Tag Archives: Women

Gender

Morocco News | Women

Moroccan women cleared of indecency charges
  • The two Moroccan women had faced charges of public obscenity for wearing too tight of skirts, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison.
  • The women’s defense attorney indicated that the women will be pursuing legal action against the merchants who harassed them over their dress in the market where the conflict occurred.
  • More than 27,000 had signed a petition of support for the women, and solidarity protests were held in Agadir and Casablanca.

“This is a victory not only for these two women, but for all members of civil society who mobilised.”

Read the full story at the Guardian.

Gender

India Research | Women

Indian women and children showing progress in key health indicators
  • The U.N.-supported Rapid Survey on Children showed significant positive developments in the rates of stuntedness in children, child marriage, breastfeeding, immunization, and hospital childbirths.
  • The survey–the first of its kind in India in nearly a decade–still indicated that rates of adverse behaviors and conditions remain high, however.
  • Since the initial report covering 2005-06, the government has introduced a number of public health measures, including introducing female community health advisers and free facilitation services, such as hospital transportation for pregnant women.

“Overall we are pleased about the data as it shows a positive trend. … Anything India does on development has a huge impact globally and I think everyone is optimistic about the progress made.”

Read the full story from the Thomson Reuters Foundation at Reuters.

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. News | Young Women of Color

Report: Female youth in U.S. juvenile justice system likely to have faced abuse prior to detention
  • According to a recently released report, some states see as many as 80% of the girls in their juvenile justice systems having been victims of sexual or other physical abuse.
  • In particular, the report found girls arrested on prostitution charges were likely to have been victims of sex trafficking, leading to distrust of law enforcement and further victimization.
  • African-American, Latina, and Native American girls were found to be disproportionately involved in the system, which has seen an increase in arrests even as crime rates have flattened.

“When law enforcement views girls as perpetrators, and when their cases are not dismissed or diverted but sent deeper into the justice system, the cost is twofold: Girls’ abusers are shielded from accountability, and the trauma that is the underlying cause of the behavior is not addressed.”

Read the full story at the New York Times.

Gender

Afghanistan News | Women

Afghanistan’s first female nominee to Supreme Court rejected by Parliament
  • Beyond a capitulation to conservative opposition, the rejection signals a deepening challenge to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s political agenda.
  • While women’s rights advocates hope for another female nomination, others fear more general rollbacks of rights and protections for women following the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

Read the full story at Reuters.

Gender

Morocco News | Women

1 Comment
Two women charged with indecent dress head to trial in Morocco
  • The women were arrested in Agadir in mid-June after passersby reported them for wearing too tight of dresses.
  • One women’s organization leader reported that 500 lawyers signed up to represent the women, but only 200 could fit into the courtroom
  • With “public indecency” and “gross indecency” offenders subject to up to two years of jail time, protests in solidarity with the women are set to take place in Agadir and Casablanca later in the week.

“The only sensible thing here would be for the case to be dropped and police officers in Morocco instructed not to make arrests in cases like these in the future. Meanwhile, the authorities need to set about amending a whole range of highly discriminatory laws including on rape, abortion, divorce and child custody.”

Read the full story at the Guardian.

(Image Credit: Abdelhak Senna/EPA, via The Guardian)

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. News | People of Color

95% of elected prosecutors in the U.S. are white, exacerbating distrust in the legal system for minorities
  • The study commissioned by the Women Donors Network and undertaken by the Center for Technology and Civic Life also found that white males account for 79% of elected prosecutors in 2014 and two-thirds of states that elect prosecutors have no black people in those positions,
  • While much attention has been focused on police behavior and demographics, prosecutors wield a more heady influence on the justice system, driving important decision-making such as whether to bring charges, which charges are brought, and determining punishments in widely used plea bargains.
  • Redressing the imbalance will be difficult as 85% of incumbent prosecutors are reelected unopposed, according to one study.

“I think most people know that we’ve had a significant problem with lack of diversity in decision-making roles in the criminal justice system for a long time. I think what these numbers dramatize is that the reality is much worse than most people imagine and that we are making almost no progress.”

Read the full story at the New York Times.

(Image Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images, via The New York Times)

Gender

Sierra Leone News | Women

Sierra Leone backs women’s rights treaty, but faces uphill road to eradicating female genital mutilation
  • The country has become the latest to ratify the Maputo Protocol, which establishes political commitment to women’s rights issues such as violence against women, child and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation (FGM).
  • Rights organizations expect Sierra Leone’s ratification to bind it to criminalizing FGM.
  • With nine in ten girls cut across the country, the practice has continued through the support of traditionalist groups, though the government began levying fines against practitioners as its Ebola crisis spread.

“The FGM crackdown needs to reach out to people on the ground and women in villages across the country, and a government-led outreach program may be required. Sierra Leone must take a blanket approach to include politicians, health workers and communities, and even consider how to involve the cutters in the discussions to eliminate the practice.”

Read the full story by the Thomson Reuters Foundation at Reuters.

Gender

India News | Women

Sex-selective abortion continues to skew demographics and create oppressive conditions for women in parts of India
  • The national average of births is 940 girls per 1,000 boys, while in some western states the number falls to as low as 871 per 1,000.
  • Economic incentives compound cultural attitudes in the decision to abort, including the continued practice of dowry in rural areas despite its outlawing in 1961.
  • The demographic disruption leads to increased oppression of women as they are trafficked to female-deficient areas, so new campaigns have led to increased numbers of girls in orphanages and public shaming of sex-selective aborters.

