On March 25, the Islamic Republic of Iran began its four-year term as a new member of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) — “the principal global intergovernmental body dedicated to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment” — after being elected by secret ballot last year.
In a landmark case for justice in Guatemala, five former paramilitary soldiers were convicted by a special tribunal of crimes against humanity for sexualized violence committed against five indigenous Maya Achí women during the country’s 36-year internal armed conflict.
Only one gynecologist serves the 8,000 to 13,000 people of reproductive age who need those services in the municipality of Shuto Orizari in North Macedonia’s capital city, the only municipality with a Roma majority in the country. And as of last month, he’s no longer on duty.
While Colombian media covers stories of sexualized violence in almost exploitative detail, it fails to highlight the victims’ ethnicity and race, thereby following a long tradition of obscuring who in the country is disproportionately victimized, as well as hiding the underlying structural causes that leave them most vulnerable.
Women Under Siege spoke with Lisa Wade, PhD, an associate professor of sociology at Occidental College and author of American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus, to better understand the relationship—and long history—between white supremacy, masculinity, and the American image.
As Congress deliberates ratifying the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019, Women Under Siege spoke with Mihrigul Tursun, a Uighur refugee, about her experience at what she describes as an "ethnic cleansing camp" for Uighurs in China's Xinjiang region.
Over the summer, researchers published a study that offered proof of a phenomenon in American black communities that has existed since slavery: By being perceived as more mature, black girls fall victim to what researchers are calling a “perception trap,” and are treated negatively as a result.
No, Donald Trump is not Adolph Hitler.
That this horrific idea exists, floating in our collective ethos and demanding a refutation is shocking. But this is where we are, and the failure to address the horror only means a greater evil is sure to come.
Wars fought because of ethnic hatred often seem to be more brutal than others. This is just a personal observation, having studied many. Just look at Rwanda, whose 1994 war saw between 250,000 and half a million women raped, often with objects and often publicly, in order to spread maximum humiliation and terror.
More than 100,000 women were raped in the 36-years Guatemalan genocide—at least 200,000 people died. In this video, photojournalists Ofelia de Pablo and Javier Zurita interview survivors and document the ongoing forensic and legal investigation that recently indicted former Guatemalan President Efraín Ríos Montt.