Tag Archive for "International"

Posts Tagged International

Report finds 80 percent of anti-Muslim attacks in France are against women

A few days ago, Germany’s highest court finally struck down a state law that had banned women from wearing headscarves in classrooms. But the decision, a victory after more than a decade of legal and public debate, is sadly an isolated sign of optimism within an increasingly bleak picture of Western countries marginalizing Muslim women for the way they dress.

By Nancy Tang • 9 years ago

Chinese police detain feminist activists ahead of International Women’s Day

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site.

Brace yourself for the irony: #Beijing20 is trending on Twitter in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing (when Hillary Clinton delivered her “women’s rights are human rights” speech.)

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site.

Brace yourself for the irony: #Beijing20 is trending on Twitter in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference ...

By Lori Adelman • 9 years ago

Global Dispatch: Ireland’s March for Choice

Ed. note: This is a guest post from Grace Wilentz. Grace is a feminist activist and writer based in Dublin, Ireland. She is also a member of the South-based feminist alliance RESURJ: Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice. View previous coverage of Savita Halappanavar and abortion in Ireland here and here.

The sound of rolling suitcases rumbled from Dublin’s main thoroughfare to the Parliament as abortion rights activists took to the streets in Ireland’s third annual March for Choice on Saturday.

Estimates of the turnout are as high as 5000, more than double last year’s numbers. Having been an activist in this movement for a while- long enough to remember when we got excited about 40 people showing up to a demonstration- it ...

By Suzanna Bobadilla • 9 years ago

The Feministing Five: Mallika Dutt

Global activist Mallika Dutt is passionately committed to ending violence against women and girls. As she sees it, “Gender violence against women is a human rights issue and it’s the biggest human rights pandemic on this planet. Bar none. It is imperative that everyone understands their role and place in doing something.”

Since founding Breakthrough, a human rights organization that seeks to end global violence against women and girls, Mallika has been a pioneer on how to use media to spark worldwide change. Breakthrough’s viral videos such as the Bell Bajao and “Be That Guy” campaigns give viewers inspiration on how to take action in their communities. Her organization reaches both the United States and India, implementing a “global ...

By Lori Adelman • 9 years ago

The Savita Effect? How abortion policies really get liberalized

At the start of this year, a new law went into effect in Ireland, signaling a small but significant change for access to safe abortion services in Ireland. Before introduction of the law, Ireland had no practicable framework for accessing safe and legal abortions, making these services virtually unobtainable. Introduction of the law was widely reported, particularly in international media, as a reaction by the government to ...

By Suzanna Bobadilla • 10 years ago

The Feministing Five: Lovisa Stannow

The next time you are looking forward a wonder woman, look no further than Lovoisa Stannow. An established activist and current executive director of Just Detention International, she upholds an extraordinarily difficult yet vital mission — to help end sexual abuse in prisons. In her words, “its the idea that no one should suffer from sexual abuse, regardless of what they have done. We have to remember that every prisoner is a human being.” Caught at the intersection of the anti-violence and anti-prison movements, Lovoisa Stannow and her organization provide resources to support inmates who survived violence across the world.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five with Lovoisa Stannow.

By Jos Truitt • 10 years ago

Guest post: What motivated the raids on sex workers in Soho?

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Mitzi Poesener. Mitzi Poesener is the pseudonym of a British sex worker, writer, and activist, living and working in London.

It’s been six days since the raids on sex workers in Soho, and there is still rampant speculation about the real motives behind the actions. The operation (code named Demontere) was the result of 18 months worth of investigations, and involved 200 ofﬁcers in riot vans supported by sniffer dogs and a helicopter.

It has been reported that this is Westminster council’s biggest operation in years. For such a large operation it is interesting to note that only 22 people have been arrested. Other sex workers have been sent, without charges, to ...

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Mitzi Poesener. Mitzi Poesener is the pseudonym of a British sex worker, writer, and activist, living and working in London.

It’s been six days since the raids on ...

By Emily Villano • 10 years ago

Not Oprah’s Book Club: Do Muslim Women Need Saving?

Do Muslim women need saving? Lila Abu-Lughod’s question challenges what has become, in her words, the “new common sense”: a “moral mainstreaming of global women’s rights” that urges Westerners to intervene on behalf of faraway women held hostage by “backwards” religious beliefs. As feminists, we might see reason to celebrate a global, energized focus on gender. But Abu-Lughod argues persuasively that we have to approach these appeals with caution. Her analysis upsets not only wrong-headed ideas about the “Muslim women” we seek to save, but also fantasies of freedom and consent that form the basis of Western feminism.