STORIES
From urgent investigations and breaking news to bold op-eds by global leaders, we bring you the stories shaping the lives of women and girls worldwide.
“I Didn’t Come Here to Die”: Migrant Women Trapped in Iraq’s Crossfire
Caught between war and exploitation, migrant women in Iraqi Kurdistan remain trapped in homes they cannot leave—working to survive, even as the bombs fall overhead. Photo: Shvan HARKI/AFP via Getty Images
Across 29 Countries, Nearly a Third of Gen Z Men Say Wives Should Obey Their Husbands
A new international survey finds nearly one in three Gen Z men say a wife should obey her husband, along with other traditional ideas about gender roles.
“We Were Their Last Hope”: Georgia’s NGO Crackdown Leaves Women Without Protection
As Georgia tightens its grip on civil society, the organizations protecting survivors of violence are being forced to shut their doors — leaving the country’s most vulnerable women with nowhere to turn. Photo: Tamuna Chkareuli / RFE
As Pressure Mounts for Syrian Refugees to Return Home, Women Face an Impossible Choice
Caught between a homeland that still feels unsafe and a host country that is closing its doors, Syrian women and girls in Lebanon face an impossible choice: return to uncertainty, or remain in limbo. Photo: Joel Carillet
“They Took My Freedom, My Home, My Child”: Christian Women Jailed Under India’s Anti-Conversion Laws
India’s anti-conversion laws have led to the arrest and incarceration of Christian women, often without trial or accountability. Photo: Suhail Bhat / More to Her Story
The Taliban’s New Criminal Code Makes Second-Class Status the Law for Women and Girls
The Taliban’s new criminal code legalizes the exclusion, punishment, and control of women and girls across Afghanistan. Photo: Mohd Rasfan/AFP
On the Question of Peace, Two Nobel Laureates Issue a Warning
Two Nobel laureates from opposite sides of a war share a stark warning about what peace truly requires. Photo: Getty Images
Sara Sharif’s Life Could Have Been Saved. The System Looked Away.
The 2023 murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif in Surrey, UK, has raised new questions in a review published by the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership.
In Yemen, Marriage Rules Are Tightening Control Over Women
Since 2019, more than 70 restrictive marriage contracts have been imposed across Houthi-controlled territories, banning women from singing, carrying smartphones, and traveling without male guardians.
‘I’ll Dress How I Want’: Iranian Women Defy Hijab Crackdown Despite Rising Repression
Surveillance grows, businesses close, and arrests rise — yet Iranian women still step into the streets uncovered. Photo: Anadolu/Getty
How Firearm Access Fuels Domestic Violence Tragedies
States with strong gun control laws had three times fewer incidents of domestic violence homicide-suicide, according to a new report shared with The 19th.
Most Men Want a Return to Traditional Gender Roles. Women Aren’t So Sure.
A new poll shows how men and women of every generation are divided over questions about who takes on which roles in the family. Photo: Emily Scherer for The 19th
Afghan Girls Face Uncertain Futures as Pakistan Deports Refugees
Legal advocates and international organizations warn deportations will trap girls in extreme restrictions under the Taliban unless urgent protections are adopted. Photo: Jamaima Afridi
Want Signs of Bipartisanship? In the House, Look to Women.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, women from opposite ends of the political spectrum have united on women’s health initiatives, banning congressional stock trading and releasing the Epstein files. Photo: Office of Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove
“If the Internet Is Cut Off, All Girls Will Remain Illiterate”: Taliban Ban Threatens Afghan Girls’ Last Lifeline
The Taliban are cutting off access to the outside world, severing Afghan girls’ last link to education and freedom. Photo: Petros Giannakouris/AP
In Taliban’s Afghanistan, Some Families Risk Everything to Keep Their Daughters Learning
Across Afghanistan, fathers, brothers and broadcasters are risking their lives to keep girls learning. Photo: Picryl
Women Struggle for Reliable Healthcare After Pakistan’s Floods
More than 800 people have died and thousands are displaced as women in Buner face childbirth without hospitals, medicine, or even roads. Photo: Jamaima Afridi
“There Is No Honor in Abuse”: New UK Law Seeks to Protect Women and Girls
‘Honor’ violence has surged 60% in just two years across England and Wales. Now, the UK has introduced its first legal definition of honor-based abuse—progress survivors hope will finally protect women and girls.
Iraqi Women Lead Protests After Young Doctor’s Death Ruled a Suicide
The killing of a young psychiatrist has ignited a movement of women refusing to let her death — or the many other women’s deaths dismissed as “suicide” — be buried in silence.
U.S. Human Rights Reports Drop Women’s and Girls’ Sections for First Time in Decades
Once considered a trusted account of global abuses, the State Department’s annual human rights reports have been stripped of dedicated sections on women and girls — a move critics say tells abusers their crimes no longer count. Photo: Elaine Little