NDAs are being used to silence wrongdoing at work, says chair of women and equalities committeeA senior Conservative MP has proposed a law that would stop “scurrilous” employers using gagging orders to silence victims of sexual harassment.Maria Miller…
‘Tomorrow they will kill me’: Afghan female police officers live in fear of Taliban reprisals
With at least four women, including a pregnant mother, targeted and killed by Taliban fighters, female ex-officers feel abandoned by the worldNegar Masumi, a female police officer with 15 years of experience, was determined not to flee when the Taliban…
‘I’m one of them’: the FGM survivor providing a lifeline in Leeds
Stigma can stop women seeking help but Hawa Bah, who was cut at eight, reaches those suffering in silence to get them the care they needOne night 14 years ago, Hawa Bah crept out of her house in Guinea and slipped into the darkness. She says she had lo…
‘Don’t avert your eyes’: Afghan teachers urge world to defend girls’ education
Educators say they fear reversal of hard-won progress as aid workers call for Taliban’s desire for international legitimacy to be used as leverageAfghanistan’s only boarding school for girls has temporarily relocated to Rwanda, its co-founder has said,…
The plight of women helped justify war in Afghanistan. Now they have been abandoned | Samira Shackle
Female doctors, journalists, police officers and politicians face acute danger from the TalibanIt was one of the worst phone calls I’ve ever received: a friend in Kabul calling on Sunday afternoon to say that armed men had just visited her house. Her v…
‘A source of hope’: Afghanistan’s female journalists challenging sexism and the Taliban
Zahra Joya started Rukhshana Media so Afghan women could tell their stories in their own words. Now she is battling to keep it going as long as she canDespite years of development, investment and progress in the Afghan media industry, 28-year-old Zahra…
‘I’m scared of being killed’: sex worker activists speak out
Rights defenders describe threats and abuse while working to protect their communitiesReport: Sex workers fighting for human rights among world’s most ‘at risk activists’A report has found that sex worker activists are among the most at risk human righ…
‘Please pray for me’: female reporter being hunted by the Taliban tells her story
A young female journalist describes the panic and fear of being forced into hiding as cities across Afghanistan fallTwo days ago I had to flee my home and life in the north of Afghanistan after the Taliban took my city. I am still on the run and there …
Illegally sterilised Czech women to be offered compensation
Hundreds of mostly Roma women were threatened, tricked or bribed into being sterilised until 2012Women sterilised without their consent are to be offered compensation in the Czech Republic after President Miloš Zeman signed a bill into law this week. T…
‘Still going through hell’: the search for Yazidi women seven years on
As two women are rescued in Syria after being kidnapped by Isis years earlier, Yazidis renew calls for international help to find the thousands still unaccounted forFor seven years, their families waited and hoped for news. In July, they finally receiv…