One week into the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women meeting, it seems possible that the negotiations will once again end at an impasse.
We find that ratification of CEDAW leads to real, concrete changes in the lives of women and girls. Yet, inconceivably, the United States is one of only seven countries that has yet to ratify CEDAW, keeping company with the likes of Iran and Somalia. But the moment is upon us.
Weekly global roundup: The RH Bill remains in the balance in the Philippines as Catholic Bishops put up new road blocks; Iran bars female students from 77 science- and technology-related fields of study at 36 universities; and South Korea re-considers emergency contraception access as their fertility rate dwindles.
The Department of State has strongly condemned the stoning of a woman by Taliban militants. The reason? She was seen in public with a man.
Iran slowly reduces its maternal mortality rate, Pakistan tries to provide access to RU 486 to a firestorm of protest, teens in Wales have problems accessing abortion, and Australia has an unprecedented abortion trial.
If the United States is serious about paving the way for a modern state, we need to invest in women’s empowerment.
Malika Saada Saar writes in her reader diary, “I write these words to give honor to Neda and the other Iranian women who dare the brutality of the Basij and military forces, and fearlessly raise their voices against crushing tyranny.”
Here’s a bit of news that got buried in today’s Guardian (UK): Grand Ayatollah Sadeq Rohani issued a fatwah in Iran permitting hymenorrhaphy,
the procedure where a woman has her hymen recreated from available
vaginal tissue.
At the dawn of a new year, women around the world still rely on crucial funds from UNFPA for health care and family planning. But our current administration continues to withhold the money.
