Across Women's Lives

The morning after Colombia’s Constitutional Court upheld a restrictive abortion law this week, two Congress members from opposing parties phoned into one of the country’s most popular radio shows and debated the decision.Rep. Juanita Goebertus, a member of the left-leaning Green Alliance party, favored expanding women’s access to abortion procedures, while Sen. Jhon Milton Rodríguez, a member of the evangelical Free and Just Colombia party, favored further restricting access.Goebertus and Rodríguez answered questions from the hosts of radio station La W’s morning program about abortion access in Colombia. But when they were asked about it legally being a right, the conversation quickly devolved into an almost indiscernible crossfire of Goebertus saying Rodríguez was entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts, and Rodríguez telling her he just wanted to explain things to her.Related: 'Maternity jail': Women in US, Argentina, finds ways around restrictive abortion lawsJust before the hosts wrapped up th

Women in cities across Mexico have been protesting almost daily in response to two horrific murders in Mexico City this month. Ingrid Escamilla, who was 25, was reportedly murdered and mutilated by her boyfriend, and Fátima Cecilia Aldrighett, who was 7, was abducted as she left school and found dead in a rural area. Related: Instagram art project spreads awareness about femicides in Mexico They are among the victims of an astonishing level of violence against women in Mexico — an average of 10 women were killed every day last year, according to official government figures. And among many activists responding is Estefanía Vela Barba, an attorney who directs Intersecta, a Mexico City-based nongovernmental organization working to end gender discrimination. Vela Barba spoke with The World’s host Marco Werman.Marco Werman: President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says this is not about gender violence. He, instead, says it fits within overall violence in Mexico. What do you make of that?Estefanía Vela Barba: There i

Alyona Savranenko grew up in a small village in central Ukraine. She had a modest upbringing, one she loved — featuring unpaved roads, cows grazing in the field and mushroom picking in the forests. She enjoyed swimming in the lake throughout the summer and ice skating on it during the winter. When Savranenko turned 6, she started writing poetry, and when she was a bit older, she would write pop songs.Then she turned 12, and hip-hop found her. “The first raps I heard were probably American — Eminem. I started translating them.”Alyona Alyona“The first raps I heard were probably American — Eminem. I started translating them,” she said. “I looked for his texts, memorized them, and he influenced my flow the most. I liked his style. And I started translating lots of other rappers that I listened to. I was curious what they were rapping about. But I’d always rap about something of my own.”Today, Savranenko, a former kindergarten teacher, is the biggest rapper in Ukraine. Her music videos — which touch on subjects ra

Flutist and composer Nathalie Joachim first came up with the idea for her debut album in late 2015. She was in Haiti, exploring her Haitian heritage and wanted to know about female artists from the island. Together with her parents, she could only come up with a dozen or so."I was really inspired to make an album centered around the voices of female artist from Haiti largely because they're left out of Haiti's musical history.""I was really inspired to make an album centered around the voices of female artists from Haiti largely because they're left out of Haiti's musical history," she said.Some women on the list included singer Emerante de Pradines, Milena Sandler (daughter of Toto Bissainthe), and vodou revolutionary Carole Demesmin.Joachim's Grammy-nominated album, "Fanm d'Ayiti," sets out to correct some of the omissions of women underrepresented in Haitian history. She thinks this is "a beautiful way to represent the women of Haiti." "Fanm d'Ayiti" translates into "Women of Haiti." On the album, Joachim

In May, Chantal Monté sat down with her husband to celebrate her 72nd birthday. He killed her exactly one month later. The tragedy made Monté the 78th victim of femicide in France in 2019. While the definition of femicide varies around the world, in France, it typically means when a woman is killed by a partner or ex-partner. There have been 116 femicides in France so far in 2019, according to Agence France Presse, a French press agency. Meanwhile, the advocacy group Femicides by Companions or Ex brings the total to 138. Related: These Argentine women fight against a justice system 'written by men, for men'In France, one woman is killed every three days. Women ages 65 and over make up about a quarter of all victims of femicide, but they’ve largely been left out of the discussion — or their deaths have been misclassified as mercy killings and suicide pacts. “People don’t care,” said Nadia Neubacher, the daughter of Monté. Neubacher lives in Michigan with her family, but in May, she traveled more than 4,000 mil

