South Asia | India | Business

Meet Captain Monica Khanna, who safely landed SpiceJet flight after engine fire

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Captain Monica Khanna’s quick-thinking saved the lives of around 185 passengers on board the SpiceJet flight that caught fire shortly after takeoff on Sunday. The Delhi-bound SpiceJet flight safely returned to Patna after cabin crew noticed sparks flying out of the left engine of the aircraft and alerted the pilots. Captain Monica Khanna – the pilot in-charge – acted calmly and took control of the situation. After consulting with First Officer Balpreet Singh Bhatia, she switched off the affected engine and landed the ‘overweight’ aircraft skillfully in Patna.
Asia | Taiwan | Crimes

Cops raid ‘killer exorcism cult’ hideout led by ‘female Buddha’ in mountains

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Cops have raided dangerous "exorcism" cult led by a "female Buddha" in a secret mountain hideout in Taiwan. Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said 19 followers were rescued from the cult’s headquarters based in a monastery, in the island’s central landlocked county of Nantou in August. Reports say followers of "Zhonghua Rixing Yishang" – or "China Daily Virtue", were prohibited from leaving or speaking without permission and one was reportedly killed in a sick ritual. The death of Taiwanese national Ms Fang, 20, in mainland China sparked police investigations acro
North America | United States | Law

California sued over law requiring women on corporate boards

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California’s first-in-the-nation law mandating women on boards of publicly held companies is facing what appears to be its first legal challenge. Judicial Watch, a Washington-based conservative activist group, said in a lawsuit filed this week on behalf of three California taxpayers that spending taxpayer money enforcing the law is illegal under the California constitution. When then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 826 into law last year, he noted in a letter to the state senate that “There have been numerous objections to this bill and serious legal concerns have been raised.”
Middle East | Iran | Activism

Some Iranian women take off hijabs as hard-liners push back

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The simple act of walking has become a display of defiance for a young Iranian woman who often moves in Tehran’s streets without a compulsory headscarf, or hijab. With every step, she risks harassment or even arrest by Iran’s morality police whose job is to enforce the strict dress code imposed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “I have to confess it is really, really scary,” the 30-year-old fire-safety consultant said in a WhatsApp audio message, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions. But she is also hopeful, saying she believes the authorities find it
South Asia | India | Career

Between domestic chores and agricultural work, rural Indian women have no time for child-rearing

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Working in agriculture-related jobs brings financial freedom to Indian women, but it comes at a cost. Intense work leads to stress and compromises in care responsibilities towards children and also affects the women’s own health, according to recent research published by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). “Women’s work in agriculture seems to have a negative effect on household nutrition through two pathways: lack of adequate time for care work in peak agricultural seasons and seasonal energy with consequent losses in body weight,” the study notes. “Recognition of women
Europe | U.K. | Courts

U.K. Court of Appeal Overturns Ruling Ordering Mentally Disabled Woman to Have Abortion

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A British appeals court on Monday overturned a lower court’s order that a mentally disabled woman undergo an abortion. The earlier ruling had prompted an outcry from the Roman Catholic Church and abortion opponents. The three judges on the Court of Appeal didn’t explain why they ruled against proceeding with the abortion and said they would give their reasons at a later date. The lower court ruled Friday that the woman, who is in her 20s and 22 weeks pregnant, didn’t understand the challenges of caring for a child and wouldn’t be able to meet them. That court, known as the Cour
Latin America | Brazil | Scandal

Survey Indicates 97 Percent of Women Were Harassed in Public and Private Transport

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Almost all (97 percent) of Brazilian women over age eighteen who were surveyed, said they had experiences incidents of sexual harassment on public transport, in Apps transport or in taxis, according to research conducted by the Instituto Patrícia Galvão and Instituto Locomotiva, supported by Uber. "It's a compelling number. This is everyday life for women, the very expression of what is happening," said Jacira Melo, executive director of the Patrícia Galvão Institute. In February of this year, the institutes interviewed 1,081 women who used public or private transportation in the thr
Asia | China | Crimes

