Marriage at age nine is permitted, working is not; make-up is evil. Those are points written in a new treatise by female “Islamic State” supporters. Now three schoolgirls from London are believed to have crossed from Turkey into Syria. Read more for women’s news that made it to the headlines.

The Persian writing on her hands: women should have the same rights as men (picture-alliance/dpa)

When we hear the phrase “women’s issues,” numerous issues and problems come to our minds and most of the problems have been prevalent for centuries. In spite of the plans and policies at national and international levels, no substantial work has been done for the elimination of these issues from women’s lives. Only superficial efforts have been made, which hardly influence the living standards of women at grass root level.

Copyright: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gambarini

November 25th has been selected by the United Nations as its International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has called on everyone around the world to support the campaign, which is a really important signal, writes Grahame Lucas.

I attended a few sessions at the India Week in Hamburg and in almost every event, a discussion began about the role of women in India and how they were treated by men. After the Delhi rape incident in December last year, I thought that women were unsafe in India more than in any other part of the world, but my opinion underwent a change.