Hanim Tosun feels at home at the Istanbul office of the Human Rights Association, also known as the IHD, its acronym in Turkish. It was here that she and a group of Kurdish women launched the first Saturday Mothers vigil 24 years ago.The Saturday Mothers is one of the longest-running peaceful protest movements in the world. On Saturdays since 1995, the women would gather in Istanbul's Galatasaray Square, a popular pedestrian shopping area, to demand the whereabouts of their sons, fathers and husbands who disappeared after Turkey's 1980 military coup. Their protest was inspired in part by the Argentine women in white who demanded to know the fates of loved ones who disappeared during their country's dictatorship.Today, Turkey's Saturday Mothers continue to meet in Istanbul — at the IHD office. And while many of the founding protesters are growing frail, their daughters are taking the reins. Some men have joined the movement, as well.Hanim Tosun’s husband, Fehmi Tosun, was among hundreds of Kurds who disappeare

Isabelle Laurans and her boyfriend tried for years to have a baby. When nothing else worked, they decided to try in vitro fertilization, or IVF. But halfway through the process, Laurans' boyfriend changed his mind. He dumped her the day they were supposed to make the embryo in the lab.Laurans says she doesn’t remember most of what went through her mind that day. What she does recall is the overwhelming fear that she’d never get to be a mom.“I was 38. I knew it would be perhaps too late for me if I waited for a new relationship.”Isabelle Laurans, IVF proponent“I was 38. I knew it would be perhaps too late for me if I waited for a new relationship,” she said.That same day, Laurans says she was on the internet, looking for a Plan B.“I didn’t want to risk missing out on becoming a mother altogether,” she explained. Isabelle Laurans poses with her daughter, Charlotte. Laurans had to leave France for IVF treatment in Belgium to get pregnant with her daughter because it is not legal in France for sin

The 2019 Nobel Prizes for chemistry and physics were awarded this week, and — as is the case most of the time — they went to men. That’s despite steps the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which runs the Nobel program, took just last year to be more inclusive.The academy's secretary-general, Göran K. Hansson, sent a letter to scientists asking them to take geography and gender into consideration in their nominations and asked more women to suggest candidates.But efforts to diversify Nobel winners are slow going, and there’s a long history to overcome: Of the more than 600 Nobel Prizes that have been given out in the sciences, just 20 have gone to women. Some other prize categories, such as peace and literature, are more diverse, but they are considered more “acceptable” for women. (The 20 awards include prizes in physiology or medicine, chemistry and physics.)But those prizes have also had their challenges. The Nobels haven’t been spared from modern movements like #MeToo; last year, because of a complicated

Gender equity is a big issue in Canada’s upcoming election, in part because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made feminism a cornerstone of his first campaign. Back then, when a reporter at a press conference asked him why, Trudeau replied simply: “Because it’s 2015.” It became an iconic moment for Canadian voters.In the following four years, Trudeau and his Liberal Party championed pay equity. They increased support for child care aid for low-income families, and Trudeau appointed a Cabinet that was half female.“I think that was an important step forward that was particularly significant to voters who care about equality in public life,” said Sylvia Bashevkin, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. “But I think that the Liberals have run up against the problem of setting a high bar, high expectations.”Related: In Québec, teachers return to school under new religious symbols banBecause, she said, Trudeau failed to meet those high expectations earlier this year when his government was rocked

Students and teachers in Québec have returned to school for the first time since a law banned teachers and public employees in positions of “authority” from wearing religious symbols — this means no headscarves, Sikh turbans, Christian crosses or Jewish skullcaps.The law, which passed in June, is not a complete ban and included a clause that applies the law only to new hires or those who change jobs.So, Maha Kassef returned to the classroom last week wearing her headscarf. She currently works three days a week at a French-language elementary school in the Montreal region.“It’s always like the first two weeks, you just feel like you've been run over by a truck,” she joked.Related: As asylum-seekers trek north, Canada examines border loopholeBut, watching her 3-year-old play at the end of a long day, she says she feels extra anxiety this year over the new law.“That's the gray area that I don't know where I am,” she said.The rules are so new she has questions she can’t answer: Is she protected by the grandfather

