Corporate impunity impacts young women and girls disproportionately. Young feminists must join the growing mobilisation for a UN treaty on transnational corporations and human rights.

As long as I can remember, my grandmother taught me to stand up straight, cross my legs, clear the table, cover myself, not to talk about periods, hide my maxi pads, not to use tampons because virginity is precious and should not be jeopardized.

In the context of sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR), the subject of pleasure remains a big taboo. Yet many working in the field around the world are struggling to reach young people with vital information relating their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Is this because we are failing to take into account the motivations and desires of those we are trying to engage?

The opening plenary of day three of the 13th International AWID Forum began with a shift in tone. Where the first two days of the Forum had focused on analyzing our current realities and radically disrupting and expanding our current movement frameworks, facilitators of the third opening plenary asked participants to do something different.

From the moment we (#YAFDialogues) started structuring our session “Our Lived Realities: Voice of Young African Feminists”, my excitement for both the 13th AWID International Forum and the Black Feminisms Forum (BFF) started to grow. It kept growing taller with the funding I received from the AWID Access Fund, and it grew even bigger on the day I landed in Bahia, Brazil at Costa do Sauípe!

To understand FRIDA’s achievements in the context of the larger movement and history of feminist organizing, the team reached out to Lydia Alpizar to share her personal reflections on why it is important to document these beginnings, what it contributes to our knowledge of movements, and what were some of the lessons learned. Lydia was the Executive Director at the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) who helped kickstart the beginnings of FRIDA.

The State of Our Feminist Movements animation is the first of “Movement Sparks”, a series of animations exploring key topics facing our movements for justice and liberation today; and the need for integrated and coherent approaches that cut across diverse locations, agendas, and strategies.

Full of energy and motivation, young African feminists fight for their rights. During the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) Forum, held in Brazil from September 8-11, they brought the challenges they face and let themselves be heard.

Untreated trash borders on a large-scale health disaster and, undeniably, should be dealt with in a timely and urgent manner. However, as Lynn and Shant best expressed years ago, our struggles are constantly relegated to the sidelines. As young feminists, we find ourselves in the waiting rooms of “crises,” as if awaiting instructions for the “right time” to take action.

On International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, the Young Feminist Wire brings you the story of Nahed Sherif Abdel Hamid, one of the young WHRDs who were recently released in the pardon. We also speak with Amal Elmohandes, who works with Nazra for Feminist Studies. Amal closely followed Nahed’s case and says the violations against WHRDs in Egypt are systemic.