Biblio

The survey reports on the worst countries in the world for women in terms of health (e.g. maternal mortality, lack of access to health care facilities, lack of control over reproductive rights); discrimination (e.g. over land rights, job rights, property or inheritance); culture and religion (e.g. acid attacks, FGM, forced marriages); sexual violence (e.g. Rape, rape as a weapon of war, domestic rape or by a stranger); non-sexual violence (e.g. domestic violence); and human trafficking (including domestic servitude, forced labour, sexual slavery and forced marriage). The methodology is outlined and each listed country is fully described in each of the categories explored by the survey.

Reports on the revival of the #NiUnaMenos movement following the acquittal of two men accused of sexual violence and the murder of 16-year old Lucia Perez in the coastal city of Mar del Plata. It also provides data on femicide since 2008. For the same event, see also http://time.com/5472053/argentina-protest-lucia-perez-ni-una-menos/.

Traces the most important steps that in the last 40 years have shaped the public debates and attitudes towards abortion, until the 25^th May 2018 referendum that legalised it in Ireland. See also http://time.com/5286910/ireland-abortion-laws-history/

Report on grassroots initiatives promoted by Christian Aid and Latin America civil society aimed at developing a national system of data and statistics on violence against women in El Salvador. It also discusses women’s deprivation of citizen rights in the Dominican Republic; the struggle of women defending their community in the Brazilian Amazon; the need to protect the rights of LGBTIQ people in Colombia; the need to enhance the participation of women in the labour market in Guatemala, and to tackle gender based violence and its legitimisation by the Church in Bolivia.

A wide-ranging interview to Beatrice Fihn, in which she discusses ICAN’s campaign, capitalism and patriarchy as obstacles to denuclearisation, the impact of nuclear testing on child births, the possible connection between nuclear war and climate change.

Greenhouse was established in 2006 to 'use the power of communications to drive positive social and environmental change.’ This report covers eight diverse 2018 campaigns which Greenhouse participated in. These include international media campaigns to pressure world major insurance companies to stop insurers covering coal mines and power plants, and promoting ethical banking. It also includes campaigns on environmentally aware farming methods. 

The Report examines through a gender-lens perspective the progress and challenges that are needed to be implemented in order to achieve all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Press release on the report published on 23 February by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The report argues that the UK violates the rights of women in Northern Ireland by unduly restricting their access to abortion. It shows how thousands of women and girls in Northern Ireland are subjected to grave and systematic violations of rights through being compelled to either travel outside Northern Ireland to procure a legal abortion or to carry their pregnancy to term.  See also https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/23/northern-ireland-abortion-law-violates-womens-rights-says-un-committee; https://humanism.org.uk/2018/02/23/northern-ireland-abortion-law-breaches-womens-rights-says-un/ and https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/abortion-northern-ireland-un-women-human-rights-a8819306.html

Provides recent data uncovered by the United Nations on femicide in Honduras. It also connects the occurrence of femicide, and the lack of effective measures to tackle it, to political and economic instability, which lead many people to flee the country. To see the consequences of femicide in terms of the children made orphans in Honduras, have a look at this link https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Thousands-of-Children-Orphaned-in-Honduras-By-Femicides-Study-20180912-0010.html

Although abortion became legal in the USA over 40 years ago, the population remains bitterly divided over its acceptability. Personal religious beliefs and life style have emerged as pivotal in shaping disapproval. However, very little attention has been given to how the local religious context may shape views and abortion access. Using data from the General Social Survey (6922) that has geographical identifiers, the authors examine how the local religious context influences social attitudes. They also examine the different impact of a higher rate of Catholicism or of Conservative Protestantism within the country, both on the attitudes of other residents and on acceptance of abortion clinics.

The widespread problem of sexual harassment has made headlines around the world, including in political legislatures. Using public reports of sexism and sexual harassment, the authors highlight these problems in three countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Although sexual harassment is a global issue, the aim of this article is to show how the shared rules, practices, and norms of these Westminster-style bodies perpetuate sexist cultures that produce unequal and unsafe work conditions for female politicians. The findings highlight some of the unique challenges women face in their representational and policy-making roles.

Hashtags such as #timesup and #metoo illustrate the growing international concerns about the sexual violation of women. The media plays a large role in promoting negative racial and gender ideologies about Indigenous women. In Canada, where there is a national crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW), researchers have collected data from social media and identified how degrading texts about Indigenous women perpetuate a racialized violent discourse. Many Indigenous peoples, including Indigenous youth, have smart phones and/or other ways to access social media, so they too are exposed to the discourse that subjugates, vilifies and dehumanizes Indigenous women, many of whom are family or community members. The authors’ research investigates the messages shared through the hashtag ‘#MMIW’ and identifies a reframing by hashtag users. The results indicate how social media play a role in perpetuating stereotypes about Indigenous peoples, but also how they can be used to combat those messages.

