly any mentioned the female leaders of a famous 1990 protest.
Kenyan women and girls rarely get information about abortion at all because our society is heavily influenced by conservative religious beliefs. There is no sex education in the Kenyan education system, and religion seeps into classes like biology; Kenyan students are taught in their schools that abortion is evil and against God’s will.
One of Donald Trump's first acts as president was to reinstate and expand the global gag rule. This conservative policy hurts people in developing countries that already have to endure systemic obstacles to access health care.
On April 9, 2019, Ivy Wangechi, a sixth-year medical student at Moi University in Kenya, was murdered. Like many stories of femicides that came before Wangechi’s, the media’s depiction of this murder was problematic.
On April 27, thousands of people gathered in central Jakarta for the 2019 Women's March, parading in solidarity to support women's right in the archipelago and across the globe.
In 2018, Fabiano Contarato became the first openly gay man to be elected to the Brazilian Senate. The 52-year-old senator, who represents the state of Espírito Santo, was elected in the midst of a shift in Brazil’s political climate toward extremist and fundamentalist views; the president elected in 2018, Jair Bolsonaro, has consistently made racist and homophobic remarks and has been called “Trump of the Tropics.”
Zimbabwean students, both male and female, are struggling to pay for higher education. In response, a number of female Zimbabwean university students have begun to engage in transactional sex to pay their tuition and otherwise survive.
Recently, reports surfaced of an 11-year-old girl from a rural area in Argentina who got pregnant after being raped by her grandmother’s partner. Mariela Belski, Executive Director of Amnesty International Argentina, told the FBomb more about this case and how Argentinian girls and women are fighting for justice thanks to the Ni Una Menos (Not One [Woman] Less) movement.
Ugandan Tourism Minister John Kiwanda plans to feature “curvy and sexy women” as a primary Ugandan attraction in the official literature for the nation’s tourism. The plan also includes the launch of a beauty pageant called “Miss Curvy Uganda,” the winner of which will be used in an advertising campaign.
Feminists all over the world are fighting to shift these conversations about consent toward a more nuanced understanding of the complex power dynamics that exist in all social relationships. ThaiConsent is one organization doing just that.
Thousands of Albanian students are protesting on the streets right now. But even though the media has started to cover these protests generally, it has failed to note the feminist principles at the heart of them and how women in particular have contributed to the movement.
The practice of paying a bride price occurs in multiple African countries, although exact traditions and levels of legality vary. While some advocates want the practice to be eradicated, many Zimbabweans are still in favor of upholding the practice. Despite popular opinion, there is still very real damage done to women as a result of it.
How truly impactful has the #MeToo and other dominant feminist movements been in India, considering that they frequently leave out the most oppressed group in the country: Dalit women.
Cheryl Zondi is a 22-year-old University of Johannesburg student studying social work. On October 15, Zondi began what would be a three-day-long trial at Port Elizabeth High Court based on her allegations that her church leader, Pastor Timothy Omotoso, raped her between the years 2010 and 2015.
In October, disabilities activist Mara Gabrilli was elected to the Brazilian Senate at the age of 51. Many saw her victory as a sign that although a lot of extremism and hatred has been expressed in Brazilian politics over the past few years, it’s possible for this nation to elect figures aligned with a progressive agenda.
In 2017, Forbes listed Morocco as the second most dangerous country in the world to which women can travel. Earlier this year, the Moroccan government, thanks in no small part to complaints made by women’s rights organizations, finally acknowledged the country’s problem with harassment by passing the Violence Against Women Act in February.
A new documentary, Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped by Boko Haram, follows the lives of the 276 Nigerian schoolgirls who had been kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014. The film also features interviews with girls who had been previously taken from their homes by the same group.
Jair Bolsonaro’s election as Brazil’s president at the end of October, and the threat of far right extremism it represents, comes on the heels of a reinvigorated fight for abortion rights all across Latin America.
Pakistan is a country governed by moral values and strict cultural codes, and perhaps no Pakistani citizens are as strictly policed in terms of these values than woman.
It was only a matter of time before the echoes of Hollywood’s #MeToo and #TimesUp movements reached Bollywood, India’s film industry. That watershed moment finally arrived this September, when Indian actress Tanushree Dutta made accusations of harassment against industry veteran Nana Patekar
Greece is experiencing a refugee crisis — and over half of these refugees are women and children waiting in camps to reunite with relatives or have asylum status approved by the Greek government. The Azadi Project teaches female refugees expertise in jobs related to multimedia communications and storytelling in order to promote their integration into the local labor force.