Recent positive legislative change will hopefully encourage more Irish women into political life, but the laddish, sexist political culture which remains in the Dail must change if gender parity is to be fully achieved, argues Louise Hogan.
Civil society must stop the use of chemical weapons being used as a pretext for US-led bombing in Syria. A gendered understanding demonstrates that the only sustainable strategy is to pursue disarmament and strengthen international humanitarian law.
Up against the male-centric nature of disability theory, and the slowness of women's movements and feminist scholars to address disability as a political issue, disabled women are laying down the basis for a transnational disabled women's movement.
With more fundamentalists predicted to win seats in the forthcoming election, the future is likely to see once again the use of religion as an instrument of extreme gender based oppression in Afghanistan. Will President Karzai use his remaining days in office to cement the foundations of women’s r
Italy has just passed a new law offering better protection for victims of domestic violence. But will this be enough to work against the damaging effect of under-funded safe houses and public figures who still blame women for their abuse?
Cass Balchin was a founding sister of openDemocracy 50.50 and a leading contributor to our dialogue on Gender Politics and Religion which explores the impact of the global resurgence of religion in public life on women's human rights, and examines the possibilities for gender equality and pluralis
New policies brought in to address violence against women in the UK are being implemented by large generic institutions at the expense of smaller specialist preventative and support organisations. For black and ethnic minority women, paternalistic 'management' appears to be inseparable from disemp
Women in Iraq bear the brunt of increasing levels of gender-based violence, inadequate infrastructure and poverty. Yet women activists recognize that their struggle for equality and social justice as women cannot be separated from the wider struggle against authoritarianism and sectarianism
With the publication of the updated Beyond the Fragments, Hilary Wainwright spoke to Rahila Gupta about the politics of knowledge and using her experience of the women’s movement to address the question of how to realise the capacities of each for the benefit of all as the basis for alternative, h
There was a new wave of sexual assault against women in Tahrir Square last week, but women refused to let the assaults on their bodies silence their voices. These attacks were commensurate with the pattern of politically motivated sexual violence that emerged, and grew, under the Muslim Brotherhoo
Women can only hope for a better future if the next generation of Afghans is taught to unlearn religious, cultural, and gender prejudices that are instrumental in their oppression. Education is pivotal to this vision, and it is the single attainable factor that keeps the hope of our women alive
The promotion of women’s rights through the introduction of gender quotas in Jordan is being used to score points on ‘democratization’ and to present a ‘modern’ face to the world. What are the prospects for women’s empowerment?
