(18) Palestinian inventor hopes to help rebuild Gaza using Green Cake, a new type of brick made of coal and wood ash.
Green Cake is the world’s only brick that uses coal and wood ash as filler material instead of the usual sand and aggregate. It is stronger than an ordinary brick, yet half the weight and price. This has stalled Gaza’s ability to rebuild after the 2014 Israeli offensive, which destroyed 18,000 homes. About 75,000 people […]
(17) Saudi Arabia seeks ‘unprecedented’ beheading for woman activist.
None of the charges against Israa al-Ghomgham are for violent acts, according to Human Rights Watch Saudi Arabia researcher Hiba Zayadin. According to Amnesty International, the public prosecutor called for 29-year-old Ghomgham and other defendants to be beheaded. Most people executed in the Gulf kingdom are beheaded with a sword, according to Reprieve, an international […]
(16) Most girls in Somalia experience genital mutilation. The ritual just killed a 10-year-old.
FGM, which is sometimes called female circumcision, can take many forms but often includes the removal of the clitoris and some parts of the labia. It can cause lifelong health problems, including dangerous complications in childbirth. The United Nations identifies FGM as “an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls.” The World Health Organization […]
(15) New school offers education ‘salvation’ for Syrian girls in Lebanon.
A new girls’ school for Syrian refugees in Lebanon’s poor Bekaa region is aiming to give girls from conservative backgrounds the chance at a formal education. Gaining access to education in general is difficult for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, but for girls from socially conservative families who disapprove of mixed schools, it is even harder. […]
(14) Refugees of the Syrian Civil War.
An estimated 11 million Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of the civil war in March 2011. Now, in the sixth year of war, 13.5 million are in need of humanitarian assistance within the country. Among those escaping the conflict, the majority have sought refuge in neighbouring countries or within Syria itself. According […]
(13) Female politicians speak out about sexist, misogyny woman face everyday.
Misogyny is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. Misogyny can be manifested in numerous ways, including social exclusion, sex discrimination, hostility, androcentrism, patriarchy, male privilege, belittling of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification. Recent years have seen a wave of women MPs speaking up on the disturbing misogynistic abuse […]
(12) Boko Haram crisis: Amnesty accuses Nigeria troops of rape
Nigerian soldiers have raped women and girls who fled the insurgency by militant Islamist group Boko Haram, Amnesty International has said. Troops separated women from their husbands and raped them, sometimes in exchange for food, in refugee camps, the rights group added. Thousands of people have also starved to death in the camps in north-eastern […]
(11) Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, commonly known in mainland China as the June Fourth Incident , were student-led demonstrations in Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China, in 1989. More broadly, it refers to the popular national movement inspired by the Beijing protests during that period, sometimes called the ’89 Democracy Movement. […]
(10) First licences issued for female drivers in Saudi Arabia, but women still face severe restrictions every day.
Saudi Arabia has arrested at least five people, mostly women who previously agitated for the right to drive and an end to the kingdom’s male guardianship system, rights activists said on Friday. Women who previously participated in protests against the ban told Reuters last year that two dozen activists had received phone calls instructing them […]
(9) Chilean Students, Feminists Unite Against Sexism in Education
Two weeks ago the student and feminist movements began occupying universities and organizing marches to protest sexism within higher education. Protests were organized after reports of sexual abuse by faculty members in Chile’s Austral University and the University of Chile surfaced.On May 16 students and feminists marched in four cities, including Santiago, Chile’s capital to […]