Washington Lawyer - March 2019 - 35

GLOBAL & DOMESTIC OUTLOOK

he year 2018 has been
hailed as the global Year of
the Woman, seeing historic
gains for women in elected
office as the MeToo movement
continued to prompt activism
and resistance against gender
discrimination and misogyny.
These stories spotlight the
ways women from all over the
world have kept up the fight
for equality and justice.
INDIA
For millions of women in the Indian state
of Kerala, 2019 began with a protest against
their continued exclusion from the historic
Sabarimala temple. Despite an order from
India's highest court to admit women,
religious hardliners continue to attack
women who attempt to enter the temple.
In response, women in Kerala formed a
372-mile-long human chain on New Year's
Day to protest mob violence and urge the
government to enforce the high court's
decision.

NEPAL
In Nepal, activists like Radha Paudel are
pushing to end the Hindu practice of
chhaupadi, the enforced seclusion of women
and girls during menstruation. Paudel, who
founded the nonprofit Action Works Nepal,
helps lead a campaign that succeeded in
pressuring the government to pass a law in
2017 banning chhaupadi. However, enforcement of the legislation remains sporadic, and
Paudel and other activists continue to fight
for the complete elimination of menstrual
discrimination.

iStock

SAUDI ARABIA

UNITED STATES

The case of Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun,
a Saudi woman who fled her country for
Thailand and was granted asylum in Canada,
once again thrust Saudi Arabia's oppression
of women into the headlines. In January, the
Thai government allowed Alqunun to temporarily remain in Bangkok under the protection of a United Nations refugee agency.
Alqunun used Twitter to document her
quest to escape from what she says is an
abusive family and gender-based oppression
in Saudi Arabia.

Changes are coming to corporate leadership
in California. A bill signed last September
requires every publicly traded company
based in the Golden State to have at least
one woman on its board of directors by the
end of 2019. Given the underrepresentation
of women on corporate boards - only
20 percent of S&P 500 directors are women
- supporters of California's new law hope
that the state can lead by example in
ensuring greater gender equality in the
boardroom.

WEST AFRICA

TUNISIA

Young women in Niger and other countries
in West Africa are seeking divorces in greater
numbers. Many women, whose marriages
were arranged when they were only teenagers, seek to leave older husbands whom
they see as limiting their economic and
social opportunities. Thanks to economic
development and urbanization, increasing
numbers of women in West Africa have
entered the workforce, giving them the
financial independence to leave unhappy
or abusive marriages.

Women in Tunisia may soon enjoy an equal
share of inheritance if the country's parliament approves a proposed reform. The new
law, which was submitted in draft form in
late 2018, would revise a 1950s statute that
restricts women to inherit only half of what
their male siblings are entitled to. Tunisia's
new inheritance law is part of a wave of
reforms, including stronger protections
against domestic and sexual violence, that
the North African country has introduced
since 2017.

HUNGARY

DID YOU KNOW?

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is notorious for
his increasingly authoritarian control over
Hungary, attacking the free press, academics,
and civil society groups. But women in
Hungary are taking on a more prominent
role in the fight against Orbán's strongman
regime. In December 2018, female members
of parliament led a demonstration against
the so-called "slave law" proposed by Orbán,
which cuts workers' protections and allows
employers to delay payment of overtime for
up to three years. "Women will never keep
quiet again," said Bernadett Szél, an independent member of parliament.

What do a Brazilian soccer hero, a Gambian
American activist, and a Zimbabwean
American movie star have in common? They
are all UN Women Goodwill Ambassadors.
Marta Vieira da Silva plays for both the
Brazilian women's national soccer team and
Orlando Pride, plus she's a two-time
Olympian. Jaha Dukureh, born in Gambia,
campaigns against female genital mutilation
and was the subject of the 2017 film Jaha's
Promise, documenting her work with the
organization she founded, Safe Hands for
Girls. An award-winning playwright and
actress best known for playing Okoye in
Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, Danai
Gurira founded the nonprofit Love Our Girls.

Washington Lawyer - March 2019

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