Women in the news

We have heard about child marriages in South Asia. Unfortunately this is also widely practiced in Africa. Read more here and other news about women that made it to the headlines.

Africa’s child brides expected to double by 2050

When Fatimetou was 13-years-old she was forced to marry a much older man. She kept running away, but her family kept sending her back. “I could not look at him,” says the girl from Mauritania, in west Africa. “And then when I saw his face I thought: ‘I really hate that man.'” Her story is not unusual in this part of the world.

Women facing fines of up to £6,500 for wearing burkas in Swiss region

Wearing a burka or niqab in public has been banned in the Swiss region of Ticino, with offenders facing a fine of up to £6,500. The region’s parliament approved the law on Monday, thereby banning full-face veils worn by women in many Muslim countries, in the wake of heightened terrorist alerts across Europe.

Four shocking statistics on the day the world tries to unite to end violence against women

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is marked on November 25. Here is one of the things you may not know: One in three women experience some form of violence in their lifetime.

Muslim woman thanks ‘Geordie angels’ who defended her from racist abuse on Newcastle Metro

A Muslim woman who was racially abused on the Metro in Newcastle has thanked the “Geordie angels” who defended her and her sister. Ruhi Rahman, 23, from Newcastle, said sh had been travelling on the train with her sibling for about ten minutes when a man approached them and began shouting at them.

100 Women 2015: The small band of pioneering women farmers in India

Eighty percent of all economically active women in India work in agriculture but few own the land. Farms are traditionally passed down through the male line even though women can inherit equally by law. For the BBC’s 100 women season, Rupa Jha and Neha Sharma travel across India to meet a pioneering community of women landowners.

Tampon tax: men should share the burden of ending domestic abuse

Women’s Aid is feeling extremely fortunate. The chancellor has just announced that we will be sharing a fund of £2m to work with another domestic abuse charity, SafeLives, to improve early intervention in domestic abuse: something we have long argued is essential. This work is being funded through the proceeds of the tax on sanitary products. There is good in this, but questions are inevitable and we are glad the government will continue to work to get rid of this tax. However, we must take every opportunity to loudly and clearly affirm that women alone are not responsible for ending domestic violence.

Could You Have a Thyroid Disorder?

Your thyroid, a thumb-size gland, rules your waistline, energy level, and mood. And for 10 million women, this regulator is on the fritz. Are you one of them?

Hair Shedding: What It Is & What You Can Do About It

Hair loss is probably one of those things you only think about when you’re arguing with your roommate about who plugged up the shower drain again. (It was totally not you, right?) But if you’ve been noticing a few extra hairs in your brush, you may be questioning how much hair loss is normal.