Women’s Rights

What International Solidarity Means To Palestinian Women

December 1, 2024 Tawakkol Karman and Rawan Yousef, Waging Nonviolence. Strategize! History, International Solidarity, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Women's Rights

Nov. 29 is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, marked by the United Nations since 1977. But how can solidarity be effectively shown in the context of ongoing, escalating war? Here is what women in Palestine say. Doaa Ahmad, a women’s rights activist and the head of programs for a grassroots organization in northern Gaza, and her three boys just escaped death for the fourth time. Doaa fetches her laptop and work-related material every time she escapes. Even in genocide, Doaa says, I have a duty to help others, particularly women and girls. (Doaa and the other women in this story have had their names changed at their request.)

Multiple States Are Building New Women’s Prisons; Can They Be Stopped?

July 2, 2024 Sierra Dickey, Scheer Post. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Human Rights, Mass Incarceration, Women's Rights

Tiff Harrington spent 15 years of her life under Department of Corrections (DOC) supervision in Vermont, where she gave birth to two children while incarcerated at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility—a prison with a particularly bad reputation. In 2019, Vermont DOC came under fire when Seven Days, a local independent newspaper, reported that guards at Chittenden Regional engaged in drug use and sexually abused the incarcerated women they oversaw. Public outcry only grew when an incarcerated woman named Penny Powers filed a whistleblower complaint against former Chittenden Regional “shift supervisor of the year” Daniel Zorzi, alleging he took her and another woman offsite to engage in drug use and sex.

Two Years Since Abortion Rights Were Overturned In The United States

June 25, 2024 People's Dispatch. Educate! Abortion Rights, Democratic Party, Feminism, Joe Biden, Supreme Court, Women's Rights

On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned protections for abortion rights nationwide, giving the green-light for states run by ultra-conservative politicians to implement draconian abortion bans. As a result, millions of women, concentrated in the poorest regions of the country, saw their reproductive rights taken away from them—systematically denied abortion even of cases of medical necessity or rape. The US Supreme Court decision of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization sparked a nationwide movement for abortion rights, spearheaded by major feminist and left-wing organizations as well as working people pouring into the streets.

Safe Abortions Everywhere, Regardless Of The Law

June 11, 2024 Naomi Braine, In These Times. Create! Abortion Rights, Abortions, Global South, health, Supreme Court, Women's Rights

In 2008 in Quito, high in the Andes Mountains, a group of young feminist activists dropped a banner from the top of an enormous statue of the Virgin Mary that towers over Ecuador’s capital city. “Aborto Seguro,” the banner read, alongside the number for a new hotline that offered callers information on safely using medication to end a pregnancy outside the medical system. In a country where abortion access is extremely restricted and the majority of the population is Catholic, the Ecuadorian “safe abortion hotline” was a bold declaration of women’s bodily autonomy. It was also the beginning of what has since become a transnational movement that is increasingly relevant far beyond the region where it was born.

Wins At The Ballot Box For Abortion Rights Still Mean Court Battles

June 7, 2024 Bram Sable-Smith, Scheer Post. Strategize! Abortion Rights, Health Care, State Legislatures, Women's Rights

Before Ohio voters amended their constitution last year to protect abortion rights, the state’s attorney general, an anti-abortion Republican, said that doing so would upend at least 10 state laws limiting abortions. But those laws remain a hurdle and straightforward access to abortions has yet to resume, said Bethany Lewis, executive director of the Preterm abortion clinic in Cleveland. “Legally, what actually happened in practice was not much,” she said. Today, most of those laws limiting abortions — including a 24-hour waiting period and a 20-week abortion ban — continue to govern Ohio health providers, despite the constitutional amendment’s passage with nearly 57% of the vote. For abortion rights advocates, it’s going to take time and money to challenge the laws in the courts.

The Struggle For Women’s Emancipation Will Always Be Worth It

March 23, 2024 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Create! Communism, History, International Women's Day, Women's Activism, Women's Rights

8 March was not always International Women’s Day, nor has there always been any such day at all. The idea emerged from the Socialist International (also known as the Second International), where Clara Zetkin of the German Social Democratic Party and others fought from 1889 to hold a day to celebrate working women’s lives and struggles. Zetkin, alongside Alexandra Kollontai of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, sustained a struggle with their comrades to recognise the role of working women and the role of domestic labour in the creation of social wealth.

More Sanctions On Nicaragua Will Deepen US Migration Crisis

March 13, 2024 Jesus Rodriguez-Espinoza, Orinoco Tribune. Resistance Report COVID-19, Gender equality, Human Rights, Interview, Media, migration crisis, Nicaragua, Sanctions, Sandinista Revolution, Solidarity, US Sanctions, Women's Rights

For Barbara Larcom and Jill Clark-Gollub, increased US economic warfare waged against Nicaragua will only translate into a worsening of the already delicate migration problem in the US and affect supply chains in Central American and Caribbean countries that trade with Nicaragua. The two activists from the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition were interviewed by Orinoco Tribune last Wednesday, March 6. Barbara Larcom is the current chair of the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition, an international alliance of organizations and individuals that support Nicaragua’s sovereignty.

