This No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) news digest rounds up some of the week’s top FGM & Women’s Rights stories for the week ending 2 April:
Why We’re Still Fighting Over the Equal Rights Amendment in 2019
Pacific Standard, 01 Apr 2019
The amendment is brief—a mere 52 words—and its core sentiment appears utterly innocuous: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” But the Equal Rights Amendment has been anything but anodyne since its original defeat in the late 1970s. Today’s reignited movement has much in common with the earlier fight—including the vehement and powerful opposition of the religious right.
‘The metro smashed the old rules’: Indian women drive change – and trains
The Guardian, 01 Apr 2019
Down on the platform, where the air is intensely muggy in the March heat, a train glides in. The driver is a woman. The ticket office is run by a woman. A transgender woman helps customers at the inquiry desk. On four of the Metro’s stations, passengers can go into a special cubicle to breastfeed their babies.
18 Quotes From Powerful Women For Equal Pay Day 2019
Bustle, 01 Apr 2019
As April finally begins, we approach one of the most important days of the year: Apr. 2, Equal Pay Day. To honour the important day, there are many quotes from powerful women about equal pay to read, repeat, and share with those in your life. Pay Equality Day is Apr. 2 and was created in 1996 by the National Committee on Pay Equity as a way to make the public aware of the pay gap between men and women. According to pay-equity.org the day symbolizes “how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.” Cue guttural sigh.
Women’s rights in the Catholic church
The Guardian, 31 Mar 2019
Cherie Blair was right to mention the problem of forced pregnancy among young schoolgirls in Africa (Cherie Blair accused of reinforcing stereotypes about African women, 27 March). She was speaking at a Catholic school, and Catholics are currently struggling with the whole problem of unwanted pregnancy and women’s (and men’s) rights.
FGM victims need medical attention ‘every hour‘ says charity
Jefferson Journal, 31 Mar 2019
A case of female genital mutilation (FGM) is either discovered or treated at a medical appointment in England every hour, a charity has said. Plan International UK said statistics showed there were 8,656 times when a girl or woman was assessed at a doctor‘s surgery or hospital. Charity boss Tanya Barron said: “These figures are once again a reminder of the global prevalence of FGM.” An estimated 200 million women and girls worldwide are affected.
Saudi Arabia: Provisional release of three women activists a positive step, but bogus charges must be dropped
Amnesty International , 28 Mar 2019
Responding to the release of three Saudi women activists, Iman al-Nafjan, Aziza al-Yousef and Ruqayyaa al-Mhareb, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Research, said: “The release from jail of Iman al-Najfan, Aziza al-Yousef and Ruqayyah al-Mhareb, who will finally be able to return to their homes and loved ones after their 10-month ordeal of arbitrary detention and torture, is welcome news.
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