#women’s rights

A couple of weeks ago, Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology issued its proposed amendments to the Protection of Women Against Violence Bill of 2015. They recommend husbands to “lightly beat” their wives in certain circumstances.

Rights American and other Western women enjoy are still hopes for women throughout the world. While Western women undoubtedly still struggle for things like job and pay equality, the ability to acquire an education and work are fundamental rights that, among others, are liberties women throughout the world do not yet enjoy. Saudi Arabia is […]

Malala Yousafzai requires no introduction, especially not now that the United Nations has recognized her birthday as “Malala Day,” celebrating  this girl from Swat Valley, Pakistan, who has such a strong desire for knowledge that even a bullet to the head could not waiver. Addressing the United Nations on her 16th birthday, Malala said: “[t]he […]

Each week, the Foreign Policy Blog’s editorial team compiles the five best long-form reads and five best in-house blog posts. This week’s features India-Pakistan relations, drones, Gérard Depardieu and much more.

Yesterday, February 6, 2013, marked the tenth anniversary of the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), also known as female circumcision or female genital cutting (FGC). The day was established by the United Nations to generate awareness of FGM and to promote its eradication. The day was established ten years ago, […]

As we quickly roll into November and the holiday season, we remember October for a number of reasons; however, one important one is often forgotten.  October was Domestic Awareness Month in the United States, but the purple ribbons — representing courage, survival, honor and dedication to ending domestic violence — were over shadowed by the flood of pink for […]

Do women leaders matter for women? Not at the national level suggests Nicholas Kristof in a recent New York Times article focused on a specific woman leader he doesn’t care for very much. According to him, she’s bad for everyone in her country, but especially for the women. Kristof points out that, “metrics like girls’ education […]

Sadly, discriminatory policies exist in many places that claim to be democracies. Fortunately, one country in Africa recently did something about one such policy. The High Court of Botswana should be praised for taking a stand on gender equality, and we can only hope that other countries with official or accepted policies that subjugate women […]

Last week hundreds of world leaders converged in New York City for the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly; on the agenda were hot topics such as Syria, Israel and Iran. However, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the rights of women and children have also been on the agenda.  Governments and aid organizations alike made […]

The opening of the 2012 Olympics in London on Friday were definitely a spectacle to behold. Perhaps the show was enough to divert attention from the gaffes and muddles reported by the media, such as the South Korean flag being displayed as the North Korean women’s football team were about to take to the field.

In 1995, then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton riveted the world at that year’s Beijing World Conference on Women. She made a compelling case for all of us – particularly governments – to address the issues important to women and girls, and made the tag line “women’s rights are human rights and human rights are […]

by Elizabeth Samson On November 10, 2010, the United Nations took an important step towards committing itself to female empowerment with the election of 41 member states to the board of a new agency—the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Known as UN Women, the new body brings four organizations that […]