Women's rights in 2014

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2014 was described as a watershed year for women's rights, one in which women's voices acquired greater legitimacy and authority. A Time magazine headline said that it "may have been the best year for women since the dawn of time," while The Huffington Post called it "a bad year for women, but a good year for feminism".

San Francisco writer Rebecca Solnit argued that it was "a year of feminist insurrection against male violence" and a "lurch forward" in the history of feminism. The Guardian wrote that the "globalisation of protest" at violence against women was "groundbreaking," and that social media had enabled a "new version of feminist solidarity." Denise Balkissoon, writing in The Globe and Mail, criticized the view that 2014 marked a "watershed" moment that "some collective 'we' has finally had enough", citing ongoing concerns regarding a "broken system", with respect to violence against women.

Issues

Street harassment, assault

photograph — First Lady Michelle Obama supported protests against the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, which took place in Borno State, Nigeria, April 2014.

The Twitter campaign #YesAllWomen, offering examples of sexism and harassment, attracted over one million tweets within four days in May. The hashtag was created after the Isla Vista killings in California, a spree shooting in which the killer's misogyny was cited as a factor.

The street harassment of women was highlighted when actor Shoshana Roberts was hired by Hollaback! to walk through the streets of New York City. Their two-minute video in October showed 108 instances by men speaking to Roberts or commenting on her appearance over a period of 10 hours. She received online threats after the video aired. In June the Egyptian government criminalized sexual harassment, though campaigners questioned whether the law would be enforced.

Responding to the heightened awareness of rape in India after the 2012 Delhi gang rape and the 2014 Badaun gang rape allegations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised parents, during his Independence Day speech in August, not only to ask where their daughters are going, but to check on their sons, because "a rapist is also somebody's son." Another Indian politician, Mulayam Singh Yadav, opposing the introduction of the death penalty for rape, gained considerable notoriety in April when he said "boys will be boys ... they commit mistakes," while in June politician and former actor Tapas Paul said he would send his "boys" to rape women from an opposing party.

Krishna Majumdar of the National Federation of Indian Women wrote in July that the Delhi and Badaun attacks were "nothing less than landmarks for women in India – landmarks in their consciousness of what men do, and can do, to them," and that "the machismo of the male, sexual assault or the fear of it, will not let women be truly free." The comic book Priya's Shakti (December 2014) featured a female Indian rape survivor as its hero; Priya is banished when her family learns about the rape, but with the help of the Hindu goddess Parvati, she rides back on a tiger and is victorious.

First Lady Michelle Obama delivered the weekly presidential address in May to highlight the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping in Nigeria, in which around 270 schoolgirls were kidnapped by an Islamist group. She argued that it was not an isolated incident: "It's a story we see every day as girls around the world risk their lives to pursue their ambitions."

Women's allegations of assault or harassment at the hands of prominent men – including Bill Cosby in the United States and Jian Ghomeshi in Canada – opened a debate about the abuse of women by men in power, and the difficulty of reporting it and being believed. Scotland Yard's Operation Yewtree in the UK, an investigation triggered by the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal, led to convictions for the sexual assault of women or girls against Max Clifford, Rolf Harris and Dave Lee Travis, all well-known men in the media and entertainment industry.

American football player Ray Rice was suspended by the NFL (later reversed) after video surfaced of him punching his female partner, and there were protests in the UK in case soccer player Ched Evans was hired by another club after serving a jail sentence for rape. Australia, the UK and Singapore barred US-based dating coach Julien Blanc after complaints that his aggressive techniques amounted to abuse of women.

Campus rape

In college campuses in the US, the idea of affirmative consent to sex was promoted, referred to as "yes means yes." In January President Barack Obama launched the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, and in September California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation requiring colleges to adopt affirmative-consent policies. The new law defined consent to sex as an "affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity"; lack of protest and silence would not constitute consent.

In September at Columbia University in New York, art student Emma Sulkowicz began carrying a mattress with her on campus, in what she called Mattress Performance: Carry That Weight, in protest to the university's alleged mishandling of a rape complaint she had filed, where the university found the alleged rapist "not responsible". The following month students at several universities in the US and Europe joined her, carrying mattresses around their campuses.

