14 women students were killed in a terrorist attack in southwest Pakistan on the weekend. Militants blew up a bus carrying the students and bombed a hospital that was treating survivors. At least 25 people were killed in the two attacks. According to CNN, militants held hundreds of patients, doctors, and nurses hostage in…
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A San Diego teacher has been fired after a domestic dispute involving her ex-husband occurred at the school she was employed at. Carie Charlesworth, formerly a primary school teacher, was fired for being a ‘liability’ to the safety of students and fellow staff at Holy Trinity School in El Cajon. Charlesworth’s ex-husband has a history…
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Abortion often goes unaddressed in Canada for long stretches until something big happens to provoke the conversation. Last week was one of those times. Dr Henry Morgentaler, an iconic abortionist and polarising Canadian figure died of a heart attack in his Toronto home on 29 May. He was 90. Morgentaler was responsible for almost single-handedly…
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I first heard about the protests in Turkey when I came across a picture on the Facebook page, The Real Art of Protest (TRAP). The photo showed a woman being hit in the chest by a great jet of tear gas at such force that her arms were slayed backwards. She looks a bit…
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On the southernmost, crystalline mountains of Mexico, in clouds that gather as low as their ankles, native women in brazen tzutes, bend to collect water at the same limestone springs their Maya ancestors used. With gurgling babes strung fast to their backs, they scale the plateaus of corn, bananas and coffee to gather food, weave,…
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Women Deliver, one of the largest and most important international conferences on women’s health around the world, happens on May 27 to 30 in Malaysia. Bringing together the world’s most influential policy makers, academics, youth, media, health workers and advocates, the conference focuses on empowering girls and women through greater access to maternal, sexual and…
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A new public awareness campaign designed to lower teen pregnancy rates has sparked public debate after billboards were recently rolled out across Chicago. The posters, aimed at teenagers and their parents, feature Photoshopped images of topless, heavily pregnant teen boys with the tagline: ‘Unexpected? Most teen pregnancies are’. The billboards and posters have been concentrated…
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FEMEN member and activist Amina Tyler has reportedly been arrested again in the Tunisian holy city of Kairouan. Her arrest comes as she allegedly snuck past through heavy security checkpoints, where police were preventing extremely conservative Islamists from holding an annual conference. Tyler was disguised in a veil, and after she passed through security, she…
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Leading Pakistani political figure Zahra Shahid Hussain has been shot and killed outside her home in southern Karachi. She was the senior vice-president of Pakistan’s Movement for Justice Party (PTI). Shahid was shot by gunmen on a motorcycle. ‘The assailants opened fire on Zahra, 60, as soon as she reached the gate of her residence….
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Israeli Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, has announced the drafting of legislation that will outlaw all gender-based segregation in public spaces. ‘Today, I instructed the Justice Ministry to draft legislation … that will make any segregation of women and their humiliation in a public space a criminal offense,’ Livni posted on her Facebook account. The proposed…
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Audrey Mbugua Ithibu is a transgender woman in Kenya. She was diagnosed with gender identity disorder (GID) after completing high school in 2001. Afterwards, she went about getting her name and gender changed on a host of documents: her national ID card, passport and examination certificates that prove she’s completed her schooling. The Kenya…
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A police presence was necessary at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Friday, as women from the liberal Women of the Wall group prayed at the site for the first time legally. The Washington Post reports that hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men and women gathered to prevent the group from praying at the holy site….
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The internet has been flooded with articles and commentary on the Ohio kidnapping rescue story that broke Tuesday AEST. While many articles simply recap the events, other pieces have surfaced that reflect the underlying issues of sexism, racism, and discrimination against the mentally ill that pervade the media. The story itself is captivating, and it…
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A recent study by global charity organisation Save the Children has produced a ranked list of the best and worst countries in the world to be a mother. The results in the State of the World’s Mothers report show that the best country to be a mother is Finland, followed by Sweden, Norway and Denmark….
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