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Middle East | Saudi Arabia | Culture

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

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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 | 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
South Asia | India | Culture

How come there are no girls? Pregnant women in India want to know

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The issue of sex-selective abortion is a huge and complex problem in parts of India. It’s led to gender imbalances in some Indian states that have reached “emergency proportions,” according to the United Nations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to use both public relations and law enforcement to combat the practice, which seems only to be growing, especially in the country’s deeply patriarchal northwestern regions. Under Indian law, it’s strictly illegal for a doctor to reveal the sex of a fetus “by any words, by any sign, by any way, by any means — by emailing or an
Africa | South Sudan | Crimes

South Sudanese girls given away as ‘blood money’

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Due to extreme gender inequalities in South Sudan, a large majority of girls in the country are subjected to at least one form of domestic violence in their young lives. They are also three times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than to finish primary education, according to the international children’s development organization Plan International. But young girls in the country’s Eastern Equatoria State suffer a particularly abhorrent practice which is traditional among at least five of the state’s 12 tribes – “blood money” compensation.
Africa | Sudan | Crimes

A HEMLINE IS NOT A CRIME: 10 Women at risk of flogging for “indecent” clothing

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Sudan's Public Order Police have charged 10 female Christian students with 'indecent dress, and subjected them to humiliation during their detention. On June 25, Sudan's Public Order Police stopped 12 female Christian students in front of the Evangelical Baptist Church where they had attended a ceremony. They were wearing trousers and skirts. The students were charged with "indecent dress" under Article 152 of Sudan's 1991 Criminal Act. Two were released. The students were subjected to degrading treatment and humiliating verbal abuse during their detention. They were released on bail on
South Asia | India | Culture

Female foeticide, India’s ‘ticking bomb’

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The jubilant young man's arrival brought an abrupt halt to the card game contested by the turbaned group sitting under the tree. He thought he had good news for them: "I've been blessed with a baby girl!" he announced proudly.  The response was not what he expected - the group's shock quickly turned to ridicule. "Why didn't you get her killed in the womb?" came the collective cry. "Did you not get a gender determination test done on the foetus?" Such a test is illegal in India, but this reaction - discovered during an undercover investigation by Al Jazeera in the village o
Latin America | Brazil | Crimes

Brazil’s tough laws on violence against women stymied by social norms

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In a bid to improve matters, in March Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff launched a zero tolerance policy towards violence against women and girls. The penal code was changed to include femicide – defined as any crime that involves domestic violence, discrimination or contempt for women, which results in their death. And tougher sentences were introduced of between 12 to 30 years’ imprisonment for violence charges. Longer jail terms were brought in for crimes committed against pregnant women, girls under 14, women over 60 and women and girls with disabilities. It was a major great st
North America | United States | Crimes

Honor Killings in America

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Violence against women is not just a problem in countries like Afghanistan and Somalia. It's happening in the U.S. too. Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, gets it. “I don’t see,” he told me this week, “how anyone who believes in the rule of law and the rights of women could do anything other than support efforts to end female-genital mutilation, forced marriage and honor-killings—practices that have no place in the 21st century.” These things do happen. Two teenage sisters are shot, point blank, in the back of their father’s taxi, apparently for the shame they brou
Africa | South Africa | Corruption

Girls as young as 10 sold as sex slaves in South Africa

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One in three of the identified females who were trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation in South Africa last year were girls younger than 18 – with some of them as young as 10, according to human-trafficking expert and University of the Free State researcher Monique Emser. Research conducted in 2014 by the research firm LexisNexis, as part of its annual human trafficking index, tracked down 16 women and eight girls, who had been trafficked and sexually exploited, from media reports. Emser, who was one of the researchers for the index, said the cases were selected from reported
Middle East | Israel | Culture

First race in Arab-Israeli city: Female runners get threats

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Arab and Jewish runners, especially women, were excited for the first ever race in the Arab city of Tira. The organizers worked to encourage young female athletes to get involved in more physical activities in the community. Eighty women were scheduled to run this weekend. However, religious leaders said that they objected to women running while wearing shorts and tights. They suggested that the women run inside a local soccer stadium instead of outside on the streets. Activists and residents claimed that female runners were wearing immodest outfits. Despite the fact that all proper perm
South Asia | India | Politics

This is stupid: In Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party Legislator Blames Women for Rape

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A lawmaker of the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has said women were as much responsible for rapes, drawing strong condemnation from opposition parties. "A lot of rape incidents are happening these days, causing a hue and cry in the media. No government can change this unless society corrects itself. And if someone says women are less responsible, actually women are more to blame," Shiv Charan Prajapati, the legislator from Hamirpur, was heard saying at a women's meet. At this, UP Women's Commission Chairperson Zarina Usmani, who was presiding over the meeting, objected, reporte
Europe | U.K. | Corruption

Mothers Watch Your Children: More than 260 charged in online child abuse operation

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Teachers, civil servants and police are among 264 people that have been charged following an probe targeting those accessing child abuse images online. A total of 745 suspected paedophiles have been arrested in the National Crime Agency's Operation Notarise, launched just over a year ago. The agency said 518 children had been protected as a result. Of those charged, 47 were employed in positions of trust or voluntary roles with access to children, the NCA said. NCA director general Keith Bristow said the volume of work related to online paedophile cases had placed a strain on invest
Middle East | Saudi Arabia | Culture

Saudi wife is divorced, lashed over WhatsApp post

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A man from Saudi Arabia divorced his wife because of her WhatsApp status: “I pray to be patient enough to put up with you,” followed by initials matching the husband’s name. The 32-year-old woman admitted that she posted the offensive status after she and her husband argued via the mobile messaging service. She was sentenced to 70 lashes as punishment.
Asia | China | Business

Trend: Girls lured into job interview rape traps

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A few days ago, a young woman named Xiaomei was lured into a supposed job interview through a popular online chat tool. Her interviewer then allegedly attempted to sexually assault her. Police say that it is common for young women to be lured into meeting in person through popular chat tools like Moumou and Weixin. Authorities remind students to verify the identity of their contact, even though online job searches are more convenient. They have also been advised not to meet with strangers alone.

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