Women

• December 1, 2022

The United States wants Iran kicked off the United Nations body mandated since 1946 to empower women and promote gender equality. Through a request to hold a vote in the UN’s Economic and Social Council on Dec. 14, the 54 members could agree on a resolution led by the US to oust Iran from …

Asia, Gender Violence, Human Rights, US-UN Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Faulty DNA Testing and Politics Continue to Fail South Africa’s Rape Victims

Nyasha Bhobo

• October 17, 2022

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — When news that a mob of men raped eight young women last summer during a music-video production set in an abandoned mining site in Krugersdorp, Sipehle wasn’t optimistic that the culprits would be prosecuted. “My rapist walked free,” Sipehle said, explaining that it was because of a delay in DNA …

Africa, Gender Violence, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Margot Wallstrom, the Original Feminist Foreign Policy Advocate, Says Countries Need It Now ‘More Than Ever’

Stephanie Liechtenstein

• October 1, 2022

VIENNA — Margot Wallstrom, a former Swedish foreign minister, clinched her reputation in 2014 for boldly coining the concept of the world’s first “feminist foreign policy.” While having left active politics only five years later, in 2019, she remains firmly behind the policy and defends it passionately today. “The feminist foreign policy is needed …

Gender Violence, Nuclear Disarmament, Peace and Security, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

In West Africa, a Staggering Low Number of Women in Politics Is Brightened by One Exception

Damilola Banjo

• August 23, 2022

LAGOS — A mere 17 women were appointed or elected to parliaments, ministerial or electoral offices in the West Africa/Sahel region out of 134 available positions from December 2021 to June 2022. While the paltry figures have long raised concerns among the region’s women’s-rights advocates, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also chimed in …

Africa, Secretary-General, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Fleeing Mariupol, a Ukrainian Refugee’s Life Is Pained by War and Uncertainty

Dawn Clancy

• August 8, 2022

WARSAW, Poland — Olena’s journey begins in the smoldering shadow of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, but whether her escape to safety will end in a suburb of Warsaw, Poland, or thousands of miles away in Dublin, Ireland, remains unknown and reflects the unsettling nature of life as a war refugee. Olena’s …

Humanitarian Aid, Peace and Security, Refugees, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The Women, Peace and Security Agenda Is Not Yielding Results, Diplomats Say

Damilola Banjo

• June 15, 2022

Despite 100 countries enacting national plans to carry out the global women, peace and security agenda, women remain largely absent from conflict mediation and other peacemaking endeavors across the world. The agenda, cemented in a Security Council resolution approved in 2000, is supposed to ensure the equal participation of women in peace talks and …

Gender Violence, Secretary-General, Security Council, Women

3 Comments

TOPIC: WOMEN

Invisible in Afghanistan and Forgotten by the International Community?

Asila Wardak

• June 13, 2022

Over the last 20 years, the United States and other global powers pumped money and military aid into Afghanistan, only to see it disappear when militarism proved untenable and ineffective. Now, as Afghanistan endures a state of emergency, those same global powers offer sympathy for the people of our country without taking responsibility for …

Asia, Gender Violence, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Remembering Adrienne Germain, Pioneer of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights

Ellen Marshall and David Harwood

• June 5, 2022

Adrienne Germain, who helped shape international development and women’s rights for more than four decades, died on May 19, 2022, at her home in Oakland, Calif. She was 75 years old. Her passionate advocacy on behalf of the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls was recognized worldwide. Early in her …

Health and Population, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Can Honduras’s New President Transform Her Country? The US Sure Hopes So

Maurizio Guerrero

• May 4, 2022

Xiomara Castro, Honduras’s first woman president, is brandishing an ambitious agenda whose top priorities include reforming the Constitution and elevating women’s rights. Yet the success of Castro, a 62-year-old former first lady, depends heavily on how well she manages Honduras’s complicated relationship with the United States. The stakes are high for both countries, and …

Caribbean, Gender Violence, Latin America, Migration, Women

One Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

In Lockdown With Their Rapists

Damilola Banjo

• April 27, 2022

CALABAR, Nigeria — In March 2020, when schools in Nigeria closed their doors to flatten the surging curve of coronavirus infection, the unintended consequence was that thousands of children and teenagers across the country became soft targets of sexual assault and rape. Celia*, 17, was one of them. On a sunny afternoon last December, …

Africa, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Angela Merkel Keeps a Low Profile as Russia Wages War in Ukraine

Mikaela Conley

• March 22, 2022

BERLIN — During her final visit to the United States last year as Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel was asked about her plans for when she stepped down as her country’s leader in December. “Maybe I will try to read something,” she said. “Then my eyes will start to close because I’m tired, then I’ll …

Peace and Security, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Estonia’s Leader Stands Out as She Grapples With Europe’s Crisis

Barbara Crossette

• March 2, 2022

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas of Estonia, a small Baltic nation with a tragic history of living with Russia, has become a leading European voice demanding that no breathing space or second chances be given to Vladimir Putin as his troops run into unexpected fierce resistance from Ukrainians. It’s a war that is riveting the …

Peace and Security, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Feminist Foreign Policies Increase in Number. Do They Matter?

Mikaela Conley

• February 14, 2022

BERLIN — The number of countries declaring they are carrying out a feminist foreign policy is quickly increasing throughout the world, with Spain, France, Canada, Mexico, Luxembourg, Libya and now Germany joining Sweden’s pioneering concept, declaring that the countries’ diplomacies will place girls and women at the center of their work. In a speech …

Geopolitics, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

In Barbados: A Break With Royal Britain While Looking Toward Africa

Barbara Crossette

• January 26, 2022

At a moment past midnight on Nov. 30, the island nation of Barbados severed its last direct links to colonial Britain and became a republic to the celebratory music of brass bands and Caribbean steel drums. Queen Elizabeth II, who at 95 no longer travels abroad, was represented by her son and heir, Prince …

Africa, Caribbean, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

More Female Judges Are Named to Top Courts, Yet Brutality Against Women Persists

Barbara Crossette

• January 12, 2022

For decades, amid genocidal wars and gender violence that tore apart the lives and bodies of girls and women, Denis Mukwege, facing repeated threats to his own life, worked as a medical doctor in poor, broken communities in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2018, that work was recognized universally by a …