3 h. ago Once again, British politicians want to ‘ban the burqa’. But this time, I’ve never felt so afraid | Nadeine Asbali

Since the riots last summer British Muslims have felt a deep unease in our own countryHere we are again, debating the right of Muslim women to wear what they want. Last week, the Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin asked the prime minister, Keir Starmer, if he planned to follow other European countries and prohibit burqas.Then the leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, called for bosses to be able to ban the burqa in the workplace. Following the example of the former Labour minister Jack Straw, who in 2006 sparked the first burqa debate by asking constituents at his surgeries to remove their face coverings, she stated that she does not see constituents at her surgeries if they have their faces covered, “whether it’s a burqa or a balaclava”.Nadeine Asbali is a secondary school teacher in London and the author of Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain Continue reading...

Politics

14 h. ago Women and men diverge more than ever on support for abortion rights, poll shows

Gallup poll found 61% of women identify as pro-choice, while only 41% of men do so, in three years after fall of RoeThree years after the fall of Roe v Wade and months after an election that heavily focused on the fight over abortion rights, men and women have never diverged more on their support for access to the procedure, according to new polling from Gallup released Monday.Sixty-one percent of women now identify as “pro-choice”, but only 41% of men say the same, Gallup found. The same percentage of women identified as “pro-choice” in 2022, just after the decision to overturn Roe was leaked, but at the time, 48% of men also did so. Prior to Roe’s collapse, men and women were never more than 10 points apart from one another on the issue, according to decades of Gallup polling. Continue reading...

Politics

63 h. ago Voices: As a former judge, I used to defend Britain’s rights – mine are now at risk

Since the Supreme Court’s decision in April, trans women like me have had their rights systematically taken away, writes Victoria McCloud – who appears on The Independent’s Pride List 2025

Events

4 d. ago Spanish police’s plea for respect backfires over photo of old women alfresco

Andalucían police used shot of women sitting on chairs on pavement in request to keep public right of way clearSomewhere towards the very top of the long list of unspoken Spanish rules – gin and tonic should not be drunk before a meal, chorizo has no place in the vicinity of a paella and children’s bedtimes cease to apply in the summer – is the silent injunction that forbids any attempts to alter the habits of the country’s cherished older people.It was unfortunate, then, that police in the small Andalucían town of Santa Fe chose the photo they did to accompany a request for people not to disturb their neighbours by sitting around the streets late at night. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Women’s rights advocate awaiting visa ‘devastated’ by Trump’s travel ban

Between 10,000 and 15,000 Afghans were waiting in Pakistan for their U.S. visas to be processed

Politics

5 d. ago Why is there such a generational divide in views on sex and gender in Britain? | Susanna Rustin

A majority of my age group agreed with a recent supreme court ruling – among 18- to 24-year-olds, the reverse was true. I believe the key lies in our respective life stagesDiffering attitudes to women’s and transgender rights activism are often said to be generational. One poll, published a month on from the supreme court ruling that the legal definition of “woman” in the Equality Act is based on biological sex, found 63% supportive of the ruling and 18% opposed. But younger people were far more likely to be in the latter camp, with 53% of 18- to 24-year-olds disagreeing with the judgment. In my age group, 50-64, the figure was just 13%. Such results echo earlier polls.As with any attempt to link a demographic with a point of view, there are plenty of exceptions. Last month Lady Hale, the octogenarian former president of the supreme court, became one of them when she argued that the ruling had been misinterpreted, telling a literary festival she had met doctors “who said there is no...

Politics

7 d. ago Abortion rights activists say 'decriminalisation isn't enough' ahead of Westminster vote

As MPs gather to debate an e-petition calling for the decriminalisation of abortion on June 2, abortion rights campaigners explain why decriminalisation isn't enough to protect women

Politics

9 d. ago CBS Sports acquires the rights to air Women's Champions League matches

CBS Sports has acquired the U.S. broadcast rights for the UEFA Women’s Champions League through the 2029-30 season

Sport

1 week ago Saudi police filmed beating females in secret prisons families banish them to for years

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Videos and photos taken from outside a prison in Saudi Arabia paint a picture of hellhole conditions for women, who haven't even broken the law, according to human right activists

Events

1 week ago Argentina used as a ‘testing ground’ for eroding abortion rights, warns Amnesty

