Category: Gender & Sexuality
Afghanistan is facing a major crisis as millions of Afghans risk running out of food before winter arrives. In August, the Taliban takeover exacerbated economic instability, causing an exponential increase in food prices and displacing 3.5 million Afghans.
The American Childcare System: Does Anyone Care?
Childcare in the United States has long fallen disproportionately onto the shoulders of low-income women of colour. As long as women of colour’s work is viewed as disposable and they are expected to carry the burden of childcare, they will continue to be undervalued, burnt out, and be barred from socioeconomic mobility.
Woman or Womb?: The Ongoing Exploitation of Chinese Women’s Bodies
In China, a lack of protective legislation against domestic violence and women’s lack of freedom and access to reproductive health is a major concern. Most importantly, and perhaps less acknowledged, is the decades-long, government-provoked trauma faced by women in China in terms of reproductive restrictions.
“Government-Sponsored Outing”?: Understanding Quebec’s Bill 2
A bill proposal by the Quebec provincial government has sparked concern from transgender and LGBTQ+ activists. Bill 2, a potential amendment to the Civil Code, promotes change in family law and, according to activists, is a direct infringement … Continue reading
Empowering Women in Rural Balochistan through Midwifery: The MLCD Project
I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Quratulain Bakhteari, the founder of IDSP and mastermind behind the MLCD project, on why this project is crucial to the people of Balochistan and how it is positively impacting their lives.
A Troubled Past Unburied: The Return of the Taliban to Power in Afghanistan
For those who lived through the first Taliban regime, memories spark fear that they will return to a place of little to no freedom of expression, minimal employment, poor security, and, more specifically, gender inequality.
Enough is Enough: Femicide and Domestic Violence in Canada
Romane Bonnier’s tragic death points to a pattern of increasing rates of femicide – the gender-based killing of women/girls – across Canada and an alarming surge in violence against women.
To Speak or Not to Speak ?
Lors de discussions sur le féminisme, certains déclarent que les hommes n’ont pas leur mot à dire. Lorsqu’il s’agit de parler et d’agir contre le racisme, d’autres défendent que seules les personnes racisées peuvent prendre la parole.
China’s LGBT Communities: Exploring The Chinese “Gay City”
According to Chinese sociologist Wei Wei, Chengdu’s healthy LGBT community is credited to its successful change of “place to space”. Indeed, China’s rapid economic development creates a hotbed for the spread of consumerism, which is especially salient in Chengdu, the beneficiary of the Great Western Development Strategy, which made Chengdu the regional economic development center. One of the many results of consumerism is the emergence of entertainment establishments. However, for people who are oppressed for their identity and would like to meet like-minded people, these establishments are entitled with a different meaning —these places are haven-like spaces in which they can fully express themselves without other people’s judgment and where they can still have fulfilling social lives.
Tackling Period Poverty in Canada
In Canada, 1/3 of menstruators under 25 have struggled to pay for period products. Along with many other countries, the Canadian government has not recognized these fundamental necessities as such. This is evident through the federal government's luxury of 1991, also known as the “pink tax” which treated sanitary products as luxury items rather than necessities. This tax points to the gender inequality at play; through this tax, not only were period products made inaccessible, but Canada racked in $37 million from menstruators. It was not until 2015, which is when the #notaxontampons campaigns occured, that it was removed.