Debates on decriminalising abortion have been repeatedly delayed.
Cancún is one destination for American women seeking an abortion. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Abortions happened in Arizona, despite a near-complete abortion ban enacted in 1864. But people also faced penalties for them, including a female doctor who went to prison.
Jacqueline O’Neill, Canada’s ambassador for Women, Peace and Security, appears before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade in November 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
The recent release of Canada’s third National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security highlights challenges and opportunities that go far beyond the ‘add women and stir’ approach.
Education for girls in Afghanistan is banned after the sixth grade.
Omer Abrar via Getty Images
Enayat Nasir, University at Albany, State University of New York
If the ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan persists, consequences could include higher rates of abuse, the spread of extremism and billions of dollars in economic loss.
Language matters to law. Changes in how words are used can impact our ability to know about people’s lives and protect their rights. Protestors gather at the Alberta legislature during a rally for trans rights in Edmonton, Feb. 4, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken
Transparent public discussions are needed around how ‘sex,’ ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ are being defined and given effect in education, law, public policy and beyond.
Legendary European parliament president Simone Veil fought for women’s reproductive rights in France and in Brussels. Is her legacy about to be re-opened?
Charlotte Smith, Mary Robinson and Mary Wollstonecraft.
Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo/Waddesdon Manor/National Portrait Gallery
Updating the constitution to reflect more liberal values has been the work of decades.
Women’s wills and last testaments provide a more nuanced picture of life in the Middle Ages than medieval stereotypes allow, such as that depicted in “Death and the Prostitute” by Master of Philippe of Guelders.
Gallica/Bibliothèque nationale de France/Feminae
European women’s rights expanded in early medieval cities, though they were still limited. Last wills and testaments were some of the few documents women could dictate themselves.
A vote on International Women’s Day should make the constitution more gender-neutral – but there is still a catch.
An Iranian woman not wearing a mandatory headscarf walks past a group of young women who cover their hair in November 2023.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Iranian women are still pressing for women’s rights and equality, just in quieter forms, including not wearing mandatory hair covers. Imprisoned activists are also leaking messages to others.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the favorite to become Mexico’s first female president.
AP Photo/Marco Ugarte
Women represent half of Mexico’s Congress and hold key positions in politics and the judiciary. But the country is still dogged by high rates of femicide.
Narges Mohammadi, a jailed Iranian women’s rights advocate, won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. Photo taken in 2021.
Reihane Taravati / Middle East Images / Middle East Images via AFP
Narges Mohammadi is the second Iranian woman, after Shirin Ebadi, to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She remains locked up in Evin, Iran’s most notorious prison for political detainees.
‘Democracy is in decline’ says Nobel committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen, as she gives the award to Iranian women’s rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi.
Terje Pedersen/NTB
In some conservative countries, the abaya is part of expected dress. But in countries where Muslims are in the minority, the abaya can be a way for women to connect with their religious identity.