Why Pakistani Women Feel Unsafe in Public Spaces

The mauling, groping and tossing of a young woman by a crowd of between 300 and 400 men in a park in the eastern city of Lahore, in the Punjab province, may have caused a wave of country-wide disgust, but speaks volumes of how unsafe public spaces are for Pakistani women.

India Steps Up Citizen Activism to Protect Women

Last month, Delhi Police launched a unique initiative to check spiralling crimes against women in the city, also known dubiously as the "rape capital" of India. It formed a squad of plainclothes officers called "police mitras" (friends of the police) -- comprising farmers, homemakers and former Army men -- to assist them in the prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of law and order.

The Art of Covering Up in Somaliland

Amid the hustle and bustle of downtown Hargeisa, Somaliland’s sun-blasted capital, women in various traditional Islamic modes of dress barter, argue and joke with men—much of it particularly volubly. Somaliland women are far from submissive and docile.

‘Je Suis Favela’ – Bringing Brazilian Books to the French

Long before the attack in Paris that inspired the slogan “Je Suis Charlie”, a young French publisher had released a collection of stories titled je suis favela about life in Brazilian slums.

Unsafe Abortions Continue to Plague Kenya

She is just 14, but Janida avoids eye contact with others, preferring to look down at the ground and nodding her head if someone tries to engage her in conversation.

OPINION: Stand in Solidarity with Courageous Women’s Human Rights Defenders

Almost two decades ago, in Beijing, 189 countries made a commitment to achieve equality for women, in practice and in law, so that all women could at last fully enjoy their rights and freedoms as equal human beings.

Time to “Drop the Knife” for FMG in The Gambia

Women’s rights activists in the Gambia are insisting that more than 30 years of campaigning to raise awareness should be sufficient to move the government to outlaw female genital mutilation (FMG).

Kashmiri Women Claim Their Rights

Mehnaz Bano (not her real name), a 37-year-old woman in a hamlet in Indian Kashmir, is living a “satisfied and peaceful” life ever since she secured her daughter’s property rights before her remarriage – though not without a long and tedious struggle following her first husband’s death.

Q&A: “Libyan Women Were Handed Over as Spoils of War”

Unless immediate changes are enforced, Libya is heading towards an "Afghan" model regarding women´s rights, Aicha Almagrabi, a Libyan writer and senior women rights activist, told IPS from her residence in Tripoli.

Management Jobs Elusive for Cuban Women

Despite the progress made by Cuban women in education, where they account for 64 percent of university graduates, they continue to have a limited presence in management positions.

Saudi Women’s Rights Activists to File Prison Appeal Friday

Two Saudi Arabian women's rights activists are filing an appeal on Friday after being sentenced to 10 months in prison for helping a woman who had allegedly been abused by her husband.

Scales Tip Towards Women in Jewish Religious Rights Struggle

The struggle for gender equality and Jewish pluralism took a highly symbolic turn on Sunday at the Western Wall, Judaism's most revered site and emblem of unity, as a group of women known as "Women of the Wall" prayed legally and in a way they saw fit.

Looking to Cameroon’s Women Senators

Marlyse Aboui, a 40-year-old nurse, has still not gotten over the astonishment she felt when she heard that Cameroon’s President Paul Biya had nominated her to the senate.

Women’s Rights Still Denied in Latin America

Latin American states are still failing to provide guarantees for women's educational, sexual and reproductive rights, according to activists from different regions of the world meeting in the Mexican capital.

BOOKS: The Legacy of Nafis Sadik, Champion of Choice

Once dubbed "the most powerful woman in the world" by the London Times, Nafis Sadik learned at an early age that persistence leads to opportunities for change - and backlash from the Pope.

Q&A: “Syria Needs a Political Solution with Peace, Justice and an End to Impunity”

The first woman to preside over the United Nations Human Rights Council, Uruguayan diplomat Laura Dupuy, has made it with flying colours through one of the periods of greatest tension and conflict since the council replaced the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in 2006.

Q&A: The Challenges of Women’s Empowerment and Equality

Today, approximately 125 countries have laws that penalise domestic violence - a great advance from a decade ago. Yet 603 million women around the world still live in countries where domestic violence is not a crime, and up to seven in ten women are targeted for physical or sexual violence, or both.

Feminists Want to Paint Cuba Purple

There are no purple billboards on city streets, and no public service announcements on television to mark the date. But many different voices in Cuba remember that this year marks the centennial of the birth of the local feminist movement, a platform for fighting for equality and against gender-based violence.

Search for Missing Daughters in Mexico Drives Families into Ruin*

The families of thousands of girls and women who have disappeared in Mexico are spending everything they have in the search for their daughters – and for justice.

Q&A: “The Main Challenge for Ecofeminism Is Its Own Contradictions”

We must work "for all of the human rights of women," not just sexual and reproductive rights, said Coca Trillini, describing the challenges facing the ecofeminist movement that she has embraced since becoming an activist in Católicas por el Derecho de Decidir (CDD - Catholics for Choice).