Skip to main content

With laws against rape and child marriage, 2017 was a momentous year for women’s rights

Protesters wear pink hats in Washington DC, during a women’s march on January 21, 2017. The knitted pink hat became a symbol and was replicated around the world.(AFP)
Pink hat-wearing protesters marched in the millions, celebrities called out their abusers as “pigs”, and countries from Chile to India passed pro-women legislation, making 2017 a momentous year for women’s rights despite setbacks, activists said.
Beginning with the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who swiftly moved to restrict abortions around the world, 2017 brought a reminder to many that women’s rights have a long road ahead.
But the trials ushered in a new era of resistance in the United States and elsewhere, while countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America made strides toward ending gender discrimination, campaigners said.
“It was a year for tackling discriminatory laws,” UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan all scrapped laws this year that allowed rapists to escape punishment if they married their victims, a move activists hope will spread to other Arab states.

  •                                                       

In a string of victories against child marriage, Malawi,Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvador and Guatemala all amended national laws to ban the practice, Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
And in India, where child marriage is illegal but common, lawmakers ruled that having sex with a wife aged 15 to 18 is punishable as rape.
Trump’s expansion of the global gag rule - which withholds US funding from foreign clinics or groups that provide information about abortion - dealt a blow to family planning services and women’s health worldwide, charities said.
But in a victory for campaigners, Chile ruled to legalise abortion in certain circumstances, leaving only a handful of countries in the world where it is banned outright.
“We continue to see progress in advancing reproductive human rights in a hostile global climate,” said Lilian Sepulveda of the global legal programme at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Other women’s rights leaders said it was the resistance to sexism that made 2017 noteworthy.
“This year has also been about changing the narrative – from one that blames, disbelieves and stigmatizes victims, to one that holds abusers to account,” said the UN’s Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Millions of women around the world marched in protest to Trump the day after his inauguration, many wearing pink “pussyhats” in reference to his boast in a 2005 video about grabbing women’s genitals.
Months later, millions again joined a popular protest movement by sharing stories of sexual abuse and harassment on social media using the hashtag #MeToo, or in France, #balancetonporc (“expose your pig”).
“I think this is just the beginning of a new awakening for women,” said Bob Bland, one of the national co-chairs of the Women’s March on Washington.
“Going into 2018, we are galvanized for the fight ahead,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Over 1 lakh illegal immigrants arrested in US in 2017

On January 25, Trump issued an executive order to set forth the Administration’s immigration enforcement and removal priorities. (Representational Image) The US authorities have arrested 143,470 illegal immigrants this year, according to a latest report. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in its annual report that it has made 143,470 administrative arrests in fiscal year 2017, increasing 30 per cent Year-on-Year, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday. An administrative arrest is the arrest of an alien for a civil violation of the immigration laws, which is subsequently adjudicated by an immigration judge or through other administrative processes. Of the total arrests, 110,568 occurred after January 20, which is a 42 per cent increase over the same time period last year, according to the report. US President Donald Trump took the oath of office on January 20 this year. On January 25, Trump issued an executive order to set forth the Administration’s immigrat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Canada debates new harassment legislation amid #MeToo storm

We can afford to do more for people who need it by doing less for people who don’t: Trudeau’s message (Photo Source: Reuters) Canada’s parliament began debate on Monday on new legislation to tighten workplace harassment rules, including those governing politicians, as allegations of sexual misconduct mounted against lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum. The bill, introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in November, gained a new prominence after a federal cabinet minister and two provincial party leaders stepped down last week after being accused of inappropriate behavior. While the proposed law will govern all federal workplaces, including private businesses, the environment among political staffers in Ottawa was in focus as the #MeToo social media movement gained momentum in Canada. “It clearly is a crisis in this workplace,” Employment Minister Patty Hajdu told reporters outside the House of Commons. “We talk a lot about getting wom...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump administration drops Obama-era easing of marijuana prosecutions

The US Justice Department on Thursday rescinded an Obama administration policy that had eased enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that legalized the drug, instead giving federal prosecutors wide latitude to pursue criminal charges. The action by Attorney General Jeff Sessions could have damaging consequences for the burgeoning marijuana industry in the six states including California and Colorado that have legalized the drug for recreational use, plus dozens of others that permit medicinal use. Justice Department officials declined to say whether they might take legal action against those states, saying further steps were “still under consideration.” Federal law still prohibits marijuana even as some states move to legalize it. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump’s top priority was enforcing federal law “whether it’s marijuana or immigration.” The policy change, detailed by Sessions in a one-page memo to federal prosecutors nationwid...
Post a Comment
Read more