The Week in Women
Two different visions of what it means to be "pro-life": Banning abortion, or supporting pregnant women.
Scenes from another life: Malawi 2013
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.
Enjoy, subscribe (or upgrade your subscription!), and share.
What to Know
Amnesty International is warning that Afghan women’s rights are quickly unraveling.
Why is Covid killing so many pregnant women in India?
Peru has elections coming up, but there’s no way to vote for women’s rights. Even the “radical leftist” who claims to stand up for poor and indigenous communities is an anti-feminist hostile to gender equality and LGBT rights (so… not all that radical). And of course the right-wing candidate is far worse.
Texas has basically banned abortion.
Colorado, on the other hand, is trying to expand health care for pregnant women, including women who are incarcerated, in an effort that could teach people who claim to be “pro-life” a thing or two.
Samoa elected its first-ever female prime minister — and then her opponents locked her out of her own swearing-in ceremony, in what she’s calling a “bloodless coup.”
The NCAA sold out women’s sports, and tries to hide the evidence of their misogynist deal.
The official spokesman for the Taliban says the group is ok with women enjoying “basic rights.” Wow thanks.
Sasha Johnson, a prominent British BLM activist, was shot early Sunday morning in London, and is reportedly in critical condition.
The Pink House is Mississippi’s only abortion clinic. And it’s the locus of a Supreme Court battle that could undo Roe v. Wade.
Saudi Arabia is working overtime to repair its reputation as one of the world’s worst human rights offenders. But its efforts are mostly aesthetic, as it continues to violently repress dissent, free speech, and women’s rights.
A woman in California had a tragic stillbirth. Prosecutors charged her with murder, accusing her of using methamphetamine while pregnant. Last week, a judge dismissed the charges. This is good news: Pregnant women who struggle with addiction need help, not jail time.
Conservative groups and the Catholic Church are trying hard to roll back abortion rights in Croatia.
Women who received faulty breast implants from a French company are entitled to compensation, a French court rules after a 10-year battle.
A Russian feminist singer is a breakout Eurovision star, and the country’s conservatives hate it.
The brilliant Loretta Ross on the need to call people in, not default to calling them out.
Is finance the final frontier of feminism?
Women are fighting for their rights in Azerbaijan, amid legal restrictions, under-representation, and outright harassment.
Cities are built for men. Female architects have tried to make them for everyone.
How Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants, became America’s most powerful labor leader.
What to Read
When No Landlord Will Rent To You, Where Do You Go? [New York Times Magazine]
A Year After George Floyd’s Death, The Police Are Still Winning [Intelligencer / New York Magazine]
Take a Break
…and check out the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
…or dive into a new book about Eartha Kitt by her daughter, Kitt Shapiro.
…and that’s it! As always, please feel free to share widely. And if you want to support feminist-minded writing, reporting, and analysis, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
xx Jill