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
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
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
North America | United States | Law

​​​​​​​Male-Only Draft “Unconstitutional”: Women’s Compulsory Military Service

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"They are going to draft your daughters for their forever wars," Ben Domenech of The Federalist rages. This after a federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that a male-only draft is unconstitutional in a surprise decision that only began to hit the press late Sunday via a USA Today report. US District Judge Gray Miller of the Southern District of Texas wrote in his ruling that the “time has passed” on continued debate for women in the military, regardless of if the controversial issue of women serving in combat “may have justified past discrimination.” Miller issued the decis
South Asia | India | Culture

Uttar Pradesh’s first woman qazi demands immediate ban on practice of triple talaq

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Supporting the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan’s move to demand a ban on triple talaq and dubbing it as ‘misinterpretation of ‘ayats’ (verses), Uttar Pradesh’s first woman qazi Hina Zaheer Naqvi on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to intervene into the matter and demanded an immediate ban on the practice. Naqvi said oral talaq has been widely misused, adding this puts a Muslim women’s life at risk as it is promoting more and more divorces. “I strongly oppose triple talaq. Even Quran, the central religious text of Islam, does not give any instructi
Latin America | Brazil | Law

Dilma Rousseff Was Not Impeached, Legal Scholars Say

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In Brazil, Ms. Rousseff has not yet been impeached, legal scholars say. “In Brazil, the term impeachment is used only after a conviction is made in the trial,” said Daniel Vargas, a law professor at Fundação Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro. Now that Brazil’s Senate voted against her on Thursday, Ms. Rousseff will have to step aside during her impeachment trial, which could last for six months. But if she is ultimately absolved, she will not have been impeached, Mr. Vargas said.
Middle East | Palestine | Culture

How this new divorce law further marginalizes Gaza’s women

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The Higher Sharia Court Council in the Gaza Strip issued a decision Feb. 7 granting a husband the right to file for divorce if his wife subjects him to verbal or physical abuse. The ruling has angered the feminist community, because it gives the husband the opportunity to divorce his wife while denying her rights to which she would otherwise be entitled in a divorce. Prior to the decision, applying for a divorce based on verbal or physical abuse had been limited to women. This was so simply because men can divorce without providing a reason or even filing suit in court. If a wif
Asia | China | Activism

China’s most prominent women’s rights lawyer has been arrested by Chinese authorities

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Chinese authorities have formally arrested China's most prominent woman human rights lawyer, accusing her of subverting the state, her lawyer said on Wednesday, as part of a crackdown on activists who have helped people fight for their legal rights. The lawyer, Wang Yu, was taken into custody last July and accused the next month of inciting subversion and "causing a disturbance". Wang is the best-known human rights lawyer targeted in an unprecedented nationwide sweep by Chinese police last July, during which hundreds of lawyers were detained. A formal arrest usually leads to a trial and
Europe | Russia | Crimes

Ukrainian pilot tells court she was smuggled into Russia at gunpoint

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Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, on trial for the murder of two Russian journalists, said Tuesday she was captured by pro-Kremlin separatists and then smuggled into Russia by armed, masked men. "I am a prisoner of war and a hostage who has been abducted," Savchenko told the court in a dramatic speech, saying separatist rebels captured her in eastern Ukraine and told her they would "sell" her to Russia. The 34-year-old military helicopter navigator was testifying for the first time at her high-profile trial in the small border town of Donetsk in southern Russia. The case has made her a nati
North America | United States | Activism

Beth Clarkson, Kansas statistician, suing the state to obtain election records, says voting results don’t add up

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A university mathematician found something that didn't add up, and now she's suing the state of Kansas to make sure every vote counts. Wichita State University statistician Beth Clarkson requested Sedgwick County release election records for the recent election. This week, Secretary of State Kris Kobach asked a judge to block that request. Clarkson said the election results in some counties, including Johnson County, are impossible to audit. During a celebration for the 95th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Clarkson said, “If we’re not bei
South Asia | India | Law

Nearly all India’s Muslim women reject ‘triple talaq’, polygamy, survey finds

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More than 90 percent of Muslim women surveyed in India want the "triple talaq" divorce ritual and polygamy banned from family civil law in the country, a study by a women's rights organisation said on Friday. The Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) said its survey also showed that three quarters of interviewees wanted a ban on child marriage, indicating a need for reforms in the Muslim personal law which governs family-related issues in India. Activists say the current law discriminates against women and are calling for a well-defined Muslim law that criminalises polygamy, unilateral
South Asia | India | Law

Study: 89% Muslim women want government hand in codification of law

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Around 89% Muslim women feel that the government should intervene and help in codification of law and 86% want religious leaders to take responsibility of justice for them. This and many other findings have come out in a study conducted by Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), an organisation that looks to take up rights of Muslim women in particular and women in general. Among the other major findings is that an overwhelming percentage of women (95.5%) from the sample study have not heard about the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). Formed in 1985, AIMPLB is often considered t
International | Law

Amnesty International row: Should prostitution be decriminalised?

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It's not often that a liberal newspaper like The Guardian rails against an organisation like Amnesty International. But last week the paper ran a stinging editorial questioning the wisdom of the human rights group. It said Amnesty would make a "serious mistake" if it advocated the decriminalisation of prostitution - a decision the group's international council will vote on later on Tuesday. It's not just The Guardian that is upset. Several women's groups have got together with a host of big-name actresses - including Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet - to criticise Amnesty af