Feminism

( RFE/RL) – The family of Mahsa Amini have blamed Iran’s security forces for vandalizing the grave of the young woman whose death while in police custody in September 2022 ignited nationwide protests that have turned into one of the biggest threats to the Islamic republic’s leadership since it took power in 1979. The Amini […]

Featured

Not just Cards and Flowers: The 1st ‘Mother’s Day for Peace’ was Held in New York in 1872

H. Patricia Hynes

Greenville, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment – Feature) – The 19th century origins of Mother’s Day differ vastly in spirit and purpose from celebrations of it in the 20th and 21st centuries. Mother’s Day was first inspired by two women with diverse but compatible social and political purposes. Prior to the Civil War, Ann Reeves […]

Africa

Trump joins ranks of Sexual Abusers-in-Chief like Gaddafi and Mussolini, but CNN thinks he Deserves a Townhall

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Donald John Trump was found liable by a jury on Tuesday for having sexually abused and then libeled writer E. Jean Carroll. The only reason he wasn’t also found liable for rape was that the victim said he inserted something else into her– fingers or some instrument — against her […]

Feminism

Post-Roe Abortion Bans force Pregnant People with Life-Threatening Complications to Travel Long Distances

Iowa Capital Dispatch

By: Kelcie Moseley-Morris – An ultrasound image of Jennifer Adkins’ 12-week-old fetus that was diagnosed with Turner syndrome and hydrops fetalis, two defects that are often fatal to the fetus and dangerous for the pregnant person to carry. Adkins had to seek an abortion in Oregon because, like 13 other states across the country, Idaho […]

Feminism

Behind the Ruling: Supreme Court decrees Mifepristone can Remain Available

The Conversation

By Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia and Sonia Suter, George Washington University | – (The Conversation) – The U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling on April 21, 2023, that allows continued access to the abortion pill mifepristone in states where abortion is legal. The court’s decision, which included few details and only indicated that […]

Authoritarianism

Many Female Voters see Turkey’s May 14 Elections as Crucial to Future of Women’s Rights

Arzu Geybullayeva

Written byArzu Geybullayeva ( Globalvoices.org) – In a report that was published in 2007 by European Stability Initiative, a think tank, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was hailed for bringing about reforms to empower women since coming to power in 2002. “If this report had been written in 1999, the year Turkey […]

Courts

The Dobbs Effect? In Seismic Shift for Wisconsin and the Nation, Progressives attain Majority on State Supreme Court

Wisconsin Examiner

By: Henry Redman – ( Wisconsin Examiner) – As Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz took the stage at her election victory party Tuesday night, the three current members of the liberal minority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court watched from off stage, arm-in-arm, as they took in the moment they became a majority. Protasiewicz, a […]

Authoritarianism

Not Just Rallies: Iranian Protesters are Drafting Charters and a Bill of Rights

The Conversation

By Mona Tajali, Agnes Scott College; and Homa Hoodfar, Concordia University | – (The Conversation) – It’s been six months since the latest spark ignited mass protests in Iran — the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa (Jina) Amini in morality police custody after she was arrested for allegedly failing to wear her hijab properly. The […]

Feminism

This Revolution Is Still Alive’: A Growing Number Of Iranian Women Defy The Hijab Law After Months Of Protests

Golnaz Esfandiari

By Golnaz Esfandiari Mohammad Zarghami ( RFE/RL ) – Assal appeared in public for months without a hijab, or Islamic head scarf, in solidarity with the antiestablishment protests that rocked Iran. Even as the demonstrations that erupted in September have waned in recent weeks following a deadly state crackdown, the Tehran resident has continued […]