Craving Freedom, Japanese Women Opt Out of Marriage

Not so long ago, Japanese women who remained unmarried after the age of 25 were referred to as “Christmas cake,” a slur comparing them to old holiday pastries that cannot be sold after Dec. 25. Today, such outright insults have faded as a growing number of Japanese women are postponing or forgoing marriage, rejecting the…

Read More

An Economist Explains Why Women Around the World Are Paid Less

It’s a basic principle of fairness: men and women should have the same economic opportunities in life. But all around the world, despite progress and protests and legislation, there is a persistent gap between what men and women are paid. Here are some reasons why women continue to be paid less – Read the full…

Read More

The Hand of Native American Women, Visible at Last

The role of women art-makers in Native communities has gone widely ignored. Now a bold museum show, by and for these women, is shining a light on 1,000 years of their art. This remarkable exhibit – which was carefully developed with input from an all-female advisory panel of Native artists and experts of Indigenous art…

Read More

“Not Just a Maid”: The Ultra-Running Domestic Workers of Hong Kong

Foreign maids first arrived in Hong Kong in the 1970s, when there was a shortage of local full-time housekeepers as the economy began to take off in line with China’s opening up. Today, there are 380,000 maids who make up five percent of the population. Now, a growing community of maids have taken up trail…

Read More

India is Not Good to Its Women. So Why Are Female Politicians So Powerful?

India ranks near the bottom of 149 countries for gender equality. The media is filled with frequent reports of terrible violence against women in India, and the number of women in the workforce – already very low – is declining. And yet, India’s political history counts several powerful women, and two female heads of state….

Read More

The Six Biggest Military Budgets in Europe are Controlled by Women

This month, Penny Mordaunt became the UK’s first female defense secretary, managing a department with a yearly budget of about $47 billion. Her appointment means that, right now, the six biggest military budgets in Europe are overseen by women. This short article gives a quick look at the countries in Europe whose military budgets are currently…

Read More

Mary Sibande’s Art Tells the Political—and Personal—Story of Apartheid

If you have ever seen Mary Sibande’s work, then you’ve invariably met Sophie. She is the South African artist’s muse, her alter-ago, her subject—her past and her present.   Sibande’s mother, her grandmother and her great-grandmother all wore the same blue uniform as members of the servant class during Africa’s apartheid and earlier. It’s an…

Read More

Women’s Pain is Different From Men’s – The Drugs Could Be Too

Men and women can’t feel each other’s pain. Literally. We have different biological pathways for chronic pain, which means pain-relieving drugs that work for one sex might fail in the other half of the population. A new study in the journal Brain reveals differences in the sensory nerves that enter the spinal cords of men and women with neuropathic…

Read More