The Week in Women
A little progress, a lot of broken promises
Provence, France, 2021
Hello, readers, and welcome to The Week in Women, a roundup of women’s rights news from around the world, followed by links to a few good features, long-form pieces, podcasts, and radio stories in the universe of gender equality, international human rights, politics, and whatever else is interesting on the internet.
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What to Know
Hundreds of women in the Czech Republic, most of them Roma, were coerced or forced into sterilization procedures in a campaign of reproductive coercion that lasted until 2012. Now, they’re finally getting some compensation.
Revenge porn has become a weapon in Myanmar, used to attack, humiliate, and intimidate young female activists protesting their country’s military coup.
The Indonesian army may finally end mandatory “virginity tests” for its female recruits.
Chinese Olympian Gong Lijiao won the women’s shot put gold. A segment on Chinese television featured a reporter who referred to Gong as a “manly woman,” and then asked her when she would get married and have children. Chinese women are pissed off at the blatant sexism.
Women are making history on Peru’s Inca Trail.
The anti-war feminists pushing for a new foreign policy paradigm.
Pakistan has failed its women. The latest headline-grabbing case — the beheading of a diplomat’s daughter — is the latest example of how badly the country needs to get its act together and extend even basic protections to women. Appallingly, feminists (and just decent people) have been unable to get a domestic violence law passed; in 2016, the religious authority that assesses whether proposed laws are compatible with Islam suggested a bill that would allow men to “lightly beat” their wives.
Laurel Hubbard is the first openly trans woman to compete in the Olympics.
Women in Afghanistan live in fear because the US has largely abandoned them.
Sudanese women led their country’s revolution. What’s next for women’s rights in Sudan?
African women were promised equality. They aren’t getting it.
The Black women’s wage gap is enormous, and it’s a problem for everyone.
Memory Machaya was just 14 when she was married to an adult man and impregnated. She died giving birth. Now, women’s rights advocates are demanding justice — including the arrest of the man who married her.
America’s looming eviction crisis is about to hit single moms.
As Albanian women gain more freedoms, fewer of them are becoming “sworn virgins”: Women who live their lives as men and enjoy all of the liberties and privileges of being male, provided they never marry or have sex.
The family of a nine-year-old girl in Delhi says a group of men raped, murdered, and then quickly cremated her body to hide the evidence. The story has set off renewed protests against sexual violence.
Another day, another megachurch leader accused of covering up sexual abuse.
Andrew Cuomo publicly lauded himself as an advocate for women. In private, he was sexually harassing them.
A rape allegation at the Chinese company Alibaba has opened up a conversation — and unleashed lots of anger — about a culture of drinking and sexualization.
What to Read
What Mike Fanone Can’t Forget [TIME]
What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind [The Atlantic]
Take a Break
…and check out Louise Bourgeois, Freud’s Daughter at the Jewish Museum.
…and come on a writing retreat with me! (Yoga is on offer, too). Retreats are here, and include Tuscany, California, and Costa Rica.
Just hit reply to this email if you want more information.
And that’s it! Thank you very much for your support. Feel free to share this newsletter with anyone you think might be interested. And if you want to support feminist-minded journalism, analysis, and opinion-writing, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
xx Jill