STORIES
From urgent investigations to bold op-eds by global leaders, we bring you the stories shaping the lives of women and girls worldwide.
From Sierra Leone to the United Nations, a New Push to End Child Marriage
The United Nations has adopted a new international day to end child, early and forced marriage, following a campaign led by Sierra Leone’s first lady, Dr. Fatima Maada Bio.
In Sudan’s Displacement Camps, Some Families Are Choosing to Marry Off Their Daughters
In Sudan’s displacement camps, families facing war, poverty and insecurity are increasingly choosing to marry off their daughters.
Syria’s Recovery Is Being Led by Women
Across a country emerging from nearly 14 years of war, Syrian women are rebuilding their families, communities, and futures from the ground up.
What Twenty Years of Reporting on Women and War Has Taught Me
War correspondent Hollie McKay reflects on the hidden systems of violence that decide the course of women’s and girls’ lives long before they are given a choice.
How Young Women in Mexico Resist Violence Beyond the Marches
Researcher Luna Duran van Tijn interviewed ten young women across Mexico during a period in which 1,240 women were killed.
Fourteen Years After Her Daughter’s Death, a Mother Challenges the Dominican Republic’s Total Abortion Ban
Fourteen years after her 16-year-old daughter died when doctors delayed cancer treatment because she was pregnant, Rosa Herminia Hernández is challenging the Dominican Republic’s total abortion ban. Photo: Ricardo Hernandez / AP Photo
What is Life Really Like for Women and Girls Around the World?
The lives of women and girls are not side stories to the world’s crises — they are one of the clearest measures of where the world is headed.
Displaced in Lebanon, Women Search for Water, Privacy and Dignity
In makeshift camps along Beirut’s waterfront, displaced women are living without water, electricity or privacy, carrying the hidden burdens of a war that has left many with no home to return to.
To Report Femicide in Pakistan Is to Confront a System of Silence
In Pakistan, femicide is not a series of random tragedies but a national crisis sustained by silence and a system that places reputation above women’s lives.
On World Refugee Day, Remember the Girls Still Growing Up in Camps
Syrian girls are growing up in displacement, as shrinking donor support leaves fewer spaces for them to learn, play, build confidence, and imagine a future beyond survival.
In Yemen, Some Women Remain Prisoners Long After Their Sentences End
A combination of social stigma, legal delays, and family rejection leaves many Yemeni women trapped even after they are due to be free.
How Iraq’s Legal System Fails Women and Girls
Women and girls across Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan are confronting escalating violence, while legal protections remain weak and often unenforced.
What Motherhood Looks Like in Exile
From Mexico to Jordan to Ukraine, refugee mothers are rebuilding home under impossible circumstances, writes the CEO of USA for UNHCR.
The Hunger I Saw at the Sudan Border
In South Sudan, I met women who survived war only to arrive somewhere “safe” and discover there was no food left to give them.
A Deadline for the World to Act on Women’s Rights
A looming U.N. deadline is testing whether governments will act on the systematic repression of women—or let it stand, write the directors of the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. Photo: Pixabay
What It’s Like to Be a Female Carpenter in Iraqi Kurdistan
In Iraqi Kurdistan, Kanyaw Abubakr turns to carpentry, pushing into a male-dominated trade as conflict disrupts daily life.
Nearly Five Years into Taliban Rule, Teachers Shoulder the Despair of a Generation of Girls
As Afghan girls are pushed out of classrooms and into child marriages, teachers confront a growing wave of despair among their students.
Behind Closed Doors, Millions of Girls Are Working Instead of Learning
Across Africa, child domestic work remains one of the most invisible forms of exploitation faced by girls.
I Fled Sudan Like Millions of Women. Healing Is Still Possible.
In a refugee camp in eastern Chad, one woman who fled Sudan’s war now works to help children heal from violence, loss, and displacement. Photo: Armstrong Too / Plan International
Spain Pardons Women Imprisoned Under Franco for ‘Moral Crimes’
Spain has formally pardoned dozens of women imprisoned under Franco for so-called moral offenses, acknowledging a long-hidden system of repression that persisted even into democracy. Photo: Luca Gaetano Pira / The Guardian