International | Society

Martina Navratilova in ‘transphobic’ row over comments about women’s sport

Source:
Martina Navratilova has angered the transgender community by claiming that people who were born male should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports events. The former Wimbledon champion and LGBT campaigner made the statement on social media, and was swiftly accused of being “transphobic”. Responding to a question from one of her followers about transgender women in sport, Navratilova said: “Clearly that can’t be right. You can’t just proclaim yourself a female and be able to compete against women. There must be some standards, and having a penis and competing as a woman w
Middle East | Qatar | Society

Ridiculous: Qatar court fines four women for beating up relative at wedding

Source:
A misdemeanor court in Doha has ordered four women to pay QR5,000 ($1,373) each for beating a fellow guest at a wedding, Al Raya reported on Friday. According to the newspaper, the women and the victim turned the event (which only had female guests) into a “wrestling ring,” after an argument between relatives escalated into a fistfight. The newspaper did not specify when the incident took place, but stated that those involved in the altercation apparently used knives and forks on the tables and “anything they could get their hands on” to attack each other.
South Asia | Bangladesh | Education

40% of girls miss school due to lack of appropriate restrooms

Source:
As much as 40 percent of girls choose not to go to school for an average of three days each month when they have their period because there are no appropriate restroom facilities, according to a study by the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). The National Hygiene Baseline Survey says that menstrual hygiene is a serious challenge for girls in Bangladesh due to a lack of understanding and general education about it.
North America | United States | Crimes

Alabama, U.S. officials to improve women’s prison known for sex abuse

Source:
Alabama has reached an agreement with U.S. civil rights officers to address sexual abuse at a state women's prison where an investigation found inmates were being raped, fondled and harassed by guards, officials said on Thursday. Governor Robert Bentley announced the plan to reform Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in central Alabama, where federal investigators last year issued a report documenting conditions they called unconstitutional. The U.S. Department of Justice found that inmates were living in fear for their safety in an environment where some were forced to perform sex acts to o
Europe | France | Media

40 female journalists unite against sexist politicians

Source:
More and more female journalists in France cover politics but more and more are also victims of sexism from lawmakers and their PR staffers. To raise awareness, 40 journalists published an article in one of France’s most popular newspapers, Liberation, to denounce misogynist politicians. It’s been 40 years since a woman, Françoise Giroud, founded the mainstream newspaper, L’Express. At that time, she was convinced that politicians would talk more easily to female journalists. But the situation is a lot more complex. Under presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande, fema
North America | United States | Business

Women in the world: Where the U.S. falters in quest for equality

Source:
It's considered an "international bill of rights for women." It promises to end discrimination, establish equality and fight against violence. Nearly all the 193 member states of the United Nations have ratified it. Only seven haven't: Iran, Palau, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tonga. And the United States. The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women -- or CEDAW, as it's known -- was adopted by the United Nations in 1979. It's the biggest treaty creating specific guarantees for women and girls since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established in 1948, when
North America | United States | Arts

Wordless Ads Speak Volumes In ‘Unbranded’ Images Of Women

Source:
Advertisements don't need any words to say a lot about a culture. In the run-up to the 2016 election — and the possibility of a white woman being nominated — Hank Willis Thomas has mounted a new exhibit, featuring women in print. It's called Unbranded: A Century of White Women, and it features images from mainstream commercial print advertisements from 1915 to today. Thomas said, "We can almost never tell what it's actually an ad for, because ads really aren't about the products. It's about what myths and generalizations we can attach, and the repetition of imagery of a certain type.
Europe | France | Activism

Are 100% of women harassed on French public transport? Not Exactly True

Source:
In the report, entitled “Report on sexist harassment and sexual violence in public transport”, which was commissioned by the State Secretary for Women’s Rights, Pascale Boistard, the HCEfh indicates widespread predatory behavior against women in buses, trains and metros within France. Indeed, it says that 100 percent of female public transport users have experienced harassment or sexual aggression at one time or another. The HCEfh claims that all French women have experienced some kind of unwanted sexual attention while riding on public transport. Can this really be true? Well, no
North America | United States | Society

Shame on Her: St. Louis Marathon strips title, says female winner cheated 2 years in a row by sneaking onto course

Source:
Organizers of the St. Louis marathon stripped the winner of her title this week, saying she had crept onto the course late in the race for the second consecutive year to make it appear she had run all 26.2 miles. GO! St. Louis Marathon officials said 26-year-old Kendall Schler of Columbia, Missouri, slipped into the race Sunday after the final checkpoint and appeared to be the first of 582 female finishers. The race actually was won by Andrea Karl. Nancy Lieberman, GO! St. Louis' president, said Friday that race officials had immediate questions about Schler's performance. Contrary to
North America | United States | Culture

Congresswoman Called ‘Exotic’ And ‘Beautiful’ In Article On Foreign Policy Experience

Source:
A new article in the National Review, ostensibly about the foreign policy stances of Hawaii House member Tulsi Gabbard, begins: “She’s young, she’s hip, and she’s beautiful. She’s also a combat veteran and a Democrat.” This is just under the headline, which reads: “Meet the Beautiful, Tough Young Democrat Who’s Turning Heads by Challenging Obama’s Foreign Policy.” The authors then go on to discuss Gabbard’s “exotic background” — she is from American Samoa — before getting to her legislative record and policy views, highlighting several times she has criticized
Asia | China | Culture

China rejects calls to free women’s rights activists

Source:
China has rejected calls from several foreign governments to free five women's rights activists who have spent nearly three weeks in detention. Foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said that nobody had the right to ask China to release the group. The activists were planning public campaigns against sexual harassment. They were arrested in early March in the run-up to China's top political meetings, which coincided with International Women's Day. The BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing says grassroots groups in China have been reporting a marked rise in the detention of political activists
Latin America | Mexico | Culture

Mexican Mayor Says Women Should Be Watching Soap Operas, Not The News

Source:
The mayor of the northern Mexican city of Chihuahua is taking heat for urging a crowd of women to watch soap operas instead of the news during a speech delivered Sunday. During an event to mark the Day of the Domestic Worker, Javier Garfio Pacheco of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party led a raffle for a plasma-screen television and went on to praise them, saying they're the best units for watching soap operas -- or “telenovelas” -- during breaks from work. “No news -- because the news isn’t so good,” Garfio Pacheco said in the speech, while shaking his finger at a
International | Business

Uber partnership with UN women’s group hits dead end

Source:
It looks like a United Nations group devoted to women's rights won't be partnering with controversial car-hailing service Uber after all. "UN Women will not accept an offer to collaborate on job creation with Uber, so you can rest assured about that," the group's executive director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said last week during an event at the UN's 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59), which wrapped up yesterday in New York after a two-week run. A short clip of Mlambo-Ngcuka's remark surfaced on YouTube earlier this week. In a statement sent to various news outle
North America | United States | Culture

In One GIF, This 20-Year-Old Shows How Powerful Women Can Be

Source:
The current Olympic weightlifter told The Huffington Post she joined Crossfit right after graduating high school in 2012. As a former cheerleader and runner, Sperry says she was "very muscular" when she was younger and thought that "being muscular was something to be ashamed of. I thought it made me less feminine or less beautiful than other women," she said. As she got older, however, Sperry learned to accept everything about her body -- especially her muscles. "I realize how important it is to not stereotype a certain body image as 'perfect," she said. "All body types are unique and not e