Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has brushed off threats from the Catholic Church regarding the country’s plans for abortion reform. Politicians who support the upcoming legislation have been threatened with excommunication. The proposed bill would legalise abortion in situations when the pregnant woman’s life was in danger. Legislators stress the bill clarifies rather than changes…
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The struggle of women varies from one cultural context to the next and it’s often difficult for those outside to effectively assist their sisters in other parts of the world. It can be challenging to put together a culturally sensitive campaign that helps, rather than hinders the progress of women living in a different context…
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For the first time ever, a woman will be contesting a parliamentary seat in Pakistan’s Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA). 40-year-old Badam Zari will be running in the elections scheduled for May 11. She appeared on television on Sunday to launch her political career, wearing a full veil revealing only her eyes. In an area…
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Amina is a 19 year old Tunisian woman who risked imprisonment and corporal punishment for baring her breasts in defiance. Reports suggest she has been committed to a psychiatric hospital by her family after she appeared on Tunisian television explaining her decision to join the radical feminist group, Femen. A video posted on Free Thought…
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With an Australian federal election fast approaching, the political issues that seem to be dominating revolve around women’s rights, with misogyny, equal pay and abortion laws making headlines. It’s not surprising considering the dominance of women’s issues in the US election. It became pretty clear that the issues that won the election for Barack Obama…
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The theme for International Women’s Day earlier this month was ‘The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum’ and it could not be more apt given the recent horrific attacks on women in India and South Africa – attacks that are not unprecedented and are prevalent in too many countries around the world. These acts of violence against…
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It’s a truth universally known by all women that we aren’t trying to “have it all” when we have children and work. We’re trying to have children and live with the dignity and respect we get from being able to pay all our bills. Another universal truth known to all us women is the feeling…
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‘A woman’s opinions are useless to her, she may suffer unjustly, she may be wronged, but she has no power to weightily petitions against man’s laws, no representatives to urge her views, her only method to produce release, redress, or change, is to ceaselessly agitate.’ – Louisa Lawson, speech to the inaugural meeting of the…
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A recent photography competition casts a spotlight on the role of women in revolutionary Egypt — but women’s rights are under threat under Egypt’s new leaders, writes Farz Edraki. A woman in red hijab. She stands in a crowd of helmet-clad police officers, protesters, and cameramen. Her gaze is steadfast; resolute. The caption on the…
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‘Don’t wear revealing clothing, don’t get drunk, don’t wander around at night, and don’t walk alone’ – I’ve heard this advice repeated often, ever since the Delhi gang-rape. Most women have heard these warnings before, but now, suggestions on being constantly and vigilantly cautious have been increasingly doled out by almost everyone – politicians, celebrities,…
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Pavithra Sagar is a 25-year old female corporate writer and editor living in Tamil Nadu. Here, she discusses rape and casual sexism in India, in the aftermath of the recent horrific gang-rape case in Delhi, and sends a message to fellow Indian women. Along with millions of Indians, I have been in turn shocked…
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I really must give a shout out to one of my dearest social networking sites, Facebook. What a challenge it can be, every day to connect into the hearts, minds and walls of so many friends, colleagues, and often strangers whom you’ve befriended and now know many of their private details. But despite the potential…
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There has been rape, murder, grief. There have been protests, riots, violence. There have been calls for hangings, rights, guns. There has been grief, anger, shame. There has been a funeral. On 16 December in New Delhi, India, a 23-year-old woman was raped by six men on a bus. She was beaten with an iron…
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Despite service to their country, and enduring years of harassment and discrimination, American military women find themselves in a prolonged fight for abortion rights. Presently, the Defense Department covers abortions for female soldiers only in cases where their lives are at risk. Military woman are now fighting for the right to obtain abortions in cases…
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