gender equality Archives

Peace and Security Depends on Closing the Workforce Gender Gap

As COVID-19 pandemic closed schools and daycare, huge numbers of women left the workforce as women took on more unpaid caregiving and home-schooling responsibilities than men. They haven’t come back. Workforce parity is at its…

by Xanthe Scharff

Vassar College lawsuit shows women’s labor is still undervalued in education

Vassar College calls itself a pioneer for women’s education, founded in 1861 to offer women, as its website says, “a fully equivalent education to that of the best men’s colleges of the period.” Five female…

by Xanthe Scharff

‘My Classmates Have No Hope’

“We were the ones hoping to shape the future, but they took that future away from us,” a teen girl writes, describing the “terror” of attending a high school in northern Afghanistan under Taliban control.

by Razia Mohseni

This story was published in partnership between Rukhshana Media and The Fuller Project.

‘Being Imprisoned at Home is What Awaits Me’

An Afghan agricultural engineer fought for her education and her career. "Now, getting forced to marry a Talib, becoming a second wife, and being imprisoned at home is what awaits me," she writes.

by Nargis Omar

This series was published in partnership with Rukhshana Media and The Fuller Project.

Life of Fear Replaces Life of Dreams After Taliban Takeover

Once the breadwinner for eight people, an Afghan woman says she now feels "in prison" since the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

by Laila

This series was published in partnership with Rukhshana Media and The Fuller Project.

Struggling to survive: Story of a challenging journey

"During the days that I lived under the dark shadow of the Taliban, I felt like a bird in a cage. Like a bird with wings, but no permission to fly," Afghan journalist Zahra Joya…

by Zahra Joya

‘The Humiliation I Experienced Just to Escape the Taliban’

Get trampled or crawl through sewage? An Afghan woman describes the "humiliating" conditions fleeing Afghans faced while trying to escape Afghanistan after the Taliban took over.

by Zahra Nader

This story was published in partnership with Rukhshana Media and The Fuller Project.

‘The Day the Taliban Reached Kabul, it Turned into a Ghost City’

Afghan journalist Maryam Nabavi describes feelings of hope and despair after Kabul fell to the Taliban.

by Maryam Nabavi

This story was published in partnership with Rukhshana Media and The Fuller Project.

The Taliban’s Return Was the Death of Dreams

After two weeks of living under Taliban control, a youth activist decides it’s time to for her to leave Afghanistan. “This is not what our people deserve,” says Hosnia Mohseni, 30.

by Hosnia Mohseni

This story was published in partnership with Rukhshana Media and The Fuller Project.

‘The Taliban Came and Killed My Spirit!’

A school teacher in central Afghanistan laments the loss of educational opportunities for girls and women since the Taliban took control.

by Zahra Nader

This story was published in partnership with Rukhshana Media and The Fuller Project.

10 Years After the Arab Spring, Tunisian Feminists Fight a Similar Battle

Despite some of the Arab world’s most progressive laws on gender equality, Tunisian women say they’ve been let down by the state. Now, a growing movement of intersectional feminists is pushing for change.

by Erin Clare Brown and Christina Nordvang Jensen

This piece was published in partnership between Les Glorieuses and The Fuller Project.

‘I Want to Move Forward’: Student Moms Bear Costly Double Burden of Child Care Costs, Student Debt

Making progress toward reducing massive debt seems like an elusive dream for two moms who are struggling to repay mounting student loans while covering child care expenses. Experts say they are not alone.

by Jessica Washington

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 Donovan

This article was originally published in The Daily Nation.

African Men Try Leading the Fight to Stop Sexual Violence

When SP le Roux began to think about the sexual violence epidemic in his home country of South Africa, he put his background as an electrical engineer and inventor to work.

by Jillian Keenan

This article was originally published in Foreign Policy.