The Week in Women
Feminism at the Grammy Awards, the Taliban are still trash, and Republicans aren't quite the free speech warriors they purport to be.
Hello readers, and welcome to the Week in Women, which also comes with The Week in Numbers: statistics and data that relate to the women’s rights news of the week, as well as what I’ve been writing about in the newsletter.
You’ll find some social-media-friendly images that capture these stats — feel free to copy and share.
The Week in Numbers
200 million: The number of girls and women alive today who have undergone FGM. (Feb. 6 was International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation) [UNICEF]
One in ten girls in sub-Saharan Africa are married by age 15. [UN]
72: The number of words in Biden’s 7,300-word State of the Union address that were about abortion.
56: The percentage of Republicans who believe protesting racial injustice is a legitimate form of constitutionally-protected free speech. [Knight Foundation / Ipsos]
16: The percentage of Republicans who believe Americans should be allowed to burn or deface the flag (the percentage of Democrats was also believe this protected speech should be allowed was shockingly low: 37 percent). [Knight Foundation / Ipsos]
60 percent of Americans and 71 percent of Democrats believe that the government should prevent people from sharing bigoted or racist ideas (this would be a violation of the First Amendment). [Knight Foundation / Ipsos]
One-third of Democrats believe that the government should prevent people from sharing political beliefs that are offensive to some. [Knight Foundation / Ipsos]
53: The percentage of Americans who said, in 2017, that hate speech was a form of violence. [Cato]
44: The percentage of Americans who said, in 2017, that people who don’t respect others don’t deserve the right of free speech. [Cato]
54 percent of Americans believe that the government should not regulate how professors speak in the classroom on certain topics, but nearly one in three Republicans says that the government should regulate professors’ speech. [YouGov]
61: The number of countries around the world that have some regulation about women’s head coverings as of 2020. Some of these countries mandate the hijab; many others ban certain coverings in certain settings. [Pew]
One in five Republicans says that the country has “gone too far” when it comes to giving women equal rights to men. [Pew]
Related Reading: Fear of a Female Body
$89 million: The amount spent by state governments in 2022 on “crisis pregnancy centers,” which often disguise themselves as abortion clinics and employ staff with little or no medical training who nevertheless wear scrubs and purport to give patients healthcare information. [AP]
120: The number of “crisis pregnancy centers” in New York State. By comparison, the state only has about 70 abortion clinics. [New York Times]
60 percent of American women now live closer to a a “crisis pregnancy center” than to an abortion clinic. 16 million American women lived closer to a “crisis pregnancy center” before Roe was overturned. Since June, more than 21 million women have lost access to abortion rights because of where they live, bringing the total number of women who now live closer to a CPC than an abortion clinic to roughly 34 million. [New York Times]
One: The number of “crisis pregnancies centers,” out of 607 in nine states, that offered contraceptive care. [Women’s Law Project]
Related reading: Why is Google Directing Low-Income Women to Anti-Abortion Centers?
Chart of the Week
Source: Knight Foundation / Ipsos
The Week in Women
“Pro-Life” is a Lie: Another day, another couple literally tortured by “pro-life” laws.
Sowing Division: A record number of Americans — nearly 70% — say they are dissatisfied by the US’s abortion policy, the highest numbers in a quarter century. And almost half of voters are dissatisfied because the laws are too strict; only 15% want stricter laws.
The State of Abortion: During the State of the Union address, President Joe Biden promised to veto a national ban if passed by Congress. He also urged Congress to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. While Biden used the word abortion - which he rarely does in his speeches - this section of his speech on reproductive rights lasted less than 30 seconds.
Roe Round Two: A federal judge suggested in a ruling that abortion may still be protected under the U.S. Constitution despite the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote that the Supreme Court’s ruling may only narrowly apply to whether the 14th Amendment protects the right to abortion. She went on to suggest that the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, may include constitutional protections for abortion. This was in response to an ongoing criminal case against 10 people charged with conspiring to block access to a Washington, D.C. abortion clinic in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. “Uncertain” that no provision of the Constitution protects abortion, Judge Kollar-Kotelly asked the Justice Department to provide guidance in writing by March 3.
B’s Day: Beyonce set the record for most ever Grammys won by any artist at this year’s awards ceremony, thanking the queer community for “inventing the genre” of her latest album.
Justice for Iraqi girls: The murder of Tiba al-Ali, 22 year old YouTube star in Iraq, by her own father has raised uproar across the country. There are currently no laws criminalizing domestic violence in Iraq and it is not uncommon for women to be murdered by male relatives as a result of family disputes. Iraqis on social media are calling for protests to demand justice and legislation to protect women and girls.
Abortion in France: The French Senate voted to include the right to abortion in the French constitution with 166 votes for and 152 against the amendment. However, a long path remains ahead to actually amend the constitution. The new text of the bill must be approved by the National Assembly and the Senate again and it will then be put to referendum. France would be the first country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right if it were to pass.
Women Life Freedom: A young Iranian artist won a Grammy this week for his song, “Baraye,” which some call the anthem of Iran’s protest movement. Jill Biden introduced the award and called the song a powerful call for “freedom and women’s rights.”
Misogyny In Charge: The Taliban have made women’s lives in Afghanistan absolute hell.
…and that’s it for this week. Thanks as always for reading.
xx Jill
You are, as always, right on...this reminds me of a thing Winston Churchill said once, "Some people's idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage..." Have a good one!
Based on the stats you shared, Republicans don’t value free speech. But whose even worse? According to the stats, it’s Democrats. It is just shocking that the freedoms and values that made us who we used to be have been kicked to the side while the authoritarian left and the authoritarian right are having a heyday. What happened to us?