Women’s Rights

List of Women’s Rights articles

A couple walk past a billboard calling for a stop to domestic violence in Beijing
A couple walk past a billboard calling for a stop to domestic violence in Beijing

Chinese Courts Want Abused Women to Shut Up

Personal and political violence are intermixed in authoritarian societies.

Activists raise green headscarves during a demonstration demanding the legalization of abortion in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Activists raise green headscarves during a demonstration demanding the legalization of abortion in San Salvador, El Salvador.

When Abortion Bans Are Too Popular to Overturn

A court may soon rule against El Salvador’s anti-abortion law. But will that make a difference?

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva talks to his wife, Rosângela “Janja” da Silva, during an event to celebrate International Women’s Day and announce a package of measures to protect and support women at Planalto Palace in Brasília, Brazil, on March 8.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva talks to his wife, Rosângela “Janja” da Silva, during an event to celebrate International Women’s Day and announce a package of measures to protect and support women at Planalto Palace in Brasília, Brazil, on March 8.

The Fight to Elevate Women Inside Brazil’s Government

Brazil trails many of its neighbors in trying to tackle gender parity. Advocates are pushing Lula to change that.

A burqa-clad Afghan woman walks past as a U.S. soldier belonging to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) keeps watch during a patrol outside Bagram airbase, 50 kilometers north of Kabul on February 28, 2009.
A burqa-clad Afghan woman walks past as a U.S. soldier belonging to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) keeps watch during a patrol outside Bagram airbase, 50 kilometers north of Kabul on February 28, 2009.

America Is Again Failing Afghanistan’s Women—and Itself

The deteriorating status of women under Taliban rule is a strategic disaster for Washington.

Afghan women wait to receive food aid.
Afghan women wait to receive food aid.

The Taliban Have Turned Afghanistan Into a Graveyard of Women’s Rights

The Taliban are marking International Women’s Day with an ever-worsening cascade of abuses against women.

A Thai sex worker voices disapproval for being detained while waiting to be taken to the police station in Pattaya, Thailand.
A Thai sex worker voices disapproval for being detained while waiting to be taken to the police station in Pattaya, Thailand.

Thailand Is a Global Capital of (Illegal) Sex Work

The country is struggling to legalize an industry at the center of its economy but the margins of its society.

A woman gives the middle finger to destroyed Russian tank exhibited in Kyiv
A woman gives the middle finger to destroyed Russian tank exhibited in Kyiv

Ukrainian Women’s Looks Are None of Your Business

Fetishizing femininity has complicated and painful post-Soviet roots.

Mahbouba Seraj, a journalist and women's rights activist in Afghanistan.
Mahbouba Seraj, a journalist and women's rights activist in Afghanistan.

A Nobel Nominee’s Controversial Call for Engagement With the Taliban

Mahbouba Seraj, a rights activist and nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, says there’s no choice now but to talk to Afghanistan’s new rulers.

Hero-podcast-women-gender-foreign-policy-gates-foundation-1500x1000_site
Hero-podcast-women-gender-foreign-policy-gates-foundation-1500x1000_site

Developing Male Allies in Congo

It’s technically legal for Congolese couples to co-own land. But in practice, that’s not often the case.

Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Tehran.
Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Tehran.

Iran’s Revolutionary Year

Why Iran’s Gen Z is protesting, and why the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps won’t back down. These articles explain Tehran’s difficult 2022.

A protester holds a photograph of Iranian Mahsa Amini, who was killed by Iran’s so-called morality police, during a protest in Trafalgar Square in London.
A protester holds a photograph of Iranian Mahsa Amini, who was killed by Iran’s so-called morality police, during a protest in Trafalgar Square in London.

How Women Changed the World This Year

From Colombia to Iran, feminism is an increasingly unstoppable force.

A tailoring workshop in Lome, Togo in September 2016.
A tailoring workshop in Lome, Togo in September 2016.

To Tackle Poverty in Africa, Provide Job Training for Teenage Girls

Skills training programs must target those under age 18 to reduce adolescent birth rates and unemployment.

A worker from Nepal looks out from the window of his room at a private camp housing foreign workers in Doha, on May 3, 2015.
A worker from Nepal looks out from the window of his room at a private camp housing foreign workers in Doha, on May 3, 2015.

Qatar’s World Cup Legacy Is Stranded Worker Widows

The World Cup is ending, but trouble is far from over for the families of guest workers.

HERO-Gates-Foundation-podcast-foreign-policy-playlist-article
HERO-Gates-Foundation-podcast-foreign-policy-playlist-article

Ending the Financial Incentives of FGM

FP Playlist recommends: The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women

Iranian-Protest-LongGame-podcast-square-FP-site
Iranian-Protest-LongGame-podcast-square-FP-site

Athletes Join the Fight for Women’s Rights in Iran

How can the 2022 World Cup shed light on Iran’s domestic issues?

Protesters take part in a Women’s March in Stockholm.
Protesters take part in a Women’s March in Stockholm.

Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy Can’t Be Undone

Despite domestic setbacks, the movement will continue to shape foreign policy around the world.

Protesters gather in London on Oct. 1 in solidarity with people protesting across Iran.
Protesters gather in London on Oct. 1 in solidarity with people protesting across Iran.

A Chance to Be on Right Side of History in Iran

Britain and the United States overthrew the country’s last democratic government. Supporting pro-democracy protesters is an opportunity for redemption.

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