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Welcome to the Feminist News Wrap by Impact, a Les Glorieuses newsletter. In addition to our monthly reported feature, released on the final Monday of every month, we will now also bring you a summary of all that’s making news in the world of women’s rights, from historic political decisions to the grassroots movements pushing for change. The news wrap will be delivered straight to your inbox on the second Monday of each month.
Got a news item you think should be included in our wrap? Email us: [email protected].
You can also read Impact in French. You may be interested in our other bilingual monthly newsletter, Economics.
– The team at Les Glorieuses
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MEXICO: Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled on September 7 that the criminalisation of abortion is unconstitutional and a violation of human rights. This verdict established that the state of Coahuila must modify legislation imposing one to three years’ imprisonment for voluntarily terminating a pregnancy. This does not mean abortion is now legal in Mexico, but sets a precedent against prosecution in those states where it is
considered a crime. Only three Mexican states currently recognise legal abortion as a right: Mexico City, Hidalgo and Oaxaca.
COLOMBIA: 123 women social leaders and human rights defenders have been killed during the three years of President Iván Duque’s administration in Colombia, according to the Institute for Development and Peace (Indepaz). Most of the women killed were Indigenous (30%), followed by small-scale farmers (23%) and civic (19%) and community leaders (10%). Indepaz warned that the risk of violence threatened to prevent women from participating in politics. The most recent murder was that of Blanca Rosa Monroy, a former guerrilla fighter and signatory of the peace deal who was trying to enter politics in the region of Risaralda.
SWITZERLAND: Switzerland voted in favour of marriage equality in a referendum
on 26 September with 64% of voters supporting the measure, and 52% citizen turnout. Before the referendum, Switzerland was the only Western European nation not to recognise same-sex marriages. Couples of the same gender will be able to get married and adopt children from July 1 next year.
SAN MARINO: On the same day Switzerland approved same-sex marriage, the tiny nation of San Marino voted in favour of legalising abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and longer in case of foetal anomalies or risk to the mother. The proposal, submitted by the San Marino Women’s Union but resisted by the conservative government, received 77% of the vote in the referendum. Abortion was previously subject to a total ban and punishable by three to six years in prison. As a result, many in San Marino crossed
the border into Italy to terminate unwanted pregnancies.
ZAMBIA: On September 11, hundreds of women protested against sexual and gender-based violence in Zambian cities following a call to action made by the Sistah Sistah Foundation. Protesters shared images of the demonstration using the hashtag #WomensMarchZambia on social media. The foundation has launched a petition addressed to the Zambian President, Hakainde Hichilema, the parliament and the justice system condemning the high rates of violence against women and girls in the country. Zambia registered more than 18,000 cases of sexual and gender based violence in 2016, according to UN Women.
MOROCCO: Three women won key cities
in Morocco’s local elections. National Rally of Independents candidates Asmaa Rhlalou and Nabila Rmili were elected in the capital, Rabat, and the main commercial city, Casablanca, respectively. Fatima Zahra Mansouri, from the royalist Authenticity and Modernity Party, was also elected in the major city of Marrakech. Morocco ranked 144th overall in the Global Gender Gap Index 2021, and 113th in terms of political empowerment.
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PAKISTAN: The murder of a 27-year-old woman in Pakistan has galvanised a movement on social media to demand justice and denounce impunity for femicides. Noor Mukadam was allegedly killed by Zahir Jaffer, the son of an influential local family, after rejecting his marriage proposal. Mukadam’s friends called for a demonstration on September 13 in front of the Islamabad High Court. The protest was accompanied virtually with the hashtag #JusticeForNoor. Honour killings were legal in Pakistan until 2004 and still occur: it is estimated that there are about 1,000 such murders every year.
YEMEN: The United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, has warned that three of every four Yemenis displaced by the ongoing civil war are women or children. The agency estimates that 3.5 million women and adolescent girls in Yemen have limited access to reproductive health services, and 1.5 million have no access at all.
CHINA: China plans to reduce the number of abortions for « non-medical purposes » in order to boost country’s declining birth rates, the executive branch announced on September 27. Faced with an ageing population, the Chinese government cancelled its one-child policy in 2016, which it had implemented to contain population growth in 1979, legalising abortion at the same time. Since May, the government has allowed families to have up to three children, but the birth rate is expected to continue to fall this year.
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) is campaigning to name more streets after women. Only 40 streets in the small Asian country are named for women, while more than 540 are named after men. Most of the streets bearing women’s names honour figures linked to British royalty or colonialism, such as Elizabeth Drive or Margaret Drive. Only three commemorate women who made significant contributions to Singapore: Jalan Hajijah for Madam Hajijah Cemat, who founded the Kampung Siglap Mosque, Elliot Road in honour of the physician Patricia Ruth Elliot, and Blackmore Drive, which recognises the Methodist Girls’ School founder Sophia Blackmore.
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This issue of IMPACT was prepared by Agustina Ordoqui, Heloísa Marques, Megan Clement, Rebecca Amsellem and Steph Williamson from the team at Les Glorieuses.
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