‘Let me be the last survivor’: Lessons from six years of action to end violence against women and girls in South and East Asia

Megan LowthersGender, Violence Against Women and Girls

In our second blog for the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, Oxfam Canada’s Megan Lowthers looks back on six years of the Creating Spaces project, which offers powerful examples of how communities can mobilise to tackle GBV and win new laws to protect women and girls After years in an abusive marriage, Sonali, 23, visited a support centre …

We are in it together: Feminist activists in MENA united

Hadeel QazzazGender, Violence Against Women and Girls

Many social media followers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) would recognize names such as Israa Ghrayeb from Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), or Al-Anoud Sheryan from Yemen or Tara Fares from Iraq. These are young women in their twenties who were disfigured or killed by a family member or an intimate partner.   Their stories shocked people and devastated women rights activist across the region. …

Girls Not Brides – weaving the ‘evidence quilt’ for gender transformative law reform

Anam ParvezGender, Rights, Violence Against Women and Girls

Positive prospects amid the pandemic  Girls have been given much reason to hope in the Philippines. This November, a historic first, the Senate unanimously approved the Girls Not Brides bill, which proposes to criminalize child marriage. Now the House of Representatives must take this life-saving measure across the finish line before the last step – a presidential veto or approval.   There are an estimated 726,000 child brides in the Philippines, making it the 12th highest in the world for child marriage in terms of …