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Louise Donovan

‘You Are Beautiful’: the Kenyan Beauty Parlour Serving Female Heroin Users

Naima Said stands back and studies her handiwork. “Not quite,” the self-taught beauty therapist mumbles, her forehead furrowed in frustration. Then she delicately dabs her client’s eyelid with a squishy makeup sponge. She’s not finished…
by louise-donovanMar 18, 2020

Meet Beauty Therapist Saving Female Heroin Addicts

Housed in the Reachout Centre Trust, which helps Mombasa residents fight drug addiction, it opened last year with a view to attracting more female users to its services that include HIV testing, counselling, methadone treatment…
by louise-donovanFeb 25, 2020

The Movement Tackling Sexual Harassment at Kenya’s Universities

Diana perched on a brown bench in one of Nairobi University's large lecture theatres, twisting her fingers into pretzel-like shapes. She scanned the room. To her left, students waited eagerly to hear her story. To…
by louise-donovanJan 29, 2020

Gender Activists in a March Dubbed Usawa Demand Action Against GBV, Youth Empowerment, Women Land Rights

The march dubbed Usawa kicked-off at Uhuru Park’s freedom corner to President’s Uhuru Kenyatta’s office at Harambee House, where they delivered a petition on gender equality.
by louise-donovanJan 17, 2020

Trafficked Nepali, Indian Women Repatriated

Five women from Nepal and India who had been trafficked into the country were repatriated to their home countries this week.
by louise-donovanDec 20, 2019

One-Fifth of Women Don’t Know if Abortion Is Illegal in Kenya, New Study Shows

A new study by Marie Stopes Kenya showed that 20.7 per cent of women seeking abortion services in Nairobi “do not know” whether the process is illegal.
by louise-donovanDec 14, 2019

Meet University Student ‘Counting Dead Women’ Around Kenya

When she is not at university, Audrey Mugeni is updating her spreadsheet. Every month, she adds more names. In one column, a grim question needs answering: ‘What killed this woman?’
by louise-donovanNov 30, 2019

‘Dumped Babies Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg’: The Deadly Consequences of Curbing Reproductive Rights

Abortions are illegal in Kenya. Every day, 320 women are hospitalised – and seven die – as a result of dangerous ‘quack’ abortions in Kenya.
by louise-donovanNov 13, 2019

El Salvador Kills Women as the U.S. Shrugs

Washington helped start an epidemic of violence against women in Central America. Now it’s washing its hands of the problem.
by louise-donovanMar 7, 2019

‘Men Kill Women Because They Can’: Inside El Salvador’s Devastating Femicide Crisis

Inside El Salvador's devastating femicide crisis.
by louise-donovanJan 4, 2019

Dispatch From Jaipur: ELLE Embeds With India’s Female Motorbike Police

Sitting on the back of police motorcycles, we held onto the thin-framed women steering in front of us as we zoomed down Jaipur’s bustling streets. It was a bright, hot day in April, and we…
by louise-donovanAug 10, 2018

The Café Run Entirely By Acid Attack Survivors

In Agra, a stone’s throw from the Taj Mahal, a group of women are refusing to hide.
by louise-donovanJul 27, 2018

Rebels With A Cause: The All Female Motorbike Squads Tackling India’s Rape Problem

A woman is raped every 13 minutes in India. As the situation reaches desperate proportions, one police commissioner thinks there might be an answer.
by louise-donovanJun 26, 2018

Teaching boys that ‘real men’ would stop rape

Isaac, a 15-year-old boy, watched as a group of men grabbed a young girl. It was a bustling new year’s eve in Kibera, Kenya’s largest slum, and he knew she was in trouble. He also…
by louise-donovanMar 20, 2018
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