Category Archive For "Voices"
The Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Have we made some Progress?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. (WHO, 2010). The terms ‘female circumcision’ and ‘female genital cutting’ are also used to refer to FGM. These procedures, …
What about Iranian women and football?
Remembering Sahar Khodayari, the “Blue Girl”. Sahar Khodayari committed suicide on 9th September of 2019 at the age of 29 years old. She immolated herself after knowing that she could have spent from 6 months to up to 2 years in prison for being dressed as a man while trying to enter the Azadi Stadium in Tehran on March 2019. What is the current situation in Iran when it comes to …
On Anger and Feminism
The words “angry” and “feminist” are often lumped together as a derogation of a supposedly radical group arguing for ‘feminine domination.’ It gets flung as an insult and aims to aggravate the accused. As feminists, we must repurpose this intended insult, this deliberate misunderstanding of our cause — which is one of passion, fairness and …
Let’s recognize women human right’s defender’s activism before we tell them to practice “self-care”
At the end of April, I was in Berlin to see one of my favourite feminist heroes, Kimberlé Crenshaw speak in honour of the 30th year since her coining the phrase “intersectional feminism.” The venue was packed and buzzing with excitement. I was lucky to even stand in the back of the room, since all …
The Feeling of Femininity: a reflection on rape culture in Dr. Erin Wunker’s “Notes from a Feminist Killjoy”
It took me a long time to recognize rape culture in my body. In feminist circles, I talk about rape culture all the time — as a nuisance, as an obstacle, as a danger. Rape culture has a multitude of definitions, and it’s often misunderstood. This spring, I worked with various folks at my university …
WAVE member Autonomous Women’s Centre takes stance against legalization of surrogacy in Serbia
Considering the announcement of legalization of surrogacy, proposed in the new pre-draft of The Civil Code, the Autonomous Women’s Centre warns the public, state institutions and members of the group working on the document, that the legalisation of surrogacy represents legalisation of serious forms of exploitation of women and trafficking in children. Surrogacy, in its …
Reproductive rights in Croatia: Are there any left?
The status of women in Croatia has been severely downgraded in the recent years. While rapists and abusers keep walking out of courtrooms unpunished, women are slowly being stripped of their rights, one by one. After Ivana Ninčević-Lesandrić, a representative in the Parliament, shared her testimony (1.) of enduring a curettage procedure without anesthesia while …
Despite Dr Katie Bouman, there’s still a long way to go for women in STEM
In the past few days, you may probably have come across the picture of Dr Katie Bouman, the brilliant 29-year-old computer scientist who developed a crucial algorithm that helped produce the first ever image of a black hole. Even though the MIT graduate underlined that this scientific breakthrough was the result of successful teamwork, her …
Swedish women’s organisations: We need a law against sex robots
‘Sex robots’ and ‘sex dolls’ reinforce and normalize views of women which objectify and normalize men’s violence against women. It is time for tightened legislation so that new technology does not reproduce values which exploit women’s bodies, writes Swedish Women’s Lobby, Roks and Unizon. Debate: Sex robots. Recently we read in Dagens Nyheter about how …
WAVE Support statement for our fellow activists in Serbia
The WAVE Network believes in freedom of opinion, freedom of speech and freedom of press and media. We aim to promote as well as strengthen human rights values on the basis of gender equality, which is why it is particularly disheartening to learn about the current situation in Serbia. Civil society organisations, individual activists, protesters …
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