Jessica is a global contributor for RH Reality Check. You can find her writing at AlterNet, Ms. Magazine, and Feministe, among other places. She currently lives in Seattle. Follow her on Twitter. More here.
Weekly global roundup: A Tibetan Nun Self-Immolates; women’s rights activists are detained in Zimbabwe; gay rights under threat in Peru; and IPPF asks if we have failed at women’s empowerment and development.
Femicide and violence against women have reached epic proportions in Mexico and Central America, making the reality very near impossible to ignore. Women Under Siege, an innovative new initiative to document and protect the stories of sexual violence survivors, launches today.
Starting this week, we will be bringing you a weekly roundup of global sexual and reproductive health and justice news!
While the UN is still celebrating International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, Tostan, a global rights and health organization, and others are enjoying “International Female Genital Cutting Abandonment Day.” The difference in phrasing is subtle, but the significance is huge.
Global coverage of women’s rights abuses in Afghanistan is critical to raising awareness and changing this reality. But what is being done on the ground and at the policy level? What is the good news? The picture is often larger, and more complex, than we see.
As we celebrate the nearing anniversary of Roe v. Wade and President Obama’s repeal of the global gag rule another matter deserves our attention: the Helms Amendment is still alive and well. The president has it within his power to lessen the toll on women. Will he do so?
African countries are too often lumped together as one big composite of grave statistics and chronic epidemics. Because of this, it’s especially important that the global development and reproductive health communities recognize and amplify those success stories that can be told. Ethiopia is one of them.
Today is World Contraception Day. It’s actually a day just like any other, because it’s a day when so many women worldwide remain without access to birth control or other reproductive health services, and in which reproductive choice for all women remains an elusive goal.