Online threats

Online threats of violence against women were highlighted during Gamergate, a controversy about the treatment of women in video gaming. American video-game developers Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu were forced to leave their homes after threats, as was media critic Anita Sarkeesian, who researches sexism in video games; Sarkeesian cancelled a lecture at Utah State University after it declined to screen attendees for concealed weapons despite the threat of a school shooting if she spoke there. Alanah Pearce, an Australian video-game reviewer, contacted the mothers of boys who were sending her rape threats to discuss what their sons were doing.

Iran and Saudi Arabia

On Facebook, women in Iran posted images of themselves without veils in a movement known as My Stealthy Freedom. In Saudi Arabia in December, two women involved in the #womentodrive movement were arrested.

Laws

The Constitution of Tunisia which was adopted in January 2014 was seen as minor progress for women's rights in the country. The first part of Article 20 reads "All citizens, male and female alike, have equal rights and duties, and are equal before the law without discrimination" while part of the Article 46 reads "The state shall ensure equal opportunities for men and women in carrying different responsibilities. The state shall ensure the elimination of all forms of violence against women." Human rights commentators saw the law as vague and underlined that the effect would depend heavily on interpretation of it. In April Tunisia officially lifted reservations it had taken to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women regarding family law, becoming the first country in North Africa to not have any specific reservations. It did however maintain a general reservation that no laws should go against the first article of the Constitution which says the religion of Tunisia is Islam. Tunisians family law treats men and women differently regarding inheritance and divorces.

In August France passed the most comprehensive law on gender equality to date, Loi pour l'égalité réelle entre les femmes et les hommes. The law provides women with abortion on demand in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy while women previously had to be "in distress" to obtain abortion. The provisions regarding paternal leaves was changed to to encourage more men to take paternal leaves and requires workplaces to improve gender equality under threat of fines. There are also several provisions to strengthen the fight against domestic abuse. Beauty pageants is forbidden for girls under 13 years and media is forbidden from portraying women in a sexist or demeaning way.

In September, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced that the government would abandon a law proposal to strengthen the abortion law in Spain which would have banned all abortions except where the mother's health was in danger or she had been raped. The proposal which was introduced by the People Party's cabinet in December 2013 had been met with large protests through 2014.

In December 2014, following the Swedish model, Canada made the purchase and advertisement of sexual services illegal (except for the advertisement by individual sex workers), while selling sex remained legal. The move was supported by a coalition of women's rights groups, the Women's Coalition for the Abolition of Prostitution, but was criticized by Human Rights Watch and the Feminist Coalition, who argued that it would force sex workers into isolated environments. A similar proposal was approved by the French National Assembly in 2013, but the Senate in 2014 refused to pass the bill. Rosen Hicher, a former prostitute and abolition advocate, walked 800 km (500 m) from Saintes, in southwestern France, to Paris to protest the Senate's decision. She was supported by Pascale Boistard, minister for women's rights, and the mayors of several cities, including Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris.

World Economic Forum, United Nations

The World Economic Forum's 2014 Global Gender Gap Report, measuring the allocation of resources between women and men in health, education, economy and politics, ranked Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark highest on their Global Gender Gap Index, while Yemen, Pakistan, Chad, Syria and Mali were among the worst.

During a visit to the UK in April, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Rashida Manjoo, criticized the country's "boys' club sexist culture," which she argued was more "in your face" than elsewhere; she cited issues such the sexist portrayal of women in public, including the female nudity on Page Three of the Sun newspaper, bullying of girls in schools, and harassment in public spaces. In June UN special envoy Angelina Jolie and William Hague chaired the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London, and the following month UNICEF and the UK government hosted the first Girl Summit, aimed at ending female genital mutilation and child marriage. UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson launched the HeForShe campaign in September at the United Nations in New York, inviting men to sign up as advocates for women's rights.

The BBC reported that the role of women within the UN was increasing. As of November 2014, there were 31 female permanent representatives, and six seats (Argentina, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nigeria and the United States) out of fifteen on the Security Council were held by women. Most of the senior positions remained with men, including the current and all previous secretaries-general.

Promotions and awards

Several women moved into prominent positions traditionally held by men. In January Mary Barra became the first female CEO of General Motors, in February Janet Yellen the first woman to chair the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors, in July Adm. Michelle J. Howard of the United States Navy the first female four-star admiral, and in December the Reverend Libby Lane was chosen as the Church of England's first female bishop.