Gender Wage Gap Persists In 2023

March 11, 2024 Elise Gould, Economic Policy Institute. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Gender Disparities, Wages, Women's Rights, Worker Rights and Jobs

March 12 is Equal Pay Day, a reminder that there is still a significant pay gap between men and women in our country. The date represents how far into 2024 women would have to work on top of the hours they worked in 2023 simply to match what men were paid in 2023. Women were paid 21.8% less on average than men in 2023, after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, age, and geographic division. There has been little progress in narrowing this gender wage gap over the past three decades. While the pay gap declined between 1979 and 1994—due to men’s stagnant wages, not a tremendous increase in women’s wages—it has remained mostly flat since then.

International Women’s Day 2024: Equality At Work And Democracy

March 8, 2024 International Trade Union Confederation. Create! Gender equality, International Women's Day, Unions, Women's Rights

Women face systemic inequalities, including unequal labour force participation, the persistent gender pay gap, overrepresentation in informal sectors and workplace harassment. Moreover, populist movements and authoritarian regimes continue to undermine decades of progress towards equality for women, which has included equitable workplace participation, economic and political empowerment and access to education. ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle said: "The path to a truly inclusive, equitable and democratic society is through the relentless pursuit of gender equality at work.

We Won’t Go Back Into Our Cages: Celebrating Women’s Day In Nicaragua

March 8, 2024 Becca Renk, Popular Resistance. Create! International Women's Day, Nicaragua, Sandinista Revolution, Women's Rights

“We have painful stories, stories of marginalization, a history of being trampled because we are women and even more because we are rural peasant women, campesinas,” says Rosibel Ramos, bright eyes belying her age. “What were women’s spaces?” She asks. “The kitchen, taking care of kids, taking care of everyone else. We were supposed to just sit quietly in a corner.” Rosibel, now in her 60s, is telling the story of the founding of the Rural Feminist Ecological Cooperative “Las Diosas”* which means The Goddesses. The co-op is made up of hundreds of women from northern Nicaragua who grow, process and sell organic and fair-trade certified coffee, hibiscus and honey.

More ‘Navigators’ Are Helping Women Travel To Have Abortions

February 3, 2024 Lillian Mongeau Hughes, Scheer Post. Educate! Abortion Bans, Abortions, Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights

Chloe Bell is a case manager at the National Abortion Federation. She spends her days helping people cover the cost of an abortion and, increasingly, the interstate travel many of them need to get the procedure. “What price did they quote you?” Bell asked a woman from New Jersey who had called the organization’s hotline seeking money to pay for an abortion. Her appointment was the next day. “They quoted me $500,” said the woman, who was five weeks pregnant when she spoke to Bell in November. She gave permission for a journalist to listen to the call on the condition that she not be named. “We can definitely help,” Bell told her.

Think #MeToo Didn’t Make A Real Difference? Think Again

December 2, 2023 Mark Engler and Paul Engler, Waging Nonviolence. Strategize! #MeToo, Media, Occupy Movement, Sexual Violence, Social Movements, Women's Rights

What difference did #MeToo actually make? In 2017 and 2018, the viral hashtag became a global sensation that motivated millions to speak out about sexual assault and harassment. But more recently, critics have questioned whether the flurry of activity ended up leaving much of a legacy. This questioning is hardly surprising. If there is one thing that is most consistent when it comes to mass protest movements, it is that these mobilizations will be dismissed by mainstream political observers as being fleeting and inconsequential. Time and again, they are labeled as fads, scolded for being too “confrontational and divisive,” and written off as flash-in-the-pan eruptions with little lasting significance.

Women Across Iceland, Including The Prime Minister, Go On Strike

October 31, 2023 Egill Bjarnason, Portside. Resist! Gender equality, Iceland, Strikes, Women's Rights, Worker Rights and Jobs

Schools, shops, banks and Iceland's famous swimming pools shut on Tuesday as women in the volcanic island nation – including the prime minister – went on strike to push for an end to unequal pay and gender-based violence. Icelanders awoke to all-male news teams announcing shutdowns across the country, with public transport delayed, hospitals understaffed and hotel rooms uncleaned. Trade unions, the strike's main organisers, called on women and nonbinary people to refuse paid and unpaid work, including chores. About 90% of the country's workers belong to a union.

Chile’s Proposed New Constitution Threatens Women’s Rights

October 28, 2023 Alejandra Hayon, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Chile, Constitution, Immigrants, Women's Rights

Chilean society is once again at the culmination of a transformative constitutional process. This pivotal juncture will decide whether the constitution drafted by a legislature dominated by conservative and right-wing parties will replace the current constitution which was established during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. After a first failed attempt to establish a new constitution, this new draft introduces stricter measures concerning irregular migration, firmly entrenches the existing pension and healthcare systems—both subjects of substantial critique. It additionally introduces provisions that pose significant threats to sexual and reproductive rights, specifically through the establishment of “rights for those who are about to be born” and the legalization of “conscientious objection” regarding the provision of goods and services.

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