28 Dec 2021 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & women's rights

Articles

Afghanistan's Taliban ban long-distance road trips for solo women
BBC News, 27 Dec 2021

The Taliban have said Afghan women seeking to travel long distances by road should be offered transport only if accompanied by a male relative. The directive, issued on Sunday, is the latest curb on women's rights since the Islamist group seized power in August. A majority of secondary schools remain shut for girls, while most women have been banned from working.

 

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A year in review: The women who shaped 2021
France 24, 27 Dec 2021

 The year 2021 saw female athletes scale new heights at the Tokyo Olympics and press their demands for equality in sports, while Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai was at the heart of the biggest #MeToo scandal to rock the country’s political establishment.

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Abortion ban: El Salvador frees women jailed after miscarriages
Al Jazeera, 24 Dec 2021

Authorities in El Salvador have freed three women who spent between six and 13 years in jail under the country’s harsh anti-abortion laws after suffering miscarriages, a rights group has reported. The women had lost their fetuses due to “health emergencies” during pregnancy, said the ACDATEE abortion rights group. 

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Explained: China’s draft law to protect women’s rights
The Indian Express, 24 Dec 2021

 Amid a growing number of sexual harassment and domestic violence cases and a year full of setbacks for its fledgling #MeToo movement, China is set to update and strengthen its nearly three-decade-old law to protect women’s rights both at the workplace and at home.

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‘A breakthrough, not a breakdown’: one woman’s quest to transform mental health care in India
The Guardian, 23 Dec 2021

Ratnaboli Ray regards one of the lowest points of her life as a breakthrough. After years in an arranged marriage in which she felt stifled and trapped, her mental health took a catastrophic turn in 1997, when she was in her mid-30s. 

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India sex workers seek to be counted after court upholds their rights
Thomson Reuters Foundation News , 22 Dec 2021

A ruling by India's top court that sex workers should be given identity documents will have far-reaching benefits, allowing them to vote and access state food aid, campaigners have said. Yet just how far-reaching remains unknown. Official estimates suggest there are about a million sex workers in India, many of whom currently cannot vote, open bank accounts or access the food subsidies they are eligible for because they do not have identity documents. 

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In 2021 #MeToo finally made it to #Auspol — what happens next?
ABC News, 21 Dec 2021

 It has been a momentous year in Australia as the #MeToo movement made its way across the globe and into Australian federal politics. After years of silence and rumours, federal parliament was forced to grapple with its "man problem". It feels like we have seen history being made, but will 2021 result in permanent change?

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