It can be hard to find a truly quiet place in the Lake Worth, Florida-based Guatemalan-Maya Center. Just inside one door, case workers and other staff answer phones and talk clients through paperwork, immigration processes and other services. A long, narrow room on the ground floor has chairs along one wall that are often filled with people waiting for help.Other activities, like planning for cultural events and staging for projects and donations, spill over to the spaces in between.Related: In this California classroom, students teach each other their home languages — and learn acceptanceBut at least one afternoon a week, a group of high school girls carve out some space in the quietest area they can find to huddle around a laptop.They call themselves the Mayan Girls. The Mayan Girls, dressed in the traditional outfits they wore to pitch to Philanthropy Tank, stand with their adviser, social worker Daniel Morgan. Credit: Courtesy of the Mayan Girls  Listen t

Omer Azizi knows what it’s like to be stuck in a squalid tent with only a United Nations-issued ID tag confirming his existence. He fled Afghanistan’s Taliban tucked in his mother’s arms, and spent his childhood in various Pakistani refugee camps. Over the years, he watched his parents fight the odds to get the family out of refugee camps.They finally made it to the United States in 2014, and today, Azizi is a recent graduate of the University of Southern California. But he hasn’t forgotten about his parents’ struggle and what other refugees are still going through. In fact, he spent much of the past year developing an app that he calls Safar, meaning “journey” in both Farsi and Arabic, to solve the information gap that exists for refugees worldwide, and pitching it to potential supporters. These days, a smartphone, something his parents never had, is a necessity for survival in a refugee camp.Related: Young migrants and refugees in Greece wanted to be heard. So they started their own newspaper.Safar, which A

If you're trying to get pregnant, you may have turned to an ovulation- or period-tracking app for help. Millions of women around the world use them for a variety of reasons. But what happens to the highly personal data people enter in these apps? In some cases, it gets fed to third parties — including Facebook. That's according to a Buzzfeed News investigation and a new report by the UK-based advocacy group Privacy International, which looked at apps being used in different parts of the world.The apps monitored in the study included Maya by Plackal Tech, MIA Fem by Mobapp Development Limited, and Mi Calendario Menstrual by Grupo Familia (an app targeting users in Latin America). They also looked at My Period Tracker by Linchpin Health, Period Tracker & Ovulation Calculator by Pinkbird, and Period Tracker by GP International LLC.The World's Marco Werman spoke with Eva Blum-Dumontet, the researcher who led the study on the period-tracking apps at Privacy International.  Marco Werman: What are some of the apps t

On a recent Wednesday, Noam Shuster-Eliassi strolled around the tiny village in Israel where she grew up, Neve Shalom or "Oasis of Peace," wishing goodbye to her neighbors. The Israeli comedian was heading to Harvard University in just a few days for a fellowship at the Divinity School. There, she will be writing an hourlong comedy show in Hebrew, English and Arabic. She is calling it, “Coexistence My Ass.”The name pokes fun at Shuster-Eliassi’s upbringing in the village, the only place in Israel designed for Israelis and Palestinians to intentionally live together. It also makes light of her career as a professional peace activist. After graduating from Brandeis University outside of Boston, Massachusetts, Shuster-Eliassi returned to Israel to work for the peacebuilding group, Interpeace.“You know, I care about the political causes, but I’m 31 and single, so, I go to the demonstrations mainly to look for a date. And when I go to the demonstrations, the problem is that the only people who actually look like t

If you’re a woman or over 60 in Chile, you have to pay two to three times more for your health insurance. At least, when it comes to private health care. Older people pay more, too. And if you have a pre-existing condition, like asthma, you’ll be denied coverage. But Chile’s government is debating right now whether to change that.First, a breakdown of how health care works in Chile.There’s the public system that anyone can access, which is paid for by a 7% tax on salaries. And then there’s the private insurance system called Isapre. You have to pay a lot more for it but it gives you access to specialists and better hospitals. And the waits aren’t nearly as long.  Related: Is Canada's health care system a cure-all? That’s what María Pilar Iturrieta, a lawyer in Santiago, wanted. Pilar has a 5-year-old daughter named Guadalupe who was born with a cleft lip. Guadalupe needed specialty care, which she could only get through the private Isapre system.But when Pilar applied for private insurance, she was rejected t

