Missing and murdered Aboriginal women and their families in Canada have been let down by a structural complacency in finding those responsible for their deaths.
There is growing recognition by the international community that women human rights defenders are best placed to respond to violence against women and a crucial force for peace; but the international protection framework needs to be made more accessible to those in need.
Religion is back in public space, and the thesis that modernization means the privatization of religion has been seriously questioned. Some religious and feminist dogmas need re-examination. What do ‘secular’ or ‘religious’ or ‘feminist’ mean in today’s contexts?
The Australian Prime Minister's recent speech about “repulsive double standards on misogyny and sexism” in the House of Representatives has recast the debate about gender prejudice in politics. Even if most its arch-custodians didn't notice, says Zoe Holman.
Politics will always be a man’s world if you listen to the men, says Danish MP Liselott Blixt. She told her own story about why she entered politics and getting elected at an international parliamentary conference in London on gender and politics
Democracy can only win the global struggle for ascendancy if women rise too. Marion Bowman reports on a London conference on gender and politics attended by politicians – mainly women - from around the world.
This year in Chad only 9% of students passed their high school leaving exams. Reorganising these exams is not the solution. We need to re-examine the whole education system, encouraging all those involved to wake up and take stock, says Kagbe Rachel.
In a response to openDemocracy's 'Citizenship after Orientalism' series, Rahila Gupta says there's no need to ditch values such as secularism and modernity - just point out that they’re not associated wholly with the West. This, she argues, would be the appropriate response to orientalism
The actions of Code Pink may be a natural consequence of the endorsement by many on the left and amongst feminists of multicultural values. Indeed, it may also, and more insidiously, be a consequence of some recent initiatives on the part of the UN, says Alison Assiter.
Meredith Tax responds to Rebecca Johnson and Pam Bailey: a movement must ensure that its short term tactical aims and alliances do not contradict its long term strategy.
"My children's life turned to hell for the past 9 months, they refused to celebrate the Eid, it is the second one without me" - Jalila Khamis, held in detention in Umdorman, Sudan
The Tunisian experience with state feminism is a model to draw lessons from, especially for the Arab-Muslim countries whether governed by liberal autocratic regimes or Islamist regimes: whenever the regime talks in favour of women, read between the lines.
