The bravest women in the world

IRAN — A student’s protest against mandatory hijab laws made headlines around the world this month. The young woman stripped down to her underwear at the Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch in Tehran, Iran on November 2 and was swiftly arrested. In a video published on social media, the student can be seen in her underwear before being taken away by security officials. Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into the young woman’s treatment at the hands of the security officials who arrested her. The government has since said that the young woman, who has been named on social media, but whose identity has not been independently confirmed by news agencies, is a “troubled individual” and is receiving treatment. Women have dared to defy the Iranian regime since the Women, Life, Freedom movement that erupted in September 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the morality police for allegedly failing to cover her hair properly.

FRANCE — Gisèle Pelicot has testified at the trial of her ex-husband and 51 other men accused of raping her while she was drugged. “I want victims of rapes to tell themselves: ‘If Ms. Pelicot did it, so can we.’ I don’t want the victims to feel shame; they are the ones who should feel shame,” she said. Pelicot’s ex-husband Dominique is currently standing trial accused of drugging her with sedatives and inviting men from in and around their community of Mazan in southern France to rape her over the course of a decade. There are 51 male co-defendents whose participation in the mass rape could be ascertained through photos and videos found on Dominique Pelicot’s laptop and phone, although it is estimated that there were at least 30 more perpetrators in total. Dominique Pelicot and more than a dozen others have pleaded guilty to rape, while others argue that they were deceived. The defendants are aged between 26 and 74. “A rapist is not someone met in a car park late at night. A rapist can also be in the family, among our friends,” Gisèle Pelicot said

SAUDI ARABIA — In an open letter, 130 professional women’s football players from 26 countries have called on FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino to drop a partnership with Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco due to the country’s violations of women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights, as well as its contribution to the climate crisis. The deal between FIFA and Aramco, the country’s largest oil company which is predominantly controlled by the Saudi government, was signed in April. As it runs until the end of 2027, Aramco will not only sponsor the 2026 Men’s World Cup, but also the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil. Professional players, including Jessie Fleming, the captain of the Canadian national team, and former US captain Becky Sauerbrunn, said the deal undermines women’s football. In Saudi Arabia, homosexuality is criminalised and male guardianship over women is enshrined in its Personal Status Law. The letter reads: “The Saudi authorities trample not only on the rights of women, but on the freedom of all other citizens too. Imagine LGBTQ+ players, many of whom are heroes of our sport, being expected to promote Saudi Aramco during the 2027 World Cup, the national oil company of a regime that criminalises the relationships that they are in and the values they stand for?”.

US — The United States has elected Donald Trump as president in the first general election since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the decision that had formerly protected abortion rights in the country. As president from 2016-2020, Trump appointed the three Supreme Court justices who provided the court with the majority required to end nation-wide access to abortion in 2022. Trump has insisted he does not support a federal abortion ban, but in a presidential debate in September, he refused to say whether he’d veto such a ban if it passed congress. However, the election brought positive results in several state abortion measures: seven of the ten states where the right to choose was on the ballot voted in favour of expanding reproductive rights. These are Arizona, Colorado, New York, Maryland, Missouri, Montana and Nevada. Similar measures failed in Florida, where the state’s six-week ban will remain in place, as well as Nebraska and South Dakota.

IRELAND  — The Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Bill 2022 was passed on October 23 in the Irish parliament with 78 votes in favour and 52 votes against, and will now be signed into law. The new legislation introduced increased prison sentences for offences where hate crimes are motivated by the race, skin colour, nationality, religion, disability, gender (including trans and non-binary identities), sexual characteristics or sexual orientation of the victim. The draft originally also referred to incitement to violence and hatred, but the term was removed during the legislative process due to an alleged lack of consensus.

ITALY — The Italian parliament has passed a law banning couples from having children via surrogacy from abroad, imposing penalties of up to two years in prison and fines of up to one million euros. The vote in the senate, with 84 votes in favour and 58 against, took place on October 16. The bill was proposed by the far-right Fratelli d’Italia with the support of prime minister Giorgia Meloni. Domestic surrogacy was already banned in Italy. While the new legislation makes no distinction between heterosexual and same-sex couples, it raises particular concern among the LGBTQIA+ community, as gay marriage is not legal in Italy, and same-sex couples are not allowed to adopt children, nor are they given the option of recognising a child conceived by their partner. The law will also affect people with fertility issues.

KENYA — A report by the Thomson Reuters Foundation has revealed that Kenya’s refugee commissioner does not consider persecution on the basis of sexuality or gender as a valid reason for seeking asylum, delaying the cases of LGBTQIA+ applicants. With more than 770,000 asylum seekers, Kenya is one of Africa’s largest host countries for refugees, who are considered under current legislation to be people fleeing aggression or persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a social group. Although there is no figure for LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers in Kenya, the UN estimated in 2021 that there were 1,000 in the country, a number that is likely to have increased since neighbouring Uganda passed a draconian anti-homosexuality law. According to UNHCR, the country is considered safe for Ugandan refugees, with 3,978 applicants as of May 2024, although the number of those processed on the grounds of sexual or gender-based persecution was not provided.

AFGHANISTAN — In August, the Taliban regime banned women from singing, reading aloud or speaking in public spaces. Now it has gone a step further by banning them from praying aloud or reciting texts in front of other women. The new restriction was announced by the ministry for the ‘propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice’ at the end of October. ‘It is prohibited for a grown woman to recite Quranic verses or perform recitations in front of another grown woman,’ said minister Khalid Hanafi. Afghan women and girls face a growing number of restrictions, including looking at or mixing with men who are not relatives or husbands and using public transport alone. Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan three years ago, they have issued more than 70 edicts, directives and decrees denying women and girls their basic rights, including the right to attend school, work, or travel without a male guardian.

BRAZIL — Former police officers Ronnie Lessa and Élcio de Queiroz have been sentenced to 78 and 59 years in prison respectively for the murder of city councillor and human rights activist Marielle Franco. Franco was a pioneering feminist in Brazilian politics, who stood up for the rights of Black Brazilians, residents of the favelas, single mothers and other marginalised groups. In 2016, she was elected councillor for the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade in Rio de Janeiro. She was murdered on March 14 2018 along with her driver, Anderson Gomez, at the age of 38. After her death, she became a symbol of Afro-Brazilian and LGBTQIA+ rights in Brazil. Ronnie Lessa, one of the convicted men, confessed during the trial that they were paid by militia leaders in Rio de Janeiro to kill Franco, because they feared she would obstruct their businesses. “We won’t stop here. In 2018, I said I would honour my sister’s blood and memory. We’re going to fight, not just for Marielle and Anderson, but for a project that we believe in,” said Anielle Franco, Marielle’s sister, who is today Minister of Racial Equality.

HAITI — Haiti’s children are being targeted and recruited by gangs and criminal groups, where they are forced into illegal activities and face sexual abuse. According to Unicef, criminal groups control nearly 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince, with half a million children living in their sphere of influence. Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 30% of the members of criminal groups are children, who are forced to engage in activities such as extortion and looting, and even murder or kidnapping. While girls are often exploited for labour and assigned to cooking and cleaning tasks in the houses where leaders and members of criminal groups live, they are also tasked with running errands and carrying weapons and ammunition. They are also particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. Since the murder of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, the country has faced a deteriorating political and economic situation, with an increase in gang violence. Last year, 5,587 cases of gender-based violence – including collective rapes – were reported in the country, a 50% increase over the 2022 figures.

New here?

Impact is a weekly newsletter of feminist journalism, dedicated to the rights of women and gender-diverse people worldwide.

This is the English version of our newsletter; you can read the French one here.