By: Kelly Weill Five Maryland legislators could have ended a policy that forces women to share child custody with their rapists. Instead the five legislators, all men, buried the bill. Maryland is one of seven states without a law allowing women to terminate parental rights for their rapists, if their child was conceived as a result of sexual assault, according to reproductive rights organization NARAL. The state’s current policy forces survivors to negotiate child custody and adoption issues with their attacker. In a bid to update the draconian policy, Maryland Delegate Kathleen Dumais introduced legislation that would allow a woman to cut her rapist’s parental rights. But while the bill passed both Maryland’s House and Senate, the bill’s text varied between the two legislative bodies. On Monday, the last day of legislative session, a five-person negotiating group was set to decide on the bill’s final text, the Baltimore Sun reported.…

Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, Head of Shoura Council’s committee on economy and energy, said he is in favor of women driving “as long as there is a clear system to enable them to drive.” He said in an interview with Okaz newspaper that Shoura Council members should not be silent on this issue. Al-Rashed said the extent of criticism they receive indicates high expectations from the council. He also stated that the council does not serve a certain category of people but rather, plays a monitoring role, participates in legislations, studies government departments’ reports and issues recommendations aimed at improving the performance of those entities. He pointed that all members deal with the issues discussed and vote on them, but do not form blocs. Women’s participation in the council is developing every day, he said. “Their presence in the council is positive. They propose discussions on important issues related to society.” Rejecting…

Known as “Las Flakas” (Skinny Girls), young Mexican women are taking up lives of crime alongside their male counterparts, becoming extremely effective agents for the cartels’ cause. “They are ideal killers; young, beautiful and reckless,” said Andrew Chesnut, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. “By keeping a low profile they avoid suspicion where men doing the same job would quickly find themselves in trouble,” he told Fox News. Joselyn Niño was a notorious assassin for the Gulf Cartel. She was very active on social media, where she would boast of her bloody achievements. She was murdered and butchered by another young woman, La Gladys of the Zetas, who remains at large terrorizing the communities of northern Mexico. Today, all of Mexico’s major criminal cartels have female “Flaka” death squads. While the woman’s traditional role within drug trafficking organizations was to launder drug money and raise the children, many young women…

Amnesty International has condemned the arrest and prosecution of Makerere University researcher Dr. Stella Nyanzi. Dr. Nyanzi was on Monday, charged with offensive communication and cyber harassment in relation to her Facebook posts attacking the government and particularly the first family. In one of posts, the basis of yesterday’s charges, she called the president a “pair of buttocks”. She was remanded to Luzira prison for two weeks to allow her lawyers time to file a defense in regard to state prosecution’s application that her mental health be examined. Dr. Nyanzi denied the two charges which are contrary to sections 24 (1)(2)(a) and 25 of the Computer Misuse Act 2011. Lynne Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes region in a statement released last evening said government should drop all charges and unconditionally release Nyanzi. “Arresting Dr. Stella Nyanzi simply for criticising the…

By: M.A. Rashid. The glass ceiling in Indian judiciary seems to be cracking at last, if not broken yet. With the appointment of Justice Indira Banerjee as the chief justice of Madras High Court, four major high courts have women chief justices for the first time in the history of Indian judiciary. Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta high courts are already being led by women chief justices. Justice Rohini is the chief justice of Delhi High Court, Justice Manjula Chellur is the chief justice of Bombay High Court and Justice Nishita Nirmal Mhatre the Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. However, gross under-representation of women continues in the Supreme Court, the apex judicial body of the country, as it has only one female judge. Justice R. Banumati is the only woman judge in the Supreme Court, against the working strength of 28 and sanctioned strength of 31. Though there were…

By: Asma T. Uddin When British Prime Minister Theresa May touched down in Riyadh recently to meet with the Saudi crown prince, she thought her uncovered head would inspire Saudi women. The country’s dress code requires that women keep their hair covered in public spaces, but she attended meetings without a headscarf. Western news media largely heralded May’s move as revolutionary, just as some had portrayed Michelle Obama’s 2015 visit to Saudi Arabia with head uncovered a “bold political statement.” Despite the media’s fascination, these women’s decision to leave the headscarf off is not unprecedented. Former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush also chose to forgo wearing a headscarf. May’s dress choice is not brave or unique. She was not in violation of Saudi law; while female foreigners who choose not to conform to the Saudi dress code risk a confrontation with the Mutawwa, or the Commission of the…

By: Jeannette I. Andrade A Saudi Arabian woman who was reportedly seeking asylum in Australia but was off-loaded from her flight at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) was repatriated Monday night. On the request of officials from the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Manila, Dina Ali Lasloom was off-loaded from her Australian-bound flight at the NAIA Tterminal 2 and put on a 10:30 p.m. Saudi Airlines flight to Jeddah at the NAIATterminal 1. Lasloom was a passenger of a Philippine Airlines flight PR 669 from Kuwait to Manila, which arrived at 3:30 am Monday, and was supposed to take an 11 a.m. connecting flight to Sydney, Australia the same day. According to personnel at the NAIA Terminal 2, the group from the Saudi Arabian Embassy were the persons with Lasloom in the video, which the group calling itself the Saudi Arabian Female Empowerment (SAFE) Movement posted on Twitter. The video…