"China: Female Civil Servants Face Discrimination, Harassment"

1 in 5 Civil Service Job Ads Specify 'Men Only'

"North Korea: Sexual Violence Against Women by Officials"

Impunity for Assault and Rape by Men in Power

"The wind in my hair: one Iranian woman’s courageous struggle against being forced to wear the hijab" - Joanna Moorhead

Masih Alinejad has paid a high price for letting her hair down and criticising her government. She’s been sentenced to prison, fled her native Iran and is unable to see her family. Here, she reveals why all she wants is to give women the choice to wear the hijab or not.

"KINGDOM CRACKDOWN" - Sarah Aziza

Saudi Women Who Fought for the Right to Drive Are Disappearing and Going Into Exile

"The (Silent) Revolution of Muslim Women" - Andrés Ortega

Since 2000, 50 million women in predominantly-Muslim countries have entered the labor market.

Dia Internacional da Mulher - "The Women of Ghouta"

The real-life Scheherazade of the siege

Diaries of the Siege

Dia Internacional da Mulher

A origem operária do 8 de Março, o Dia Internacional da Mulher

1917 February Revolution begins

Emmeline Pankhurst

Carolina Beatriz Ângelo

Maria Lamas

Maria Teresa Horta, Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Velho da Costa

"The Backlash podcast episode 1: Women and the far right"

We talk to three women who know more about the far right than most: councillor Jolene Bunting in Northern Ireland, researcher Marilyn Mayo in the US, and Akanksha Mehta at the University of Sussex.

"Misery for Women and Girls in Greece’s Island Paradise" - Hillary Margolis

Government Downplays Sexual Violence Risks in Migrant Hotspots

"Remembering women killed fighting for human rights in 2017"

More than half of the women cited in AWID’s 2017 tribute to female activists were murdered for defending their rights. Among the women killed are those who fought to protect their land from the state and multinational companies, or called out injustices or corruption, or stood up for the rights of lesbian, gay and trans people.

The Gallery

"The invisible #MeToo: how anonymous testimony can help survivors of sexual abuse" - Emma Hyndman

A college campus project showed me how anonymity can give survivors critical freedom to tell their truth, free from judgement or interruption.

"The Harsh Truth About India’s Godmen" - Shashi Tharoor

Late last month, two Indian states and the national capital were upended by rioting mobs protesting their spiritual leader’s conviction on two counts of raping minor girls. The episode has forced Indians to confront some painful truths about their country.

"China Tells Women to ‘Go Home and Live Well’" - Sophie Richardson

Beijing Urging Women to Quit Their Jobs, Focus on Family

Dia Internacional da Mulher - Lettre d’Anne Frank à Kitty

Dans son incroyable Journal Anne Frank offre à l’humanité l’un des témoignages historiques les plus poignants de la condition des Juifs pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. À l’origine, le texte est une collection de lettres qu’elle écrivit à son amie imaginaire Kitty pendant qu’elle et sa famille se cachaient de l’Occupation nazie. Naturelles et lucides, ses pages rédigées dans le secret et la crainte sont parfois l’occasion de réflexions qui dépassent les soucis de la guerre. En témoigne cet extrait à propos de la condition féminine.

A plusieurs reprises déjà, une des nombreuses questions que je me pose est venue tourmenter mes pensées, pourquoi par le passé, et souvent aussi maintenant, la femme a-t-elle occupé une place beaucoup moins importante que l’homme dans la société ? Tout le monde peut dire que c’est injuste mais cela ne me satisfait pas, j’aimerais tant connaître la cause de cette grande injustice !

On peut concevoir que l’homme, grâce à sa plus grande force physique, a depuis le départ exercé sa domination sur la femme ; l’homme gagne sa vie, l’homme engendre les enfants, l’homme a le droit de tout faire… Il faut dire que les femmes sont idiotes de s’être tranquillement laissé imposer cette règle jusqu’à récemment car plus celle-ci se perpétue à travers les siècles, plus elle s’enracine. Heureusement, les femmes ont quelque peu ouvert les yeux grâce à l’école, au travail et au développement. Dans beaucoup de pays, les femmes ont obtenu l’égalité des droits ; beaucoup de gens, des femmes surtout mais aussi des hommes, s’aperçoivent maintenant à quel point cette division du monde, en place depuis si longtemps, était injuste, et les femmes modernes exigent des droits pour parvenir à une indépendance totale !