Maria Beraldo has the word “Trouble” emblazoned in bold black letters on her bright red leggings. For this Brazilian lesbian singer-songwriter, speaking openly about political issues is just part of who she is.Beraldo’s first solo album, “Cavala,” is a feminist anthem that presents a strong counter-balance to Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, notorious for his anti-woman and homophobic remarks. For Brazilian lesbian singer-songwriter Maria Beraldo, speaking openly about political issues is just part of who she is. Credit: Sonia Narang/The World Beraldo is gaining fans with her provocative, opinionated lyrics, and has found a niche audience in Brazil, especially among young women and girls and many in the LGBTQ community.“We have something like a dictator,” Beraldo says. “Our government is being closed. One of the most powerful technologies of oppression is to silence a lot of stories. In Brazil, we have a lot of artists and people and everybody thi

The first real shelter that Nadereh Shahbazi and her family slept in when they arrived in Greece was a tent pitched under a piece of red, corrugated iron that shielded them from the relentless Athens, Greece, sun. But when it rained, their tent floated in the mud.The family of three escaped from their home in Afghanistan fearing for their lives, and after weeks of homelessness in Athens, the family managed to find a tent in a refugee camp on the city's outskirts.Shahbazi was full term and could have given birth in the tent at any moment if Sahar Kamrani, a refugee advocate, hadn’t walked by and found her. “They were sleeping next to a tree in the mud of the camp in Malakasa,” Kamrani said. Related: Some refugees in Greece wish they hadn't won their casesThe Malakasa camp is run by the International Organization for Migration, and most asylum-seekers receive a container for shelter. But for newcomers, especially those not yet registered with the Greek government, pitching a tent is the only option. Kamrani, a

On weekday mornings, the smartphones of more than a hundred Istanbul residents light up with a cheery Arabic greeting and pictures of home-cooked Syrian dishes that Samar al-Mallah plans to cook that day. Then Mallah, a mother of four, waits for the orders to come in. And they do. “I believe you can reach the heart of a person through food,” Mallah said. “Food is something you can send a lot of messages with. You can put all of your love, all of your feelings. You can build relationships through food.” There is shish barak, a classic dish of toasted meat dumplings, stewed in a savory yogurt sauce; the tangy brightness of tabbouleh, chock-full of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers; and Mallah’s personal favorite are the kibbeh — spiced, fragrant ground meat packed and fried in a bulgur casing.  A plate of kibbeh, freshly fried and fragrant with cumin, cinnamon and cloves. “It’s really very difficult to prepare ... I have my own way, which makes it really special,” says Samar al-Mallah.     

Marcela Juan’s work is grueling, but important. As a prosecutor in Lomas de Zamora, a suburb 45 minutes outside of Buenos Aires in Argentina, she handles some of the area’s most disturbing cases. Juan specializes in cases of domestic violence, and femicide — the killing of a woman or girl based on her gender.Juan has been doing this kind of work for over a decade and her caseload is full. She says that especially over the past four years, these types of cases have continued to rise. By her account, so far in 2019, at least one woman has been killed per day in this province. As a testimony to that fact, today marks Juan’s 15th day in a row in the office, and her desk is littered with stacks of papers laying out some of these horrifying crimes, which are all too common across Argentina.Violence against women is rising nationwide — and Juan is among a number of women trying to solve the problem. Some are working on legislation while others are taking to the streets, making their voices heard.    Sometimes, this

The crowd at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon chanted "Equal pay!" as the US women's soccer team defeated the Netherlands 2-0 to win their fourth World Cup title. Before the final, US co-captain Megan Rapinoe criticized FIFA for disparities in prize money between the men and women. FIFA president Gianni Infantino proposed doubling the total prize money of the World Cup to $60 million last week. The men’s edition in Russia last year, featuring 32 teams, had a total prize money pot of $400 million. That amount for the men will rise to $440 million for the Qatar World Cup in 2022.In March, 28 members of the US women's national team filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, accusing it of gender discrimination."It certainly is not fair," Rapinoe said in an interview before the World Cup final. "We should double it now and then use that number to double it or quadruple it for the next time. That's what I mean when I talk about do we feel respected? If you really care about each game in the same way, are