A New Bill to Ban Female Genital Cutting Looks Set for Defeat Even as Liberians Abandon the Practice
Front Page Agfrica, 20 Sep 2022
Liberia is one of just three West African nations where female genital cutting is legal. In this two-part series with New Narratives’ Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh finds strong resistance to the bill from traditional leaders and little political will to challenge them. At the same time Sande’s membership is plummeting.
Iranian Police Say Death of Mahsa Amini ‘Unfortunate’ as Protestors Take to the Streets
CNN, 20 Sep 2022
Iranian police called the death of Mahsa Amini an “unfortunate incident” and denied that she was harmed physically in custody, semi-official news agency Fars News said on Monday. Amini, 22, who was stopped and detained by Iran’s morality police in Tehran on Tuesday, died after falling into a coma on Friday. CCTV footage released by Iran’s state media appeared to show her collapsing at a “re-education” center where she had been taken by the morality police to receive “guidance” on her attire.
‘I Will Never Wear a Headscarf Again’: Outrage in Iran After Woman Dies in Custody
France24, 19 Sep 2022
The death of young woman Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s so-called “morality police” in September has enraged people across the country, leading to three days of protests, strikes and sit-ins in the capital Tehran and in Iran’s Kurdish region. Security forces have responded with force, beating and arresting demonstrators, shooting live bullets, and limiting internet connection in the Kurdish areas of Iran.
‘Shameful’: UN Denounces Exclusion of Afghan Girls From School
Al Jazeera, 18 Sep 2022
The United Nations has called for Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to reopen schools to girls in classes seven to 12, calling the anniversary of their exclusion from high school “shameful”. The UN said on Sunday it is increasingly concerned that the policy, together with other restrictions on basic freedoms, will contribute to a deepening of the country’s economic crisis in the form of greater insecurity, poverty and isolation.
Expanding Broadband Safely and Inclusively to Reach Digital Gender Equality
UN Women, 18 Sep 2022
Online and ICT-facilitated violence against women and girls is evolving and expanding, including sexual harassment, stalking, and zoom bombing. Innovations, including virtual reality and the metaverse, are creating new digital spaces for misogyny and sexual violence. Those relying on an online presence for their work, including women journalists, politicians, and activists, are disproportionately affected. And there is growing evidence of the reinforcing connection between online violence and real-life violence against women and girls, acts which often have important consequences for women’s and girls’ professional and personal lives. Women and girls must have safe and equal access to information, to become part of the next generation of innovators, tech and software engineers and online content creators.
