Charlotte Webb, who as a young woman helped code breakers decipher enemy signals at Britain’s top-secret Bletchley Park, died on Monday. She was 101. Her death was confirmed by the Women’s Royal Army Corps Association and by the Bletchley Park…
Tag: Women and Girls
Millions of Women Will Lose Access to Contraception as a Result of Trump Aid Cuts
The United States is ending its financial support for family planning programs in developing countries, cutting nearly 50 million women off from access to contraception. This policy change has attracted little attention amid the wholesale dismantling of American foreign aid,…
As Bangladesh Reinvents Itself, Islamist Hard-Liners See an Opening
The extremists began by asserting control over women’s bodies. In the political vacuum that has emerged after the overthrow of Bangladesh’s authoritarian leader, religious fundamentalists in one town declared that young women could no longer play soccer. In another, they…
Olympic Track Officials to Require Sex Tests for Female Athletes
Track and field will introduce mandatory DNA sex testing for athletes entering female competitions, its global leader said Tuesday, making it the first Olympic sport to add the requirement. The move comes amid an increasingly vexed debate over eligibility rules…
In Germany’s New Parliament, Women Are a Rarer Sight
Two days after a coalition of conservatives won Germany’s federal election last month, the governor of Bavaria took to Instagram to say the parties were “ready for political change” and posted a group picture of the likely future chancellor, Friedrich…
Six Women Were Elected. So Why Were Their Husbands Sworn In?
The video that set off the storm was not much to look at. A circle of 12 men draped in bright garlands were reading aloud solemn statements during a ceremony to form a new local government in a deeply rural…
U.S. Foreign Aid Cuts Hit Sudanese Refugees Fleeing Violence and Famine in Darfur
U.S. foreign aid cuts impacting Sudanese refugees in Chad have reduced already razor-thin margins for lifesaving resources like food and water, and other U.S. government-funded programs including mental health counseling and education. “When we told [the students] the decision, that…
U.N. Accuses Israel of Targeting Reproductive Health Facilities in Gaza
A United Nations commission on Thursday accused Israel of targeting hospitals and other health facilities in Gaza that provide reproductive services, including an I.V.F. clinic where thousands of embryos were destroyed, in what it called an effort to prevent Palestinian…
Helen Schreider, Intrepid World Traveler, Is Dead at 98
At its founding in 1904, the international Explorers Club stated clearly that membership was “limited absolutely to men,” a fraternity of the hearty who blazed new routes through “the open and the wild places of the earth.” Inductees include Roald…
Fighting for Justice for Japan’s ‘Comfort Women’
This article is part of a Women and Leadership special report highlighting women who are charting new pathways and fighting for opportunities for women and others. When Gil Won-ok, a Korean woman, died recently at the age of 96, the…