Women Teachers Defending Their Labor Rights Under Extremely Precarious Conditions In Mexico

FRIDAY FILE - Excluded from the debate on educational reform, women teachers, who represent more than 96% of teachers in preschool, 66% in basic education and 51% in secondary school, are protesting against a new law that will affect them negatively, especially those working in rural and indigenous communities.[1]

By Katherine Ronderos

Religious-Based Political Parties and Groups Continue to Resist Women’s SRHRs in Brazil

FRIDAY FILE - Brazil has been discussing possible legislation known as “Estatuto do Nascituro” - the Statute of the Unborn Child. AWID spoke to Executive coordinator of Catholics for the Right to Decide (CDD/BR) Rosângela Talib about how this, and other similar proposals, will affect women’s sexual and reproductive and health rights (SRHRs), and the particular challenges that religious-based political parties bring to women’s struggle for these rights.

By Gabriela De Cicco

AWID: What abortion legislation currently exists in Brazil?

Breaking Through the Iron Ceiling: Iran’s New Government and the Hopes of the Iranian Women’s Movements

FRIDAY FILE: Iranian women’s rights activist, Sussan Tahmasebi, shares her insights with AWID about Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani, and what this could mean for Iranian women.

By Rochelle Jones

Vienna+20 : “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” Views from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

FRIDAY FILE: As part of AWID’s commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) that was adopted by representatives of 171 States at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, 1993, we are producing a series of Vienna+20 written and audio interviews featuring prominent feminists who were involved in advocating for women’s human rights leading up to and following the Vienna conference

Evaluating Cairo+20 and looking toward 2015

FRIDAY FILE – During the First session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean that took place in Montevideo, 12-15 August 2013, AWID spoke to women’s rights activists from the region about the progress made in the Cairo+20 agenda and their perspectives on the Post-2015 agenda on sustainable development.

Lack of proper legislature and a constitutional limbo increase risks to Women Human Rights Defenders in Nepal

FRIDAY FILE – A decade-long conflict, sluggish peace and reconciliation process and delays in developing a new constitution, leave women human rights defenders in Nepal at great risk.

By Katherine Ronderos

Women in Arts: Activism and Censorship

FRIDAY FILE - AWID spoke to Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour about how she addresses political issues in her art, the link between art and activism and why it is important to address censorship head on.

Women and the Fight for Peace and Freedom in West Papua

FRIDAY FILE: After 42 years of Indonesian rule, women in West Papua continue to fight for their freedom and peace.

By Rochelle Jones

West Papua – officially under Indonesian rule since 1963 – is located in the Western half of the island of New Guinea – 250km north of Australia. In 2012, West Papua Media conducted interviews with four West Papuan women who are active in the nonviolent movement for freedom. Here, AWID gives some background, and excerpts from the interviews.

Act of No Choice

Women’s Movement Building: Lessons From Transitions to Democracy

FRIDAY FILE – AWID and Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) recently launched two initiatives that aim to share and build knowledge and awareness about countries in transition to democracy; and the need to ensure that all citizens, including women, are enabled to participate in these processes is essential to guaranteeing rights for all.

By Angelika Arutyunova

Her Yer Taksim! Feminist and LGBTQI Engagement in the Gezi Park Protests

FRIDAY FILE - News of the lower court decision[1] at the beginning of July that a construction project in Istanbul’s Gezi Park be halted was overshadowed by the police crackdown on what had started as a small demonstration against the park’s destruction.