62 m. ago Vote in our Independent Women poll: Was Brooklyn Peltz Beckham right to call out his family in public?

Each week, Victoria Richards asks Independent Women readers to weigh in on the stories and debates shaping the headlines

Politics

26 h. ago Scottish Government says blanket ruling on jail selection for trans prisoners would 'violate rights'

Women's rights campaigners are taking the Scottish Government back to court on the issue.

Events

8 d. ago Elon Musk’s inhuman AI is stripping women of their most fundamental rights

Editorial: It is entirely right that Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, should put the safety of women and girls first and protect them from the ‘hyper-pornographied slop’ pumped out by the Silicon Valley giants

Politics

9 d. ago Afghan women in the UK: amplifying their voice – a photo essay

Over four years have passed since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. Claudia Janke’s photographic series features 7 Afghan women who have found safety in the UK after escaping at great personal risk. She worked using an Instant Box Camera, the only type of camera allowed under the Taliban’s first regime, reclaimed for the these women to amplify their voicesSince the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the regime has imposed sweeping restrictions on the rights of women and girls, with devastating consequences for society. Girls are barred from attending school beyond the sixth grade, and women are prohibited from working, appearing on television, leaving the house alone, and singing or speaking in public. They have been systematically erased from public life.A recent UN Women report underscores the scale of this repression. The Afghanistan Gender Index 2025 reveals, among other findings:No female representation in national or local decision-making bodies.A co...

Culture

1 week ago The Guardian view on Ofcom versus Grok: chatbots cannot be allowed to undress children. | Editorial

A wave of humiliating sexualised imagery must prompt regulators and politicians to step upAn online trend involving asking Grok, the Elon Musk-owned chatbot, to undress photographs of women and girls and show them wearing bikinis has rightly sparked outrage in the UK and internationally. Earlier this week Liz Kendall, the science and technology secretary, described the proliferation of the digitally altered pictures, some of which are overtly sexualised or violent, as “unacceptable in decent society”. What happens next will depend on whether she and her colleagues are prepared to follow through on such remarks. The government’s generally enthusiastic approach to AI, and the growing role they see for it in public services, do not inspire confidence in their ability to confront such threats.In addition to the deluge of bikini images, the Internet Watch Foundation, a charity, has evidence that Grok Imagine (an AI tool that generates images and videos from prompts) has been used to crea...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Women have to fight for what they want’: UK campaigner’s 60

Diane Munday helped secure legal terminations in 1967 and, aged 94, is still calling for wider reproductive rightsWhen the 1967 Abortion Act cleared parliament, marking one of the most significant steps forward for women’s rights in history, Diane Munday was among the campaigners raising a glass of champagne on the terrace of the House of Commons.“I’m only drinking a half a glass,” she told her colleagues at the time, “because the job is only half done.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Model known as 'naked girl' vows to continue scantily clad protests

Melisa Aydinalp, 24, campaigns for women's rights in Turkey. She often dawns skimpy swimwear to demonstrate women should be allowed to wear whatever they like in her home country

Events

2 w. ago How to talk dating like gen Z: 51 (hyperspecific) terms for love, sex and bad behavior

As young people take on a messy dating landscape, they’ve created their own lexicon to match. Here’s like what phrases ‘bird theory’ and ‘monkey branching’ meanThis year marked a decade since the term “ghosting” hit the mainstream. At the time, the idea that someone could abruptly cease communication with a lover without explanation seemed like the peak of indignity. How naive we were. In the 10 years since, finding a partner has only become more confounding – an oftentimes fruitless exercise in humiliation that is increasingly pigeonholed by social media jargon.Gen Z, a cohort who came of age during a loneliness epidemic, a masculinity crisis, and a coordinated attack on the rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community, faces a far messier landscape than their millennial predecessors could ever imagine. And so their dating glossary has grown longer and more deranged, with phrases like “Shrekking” and “monkey branching” testing the limits of your sanity.Red flags – Behavioral quirks ind...

Politics

3 w. ago Yes, women’s rights are under threat around the world. But we’ve found hope in unlikely places | Rahila Gupta

From El Salvador to Russia, Iceland and Syria, women are pushing back against the rise of regressive forces. Let’s support their fightRahila Gupta is an anti-racist feminist activist and the co-author, with Beatrix Campbell, of Planet Patriarchy In 2025, the world that had been opened up by women has often seemed to be closing in. The forces behind the rollback of abortion rights in Donald Trump’s US are attempting to do the same in the UK. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has doubled down on its attacks on women and girls. Sexual violence is commonplace in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Mexico, even the president is not safe from sexual assault. A perverse rewilding appears to be taking place.You’d be forgiven for thinking that around the world, women’s rights are being concreted over. But in researching our book, Planet Patriarchy, Beatrix Campbell and I found women’s resistance erupting like green shoots through the cracks. In El Salvador, women can receive sentenc...

Events

3 w. ago Louise Thompson's fiancé Ryan Libbey says he went into 'survival mode' after her 'traumatic' birth before a conversation with his dad made him realise he needed help

Influencer Louise, 35, who now campaigns for women's health and maternity rights, nearly died giving birth to her and Ryan's son Leo in 2021.

Events

3 w. ago Inside Georgia Harrison and partner Jack Stacey's life with baby Sahara in stunning unseen snaps

Reality star-turned-women's rights campaigner Georgia Harrison opens up exclusively with her partner Jack Stacey about life with baby girl Sahara - and their plans for 2026

Politics

3 w. ago Georgia Harrison and partner Jack Stacey present daughter Sahara in gorgeous unseen snaps

EXCLUSIVE: Reality star-turned-women's rights campaigner Georgia Harrison opens up exclusively with her partner Jack Stacey about life with baby girl Sahara - and their plans for 2026

Politics

3 w. ago Doctor settles debate whether 'man flu' is real and if men are right or women are

The health expert has explained whether there is a influenza virus which only infects men

Science

3 w. ago ‘Weapons of mass construction’: the US ‘craftivists’ using yarn to fight back against Trump

Fiber artists across the US are using their craft to protest against everything from national guard deployments to rollbacks on abortion rightsIn early October, Tracy Wright invited a group of other women in her social circle – all fellow knitters – to gather outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in their home town of Portland, Oregon. They were “armed with their weapons of mass construction”.Donald Trump had just ordered national guard troops deployed to the city, which he called “war ravaged” in order to protect ICE facilities he said were “under siege” by anti-fascists “and other domestic terrorists”. Continue reading...

Politics