Costa Rica celebrated its first same-sex marriage when two women, Alexandra Quiros and Dunia Araya, celebrated their wedding: an “extraordinary moment”.
Gender
The first woman to be elected president of Nepal
Nepal has elected its new president, the second after the end of the monarchy. The new head of state is a woman. She is an activist for gender equality, but some controversies arose.
Nepal has elected, on 28 October, its second president since it became a democratic republic in 2008. For the first time the president is a woman. Bidhya Devi Bhandari, 54, of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal, has been elected thanks to the vote of 327 members of Parliament against 214. As in other countries, the presidential role is more importantly symbolic, considering that the political power is held by the Prime Minister, the comrade and party leader Khadga Prasad Oli. Bhandari succeeds Ram Baran Yadav, the first president of Nepal that has been elected in 2008 after the decision of the Parliament to abandon the monarchy.
Bhandari is not new to politics. Since the 1980s she has been campaigning for gender equality in politics, contributing to secure women’s right under the new constitution and to achieve that one-third of the members of parliament have to be women and either the president or vice-president must be a woman. Nevertheless, many criticisms arose due to her position on citizenship. The constitution – supported by the newly elected president – makes it difficult for a single mother to pass her citizenship to her child. A child of a Nepali woman and a foreign man cannot get a citizenship by descent unless the man first takes Nepali citizenship; but children can become Nepali automatically if the father is Nepali, regardless of the mother’s nationality.
After a pause from the political stage, due to the commitment of her husband Madan Bhandari, one of the most charismatic politicians Nepal has had, and her choice to take on family responsibilities, Bidhya Devi Bhandari decided to go back to politics in 1993, after her husband was killed in a mysterious car accident. One of her next tasks will be lifting the country out of the instability also due to the adoption, in September, of the new constitution. Ethnical minorities in Nepal, indeed, do not think to be properly represented compared to Hindu majority, and ask more rights. To date, 40 people died in clashes with the police.
The pandemic and its restrictions are affecting everyone, without exceptions. However factors like housing, income inequalities, gender, access to technology and working conditions are influencing how people experience the health crisis.
Time magazine’s 100 Women of the Year project sheds light on influential women’s stories, from Amelia Earhart to Greta Thunberg. A selection of some of the greats for International Women’s Day.
The New York Supreme Court has found former film producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault. Even though he was acquitted of other charges, the verdict could be a turning point for women’s rights.
Joaquin Phoenix, who won Best Actor at the 2020 Oscars, reminded us that we need to overcome our egocentric view of the world, and rather choose love and compassion towards others and the natural world.
Climate change poses a risk for millions. However, women are the most vulnerable to its negative consequences: a few simple considerations by the Italian Climate Network help us perceive the global implications of this.
Un violador en tu camino – the rapist is you – is an anthem protesting the impunity of gender-based violence. It began in Chile and has become a global flash mob, bringing people to the streets and resonating all over the world.
Denis Mukwege, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, is known as the “doctor who mends women” because in his hospital in Africa he healed thousands of rape victims, in their body and soul. We interviewed him in Milan.
At the dawn of a new era, women in Japan still face old challenges: they’re paid less than men and struggle to scale the professional ladder. How can the impasse be broken?