WMC News & Features
“Elders” Fight Misuse of Religion to Oppress Women and Girls
Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson say women and girls are the victims of dangerous practices too often justified in the name of religion and tradition. They are members of a prestigious international group that is spotlighting the issue.
WMC News & Features
December 03, 2009 | Sharmeen Akbani Gangat |
International,
Politics,
Religion,
Violence against women
Fort Hood Tragedy: What Muslim Women Really Think
With the murders at Fort Hood, New York’s Muslim community, however unjustly, was on the defensive. The author explains how Muslim women are reacting.
WMC News & Features
At the UN, Criminalizing Rape as a Weapon
In the last week of October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made headlines and sparked anger in travels to Israel and Pakistan. Her role some weeks earlier was less controversial yet critically important, as she led UN diplomats forward in an action that could ease the suffering of countless women and girls living in conflict zones around the world.
WMC News & Features
October 02, 2009 | Marcella Chester |
Arts and culture,
International,
Media,
Violence against women
What Consequences Should Roman Polanski Face After 32 Years?
The author, a rape survivor, takes a clear-eyed view of the Polanski case, sorting out both the needs of his victim and those of a society that cannot afford to tolerate sexual violence.
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
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
White House Focuses on Violence Against Women
Based on her past performance, advocates—including the author, who worked with her in New Mexico—have high expectations for Lynn Rosenthal, the new White House advisor.
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
Reflections on the Observe and Report Date-Rape Controversy
Just in time for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention month, a comedy provokes argument—if not box office success.
Rarely does a film incite responses as diametrically opposed as the new "dark...
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
April 16, 2009 | Courtney Martin |
Violence against women
New Report Indicates that Rape Kit Backlog Likely a National Crisis
A study of crime labs in Los Angeles indicates that many sexual assault victims wait in vain for prosecution of rapists. The lead investigator for Human Rights Watch, Sarah Tofte, now wants to study backlogs at labs in cities across the country.
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
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
December 15, 2008 | Marie Tessier |
Violence against women
The DNA of Violence
A jury has convicted Atlanta courthouse killer Brian Gene Nichols, and Atlanta has heaved a sigh of relief. Nichols was sentenced Saturday to seven life sentences and four sentences of life without ...
WMC News & Features
Keeping Hold of Your Vision—the Making of Hounddog
One of the dirty secrets of the film business is that it takes women directors a long time to get their films made. The Women, which opened recently, took Diane English 14 years to bring to the screen; other examples include Tamara Jenkins award-winning The Savagesand Kimberly Peirce's Stop-Loss, which took 10 years each. Writer/director Deborah Kampmeier joins this illustrious club with her own decade long trek to see her filmHounddog starring Dakota Fanning finally released in theatres.
WMC News & Features
Finally! The UN Gets One Right
Last week, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously confirmed Secretary General BanKi-Moon’s appointment for\the post of UN high commissioner for human rights: the distinguished South African jurist Navanethem (“Navi”) Pillay. Women’s rights activists around the world can celebrate.
WMC News & Features
A Reflective NOW Looks to the Future
Jehmu Greene, a legendary grass roots organizer, plans next to “look laser-like at organizing young women.
WMC News & Features
Sexual Violence as Occupational Hazard—In Iraq and at Home in the U.S.A.
Jamie Leigh Jones was just 20 in 2005 when she took a leap of faith to work in Iraq for her employer, military contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root, then a subsidiary of Halliburton. She went on a mission she believed in. Shortly after her arrival in Iraq, however, Jones’ ambitions were dashed in an alleged gang rape by co-workers.
WMC News & Features
The Four Solstice Miracles
The last year I sent Christmas cards was 1968: a plain, black-bordered card, mourning the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinations and the ongoing Vietnam War, urging friends to don...