Mais cela ne suffit pas, le respect de la femme, voilà ce qu’on attend encore ! De manière générale, dans toutes les parties du globe, l’homme suscite l’admiration ; pourquoi la femme n’a-t-elle pas le droit de bénéficier, en priorité, d’une part de cette admiration ? […]

Je ne veux absolument pas dire que les femmes doivent s’opposer à mettre des enfants au monde, au contraire, la nature est ainsi faite et c’est sans doute très bien comme cela. Je condamne simplement les hommes et tout le fonctionnement du monde, qui n’ont jamais voulu prendre conscience du rôle important, difficile mais en fin de compte magnifique, lui aussi, que joue la femme dans la société. […]

Je pense que la conception selon laquelle la femme a le devoir de mettre les enfants au monde se modifiera au cours du prochain siècle et fera place à du respect et de l’admiration pour celle qui, sans renâcler et sans faire de grandes phrases, prend de tels fardeaux sur ses épaules.

Daqui

Dia Internacional contra a mutilação genital

UN urges renewed fight to end female genital mutilation as populations grow where practice occurs

"The Weaker Sex? Violence and the Suffragette Movement" - Fern Riddell

Fern Riddell investigates the campaign of terror orchestrated by the Edwardian suffragette movement before the First World War and asks why it has been neglected by historians.

In the early hours of a mild November morning in 1913, a three-inch pipe was primed to explode later and destroy the multiple panels and ornate metal work that made the Glass House 'one of the chief attractions' of Alexandra Park in Manchester. A smouldering mass of twisted metal and broken glass was discovered and quickly attributed by the popular press to the wave of 'suffragette outrages' being committed across the country by the militant branch of the women's rights movement. Kew Gardens had already suffered two attacks, on an orchid house and pavilion, and the campaign of arson and intimidation conducted by the militant wing of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and their supporters was reaching its height.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

At long last, there is growing global recognition that violence against women and girls is a human rights violation, public health pandemic and serious obstacle to sustainable development. Yet there is still much more we can and must do to turn this awareness into meaningful prevention and response.

Violence against women and girls imposes large-scale costs on families, communities and economies. When women cannot work as a result of violence, their employment may be put at risk, jeopardizing much-needed income, autonomy and their ability to leave abusive relationships. Violence against women also results in lost productivity for businesses, and drains resources from social services, the justice system and health-care agencies. Domestic and intimate partner violence remains widespread, compounded by impunity for those crimes. The net result is enormous suffering as well as the exclusion of women from playing their full and rightful roles in society.

The world cannot afford to pay this price. Women and girls cannot afford it – and should not have to. Yet such violence persists every day, around the world. And efforts to address this challenge, although rich in political commitment, are chronically under-funded.

Since 2008, I have led the UNiTE campaign to End Violence against Women, which calls for global action to increase resources and promote solutions. I call on governments to show their commitment by dramatically increasing national spending in all relevant areas, including in support of women’s movements and civil society organizations. I also encourage world leaders to contribute to UN Women and to the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. We look as well to the private sector, philanthropies and concerned citizens to do their part.

Today, we are seeing the world lit up in orange, symbolizing a bright future for women and girls. With dedicated investment, we can keep these lights shining, uphold human rights and eliminate violence against women and girls for good.

Ban Ki-moon

ONU

APAV

"Empowering Women And Girl Migrants And Refugees" - Lakshmi Puri

On 19 September 2016, Heads of State and Government will address the issues surrounding large movements of refugees and migrants and endorse a set of commitments and a global agenda for the future when they formally adopt the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.

"A liberation story: How 9/11 and the Iraq war led me to discover my own freedom" - Laura Westley

I graduated from West Point and was commissioned as a U.S. Army officer just three months prior to 9/11. Suddenly, war went from the history books to reality.

"The Islamic Republic’s War on Women" - Ziba Mir-Hosseini

The election of Hassan Rouhani gave new momentum to Iran’s devout Muslim feminists – but the mullahs aren’t having it.