Saudis Push Safety; El Salvador Nixes an Abortion

Credit: Zula Lucero on Flickr under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

(WOMENSENEWS)–

Cheers

A campaign to combat sexual violence in Saudi Arabia dares men to “Hit Her” and face the consequences of doing so,
The Stream Al Jazeera reported May 29.

In Italy, meanwhile, the lower house of parliament has ratified a landmark treaty aimed at combating violence against women,
The Guardian reported May 28.

More News to Cheer This Week:

Mothers are breadwinners for a record share of American families, as more women bring up children on their own and more married mothers out-earn their husbands, finds a study from the Pew Research Center, The Los Angeles Times reported May 28.

Women, Action and The Media announced in a press release May 28 that Facebook has committed to refine its approach to hate speech. In a setback, however, Facebook blocked an administrator of an Australian feminist page for uploading a poster that encouraged people to voice their concerns over misogynistic and violent content on the social networking site, The Guardian reported May 31.

Some of the world’s poorest countries–Cambodia, Rwanda, Botswana–have managed to cut maternal and young child mortality rates by half or more, according to a new report from Countdown to 2015, UNICEF announced in a press release May 27.

Palestinian women are doing what used to be considered male-only work as they take advantage of an increasing number of new opportunities to join the work force in the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post reported May 27.

Jeers

El Salvador‘s Supreme Court has denied a sick woman an immediate abortion, despite warnings from doctors that her life is at risk and the fetus is likely to survive only a few hours after birth, The Guardian reported May 30.

More News to Jeer This Week:

Christa Dias appeared in court to testify against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the schools over her dismissal, contending they fired her simply because she was pregnant and unmarried,
CBS News reported May 29.

A Saudi writer has urged his Twitter followers to sexually molest women hired to work as cashiers in big grocery stores, Gulf News reported May 29.

An member of parliament of the Salafi-oriented Nour Party called for banning ballet in Egypt, describing it as “the art of nudes,” while another parliamentarian from the Salafi-oriented Asala Party suggested disbanding the National Council for Women, Egypt Independent reported May 29.

Women in Singapore are increasingly angry over the continued campaigns to get them to start making babies,
Bikya News reported May 28.

The mayor of Osaka has courted controversy for a second time by claiming that there is “no evidence” that the Japanese government forced tens of thousands of women into sexual enslavement during World War II,
BBC News reported May 27.

Smoking and not having a job are two health hazards for America’s least educated white women and could be a factor in their declining life expectancy, according to a study published in The Journal of Health and Social Behavior, The New York Times reported May 30.

Noted:

More than 2-in-5 unmarried women under 50 without children — or 42 percent — would consider having a child on their own without a partner, an Associated Press-WE TV poll found, The Chicago Sun-Times reported May 31.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, a tea party favorite, announced that she will not run for another term in the U.S. House, ABC News reported May 29.

Saudi Arabia has decided to create separate sections for women inside stadiums so that they can attend soccer matches, according to a report in the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News, The Jerusalem Post reported May 27.

Three Femen activists were arrested after baring their breasts in Tunis, a first in the Arab world. The act sparked scuffles outside the Tunisian capital’s main courthouse and was part of a protest to free Amina, a Tunisian Femen activist, The Associated Press reported May 29.