In August Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani won the Fields Medal for mathematics, the first woman to do so. Maj. Mariam al-Mansouri, the first female fighter pilot in the United Arab Emirates, led a mission in October against ISIS targets in Syria, though she became the target of sexist remarks in some American media. Malala Yousafzai, a 17-year-old Pakistani woman who was shot by the Taliban for her efforts to secure education for girls, shared the Nobel Peace Prize in December, the youngest person to receive the award.

References

^ Charlotte Alter, "This May Have Been the Best Year for Women Since the Dawn of Time", Time magazine, 23 December 2014.
^ Rebecca Solnit, "Listen up, women are telling their story now", The Guardian, 30 December 2014.
^ "The Guardian view on a year in feminism: 2014 was a watershed", The Guardian, 31 December 2014.
^ Marlene Leung, "2014: The year women joined forces online and the Internet listened", CTV News, 24 December 2014.
Margaret Shkimba, "Outrage prompts new era for women", The Hamilton Spectator, 31 December 2014.
Emily Tess Katz, "2014 Was A Bad Year For Women, But A Good Year For Feminism", The Huffington Post, 24 December 2014.
^ Rebecca Solnit, "Why #Yesallwomen Matters", Mother Jones, 3 June 2014.
Balkissoon, Denise. "Sorry, we haven’t reached a 'watershed' on violence against women", The Globe and Mail, 5 November 2014.
Sasha Weiss, "The Power Of #YesAllWomen", The New Yorker, 26 May 2014.
Gail Sullivan, "Video: Woman harassed 108 times as she walks around New York", The Washington Post, 29 October 2014.
Bethonie Butler, "The story behind that '10 hours of walking in NYC' viral street harassment video", The Washington Post, 29 October 2014.
Buck, Stephanie. "What do men think of catcalling? A men's rights activist and a feminist debate". Mashable. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
Patrick Kingsley, "Egypt criminalises sexual harassment for first time", The Guardian, 6 June 2014.
"Full Text: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on 68th Independence Day", Indian Express, 15 August 2014.
^ Rebecca Solnit, "A Watershed Year For Feminism", Outlook, 19 November 2014.
Kaveree Bamzai, "Narendra Modi, the first feminist", India Today, 15 August 2014.
Mohd Faisal Fareed, "Mulayam’s shocker: Boys will be boys, they make mistakes ... Will you hang them for rape?", Indian Express, 11 April 2014.
Burke, Jason (31 May 2014). "'Go to the mango trees,' the bereaved father was told. 'The body of your daughter is there'". The Observer.
"Ally of India's Modi says rape 'sometimes right, sometimes wrong'". The Express Tribune. Reuters. 5 June 2014.
"Will ask my boys to go and rape CPM women: TMC MP Tapas Pal openly threatens opponents", Times of India, 30 June 2014.
Krishna Majumdar (14 July 2014). "Rape and the Politics of Hate". Mainstream Weekly.
Geeta Pandey, "India's new comic 'super hero': Priya, the rape survivor", BBC News, 7 December 2014.
Tracy McVeigh, "Michelle Obama raises pressure over kidnapped schoolgirls", The Guardian, 11 May 2014.
Charlie Gillis, "Is this a watershed in battle against sexual harassment?", Maclean's, 13 November 2014.
Anna Maria Tremonti, "Sexism and violence against women may be getting attention, but some say the watershed moment is still to come", The Current, CBC Radio One, 6 November 2014, from 02:08 mins.
Aaron Wherry, "Two Liberal MPs suspended over allegations of personal misconduct", Maclean's, 5 November 2014.
Anni Donaldson, "Time to finish off Page 3 – and tackle #everydaysexism – by handing out a few 'prizes'", The Conversation, 10 December 2014.
Josh Halliday, "Max Clifford sentenced to eight years for his crimes and contempt of women", The Guardian, 2 May 2014.
Peter Walker, "Rolf Harris jailed for five years nine months for indecently assaulting girls", The Guardian, 4 July 2014.
Paul Gallagher, Paul Peachey, "Dave Lee Travis is found guilty of indecent assault", The Independent, 23 September 2014.
Gail Sullivan, "‘Dating coach’ Julien Blanc kicked out of Australia for crude ‘pick-up’ schtick", The Washington Post, 10 November 2014.
"Julien Blanc: UK denies visa to 'pick-up artist'", BBC News, 19 November 2014.
"Pick-up artist Julien Blanc blocked from entering Singapore", Channel NewsAsia, 26 November 2014.
