Author: towards-equality
-
Saving Kabukicho Streetwalkers
Japan takes a new approach to helping women trapped in “the world’s oldest profession.”
-
In Kenya, “medical” genital cuttings are on the rise
When the country banned female genital mutilation in 2011, few expected this traditional practice to migrate to underground clinics.
-
From Exploitation to Activism
When an abused Bolivian domestic worker finally dared to inquire about her legal rights, it changed her life. Now, she is helping change the lives of other immigrants in Brazil as well.
-
An Audio Guide to Decode Centuries of Gender Bias in Art
Why do kidnapping scenes abound on painting rails? What do these nude women bathers so often painted tell us? Created by French historian Julie Beauzac as part of Geneva’s Les Créatives festival, an audio guide invites you to decipher the paintings from a feminist point of view.
-
Sex Matters: Medical Research Overlooks Women
Scientists still ignore sex differences in testing new treatments.
-
Ukraine war transforms doctor’s hospital into “horror film”
Anesthesiologist Valentyna Lisnycha cares for wounded soldiers and civilian blast victims at Dnipro’s Mechnikov Hospital, just a hundred kilometers from the frontlines.
-
“We Can Finally Exhale”: Women Left Out of 9/11 Benefits Eligible for Health Care, Compensation
The decision to add uterine cancer to the list came after multiple stories from The Fuller Project and its partners about how women were systemically left out of the government’s World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP).
-
India’s Solar Power Push Delivers an Unexpected Bonus Empowering Rural Women
In India, rural communities are increasingly adopting solar power, and there is growing evidence that women are among the biggest beneficiaries.
-
Despeñaderos Hits a Double
A small Argentine town gives battered women hope for financial independence through jobs that fight climate change.
-
Kenya: Land Rights for Women
For more than a decade, Kenya has increased women’s land ownership rights. Benefits have rippled through the economy and society, although more remains to be done.
-
How Fog Harvesting Liberates the Women of Sidi Ifni in Morocco
At an altitude of 1,225 meters, at the top of Mount Boutmezguida in Morocco, an innovative technology captures water droplets from the fog. This ambitious project has already changed the lives of 300 women and girls, who are freed from the burden of having to collect water.
-
Fight Against Domestic Violence: The Spanish Model
In Spain, public services offer financial aid and emergency housing to victims, as well as tools to achieve long-term emancipation through work, training courses, job opportunities… A model of long-term support.
-
Women’s Football Is Gaining New Ground in Morocco, and Mentalities Are Shifting, Too
In recent years, the landscape of Moroccan sport has changed significantly due to the emergence of the Atlas Lionesses, the national women’s football team. An investment that has also brought about a shift in mentalities in Moroccan society.
-
Protesting with a Pen
An exiled Afghan journalist chronicles violence against women in her home country, one heartbreaking story at a time.
-
Women-led peacebuilding creates bridges across rival Tripoli neighborhoods
Residents of the Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhoods used to wage bloody clashes against one another. Now they’re coming together for civic projects thanks to this NGO.
-
Gender Bias in AI: “We Underestimate the Human Component of These Tools”
AI may be revolutionary, but it remains heavily gender-biased. Estelle Pannatier, Policy and Advocacy Officer at AlgorithmWatch CH, explains how these biases occur and discusses existing and future legal regulation.
-
Deciphering the Unexplained Pay Gap
Japan’s Mercari was perplexed when a study showed a pay gap between its male and female employees. The company set out to find explanations—and solutions.
-
“I’m not in charge”: Brazil fights domestic abuse by educating violent men about patriarchy
At group meetings around the country, men who have been convicted of domestic abuse are learning about how the patriarchy shapes their behaviour, and what they can do about it.
-
Women’s Pain: Tackling the Taboos
Endometriosis affects one in 10 women, impacting their personal and professional lives, yet it is often misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and left untreated.
-
Metle Metlik, the First Women’s Sexuality Platform in Lebanon and the Arab World
Two female doctors, Sandrine Atallah and Gaël Abou Ghannam, are on a mission to inform Arab women about sexuality and reproductive health, in an innovative way.
-
A Blueprint for Stemming Gender-Based Violence
More than two decades ago, Spain embarked on reforms to curb violence against women. It is now considered a model for other European countries.
-
Stealth Beauty Salons
Afghanistan’s female stylists, now unemployed, are desperately seeking ways to circumvent and roll back Taliban restrictions.
-
What if only women voted in Germany?
What would Germany look like if only women voted? Which parties would be in power and which decisions might have gone differently?
