This March, youth advocates from around the world sent a message to their governmental leaders: we will hold you accountable on gender equality. They came to New York for the 59th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a yearly conference that draws government leaders and delegates as well as advocates from local organizations to evaluate progress on and set standards for women’s empowerment. IWHC held a two-day “Advocacy in Practice” workshop before the conference to help prepare the young leaders and to facilitate their discussions with high-level policymakers and decision-makers. More than 20 youth from countries as diverse as Guatemala and Kenya participated in the IWHC workshop and in CSW. Several spoke on panels as part of CSW main or side events,
Category: women’s health
You HAVE To See These Women Transform Themselves into Celebs on YouTube
Seriously—their makeup skills are impressive. <!–paging_filter–>This article was written by Mi-Anne Chan and repurposed with permission from Refinery 29. There are some celebrities whose looks we constantly find ourselves trying to recreate. Rihanna’s off-the-wall lip colors, Kim K’s dramatic “kontour,” Emma Stone’s sexy cat-eye—we’ve tried them all. Online, YouTubers take celebrity makeup looks to the next level by transforming themselves into spitting images of our favorite celebs. Ahead, watch a few savvy YouTubers use colored contact lenses, wigs, makeup, and brushes to morph themselves into celebrity doppelgängers. Whether you’re watching for pure entertainment or makeup inspiration, these tutorials are sure to keep you transfixed. RELATED: These 5 Women Got Amazing Hair Makeovers Maya Mia perfectly executes Lana Del Rey’s ’60s
Forget Fitness Challenges—Sex Challenges Are Now a Thing
Thirty days to intimacy or your money back <!–paging_filter–>Pinterest is loaded with different health and fitness challenges. Whether your goal is to be more hydrated or have a tighter butt, there are schedules out there urging you to drink more water or do more squats. So why not add a sex challenge to your Google calendar? It is health-related, after all. Say you’ve been feeling a little tired, stressed, disconnected, or otherwise unsexy. Or maybe you just miss the constant, passionate sex of those first few months of your romantic relationship. Setting a sex challenge—in which you and your partner commit to sex every day for a week, a month, or a year—may help you get back on track, at least according to
Why Is Egypt Prosecuting Human Rights Defenders?
This blog was originally published on the Huffington Post. How low will the Egyptian government go in silencing the voices of its citizens and its human rights activists? Last week, it went even lower than thought possible. In what amounted to a judicial masquerade, the Egyptian government suddenly decided to prosecute one of the world’s most active and effective human rights defenders, Azza Soliman, for denouncing police brutality. Azza is a cofounder of the Cairo-based Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA), which provides free legal, social, and psychological services to women and marginalized groups and works to protect their rights. Here are the facts: On January 24, 2015, in a peaceful demonstration organized by the Socialist People’s Alliance Party, about 30 people, flowers in hand,
This Playlist Will Help You Shake Up Your Workout Routine in All the Right Ways
New moves call for new music. <!–paging_filter–>Every week, Your New Favorite Playlist introduces you to workout-worthy tunes from a different fitness brand. This week, Crunch shares one of the recent playlists from its Body Rocket with CMT class. There’s something about a shiny new fitness toy that can make you so much more amped to get to the gym. But that philosophy doesn’t just apply to solo exercise sessions—it works for group classes, too. Enter: Body Rocket with CMT (core momentum trainer) at Crunch. “It’s a cardio- and core-infused class that uses weighted equipment—the CMT,” says Courtney Alexander, a group fitness instructor at Crunch who teaches the class. “When you shake the CMT quickly, it builds strength and improves your range
Regardless of Election Outcome, Girls Are the Future in Nigeria
On March 28, millions of Nigerians will vote in what many are calling one of the most critical elections in the country’s history. As the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan, faces his leading challenger, Muhammadu Buhari—who briefly ruled Nigeria in the 1980s as part of the military regime—the country, the most populous in Africa, grapples with Boko Haram, rampant corruption, and a growing economic crisis. Women and girls have been at the heart of the campaigns and recent crises, but more often than not, depicted as helpless victims or collateral damage. From the 270 schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok a year ago to the rise of female suicide bombers, the plight of Nigeria’s women and girls is regularly highlighted in the news. Yet these headlines fail to capture two critical
Patients Work with Doctors to Make Choices About Care
By Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News Rose Gutierrez has a big decision to make. Gutierrez, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last spring, had surgery and 10 weeks of chemotherapy. But the cancer is still there. Now Dr. Jasmine Wong, a surgeon at UC San Francisco, is explaining the choices: Gutierrez can either have another lumpectomy followed by radiation, or she can get a total mastectomy. “I think both options are reasonable,” Wong said. “It’s just a matter of how you feel personally about preserving your breast, how you feel about having radiation therapy.” “I’m kind of scared about that,” said Gutierrez, 52, sitting on an exam table with her daughter on a chair beside her. “Well if you made it through chemo, radiation is going
The S Word: What’s So Scary About Women’s Sexuality?
This blog was originally published on Trust.org on March 5, 2015. Twenty years ago, 189 governments made history in Beijing by committing to a bold, progressive platform for women’s human rights and equality. It seemed like the beginning of a new era. When First Lady Hillary Clinton stood before 17,000 government delegates and activists and fiercely proclaimed, “Let it be that human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all,” women around the world felt energized. While we have cause to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Beijing, we still have a long way to go to fully realize its promise. Inequality persists at many levels around the world and the idea that women and girls should be able to
Brazil Marks International Women’s Day with Law on Gender-Based Violence
International Women’s Day is not only a time to reflect on the gains achieved by the women’s movement, but also to consider all of the work that still remains to achieve gender equality. When thinking about the long path to women’s rights, it’s gratifying to see countries make strides, as was the case with Brazil last week. Last Monday, Brazil’s President, Dilma Rousseff, approved legislation that imposes harsher penalties for those who harm or kill women and girls, a crime commonly referred to as “femicide.” With the new law, offenders could face up to 30 years of jail time. Femicide will now be defined as any crime that involves “domestic violence, contempt or discrimination against women” and will be considered aggravated
Scaling Up the “Whole Girl” Approach to End Child Marriage
A panel of experts gathered at the UN Tuesday afternoon to discuss the most effective programs to end child marriage and the work ahead for advocates and governments committed to ending the practice, which affects an estimated 15 million girls under the age of 18 worldwide every year. Panelists noted that minimum age of marriage laws and cash payments to parents to keep their daughters in school can help prevent child marriage, but will not work as stand alone interventions. Moreover, measures must address the root cause of the problem: gender inequality. “The devaluation of girls by families, by schools, and by societies is the fundamental root cause of [child marriage],” said IWHC President Françoise Girard, who noted that a “whole girl” approach must be taken to end
‘She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry’ Celebrates the History of ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves’
“She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry” filmmaker Mary Dore and Our Bodies Ourselves founders discussed the critically acclaimed documentary and OBOS’s place in the women’s movement following a recent screening in Boston (video is available). OBOS founder Norma Swenson later wrote this reflection; read more reactions in the comments. by Norma Swenson As we approach International Women’s Day, viewing “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry,” Mary Dore’s remarkable, unique film on the women’s movement, feels perfectly timely. We are encouraged to remember our roots on IWD, and this film opens it all up, especially little-known parts from the recent past. I was thrilled to see “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry” at the Coolidge Theatre with the filmmaker and founders of Our Bodies