Alarm as Javier Milei’s government curbs state supply of abortion pills and seeks to reverse landmark legalisationArgentina is being used as a “testing ground” for stripping back abortion rights internationally as it cuts funding for contraceptives and ends the distribution of abortion pills, Amnesty International warned on Wednesday.Before the inauguration of President Javier Milei in December 2023, the state bought abortion pills, which were then distributed for free through the public health system. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Feminist professor loses job after Islamist group demands her removal

Nadira Yeasmin says she was transferred to an administrative post 300km from the capital after writing articles calling for women to have equal property rights

Society

2 w. ago Pakistan sends ‘important signal’ of hope in a gloomy world of pushbacks on women’s rights

The city of Islamabad has moved to ban child marriage which politicians say is a mark of the country bucking global trends to stand behind its womenDuring last week’s tense debate over whether the Pakistan senate should pass a bill banning child marriage, Naseema Ehsan stood up to speak. “I got married at 13 years old and I want child marriage to be banned,” said the 50-year-old senator.“I was lucky to have good and affluent in-laws but most Pakistani women are not so lucky. Not every child has a supportive husband like me.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago FBI to reinvestigate 2023 White House cocaine find and leak of supreme court Dobbs draft

Agency also announced new inquiry into pipe bombs found outside Democratic and Republican offices in 2021The FBI will launch new investigations into the 2023 discovery of a bag of cocaine at the White House during Joe Biden’s term, as well as into pipe bombs discovered at Democratic and Republican party headquarters before the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot by supporters of Donald Trump, and the leak of the supreme court’s draft opinion before the historic overturning of national abortion rights with the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v Wade in 2022.Dan Bongino, a rightwing podcaster turned deputy director of the FBI, made the announcement on X, where he said he had requested weekly briefings on any progress in looking into the old cases. The incidents have been popular talking points on America’s political right wing and among conspiracy theorists. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago BBC Woman's Hour presenter Anita Rani accused of being 'biased and bigoted' by gender rights campaigner

Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters - a women's rights group - said her views had been 'misrepresented' on the show by Anita Rani (pictured).

Politics

2 w. ago Why fierce rivals India, Pakistan and China are racing to woo the Taliban

The Taliban were shunned globally after it captured Kabul and cut restricted rights of Afghan girls and women. Four years later, the biggest regional powers are in a race to win their attention, experts tell Arpan Rai

Politics

2 w. ago Probation staff shortages threaten to derail plans to safely release prisoners early, ministers warned

Exclusive: ‘Vital window’ to boost probation workforce before prison reforms put huge pressure on service already in chaos, says union chief

Events

2 w. ago Bangladesh stares at crisis as interim leader ‘threatens to quit’ over lack of reform progress

Muhammad Yunus ‘feels trapped between demands from political camps and growing public impatience’

Events

2 w. ago Ramaphosa withstood Trump’s bizarre ambush – but he let down South Africans | Zanele Mji

Rather than trying to charm his US counterpart with golf, the South African president could have addressed the white supremacist attitudes holding our country backZanele Mji is a writer, investigative journalist and podcaster based in Johannesburg, South AfricaThe dust is still settling from Donald Trump’s latest “ambush” in the Oval Office. What started off as a series of pleasantries about golf between the US president and South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s delegation quickly turned into a lecture – complete with a video screening and reams of printed-out news articles – about how a white genocide is supposedly under way in my home country.The delegation was largely successful in correcting that narrative. It emphasised that crime affects South Africans of all races and that white citizens are not specifically targeted. Zingiswa Losi, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, rightly pointed out that in rural areas, it is Black women who bear the brunt of vio...

Politics

2 w. ago Disney+ to enter women’s football market with Champions League rights

Streaming platform in line to agree five-year dealDAZN has shown Champions League for four seasonsThe streaming platform Disney+ is set to show live Women’s Champions League matches from next season across multiple European broadcast territories, including the United Kingdom.It is understood Disney+ has agreed a five-year deal which will mean that it broadcasts every single match in the competition live, which is being perceived as a major step forward for coverage of the European women’s game’s top club competition. Continue reading...

Sport

2 w. ago Gloria Steinem and Leymah Gbowee, activists and close friends, are working on a picture book

Two giants of the women’s rights movement, Gloria Steinem and Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee, have teamed up for a picture book with the mission of inspiring young people to change the world

Politics