“People start planning their family in a rather regressive way – instead of counting their numbers, they start counting the children’s sex. What they want, they want. Anything else becomes collateral damage.”

Read the full story at Al Jazeera.

(Image Credit: Rafiq Maqbool/AP, via Al Jazeera)

Gender, Other

Palestine News | Women

Gender equality advocates campaign to remove marital status from Palestinian ID cards in the West Bank
  • Women testify to facing harassment and discrimination when presenting their cards, including intrusive questioning from landlords while searching for housing rentals.
  • Members of women’s rights groups launched a campaign in April petitioning for the removal of the status, with Sharia judges and other officials indicating openness to the change.
  • The Ministry of the Interior has expressed support for the idea, but deflected responsibility for change to the Palestinian Legislative Council, which would have to create legislation for the removal to take effect.

“I experienced difficulty in finding a home to rent as a divorced woman. Landlords kept telling me, ‘You’re a woman, where are we supposed to find you to collect the rent?’”

Read the full story at Al-Monitor.
(Image Credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters, via Al-Monitor)
Gender

Mexico News | Women

High levels of femicide keep women’s security low in Central Mexico
  • For every 100 women murdered in Mexico’s 31 states between 2008 and 2013, 14 of them took place in Mexico State (Edomex).
  • The deaths occur in the context of an ongoing drug war that has seen more than 100,000 people killed or gone missing.
  • Despite bodies turning up regularly in rivers and sewers, state authorities are reluctant to cooperate with requests for exact figures and at times will bury individuals found without allowing families to see the bodies.

“We are never alone. We try to go in groups wherever we go.”

Read the full story at Channel NewsAsia.

(Image Credit: Omar Torres/AFP, via Channel NewsAsia)

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Sexual + Gender Minorities

South Korea Perspectives | Black Lesbian

Video

Charly | South Korea

Charly provides a glimpse of Pride in South Korea, documenting singing, dancing, and anti-gay demonstrations at the event back in 2014.

Follow Charly and find similar first-person accounts from around YouTube through Outlas’s collection First Person: Black in East Asia.

Individuals associated with curated content are not affiliated with Outlas, and their inclusion is not an official endorsement of any opinions expressed but is rather a part of a representation of diverse perspectives on global multicultural life.

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity

South Korea Perspectives | Black Woman

Video

Ane | South Korea & China

Beauty vlogger Ane recounts workplace reactions to her hair, funny grocery store encounters, and the paparazzi treatment as she shares her experience as a black woman living in South Korea and visiting China.

Follow similar first-person accounts curated from around YouTube through Outlas’s collection First Person: Black in East Asia.

Individuals associated with curated content are not affiliated with Outlas, and their inclusion is not an official endorsement of any opinions expressed but is rather part of a representation of diverse perspectives on global multicultural life.

Gender

Afghanistan News | Women

First woman nominated to Supreme Court in Afghanistan

  • President Ashraf Ghani put forth Anisa Rasooli for parliamentary approval to join the nine-member court.
  • Rasooli has had a distinguished career in the juvenile court system and as director of the Afghan Women Judges Association, but clerical opposition has been swift to protest the nomination.
  • President Ghani has been vocal in his advocacy for more women in government, having appointed two female governors and called for all ministries to appoint female deputy ministers.

Read the full story at Public Radio International.

(Image Credit: Sayed Salahuddin/Reuters)

Gender

Australia News | Women

Housing in New South Wales domestic violence centers maxed out as government changes reshape landscape of crisis housing
  • In the southeastern Australian state, 90% of the 350 available rooms are full, while Sydney’s accommodations are at capacity.
  • The housing saturation comes as 28,870 domestic violence incidents were reported in the first quarter of the year, including 8 deaths.
  • Center managers report that a recently implemented governmental program has consolidated transitional and crisis housing with generalized homelessness services, leading to a sharp increase in housing demand and more turn-aways.

“It used to be that we were real advocates for women and now we are quite fearful of saying anything at all. We have to be grateful for every cent that we get.”

Read the full story at the Sydney Morning Herald.

(Image Credit: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, via The Sydney Morning Herald)

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity

South Africa News | Black Women

IBM South Africa launches new program devoted to entrepreneurship and STEM education for black South Africans
  • The IBM South Africa Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Equity Equivalent Investment Programme will devote millions of South African rands to skills education, financial and professional development support for small and medium-sized businesses, and the construction of a new research hub in Johannesburg.
  • The program is focused on supporting information, communication, and technology entrepreneurship and business development in South Africa’s black communities, particularly among black women.
  • The program’s academic components will support undergraduate, Master’s, and doctoral students through scholarships, internships, and supplementary courses and projects.

“The equity equivalent programmes are expected to contribute towards the achievement of enterprise creation and development, foreign direct investment, accelerated growth and development of black rural women and youth, sustainable growth and development, human development with focus on education and skills development, infrastructure investment with an emphasis on developing the country’s research and development infrastructure.”

Read the full story at SAinfo.

(Image Credit: IBM photo, via SAinfo)