Femina
Femina
Do women lead, connect and share differently? Subscribe for the latest stories.

South Asia | Afghanistan | Culture

The Taliban orders women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public

Source:
Taliban officials announced that women and girls would be expected to stay home, and if they were to venture out, to cover in all-encompassing loose clothing that only reveals their eyes – preferably, a burka. The restrictions on women's movement and dress are the harshest that the Taliban have announced since they came to power in August. It suggested the increasing dominance of the group's hard-line leaders, who appear to be behind the extended ban on most women and girls attending secondary school. Saturday's announcement seemed to confirm the fears of many Afghans that the Taliban
Europe | Russia | Leadership

Eurasian Women’s Forum: Women in the Changing World

Source:
Women play an increasingly important role in resolving issues that society and the state encounter and in the modern world, they should not face the choice between family and self-fulfillment, According to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the third Eurasian Women’s Forum held in St. Petersburg on October 13-15. “It is completely obvious that in modern conditions a woman should not face the choice between children and family or professional fulfillment. That is why in Russia the conditions are consistently created for a woman after childbirth to begin or resume her professional ca
Europe | Sweden | Politics

Swedish Finance Minister Tipped to Become Country’s First Female PM

Source:
Magdalena Andersson is favourite to become Sweden's prime minister when her Social Democrat colleague Stefan Lofven steps down in November, but major challenges face the current finance minister if she is to keep the top job longer than a few months. If Andersson is picked to head her party in November, she is likely to become Sweden's first female prime minister - 40 years after neighbour Norway got its first woman leader and more than 60 years behind Sri Lanka, which was the first country to do so.
North America | United States | Courts

Amy Coney Barrett Confirmed To Supreme Court, Takes Constitutional Oath

Source:
The Senate has voted 52-48 to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, just about a week before Election Day and 30 days after she was nominated by President Trump to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In a White House ceremony following the vote Monday evening, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered the constitutional oath to Coney Barrett. President Trump spoke at the event, thanking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and calling today a "momentous day" for America, the constitution and the rule of law. He also praised Barrett's intellec
North America | United States | Law

California sued over law requiring women on corporate boards

Source:
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.”
North America | United States | Culture

Women In National Security Push To Move Beyond ‘The First’ And ‘The Only’

Source:
In her 30 years as a U.S. diplomat, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley served as ambassador to Malta, monitored elections in Gaza, led a diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia, expanded counterterrorism partnerships and oversaw a mass evacuation of Americans from a war zone. But no matter how many postings she racked up, Abercrombie-Winstanley said, she often saw shock spread across the faces of men when she walked into rooms for high-level meetings. That's because Abercombie-Winstanley is a woman – a black woman – in the male-dominated world of national security. She's part of a cohort of wo
Europe | U.K. | Career

Lagarde and Von der Leyen: Europe taps first women for powerful roles

Source:
Ursula von der Leyen has been nominated for president of the European Commission, which proposes and enforces policy for the 28-member political and economic union and is one of the two most powerful E.U. institutions. France's Christine Lagarde, who currently heads the International Monetary Fund, has been nominated as president of the European Central Bank, which sets monetary policy for the 19 nations that share the euro currency. Von der Leyen, 60, is a close friend of Angela Merkel, speaks multiple languages and was a doctor before she entered politics. However, the Brussels-born mother
North America | United States | Career

There will be more women on the debate stage this week than ever in US history

Source:
This week’s Democratic debates are set to be historic: It’s the first time ever that more than one woman candidate will be onstage at a US presidential debate. On Wednesday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) will be standing alongside Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) in the first night of the debates. On Thursday, Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and author Marianne Williamson will be among the Democratic contenders duking it out onstage. Throughout America’s nearly 243-year history, there have only been five women candidates who’ve
North America | United States | Career

Melania Trump’s chief of communications Stephanie Grisham picked as next White House press secretary and communications director

Source:
First lady Melania Trump’s chief spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, has been tapped to replace Sarah Huckabee Sanders as the next White House press secretary, the first lady announced Tuesday. Grisham, who had served as the East Wing press secretary since March 2017, will also become the White House communications director, according to the first lady’s tweet. The first lady said in a tweet that she and President Donald Trump “can think of no better person to serve the Administration & our country.”
Middle East | Saudi Arabia | Culture

The Saudi government is hunting down women who flee the country by tracking the IMEI number on their cellphones

Source:
Women who flee Saudi Arabia expect to be chased. They expect their friends to be interviewed, their social media to be scoured, their passports to be frozen. They mostly do not expect Saudi government agents to hunt down the old box for their iPhone. But according to multiple sources who spoke with INSIDER, this is what has been happening in Saudi Arabia's quest to track down the growing number of women who flee the country every year. Cellphone packaging can provide information that could — with the help of spy-grade tracking equipment — trace a Saudi runaway to within a few feet of her
North America | United States | Activism

Ivanka Trump Announces Another Global Women’s Initiative

Source:
The White House announced a new initiative aimed at giving women more seats at the table in global peace efforts, and White House senior advisor Ivanka Trump has been a key player in the effort. The president’s oldest daughter went to Capitol Hill to push forward the initiative, called the National Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security. She also took part in a roundtable discussion with a bipartisan group of lawmakers — including Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Republicans Sen. Jim Risch, Sen. Marco Rubio, and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito — about the plan. Ivanka, whose
Europe | Denmark | Leadership

Mette Frederiksen: The likely future prime minister of Denmark

Source:
Mette Frederiksen, embodies a new Danish Social Democratic model, with a new-found focus on restricting immigration while championing the welfare state. Frederiksen "has workers' blood in her veins, is a fourth generation Social Democrat ... and spent years preparing to take over the leadership (in 2015) of the party she knows so well," daily Politiken wrote on Saturday. Having made her debut in parliament at the age of 24, she served as employment minister and justice minister before taking the reins of Denmark's largest political party. She succeeded Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the coun
Africa | South Africa | Politics

South Africa makes history as women make up half of cabinet for first time

Source:
Women will now make up half of South Africa's new cabinet for the first time in the country's history. President Cyril Ramaphosa who announced the move on Wednesday said the decision was to create a line of leaders that would advance the country's future. "For the first time in the history of our country, half of all the ministers are women," Ramaphosa said in a televised press conference.
South Asia | India | Politics

Women in politics: some prominent faces in the 17th Lok Sabha you should know

Source:
India has sent 78 women lawmakers to the 17th Lok Sabha - the highest ever - and while there are veterans like Sonia Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi, there are also celebrities Hema Malini.  The Lower House will also see new faces such as Nusrat Jahan and Mimi Chakraborty being part of the law-making process this term. Here are some significant faces you should definitely know about.

Read the world's local women's news


How does Femina work?

  • Step 1
    1
    Local Country Editors From Around the World
  • Step 2
    2
    Choose News Articles From Their Countries’ Local Language Papers
  • Step 3
    3
    Summarize & Contextualize The Stories In English

Got it!

Thanks for registering!

Swipe for more Top Stories


Got it!