Women's rights

Women providing services within a beauty salon

‘We are dead inside:’ Women in Afghanistan protest Taliban ban of beauty salons

Afghanistan

The ban will come into effect in five days, leaving roughly 60,000 women out of work.

Women's March activists participate in a nationwide protest against US President Donald Trump's decision to fill the seat on the Supreme Court left by the passing of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the 2020 election, in Washington, Oct. 17, 2020.

How the US presidential election could impact women’s health worldwide

Sevilay, a mother of two in Istanbul, got permission from her husband to have an abortion as required by law. But she had trouble finding a public hospital that would do it, and even some of her friends criticize her for her decision.

Abortion increasingly hard to access in Turkey

Reproductive rights
the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wears a bright red suit jacket

RBG’s early days in Sweden shaped her fight for women’s equality

Women & Gender
A woman holds a pink cross during a protest to mark International Women's Day at Zocalo square in Mexico City, Mexico, March 8, 2020.

Women in Mexico take to the streets to protest femicide

Afghan women line up at a polling station as they wait to cast their votes in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 28, 2019.

Analysis: A crucial moment for women’s rights in Afghanistan

Women & Gender

The Feb. 29 deal between the US and the Taliban could pave the way for a peace that Afghans desperately seek. But there are huge risks for women’s rights in this process.

Evelyn Hernández, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a suspected abortion, is hugged by a woman.

El Salvador abortion laws offer warning for the US, lawyer says

Sexual violence

After three years in jail, 21-year-old Evelyn Hernández from El Salvador was acquitted of murder charges Monday. A victim of rape, she was previously convicted of intentionally inducing an abortion after giving birth to a stillborn son.

Saudi women gather at a job fair in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia grants women permission to apply for passports

Analysts call amendment the “biggest blow ever” to the male guardianship system. However, women continue to face numerous restrictions in Saudi Arabia.

Protesters carry banners and placards at a demonstration during a women's strike (Frauenstreik) in Zurich, Switzerland June 14, 2019.

Thousands of women walk off jobs in Switzerland

Protest

Switzerland lags behind other Western countries in terms of equal pay for women. Thousands walked off jobs in a general strike on Friday to draw attention to pay to salaries and other issues.

Two women hold their arms in a bicep flex pose. One is wearing a pink cardboard costume in the shape of the women's gender sign.

After decades in the shadows, Russia’s feminists grab their spotlight

Generation Putin

Russia’s feminists are fighting to be heard in a country where most think there are bigger problems than gender inequality.