-
Morocco: How Tibu Africa Uses Sport to Transform Women’s Lives
Founded in 2011 in Morocco, Tibu Africa aims to create genuine pathways to personal and professional success through sport. Programs launched by this NGO have had a major social impact, and managed to reach more than 250,000 participants in 2022, with a focus on girls’ and women’s emancipation and their socio-economic empowerment.
-
Brazil’s Christian Feminists
Catholic and evangelical women are organizing to defend women’s bodily autonomy.
-
Sex Ed in the Crosshairs
Argentina’s 2006 Sex Education Law faces new opposition despite its positive impact.
-
Sex Ed: Beyond Risk Prevention
Educators in Spain are taking a holistic approach to sex ed, covering topics that range from desire and body image to equality, identity and diversity.
-
South Korea: Where Feminism Has Become Taboo
In this special edition of The 51%, Annette Young heads to South Korea, which, despite its impressive economic record, consistently scores poorly for gender equality among advanced nations.
-
The Women Workers Who Are Subsidizing Global Public Health
For many experts, the struggles of community health workers during the Covid-19 pandemic laid bare the lie behind a common trope used to justify their lack of pay: that women are innately motivated to serve their communities.
-
Gender Equality, a Responsibility We All Share
Biases against women have a way of permeating every area of our lives. So it’s no surprise that they show up in journalism, impacting whose stories get told, and how. This collaboration is an effort to try and go against misconceptions and oversimplifications.
-
Irène Frachon v. the Mediator Drug: One Woman’s Fight to Help Numerous Victims
The French pulmonologist and whistleblower Irène Frachon looks back on her years of battle against the appetite suppressant drug Mediator, which has been blamed for causing hundreds of deaths in France, before it was taken off the market in November 2009.
-
Female-Only Uniforms in Japan? Don’t Bank on It!
Japan’s financial institutions are abandoning decades-old dress codes for women.
-
Kenya’s Battle to Eradicate FGM
The government and other actors are determined to win, but this harmful practice remains stubbornly entrenched.
-
La Furiosa, the milonga that breaks tango stereotypes
Tango without gender-defined roles. Women who dance with women. Men who are led by women. The queer milonga was introduced in Argentina at the beginning of the 2000s to break with the stereotypes set by the traditional, heteronormative tango.
-
Cleaning up India, one septic tank at a time
The trials and triumphs of five female de-sludging operators (DSOs) in the south Indian city of Tiruchi.
-
Gender Quotas in Politics: Still a Long Road Ahead for Lebanese Women
Fifty-Fifty and other women’s associations have made the participation of Lebanese women in politics their mission.
-
No, Women Are Not Actually Bad at Math or Directions. So, Where Do These Sexist Clichés Come From?
French historian Muriel Salle explains the origins of some of the most widespread stereotypes devaluing women.
-
Wanted: Female Engineers
In Japan, universities are instituting quotas to help bring parity to this male-dominated field.
-
When Boreholes are Gamechangers
In drought-stricken Kenya, boreholes provide desperately needed water–and help save women from gender violence.
-
Fawzia Koofi: “Equality in Afghanistan is unfortunately a far-off dream”
Fawzia Koofi was one of the few female members of the government team tasked with negotiating with the Taliban in 2020.
-
Indian economist Jayati Ghosh: “Women’s Work Is Not Valued Properly”
“Ultimately economics is about power, and therefore politics. It is presented as this “technocratic” discipline, but that is a smokescreen for hiding the real power imbalances at play”, says the development economist.
-
Tackling Gender Inequality in the IT World
In Brazil, men still hold 80 percent of IT jobs, but {reprograma} is helping narrow the gender gap.
-
An Environment of Gender Equality
Supriya Sahu, the woman at the forefront of India’s first state-level climate action, knows that women must be part of any viable climate solution.
-
Shukria Barakzai: “What the Taliban claim in Afghanistan has no background in Afghan culture”
Shukria Barakzai is one of the Afghan Active Women who highlights the women’s issues in Afghanistan in international platforms, and defends the rights of Afghan women.
-
Web App Helps Combat Domestic Violence in Rio de Janeiro
In response to soaring domestic abuse during Covid-19 lockdowns, law students created the novel Maria da Penha Virtual app.
-
Ni Una Meno: The Latin American protest that anticipated #MeToo
In 2016, the first national strike against femicides was held in Argentina; it was echoed in Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, Honduras, France and Spain. A year later, the First International Women’s Strike took place.
-
Zeinab Moukalled, 86, a Tireless Pioneer of Waste Sorting in Lebanon
Against all odds, Zeinab Moukalled has organized waste sorting in her Lebanese town for more than three decades.