WMC News & Features
Military Coup Reverses Honduran Women’s Gains in Human Rights
In Honduras, the first military coup of the 21st Century is having a devastating effect on human rights, according to the author, a producer at FIRE (Feminist International Radio Endeavour), which was represented in an international delegation visiting the country this month.
WMC News & Features
“Imani” for Rape Survivors: A Nurse's Travels to Kenya
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton completes her trip to Africa, the author describes how nurses in one city torn by conflict are combatting violent crimes against women.
WMC News & Features
What Were Laura Ling and Euna Lee Looking For in North Korea?
The trafficking story is a dangerous pursuit—but without more information and world attention, tens of thousands of North Korean women and girls are caught up as victims with no place to turn.
WMC News & Features
Pakistan's Little Rock Nine
Protecting schoolgirls forced to face down the Taliban mob in the Swat valley—education is the place to start, writes the author, toward an equitable and secure future.
WMC News & Features
Saving Afghan Women from the "Liberators"
The Obama Administration acts as though George Bush abandoned Afghanistan for Iraq and, therefore, an infusion of troops and money will solve the country’s massive problems. But, argues the author, the international community is already engaged and intent on supporting Afghan women. Lasting change must come at the hands of Afghan women themselves—and Afghan men.
WMC News & Features
Liberia’s Difficult Path Toward Reconciliation
Having emerged from a long and violent civil war, President Sirleaf and the people of Liberia try to inch their way toward a just peace, while former president Taylor is on trial for war crimes against the citizens of a neighboring country.
WMC News & Features
What’s Behind the Rise of Women’s Philanthropy?
The author, a veteran fund-raiser, explains new data on women’s generosity—and how the projects they support strategically expand possibilities for women and girls around the world.
WMC News & Features
Dancing on the Side in Senegal
The author celebrated her 73rd birthday in a way she could hardly have imagined—surrounded by women who would now be able to draw water year-round in their own village.
WMC News & Features
July 02, 2009 | Sahar Driver |
International
Movement or Revolution? Learning From Developments in Iran
Yesterday in Iran, presidential challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi called the government illegitimate and asked for protests to continue. Iranian-American commentator Sahar Driver tells us that, whatever happens in the near future, the reform movement has already achieved significant gains.
WMC News & Features
Responsible Solidarity: An Appeal to the Public on the Matter of Iran
The author urges us to stand against the violence threatening the masses of protesters in Iran, but to insist that our leaders not infringe on Iranian sovereignty—as has happened in the past. Her commentary is based on a speech she delivered on Tuesday at San Francisco City Hall.
WMC News & Features
June 24, 2009 | Latoya Peterson |
International
The Iranian Election and the Global Politics of “Pretty”
With reporting opportunities strictly limited in Iran, images carry the narrative, many of them focusing on young, attractive women. The author wonders about complexities hidden behind the emerging icons.
WMC News & Features
“Supa”: A Report from Kenya
The author, a medical doctor and writer, learned in an African village the truth behind the alarming worldwide maternal health statistics—when she was asked to treat a patient whose only resource was her mother, frantically urging her to “push.”
WMC News & Features
Addressing the Muslim World, President Obama Reached Well Beyond the Arab Dignitaries
The author wonders if his pre-speech visit to a kingdom where women are oppressed weakens his appeal on behalf of women’s rights.
WMC News & Features
The Death of Abeer in Iraq: One Former Soldier Is Sentenced—What of Those in Command?
A civilian jury has deliberated long hours over the fate of a former Army private in the March 12, 2006 assault and murder of Abeer al-Janabi and her family. His guilt has been determined in federal court. The author argues that it is up to us as citizens to prevent future crimes and protect our soldiers. This is the second of a two-part report on the Paducah, Kentucky trial.
WMC News & Features
The Death of Abeer in Iraq—What We Know Now
Four U.S. soldiers have been tried and convicted in military court for the March 12, 2006 assault and murder of Abeer al-Janabi and her family. Now, in the federal court trial of the last man accused, former Pvt. 1st Class Steven Green, information has surfaced that explains more fully what happened that day. This is the first of a two-part report on the Paducah, Kentucky trial.
WMC News & Features
In Iceland, Our Long-Sought Victory in Battling Human Trafficking
On April 17, the last day before Iceland’s parliament adjourned to prepare for elections on April 25, members passed a bill criminalizing the act of buying individuals for purposes of prostitution. Patterned on the Swedish law that addresses the demand fueling the commercial sex industry, the action was hailed as an historic moment in the international struggle against human trafficking. Via Equality Now, here is a dispatch describing the campaign from Gudrún Jónsdóttir, spokeswoman for Stigamot, a women's rights organization in Iceland.
WMC News & Features
Democracy and Pandora’s Box: Family Laws in Afghanistan
For women in Afghanistan, the promise of democracy seems not to include equality, nor protection from the potential of domestic violence. Here, the secretary general of Parliamentarians for Global Action explains the politics behind the proposed oppressive law regulating Shia marriages.
WMC News & Features
Afghan Women to Obama: We Must Be at the Table!
The author, a global affairs professor who has worked extensively in Afghanistan, talks to Dr. Masooda Jalal, a political leader and the subject of a new documentary. Her message: women must be involved in peace making; the Taliban and warlords are “only powerful because we allow them to be.”
WMC News & Features
New U.S. Policy in AfPak: Looking for Mr. Moderate Taliban
To those who advocate making peace with certain elements of the Taliban, the author, who has worked to secure human rights with Pakistani legislators across the ideological spectrum, argues against any prospective deal that sacrifices women’s empowerment.
WMC News & Features
Why We Must Still Remember
Beginning in 2006, the Women’s Media Center began a series of articles to alert the public about violence against women involving U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Helen Zia, a WMC board member, explains why we must continue to demand justice.
WMC News & Features
Of Slumdog and Loveleen
The author, a filmmaker herself, considers what the woman with the title of “co-director” contributed to the remarkable success of a leading contender for both best director and best picture at this year’s Oscars—and what the controversy means for women filmmakers.
WMC News & Features
Turning the Tide against the Taliban: What Works
The Obama Administration must empower the Pakistani people, who have already shown that they’re ready and able to stand up against the forces oppressing women and girls in the valley of Swat and elsewhere. Here, the secretary-general of Parliamentarians for Global Action, tells us how.
WMC News & Features
February 02, 2009 | Marianne Schnall |
Arts and culture,
Feminism,
Health,
International,
Politics,
Violence against women
Turning Pain to Power
Women and girls in eastern Congo suffer sexual atrocities that are tactics of war in the region. Playwright Eve Ensler has joined with Dr. Denis Mukwege to ask us to imagine the unimaginable, to empathize and join together to end the terror.
WMC News & Features
A War on Pakistan's Schoolgirls
In a remarkably beautiful area of Pakistan, the Taliban is making a nightmare of girls’ lives. The author, a Pakistani lawyer and staff member of Equality Now, tells us how the Obama Administration can avoid the mistakes of its predecessor.
WMC News & Features
Mothers Linked World Wide
They met in Toronto and cemented a movement of mothers that now promises a global network, with a website and a wide-ranging set of objectives. The author helped film a documentary tracing their progress.