Afro-Colombian women are documenting testimonies for use by the new online observatory, VigiaAfro, created to report on and raise awareness about sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against Afro-descendants. MADRE is an international women's human rights organization working in partnership with community-based women's organizations worldwide in contexts of conflict, disasters, and their aftermath. It operates within the framework of a project entitled, Afro-Colombian Community Initiative for Sustainable and Inclusive Peace in Colombia. See also http://aapf.org/historical-invisibility-of-afrocolombian-women-english.

A brief analysis of the violence Dalit women experience in India. Dalit women – the ‘untouchables’ – suffer from gender and class-based violence more than Dalit men, non-Dalit men and non-Dalit women. Cases of rape are not reported or followed through due to social stigma and non-cooperation by police. The Ministry of the Home Affairs has signaled in its 2017-2018 report that rape and generally violence against women had been on the increase (See https://mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/MINISTRY%20OF%20HOME%20AFFAIR%20AR%202017-18%20FOR%20WEB.pdf). A Dalit women’s collective met at the 38^th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to speak against gender- and class-based violence. The collective release a report titled ‘Voices Against Caste Impunity: Narratives of Dalit Women in India’ that talks about the violence suffered and the struggles survivors go through to obtain justice with the aim that policy measures should be taken to address the issue.

Discusses the challenges faced by Cuban women while searching for protection from sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The initative of 14 women of capturing the feminist struggles through artistic production within the #VivaNosQueremos campaign. Many cities throughout the world joined the campaign and printmaking appeared in cities like Ciudad Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico State, Puebla, New York, Chicago, Montreal and Barcelona as well as other countries like Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Italy.

Galleotti, a Russian expert at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, explores how the Russian underworld has evolved under Putin, and how the regime has both exerted control over it and also used it for semi-covert operations, which the government can distance itself from in public. Although the underworld can be used when violence and ruthlessness are required, Galleotti stresses that many criminals now have sophisticated financial and technological skills. 

Toupin, who is Canadian, writes initially from that perspective in her history of a feminist campaign that started from the reality that a majority of women worked unpaid in the home. Wages for Housework asserted that domestic work and child rearing and caring for the elderly did have specific economic value. The aim was partly to make women's contribution to society visible and also to increase the independence of housewives - and the campaign mobilized to prevent cuts to family allowances in Canada and the UK, a financial source controlled by women. Wages for Housework ran counter, however, to the predominant feminist pressure to open up job opportunities for all women, and take them out of the home. The book includes an 'Afterword' on the current situation, in which care and domestic work is often outsourced to migrant workers.

Article on grass roots women's organisation Sikhale Sonke demanding prosecutions and compensation for 2012 shooting of workers during the strike. The women had campaigned  for five years against Lonmin and the government, as well as confronting deep seated discrimination against women in their society. War on Want has backed the women as part of a renewed campaign in the UK to offer solidarity.  Sikhale  Sonke is also the subject of a documentary film 'Strike a Rock', from the 2017 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, that focuses on the struggle and friendship two women following the 2012 Marikana Massacre where 37 striking miners were killed by police.

Examines the factors that could contribute to reduce femicides in Argentina, such as training for state and security personnel, and judicial workers; sex education programs in academia and public schools and the inclusion of women journalists within the broader #NiUnaMenos movement. She also argues that the inclusion of climate justice and structural transformation within the patriarchal system can further contribute to the reduction of femicide.

Account on how feminism has developed in the African continent, in connection also to African history and customs.

Clements comments on the success of the peace movement in the 1980s in achieving the Nuclear-Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act of 1987, and the later waning of its influence on New Zealand’s foreign policy.

This book examines the diverse experiences of being young in today’s Africa. It offers new perspectives on the roles and positions young people take to change their conditions both within and beyond the formal political structures and institutions. The contributors represent several social science disciplines, and analyse critically dominant discourses of youth, politics and ideology. Despite focusing on Africa, the book is a collective effort to understand what it is like to be young today, and what working for change means in personal and political terms.

The author highlights the peculiarities of the ‘MeToo’ movement in the United States, and the differences between North American and Egyptian society. She then describes the origin and tactics of Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment and Assault (OpAntiSH), a women-led, feminist and civilian group combatting sexual assault in Cairo

Examines why some nonviolent revolutions result in democratization, while others do not, and discusses how protesters can promote democratic outcomes. Focuses in particular on the role of civil society both before and after the revolution.