Report claims thousands of North Korean women sold into sex slavery in China

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Thousands of North Korean women and girls are being trafficked and sold into sexual slavery in China, where many are sold as wives to Chinese men while others are forced into prostitution or to live stream sex acts against their will, a new report claims. The investigation, by the London-based Korea Future Initiative (KFI), includes shocking first-hand reports of girls as young as 12 being raped and women being forced to participate in cybersex for days without eating. Though female defectors have long been targets of human traffickers, the problem has been exacerbated in recent ye
North America | United States | Career

Women Sue F.B.I., Claiming Discrimination at Training Academy

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Women who were once F.B.I. recruits sued the bureau on Wednesday, accusing it of running a “good-old-boy network” at its training academy that discriminates against women, in some cases because of race and disabilities in addition to gender, and sets them up to fail. Male instructors at the academy in Quantico, Va., exposed the women beginning in 2015 to a hostile work environment, sexual harassment and inappropriate jokes, according to the lawsuit. One woman said that an instructor referred to an African-American female trainee as “spaghetti head,” a reference to her braids. The woma
Latin America | El Salvador | Crimes

Violence Against Women in El Salvador Is Driving Them to Suicide — Or to the U.S. Border

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It’s hard to grasp the scale of El Salvador’s problem with gender violence. In the Central American country of just six million people, one woman was the victim of a femicide — a man murdering of a woman or girl because of her gender — every 24 hours in 2018. That’s one of the worst rates of femicide in the world, according to the United Nations. Sixty-seven percent of Salvadoran women have suffered some form of violence in their lifetime, including sexual assault, intimate partner violence and abuse by family members, a 2017 national survey found. But only 6% of victims had re
South Asia | Nepal | Culture

Why It’s So Hard To Stop Women From Sleeping In A Menstrual Shed

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Every year in Nepal, women die while sleeping in a shed outside their home because they are on their period. The cause of death is often smoke inhalation from lighting a fire to stay warm. The practice, called chaupadi, is linked to Hindu beliefs around religious purity and the idea that menstruation is spiritually polluting. In much of the country, this means that a woman who is menstruating will avoid temples, prayer rooms and kitchens — places important to keep pure in the Hindu religion. In parts of the remote west, an extreme version means nights sleeping outside in a hut or she
North America | United States | Law

Women’s Rights Advocates Condemn DOJ Decision to Not Defend Female Genital Mutilation Law

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On Thursday, April 25th, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12) (pictured center) joined elected officials and Equal Rights Amendment advocates to condemn a recent US Department of Justice decision to not  defend a federal law banning FGM/C, to call for Speaker Pelosi to step in to defend the law, and call for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Congresswoman Maloney is the sponsor of H.J. Res. 35, a bill to restart the ratification process of the ERA. While the Trump Administration has decided not to defend the 1996 law banning FGM/C, the House or the Senate could do s
Latin America | Venezuela | Economy

In Venezuela, women sell hair as another way to get by

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Valery Díaz covered her eyes and held her breath before looking in a hair salon mirror to see herself without much of the long dark hair that used to frame her face. The 16-year-old student was paid $100 for the shorn hair, money she'll use to help her family and buy a cellphone at a time when Venezuela's sharp economic decline has led to shortages of food and medicine, and hyperinflation has made salaries nearly worthless. Increasing numbers of women in poor neighborhoods are selling their hair for use in wigs and extensions as the demands of daily survival force them t
Middle East | Iran | Culture

An Iranian Boxer Won Her First Official Match. Now She Says She Can’t Go Back Home.

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Sadaf Khadem, the first Iranian woman to compete in an official boxing match, won't return home to Iran after learning about an arrest warrant issued against her coach, she announced Wednesday. Khadem was in the western French town of Royan for the fight against boxer Anne Chauvin on Saturday. She won the fight while decked out in a green tank top and red shorts with a white waistband, matching the Iranian flag. Her head was also uncovered while she traded blows, all of which are against Iran's mandatory dress code for women.