Discrimination by gender is prohibited in the United States, and American women have come a long way since winning the right to vote in 1920. While the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s opened many doors for women, substantial and stubborn barriers to full equality remain.
The barriers all women face fall particularly hard on Black, Latina, and Asian Pacific Islander women as well as women who are immigrants, poor, elderly, lesbian, transgender or members of other racial or ethnic groups.
Violence is a major concern for women at every age and from every background. Each year millions of women and girls are victims of physical assault or sexual violence by an intimate partner. The United States reauthorized and expanded the Violence Against Women Act in 2013, but it expired and has not been reauthorized. Law-enforcement responses and other support services for violence against women continue to be woefully inadequate.
Women’s wages continue to be well below those of men, making it hard for women to support their families and afford quality childcare. Women make up the majority of employees in the lowest-paying jobs including caretaking, food service, cleaning, clerical and retail work. Women of color and immigrant women in particular are relegated to low-wage jobs, which rarely provide employee benefits such as health care, paid sick or family leave time. Women in the workplace continue to experience sexual harassment and face discrimination as a result of stereotypes that conform to what are considered appropriate roles for women.
Changing these practices means challenging the fact that women remain vastly underrepresented at the tables where decisions are made: men still hold the positions of power in most public and private institutions in America -- from the military and corporations to congregations and Capitol Hill. This especially affects a woman’s access to health care, particularly reproductive health care, which is highly politicized and overwhelming legislated by men. US women lag far behind other countries in terms of maternal mortality and life expectancy, with evidence of significant racial and ethnic disparities in women’s overall health. The US government’s failure to ratify the important UN Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has created another roadblock to gender equality.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has issued a landmark ruling holding Guatemala accountable for violating the rights of Fátima, a 13-year-old girl who was forced to continue a pregnancy resulting from rape and become a mother when she was still a child herself.
Last week, the United States Congress passed a sweeping rollback of crucial pollution control standards. The resolution cancels a Biden-era rule guaranteeing continued emissions controls on facilities emitting substantial amounts of seven “super-toxics."
A devastating decision from Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeals would eliminate access to abortion care for young people unable to get written, notarized parental consent, Human Rights Watch and If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice said today.
This Sunday, May 18, marks 16 years since the Sri Lankan government defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), ending an armed conflict that had raged for 26 years. But while the fighting has long been over, the battle for justice for Tamil women victims continues.
So far this year, police in Sweden have detained at least 13 women—including several foreign nationals, some who were subsequently deported—allegedly because they are sex workers.
On Saturday, nearly 20,000 supporters of the Islamist organization Hefazat-e-Islam rallied in the streets of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, to protest, among other issues, proposed government reforms to support gender equality and women’s rights.
At least, we thought ruefully, the women, peace, and security agenda—backed in the United States by the first Trump administration—is safe. We thought this could remain true even amidst the current Trump administration’s assault on women’s rights.
On May 2, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ (ACHPR) is scheduled to meet for its first public session since the African Union adopted the Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (CEVAWG) and the ACHPR adopted a landmark resolution on the need to Develop Guidelines on the Elimination of Obstetric Violence and Promotion of Maternal Healthcare in Africa.
From a hot dog vendor in the United States to a girl selling vegetables in the Democratic Republic of Congo to a woman running a tea stall in Bangladesh, street vendors are an integral part of the urban fabric around the world.
It has been over three and a half years since Afghan women from all walks of life first took to the streets chanting “Bread, Work, Freedom,” a fierce assertion of their right to work and to be free from the Taliban’s systemic oppression. This International Workers’ Day, their call is more urgent than ever.
A report compiling harmful actions taken by US President Donald Trump against reproductive rights was released today by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR). It’s a long list, including policy positions, personnel appointments, website takedowns, administrative changes, government agency shutdowns, and funding cuts.
A harmful bill in the Texas legislature would criminalize transporting youth younger than 18, or funding their transportation, out of state to access abortion without written parental consent.
The California state government in the United States should better regulate plastics, says the south Los Angeles-based reproductive justice organization Black Women for Wellness.
The sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls, including the right to abortion and family planning methods, have been significantly eroded in Romania, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration froze federal funding for several organizations across the United States that provide lifesaving cervical cancer screenings, contraception, family planning, and other health care services to low-income people.
FIFA should act to stop the ongoing discrimination against Afghan women footballers living in exile and facilitate their return to international competition.
Social security failures coupled with structural gender inequality leave many people in Germany mired in poverty in ways that violate their human rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Tackling the issue should be a priority for the political parties negotiating to form the next governing coalition.
In his first major move as Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney eliminated roughly a third of all cabinet positions, including the crucially important Minister of Women and Gender Equality.
On Jan. 27, Japan's Foreign Ministry said it informed the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights not to allocate any of Japan's voluntary funds to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the CEDAW Committee).