“Women, Life, Freedom”: Here's Around the World in 5
In the ongoing series, Document Women highlights noteworthy news related to women and this week’s post covers September 24 to September 30.
Italy
This week, Thousands marched across Italy in nationwide protests organised by the Italian feminist movement Non Una di Meno (Not One Less), for the continued availability of free and safe abortions.
The demonstrations were part of nationwide actions aimed at sending a message to Giorgia Meloni and her Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) Party that protesters won’t stand for any changes to 1978 legislation, known as Law 194, guaranteeing access to abortion.
Read more about the protests here.
Document Women had reported Meloni's win at Italy's recently concluded elections. You can read more about that here.
South Korea
The murder of a 28-year-old South Korean woman who her alleged killer had stalked for years has sparked outrage and demands for changes in the law to protect women better.
The woman’s murder in a bathroom at the subway station came a day before her alleged attacker, named by police as 31-year-old Jeon Joo-hwan, was to be sentenced for stalking her.
An anti-stalking law carrying a maximum three-year prison sentence that was passed last October has been condemned as flawed, since it permits police to take action only with the consent of the victim. Since the law came into force, police have made 7,152 arrests for stalking, but only 5 per cent of the suspects have been detained.
Read more here.
Cuba
Cuba has legalized same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption after voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum legalizing both practices. The new legislation will also enhance women’s rights, children’s rights, and elderly rights, promote the equal sharing of domestic labour, legalize surrogate pregnancies, and provide the legal basis for prenuptial agreements.
Sixty-seven per cent of voters were in favor of the code, with 33 per cent opposed, according to a press release from Cuba’s National Electoral Council.
"The most emancipatory, fair and beautiful law in the world, which regulates family law, has been ratified. Now, love is law on the island of freedom." – Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education
Read more here.
Jordan
Three women in Jordan protested in front of the parliament against a new law that gives only fathers or male guardians a say over their children’s education. The provision is one of several amendments made to a child rights bill before it was passed by parliament on Monday.
“I am a mother, not a child-rearing instrument,” read a placard carried by Avin Al Kurdi, one of the three women who responded to the call for a protest that was circulated on social media. She said the child rights law “comes on top of many other laws that exclude women.”
Women in Jordan cannot give Jordanian citizenship to their children if the father is a foreigner. A divorced woman who remarries loses custody of her children from the previous marriage, but men who do the same do not. The consent of the father, not the mother, is required for children and minors to travel or to be admitted to hospital.
Read more here.
Iran
Protests have spread across Iran pushing for change —sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini while in morality policy custody.
“Every woman in Iran sees themselves, or somebody they know, in Mahsa,” said Farnaz Fassihi, an Iranian-American journalist. The name “Mahsa” has become a call to action, a rallying cry that represents the larger struggle of Iranian women.
Protesters, whose chants include the mantra “Women, life, freedom,” have called for an end to the Islamic Republic. One human rights group has reported that protests, and the ensuing clashes with security forces, have resulted in at least seventy-six deaths and hundreds of injuries and arrests.
On Thursday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi accused the United States of “trying to pit people against each other” and said that while he is saddened by Amini’s death, his government can “not allow people to disturb the peace of society through riots.”
Read more here.