Jail Sentences, Women-only Rides and Protests, Here's Around The World In 5
This week, the world has seen women break into new spaces and protest the old orders.
Here are five stories from around the world.
Saudi Arabia
This week, A Saudi student from Leeds University who had returned home for a holiday was sentenced to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissidents and activists.
Salma al-Shehab, a mother of two children, had initially been given a three-year sentence for the “crime” of using an internet website to “cause public unrest and destabilise civil and national security”. However, an appeal court handed down the new sentence; 34 years in prison followed by a 34-year travel ban.
Read more here.
Nigeria
A woman-only ride-hailing company called HerRyde has launched in Abuja. The company’s co-founders, CEO Monsurah Oluwafuyi, COO Muhammad Muazu, and Chief Product Officer Kamaldeen Ibrahim, told Tech Cabal that it has set out to provide a safer option for female drivers and riders while also creating work opportunities for more women.
The company’s idea stemmed from reports of women getting harassed and abused on ride-hailing trips.
An example was Muzau’s aunt who had been harassed by a driver who told her: “If you were my wife, I would have beaten you for keeping me waiting.”
Read more here.
Argentina
The women’s football team at Club Deportivo Guaraní, an indigenous community football club based in the province of Salta in northern Argentina, will make history by playing in the final of the Copa Salta. They will be the first team from an Indigenous community to reach the final of a major tournament in the province.
Women’s football is growing in Salta. More than 40 women’s football clubs are now formally registered in the Salta league and countless small neighbourhood teams have sprung up, according to Belén Morelli, president of the Salta association of women’s football.
Read more here.
Iran
Two weeks ago, women from across Iran began a social media campaign to protest the government's hijab law. Some shared photos and videos of themselves without headscarves in public places. They have used a #No2Hijab or #ImAgainstMandatoryHijab hashtag. Several have been arrested for the online posts.
This week, women took to the streets of Tehran carrying placards asking, "Where is Sepideh Rashno?" a 28-year-old writer and artist who was arrested on June 15 after a video of her arguing with another woman who was enforcing rules on wearing a headscarf on a bus in Tehran went viral.
Read more here.
Egypt
Netflix, in collaboration with Arab screenwriting hub Sard, is launching screenwriting programme for women from underrepresented communities in Egypt from September
“Because She Created” will see 20 women from outside the capital city of Cairo being trained, tools and exposure would be given to take their creative prowess and showcase their work on international platforms.
The initiative is part of the ‘Netflix Fund for Creative Equity’.
Read more here.