Middle East | Iran | Culture

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

Source:
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.
Middle East | Saudi Arabia | Culture

Apple and Google Accept Saudi Smartphone App Which Tracks Women’s Movements

Source:
Apple and Google are facing criticism for hosting a Saudi Arabian smartphone app on their platforms which allows men to track women’s movements and “stop them leaving the country.” According to Insider, the app, named Absher — which is available on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store — is “a government web service which allows men to specify when and how women can cross Saudi borders, and to get close to real-time SMS updates when they travel.” The SMS feature reportedly notifies men “when a woman uses her passport at a border crossing or airport check-i
Middle East | Saudi Arabia | Culture

Prince Says Saudi Arabia Not Yet Ready to Allow Women to Drive

Source:
Saudi Arabia isn’t ready to end the world’s only ban on women driving, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said, arguing it’s not just a matter of ending strictures imposed by the kingdom’s austere form of Islam. Allowing women to drive is “not a religious issue as much as it is an issue that relates to the community itself that either accepts it or refuses it,” said the 30-year-old prince, who has amassed unprecedented powers since his father, King Salman, ascended to the throne. “The community is not convinced about women driving” and sees negative consequences if it�
Asia | Japan | Politics

Ridiculous: Japan politician tells women to ‘contribute’ by having more babies

Source:
Japan’s top government spokesman has sparked controversy after encouraging women to “contribute” to the nation by bearing lots of children. Yoshihide Suga, the chief cabinet secretary, immediately came under fire for his comments, which coincided with the government’s high-profile efforts to involve more women in the workforce. Critics compared Mr Suga’s comments to the stance taken by Japan’s wartime leaders, who encouraged women to reproduce in order to bolster the nation’s military ambitions. Speaking on a Fuji TV news show, Mr Suga expressed his
Middle East | Iran | Politics

The woman given 12 years in jail for humiliating Iran’s most powerful men on YouTube

Source:
How would you respond to a spell behind bars in a repressive country? Most of us would probably opt to keep quiet and try resuming our lives. Somewhere in Iran, probably in Gharchak jail outside the town of Varamin, a young woman is now a prisoner because she made the opposite choice. Atena Farghadani, a 29-year-old artist, has been punished with a sentence of 12 years and nine months for daring to expose the reality of her treatment at the hands of Iran’s prison system. At a time when Britain has reopened its Embassy in Tehran and a procession of European foreign minis
Middle East | Iran | Culture

Iran: Cars of ‘poorly veiled women’ to be confiscated by police

Source:
Iranian women are being warned against driving with loosely held veils or no head covering. Women found driving without the appropriate head covering will have their cars seized, according to a police official on 2 September. According to the head of Tehran's traffic police, General Teymour Hosseini, once a woman's car is seized, court permission will be required to retain the car. "If a [female] driver in a car is poorly veiled or has taken her veil off, the vehicle will be seized in accordance with the law," said Hosseini, reported AFP News. Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadegh Lari
Europe | France | Crimes

French swimming champion attacked for being gay

Source:
Mélanie Hénique, a 23-year-old French swimmer, bronze medalist at the 2014 World Championships in Doha and a European champion in mixed medley in 2012, was attacked for being a lesbian. The insult on the famous athlete at home reignited a sensitive debate in the country. Henique, who identifies herself as gay but says that she prefers to keep her private life private, was leaving a restaurant with a couple of female friends when four men insulted them and hit them.
Europe | U.K. | Health

Better-educated women contributing to rise in UK alcohol consumption – OECD

Source:
Dangerous drinking among better-educated women has contributed to an increase in alcohol consumption over the last 30 years in the UK, bucking a downward trend in industrialised countries, according to a large international study. The report, Tackling Harmful Alcohol Use, by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that on average, each person in the UK consumes 10.6 litres of pure alcohol a year, compared with 9.5 litres across the OECD’s 34 member countries. The study said the UK was the 11th heaviest-drinking country out of the 40 that it examined. In further
North America | United States | Business

This Is Why Bud Light Had No Problem Releasing An Offensive Marketing Campaign

Source:
Yesterday, Bud Light issued an apology after facing a firestorm of criticism over beer labels that read, “The Perfect Beer For Removing ‘No’ From Your Vocabulary For The Night.” The labels are part of the “Up For Whatever” marketing campaign, which also faced criticism for a tweet during St. Patrick’s Day saying, “You can also pinch people who aren’t #UpForWhatever.” Both taglines could be construed to endorse unwanted sexual contact or, in the case of the most recent one, rape. Plenty of women know about rape culture and have fought against it, but women may not have be