Here are articles from around the world that I found particularly interesting or moving. These articles matter because they document a coordinated global rollback of women’s rights as a shared political pattern and not just isolated incidents. From Afghanistan to India to the United States, they show how state power and cultural rhetoric are increasingly used to police women’s bodies, mobility, and autonomy. Together, they reveal why defending them is inseparable from defending democracy, dignity, and equality itself.

Five key moments in the assault on the rights of women and girls in 2025

This article highlights five key moments in 2025 that rolled back women’s and girls’ rights worldwide. It shows how political and policy changes directly affect their health, freedom, and dignity.

Afghanistan: Ten facts about the world’s most severe women’s rights crisis

This article highlights ten key facts about Afghanistan’s severe women’s rights crisis, showing the urgent challenges women and girls face under Taliban rule.

Ongoing Taliban-Olympic talks hope to prompt Afghan women’s rights U-turn

This article highlights ongoing talks between the International Olympic Committee and the Taliban, and how these discussions could influence women’s rights in Afghanistan, especially access to education and sport. It shows why international engagement still matters for Afghan girls and women.

Women in India don’t want ‘safe zones’ – they want to enjoy public spaces as equals

This article highlights how everyday experiences of harassment and exclusion reflect deeper cultural and structural barriers to gender equality.

India-Taliban rapprochement sparks women’s rights debate

This article looks at India’s growing diplomatic engagement with the Taliban and how a press event in New Delhi — where only male journalists were initially invited — sparked debate about women’s rights and gender discrimination. It highlights why women’s inclusion and rights need to remain part of conversations about geopolitics and regional partnerships.

Six Months In: How the Trump Administration Is Undermining Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Globally

This analysis shows how the 2025 Trump administration’s cuts to global health funding and rollback of sexual and reproductive rights are threatening essential services for women and girls around the world.

What We’re Up Against: The Challenge of Fighting for Women’s Rights in 2025

This piece highlights the growing global assault on women’s rights, from Afghanistan to India and Africa, and emphasizes the necessity of women-led movements pushing back against repression.

73 things Donald Trump has said about women

This article compiles notable comments by Donald Trump over the years, illustrating patterns in his rhetoric about women that have influenced public discourse and perceptions of gender roles.

Under Trump, U.S. returns to treating violence against women as a ‘private matter’

This opinion argues that recent U.S. policy shifts under Trump have rolled back protections for women—including how violence is treated within refugee and asylum systems—underscoring concerns for women’s rights and safety.

Indian court rules trans women are women and ‘legally entitled to recognition’

This article reports on a landmark Indian court decision affirming that trans women are legally women, highlighting an important legal victory for inclusion in a major global democracy.

Four years on, here’s what total exclusion of women in Afghanistan looks like

This UN report outlines how Afghan women have been excluded from education, work, and public life under the Taliban, putting the world’s most severe women’s rights crisis into a global context.

Taliban assault on women’s rights reaches a new level in Afghanistan

This article explains how the Taliban’s increasingly harsh policies have further eroded women’s freedoms and opportunities in Afghanistan, deepening the ongoing gender‑based crisis across the country.

‘I Begged Them Not to Harass Me’: Women Accuse Taliban of Sexual Assault After Arrest for ‘Bad Hijab’

This article was deeply moving for me. It reveals how reveals how Taliban enforcement of dress codes and morality laws has led to abuse and sexual assault of women, bringing attention to the human cost of authoritarian controls over women’s bodies.