Tag - womens-issues

 
 

WOMEN'S ISSUES

People demonstrate outside the Ministry of Health to demand the right to a safe and free abortion as Non Una di Meno (Not One Less) movement and feminist collectives take part in a protest to mark the International Safe Abortion Day, in Rome on Sept. 28, 2024.
WORLD / Society
Jul 15, 2025
Italy's abortion taboos challenged by new law in Sicily
More than 80% of gynecologists in Sicily refuse to perform abortions for moral or religious reasons, though the procedure has been a legal right for women in Italy since 1978.
Shuhei Nakata, president of Nakata Kogei — a wooden-hanger maker in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture — says a revised work evaluation system and a strict policy against workplace harassment has helped to attract women to the company.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jul 14, 2025
Fukushima looks to local initiatives to combat population decline
The measures will bring the area in line with other parts of Japan that are proactively trying to retain residents.
Women represent 26% of the AI workforce, according to a UNESCO report, and men hold 80% of tenured faculty positions at university AI departments globally.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 12, 2025
Tech's diversity crisis is baking bias into AI systems
Built-in viewpoints and bias, unintentionally imbued by its creators, can make the fast-growing digital tool risky to use.
People listen to stump speeches earlier this month in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, ahead of the Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 11, 2025
Dual surnames for married couples in focus ahead of Japan poll
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has urged the Japanese government to introduce the system four times.
Wakako Yata, former special adviser to the prime minister, leads a consortium to help promote women as digital experts, in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 8, 2025
Japan launches group to help more women become digital experts
The public-private consortium will work to help women acquire digital skills to raise their wages, among other actions.
The share of households with children in Japan slid 1.5 points from the year before to a record low of 16.6%.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 5, 2025
Record 80% of Japanese mothers are employed
The latest survey also found that 58.9% of households felt they were struggling to make ends meet, almost unchanged from the year before.
Voters listen to a stump speech in Tokyo on Thursday as campaigning for the July 20 Upper House election kicked off.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 4, 2025
Women make up fewer than 30% of candidates in upcoming Upper House election
Japan's law for promoting gender equality in politics calls on political parties to make the number of male and female candidates as equal as possible.
Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi (right) shakes hands with Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, during their meeting at the foreign ministry in Kabul on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2025
Russia becomes first country to recognize Taliban government
Moscow has taken recent steps to normalize relations with the Taliban authorities.
Switzerland's Pia Sundhage is by far the most experienced coach at Euro 2025.
SOCCER
Jul 3, 2025
Euro 2025 sets new record for female coaches
The 43.75% of female coaches is a major leap from Euro 2013, where just 18.75% of teams were coached by women.
Fidaa al-Eissa hangs a rug to dry on the rooftop of her home, surrounded by the wreckage left by the civil war, in the Qaboun neighborhood of Damascus on Feb. 21.
WORLD
Jun 30, 2025
'She's not coming back': Alawite women snatched from streets of Syria
The overthrow of Bashar Assad in December after 14 years of civil war unleashed a furious backlash against the Muslim minority community to which he belongs.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry holds the first meeting of the executive commission since taking over the presidency  from Thomas Bach.
OLYMPICS
Jun 27, 2025
Kirsty Coventry says IOC will take lead regarding gender eligibility in sports
Coventry announced the formation of a working group to lead these discussions.
Expectant parents Masataka and Saki Ohita look at ultrasound images of their unborn twins.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Jun 23, 2025
Childbirth facilities disappearing from Fukushima towns
With just 26 facilities in the prefecture that can handle deliveries, there is concern that the trend could accelerate population decline.
Kirsty Coventry, who will formally take over as the president of the International Olympic Committe on Monday, speaks during a news conference in Costa Navarino, Greece, in March.
OLYMPICS
Jun 21, 2025
As sports embrace gender tests, Coventry and IOC may follow
Such testing has its share of critics and the Olympics have already tried it once only to abandon it in 1996.
Unicharm and Toyota Tsusho will together launch a company called Sofy East Africa in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in December to manufacture and sell sanitary products.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2025
Unicharm and Toyota Tsusho to set up sanitary goods joint venture in Kenya
The two companies aim to launch the new company, Sofy East Africa, in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in December.
People march during a protest calling for abortion law reform in London on June 17, 2023.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2025
U.K. parliament votes to decriminalize abortion
Abortions have been legal in England and Wales for almost 60 years, but only up to 24 weeks and with the approval of two doctors.
People shop at a covered market in Suva, Fiji, on Sept. 5.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2025
Pacific Islands should boost women's participation in work, says World Bank
Six countries did not have paid parental leave, often forcing women to leave the labor force when they started families, a report said.
Arsenal players and fans celebrate outside Emirates Stadium in London after winning the Women's Champions League  on May 26.
SOCCER
Jun 17, 2025
Nielsen projects women's soccer to become top-five most popular sport
Women's soccer is already one of the top 10 most followed sports globally, and momentum appears to be building.
A woman weeps as she holds a poster of TikTok star Sana Yousaf during a protest to condemn violence against women, after Yousaf was killed for rejecting a man's proposal in Islamabad.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 16, 2025
'This is a culture': TikTok murder highlights Pakistan's unease with women online
TikTok is wildly popular in the nation, and women have found both audience and income. But as views have surged, so have efforts to police the platform.
The primary causes for long-term sick leave among women in their 20s included mental illness, such as depression and anxiety disorders, a survey has found.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2025
Women in their 20s have higher rate of long-term sick leave, survey finds
The primary causes included mental illness, such as depression and anxiety disorders, as well as pregnancy-related problems.
Rio Takeda banked roughly ¥265.7 million during the 2024 season in prize money on the back of a tour-high eight wins.
MORE SPORTS / Golf
Jun 15, 2025
What gender pay gap? In Japanese golf, women are on par with men
Fan and sponsorship growth has players in the JLPGA making just as much as their male counterparts, a rarity in the male-dominated world of sports.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’