From the prime minister’s public comments to Australia’s diplomatic behaviour, there is considerable room for improvement if we are to be “fair dinkum” about gender equality.
U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., spoke during a Senate hearing on March 6 about being sexually assaulted in the military.
REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Sen. Martha McSally has broken gender barriers right and left. Despite the power she amassed over a career of firsts, she felt ‘powerless’ when raped. She’s not the only woman to feel that way.
Research shows women’s participation in a peace process makes it more likely to be effective.
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The US is negotiating a peace agreement with the Taliban, so it can safely withdraw its troops. But how can peace last in Afghanistan if women aren’t at the negotiating table?
Kamala Harris wore white for a reason during her victory speech.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Being the media-savvy women that they were, suffragists realized they needed to come up with a meaningful, recognizable brand.
Australian Muslims are divided on whether women will get a fair deal under Islamic dispute resolution if it is implemented here.
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Islamic dispute resolution is a way of avoiding court but resolving disputes under Islamic law. Other countries use this approach. But is it right for Australia?
Women in Mexico City carry a banner reading “Legal and safe abortion across Mexico” during the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25, 2018).
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP
While the abortion debate continues worldwide, even in countries where it has long been legal, new drugs and telemedicine services could provide access to safe abortion beyond borders and laws.
International student Aiia Maasarwe was murdered by a stranger in a public place. Is this common in Australia?
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Murders of women in public spaces by strangers are not commonplace. And murders in Australia in general are on the decline. Compared to many countries, Australia is a safe place.
Laws in Sierra Leone often leave young women in the lurch.
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Violence is not just a private matter between people. Regulating it is not the duty of communities or the state alone.
The Hague Convention on child abduction was drafted to deal with fathers abducting their children across borders after losing custody, but it’s applied mainly to mothers fleeing domestic violence.
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Under international law, a mother escaping domestic violence with her children to another country is seen as an abductor. She is often ordered to return the child leading to catastrophic consequences.
For many Muslim women, a hijab is a way of expressing resistance.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
In the #MeToo era and with more women entering Congress, activists are hopeful another state could ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. But is it too late?
In Myanmar, gender inequality is fed by a deeply held concept called ‘hpon,’ which considers men to be spiritually and morally better than women.
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In Myanmar, spousal abuse is legal and stigma stop most women from reporting sexual violence. A bill championed by feminists but long stalled in Parliament may soon give women their basic rights.
In 2017, the reduction of gender pay gaps came to a halt at the global level.
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More and more countries are relying on the approach of transparency rather than regulation. Depending on local specificities, the results to date remain mixed.
In certain communities in Benin, Togo and Ghana, young virgin girls are sent to atone for their family’s wrongdoing.
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Trokosi is an ancient practice in West Africa where virgin girls, some as young as six are sent as slaves to make amends for wrongs committed by their families.
Tanzania was one of the first sub-Saharan African nations to embrace family planning as a national development priority.
US Air Force
Tanzania was an early, ardent believer in family planning. Now it joins a growing number of developing nations that see potential advantage in having a huge and growing workforce.
Women hold signs as they take part in a demonstration against government plans to ban or limit the practice of abortion in Turkey on 22 June 2012, in Istanbul.
Reuters
Abortion appears to be illegal and clandestine in large parts of the Muslim world. Yet, women continue to challenge the status quo and archaic laws through their daily practices and activism.
The British government is consulting on changes to the Gender Recognition Act, including whether to allow gender self-identification.
Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg paying a courtesy call on Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., left, and Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., in June 1993, before her confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court.
AP/Marcy Nighswander
Before she became a Supreme Court justice, the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s work as an attorney in the 1970s changed the court’s approach to women’s rights and how we think about women – and men.