Women

• 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

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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

2 Comments

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

2 Comments

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 …

International Justice, Uncategorized, Women

One Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

Helga Schmid, the Persistent European Negotiator

Stephanie Liechtenstein

• January 10, 2022

VIENNA — The name Helga Schmid probably does not ring a bell beyond diplomatic circles in this very diplomatic city. Nor is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, which Schmid leads, a household name, either. But the German career diplomat is about to become better known this week. United States …

Peace and Security, US Foreign Relations, Women

One Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

Sexism and Violence Against Women MPs in Africa Is Pervasive, a New Report Reveals

Dawn Clancy

• January 5, 2022

After four hours of torture, Flora Igoki Terah arrived at Nairobi Women’s Hospital on Sept. 7, 2007, with smashed bones, a shaven head and clumps of human feces jammed in her throat. Months before the attack, Terah’s torturers sent her many warnings, demanding that she withdraw her candidacy for a parliamentary seat in Kenya’s …

Africa, Gender Violence, Governance, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Gender Bonds Haven’t Been a Big Hit Globally, but a Japanese Bank May Change That

Catherine Morrison

• December 6, 2021

Gender financial bonds to support women have been sold since 2013, but they haven’t exactly taken off like wildfire. Now the Japan International Cooperation Agency is one of the first public development banks to issue a gender bond, supporting efforts for women to have equal access to such crucial areas as education, employment and …

Gender Violence, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Biden Nominates an Envoy for Global Women’s Issues, but How Soon Will the US Senate Act on It?

Anna Bianca Roach

• November 30, 2021

President Joe Biden has nominated Geeta Rao Gupta as the next ambassador at large for global women’s issues at the United States State Department. Gupta is a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C., that promotes the UN. The ambassador post leads the Secretary’s Office of Global …

US Foreign Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Action to Protect Older Women’s Rights Has Stalled in the UN General Assembly

Barbara Crossette

• November 23, 2021

The images are stark: In India, Hindu widows who are considered burdens by their families are being abandoned at temples on the banks of sacred rivers. In Ethiopia, homeless older women evicted by their relatives sleep on the steps of a cathedral; many others shelter on the doorsteps of places of worship of all …

Women

2 Comments

TOPIC: WOMEN

Representing an African Revolutionary: French Lawyer Defends Thomas Sankara in Assassination Trial

Clair MacDougall

• October 25, 2021

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Anta Guissé has spent a large part of her 20-year career defending people accused of war crimes in countries like Rwanda, Cambodia and the Central African Republic before United Nations-backed international tribunals and the International Criminal Court. Now Guissé, a lawyer based in Paris, has switched to the prosecution in …

Africa, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

What Should the New Head of UN Women Tackle First? Strong Advice From Feminists

Barbara Crossette

• September 28, 2021

More than 50 former staff members of UN Women sent a pointed open letter to the new executive director of the agency, Sima Sami Bahous, an ex-Jordanian diplomat, on Sept. 28. They suggest a comprehensive agenda for her, undertaking managerial reform and more actively and successfully promoting gender equality across the world. “UN Women …

Gender Violence, UN Agencies, Women

3 Comments

TOPIC: WOMEN

The UN Urges the Somali Government to Stop a Surge in Sexual Assault Cases

Catherine Morrison

• September 15, 2021

For more than two decades, sexual violence against women in Somalia has become more pervasive as the country has been torn by civil conflict and state collapse. However, after an alarming 80 percent increase in the number of confirmed cases of sexual violence from 2019 to 2020, the United Nations is calling for urgent …

Africa, Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women

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Women

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

In Lockdown With Their Rapists

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

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

Feminist Foreign Policies Increase in Number. Do They Matter?

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

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

Helga Schmid, the Persistent European Negotiator

Sexism and Violence Against Women MPs in Africa Is Pervasive, a New Report Reveals

Gender Bonds Haven’t Been a Big Hit Globally, but a Japanese Bank May Change That

Biden Nominates an Envoy for Global Women’s Issues, but How Soon Will the US Senate Act on It?

Action to Protect Older Women’s Rights Has Stalled in the UN General Assembly

Representing an African Revolutionary: French Lawyer Defends Thomas Sankara in Assassination Trial

What Should the New Head of UN Women Tackle First? Strong Advice From Feminists

The UN Urges the Somali Government to Stop a Surge in Sexual Assault Cases

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