Must Reads: The Human Rights Council report on what needs to improve in the working world: improvement of women’s human rights. Indrani Goradia, one of Every Woman Treaty’s founding members has a conversation on leadership at Thrive Global. U.S. House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls for accountability and systemic change for women and girls. The brutal murder of Pinar Gültekin has sparked widespread protests across Turkey and social media. Mexico’s spike in calls for help from survivors of domestic violence proves the necessity to acknowledge the shadow pandemic and more.
- Human Rights Council’s report of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls analyzes global trends in the working world through a gendered lens, and how the world can set a vision for the working world to prioritize women’s human rights and change the current economic model. (UN Docs)
- Indrani Goradia, one of our founding board members and founder of RAFT, is featured on Thrive Global’s series about individuals and organizations making an important social impact. Indrani talks about how she started her organization, her inspirations, and more. “Leadership means to come to a challenge with a curious mind and ask questions until everyone understands what we are solving and how we will start the process.” (Thrive Global)
- Turkey. Women are protesting across the country after Pinar Gültekin, a 27-year old woman was brutally murdered by her former partner. The protests come after a lack of initiative by the government to uphold its commitment to the Istanbul Convention, and rates of femicide doubling since its ratification in 2011. “We are carrying banners for a woman we do not know. It is enough now. We want to live.” #ChallengeAccepted (Al Jazeera)
- U.S. House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave an evocative speech condemning the abuse of women and girls on the House floor after she was called a sexist vulgarity by Representative Ted Yoho in front of reporters. “You can take photos and project an image to the world of being a family man and accost women without remorse and with a sense of impunity. It happens every day in this country. It happened here on the steps of our nation’s Capitol.” (New York Times) MORE: Foreign Policy
- Mexico. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Mexico’s largest network of shelters for victims of violence has seen an 80 percent jump in the number of women and children who are seeking help. “COVID awoke situations of violence that were camouflaged, hidden,” Figueroa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “During this lockdown, the violence gets stronger.” (Al Jazeera)
MORE TO READ
Egypt. Two women, Hansen Hossam and Masada Eladhm, were sentenced to two years in prison for “violating family values” by posting content on the famous social media platform, TikTok. Activists have called for the release of women who have been arrested on debauchery charges and for a change to the current laws that put women in jail for their social media activity. (Egyptian Streets)
Nigeria. Experts are calling for a restructured loan system to properly and better support women, who are already put at a disadvantage, by government policies, to be financially and socially stable. The COVID-19 pandemic has made women even more vulnerable to financial hardships and support. Dr. Eleanor Nwadinobi noted, “the majority of macro loans were given to men, while women were inadvertently nudged towards owning and running small-scale businesses predominantly.” (The Guardian NG)
Poland. Thousands of people gathered to protest in Warsaw on Saturday after Zbigniew Ziobro, Poland’s Minister of Justice, announced that Poland is leaving the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention, a treaty made to prevent and combat violence against women. Ziobro accused the convention of “constructing the so-called socio-cultural gender in opposition to biological sex.” (CNN)
Tripura, India. Online protests led by students calling for the end of violence against women surged after a series of rapes occurred in the Tripura region. Students demanded capital punishment for the five rapists and for a united front when it comes to combating violence against women and girls. Almost all of the rapists were arrested shortly by authorities upon receiving the complaints. (Indian Express)
