Canada’s minister of gender equality has announced a new initiative aimed at creating a sustainable model to fund women’s rights organizations in developing countries and at home. Maryam Monsef said the Equality Fund brings together 11 organizations from the philanthropic, non-profit and financial sectors, including the Canada-based Match International Women’s Fund, the African Women’s Development Fund and Oxfam Canada. “This is the first time that we are seeing a collaboration of this kind to advance gender equality in Canada and around the world,” Monsef said after her announcement Sunday. The federal government has invested $300 million through the fund specifically for women in the developing world, said Monsef, who is in Vancouver this week to attend the Women Deliver conference, which is expected to draw thousands of advocates for gender equality. The purpose of the fund is “to ensure that funding flows to those organizations on the ground who are doing…

Stacey Abrams made a strong indication that she could be jumping into the 2020 Democratic primary race. When the former Georgia House minority leader was asked if she was still considering launching a bid for president, Abrams told progressive political podcast, Pod Save America, “Yes.” When the podcast tweeted out the excerpt of the interview, Abrams reposted it to her Twitter. Abrams announced last month that she would not be seeking a Senate run in 2020 in challenging Republican Senator for Georgia David Perdue. “I am announcing today that I will not be be a candidate for the U.S. Senate,” Abrams said in a video posted to Twitter April 30. “The fights to be waged require a deep commitment to the job, and I do not see the U.S. Senate as the best role for me in this battle for our nation’s future.” Several Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck…

Iranian women made history Thursday after they were allowed for the first time in 40 years to attend a football game in a stadium, sitting next to men, to watch the national male football team play Bolivia in a friendly. Around 300 female supporters sat in the terraces of Tehran stadium to witness the victory of national Team Melli defeat Bolivia 2-1 in a friendly. The women, mostly the players’ family and friends, players and coaches of the Iranian national women’s team and some fans, materialized the victory of a 40-year struggle they have been waging since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Iranian captain Hossien Mahini praised the permission given by authorities who have made Iran one of the very few remaining countries in the region to officially prohibit women from attending football games. Some women, in an attempt to break the ban, had to disguise as men to enter local…