(From left) Ida Thien, Connie Foong and Cheah Kok Hin, three of the four founders of Closing The Gap. Photo Credit: SOPHIE CHIN

Perhaps she could have pursued a career as a high-flying lawyer, but Ida Thien has absolutely no regrets.

Thien, 27, is one of the four founders of Closing The Gap (CTG), a social project that helps high-potential students from challenging backgrounds overcome hurdles in order to gain access to higher education.

The popular saying “some sun will do you good” was coined for a good health reason. Although it generally gets less attention than its close cousin vitamin C, vitamin D also plays an important role in our health.

The Spice Girls will return to the stage in 2019. While they’re often credited with bringing “girl power” to the mainstream, they’re not the only ones with a claim to the title of the ultimate girl band.

–

Jalila Haider © Private

A Shia Hazara from Pakistanʹs Baluchistan, human rights activist Jalila Haider has made the persecution of minorities her focus. In interview with Saima Hyder Zaidi, she also takes a stand against patriarchal mind-sets and the objectification of women.

Taking on a sport largely reserved for men in a region with strict traditions was quite a challenge but one that both Nehaya Dhaher and young female sports fans embraced.

Sports teacher Nehaya Dhaher was living a quiet life looking after her elderly mother in Iraq’s tribal south when she was asked to set up the country’s first women’s wrestling squad.

Tensions continue to run high in the southern state of Kerala as police crack down on protesters trying to stop women from entering the hill shrine of Sabarimala. It opened to all men and women in October after the Supreme Court lifted a ban on women aged from 10 to 50.

A woman sells her hair at Insein hair market in Yangon, Myanmar, June 18, 2018.

Hair helps to pay the rent for Za Za Lin, whose eyes filled with tears as her long black mane was combed, cut, and untangled by practised hands at a roadside market stall in Myanmar’s commercial hub of Yangon.