"FACT SHEET: Not Alone – Protecting Students from Sexual Assault", White House, 29 April 2014.
Emanuella Grinberg, "Schools preach 'enthusiastic' yes in sex consent education", CNN, 29 September 2014.
"Senate Bill No. 967", California Legislative Information.
Valenti, Jessica. "Beyond 'no means no': the future of campus rape prevention is 'yes means yes'". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
Vanessa Grigoriadis, "Meet the College Women Who Are Starting a Revolution Against Campus Sexual Assault", New York Magazine, 21 September 2014.
Alexandra Svokos, "Students Bring Out Mattresses In Huge 'Carry That Weight' Protest Against Sexual Assault", The Huffington Post, 29 October 2014.
Amanda Hess, "Emma Sulkowicz Inspired Students Across the Country to Carry Their Mattresses. Now What?", Slate, 30 October 2014.
"Carry that Weight", carryingtheweighttogether.com.
Soraya Nadia McDonald, "Anita Sarkeesian cancels Utah lecture after threat", The Washington Post, 15 October 2014.
Nina Bahadur, "Game Reviewer Alanah Pearce Is Contacting The Mothers Of Boys Who Sent Her Rape Threats", The Huffington Post, 2 December 2014.
Julia Carpenter, "Iranian women shed hijabs for 'Stealthy Freedoms' Facebook page", The Washington Post, 16 May 2014.
"Saudi terrorism court 'to try women drivers'", BBC News, 25 December 2014.
^ Synda Tajine (19 January 2014) Small constitutional victory for Tunisian women Al-Monitor.
Tunisia: Landmark Action on Women’s Rights Human Rights Watch. 1 mai 2014
^ Editorial (24 January 2014) The Rights of French Women New York Times
Lisa Anderson (6 August 2014) France passes sweeping gender equality law Reuters.
Ben McPartland (27 January 2014) French MPs ban beauty contests for under-13s The Local
Ashifa Kassam (23 Sepember 2014) 'Spain abandons plan to introduce tough new abortion laws', The Guardian.
"Dropped anti-abortion bill must usher in better protection of women's rights in Spain", Amnesty International, 23 September 2014.
Emma Batha, "Controversial Canadian law criminalizes men who buy sex", Reuters, 5 December 2014.
Daniel Schwartz, "New prostitution laws unlikely to be challenged soon, legal experts say", CBC News, 12 December 2014.
James Keller, "Legalizing Prostitution Challenge By Women's Coalition", The Canadian Press, 29 May 2013.
Joseph Amon, "Canada's prostitution bill a step in the wrong direction", Ottawa Citizen, 18 June 2014.
Jane Doe, "Why the prostitution bill will increase violence against sex workers", The Globe and Mail, 22 July 2014.
Francois Becker, "Ex-prostitute ends long march for French bill to penalise clients", AFP, 12 October 2014.
"French ex-prostitute ends long march to support fines for clients", RFI, 13 October 2014.
Klaus Schwab, "Preface", Global Gender Gap Report 2014, World Economic Forum.
"Rankings", Global Gender Gap Report 2014, World Economic Forum.
Harriet Sherwood, "UN special rapporteur criticises Britain's 'in-your-face' sexist culture", The Guardian, 15 April 2014.
Sarah Morrison, "Boys' club Britain is more sexist than Italy, Azerbaijan and India, says UN human rights expert", The Independent, 15 April 2014.
Rashdia Manjoo, "Special Rapporteur on violence against women finalizes country mission to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland ...", Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations, 15 April 2014.
"Angelina Jolie and William Hague urge action on sexual violence in war zones", BBC News, 12 June 2014.
"Girl Summit", The Guardian, August 2014.
"Emma Watson: Gender equality is your issue too", UN Women, 20 September 2014.
Nick Bryant, "At the UN, women play increasingly powerful roles", BBC News, 16 November 2014.
Jaclyn Tropp, "Is Mary Barra Standing on a 'Glass Cliff'?", The New Yorker, 29 April 2014.
Dan Lamothe, "Adm. Michelle Howard becomes first four-star woman in Navy history", The Washington Post, 1 July 2014.
"Reverend Libby Lane named as CofE's first female bishop", BBC News, 17 December 2014.
Dana Ford, "UAE's first female fighter pilot led airstrike against ISIS", CNN, 9 October 2014.
Martin Williams, "Fox News presenters mock female pilot who took part in campaign against Isis", The Guardian, 25 September 2014.

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