Laws that allow rapists to marry their victims in order to escape prosecution are being repealed in countries across the Middle East.

Within the last six weeks, parliaments in Tunisia, Lebanon and Jordan have all amended laws that provide legal loopholes for rapists to avoid punishment for their actions.

On 26 July, Tunisia closed such loopholes while passing a landmark law which aims to eliminate violence against women. Meanwhile, on 1 August, the lower house of Jordan’s parliament approved a repeal, now set to go to the upper house and the king before becoming law. And in Lebanon on 16 August a law was repealed that not only allowed rapists to escape prosecution by marriage, but also included loopholes for offences relating to sex with children aged 15-17 and seducing virgin girls into having sex with the promise of marriage.

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“Provisions like these are largely colonial-era relics and remain on the books in many other countries in the region and beyond,” said Rothna Begum, a researcher for Human Rights Watch.

“Some permit exoneration for a range of offenses, including kidnapping, rape, and consensual sex with a child (statutory rape) if the perpetrator marries the victim.”

Such laws are thought to be inspired by the French Napoleonic Code of 1810, which allowed men who kidnapped women to escape prosecution if they married their victims. France only repealed the provision in 1994.

The latest set of repeals follows Morocco in 2014 and Egypt in 1999. But similar laws still exist across much of the Middle East and north Africa including Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Syria, and Palestine. In many countries, rape survivors are considered unmarriable.

These reforms are credit to the intense campaigning by women’s rights organisations in these countries

It is thought that pressure from women’s rights groups in the region helped lead to the reforms in Tunisia, Lebanon and – soon – in Jordan. Campaigners hope that other countries will follow suit but warn that work still needs to be done, even in countries where laws have been changed.

“These reforms are credit to the intense campaigning by women’s rights non-governmental organisations in these countries, but laws alone can’t change practices,” said Begum.

“Even if such provisions are removed, forced marriage may continue unofficially as it has in many countries. The authorities should take steps to change the discriminatory attitudes and stigma that fuel forced marriages of rape survivors to their rapists.”

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The province of Punjab in Pakistan has made DNA testing compulsory in rape cases. It is part of ongoing national reforms, the Anti-Rape Laws, which also require verdicts to be announced within three months, allow victims to testify via video, and require that female police officers are present during the collection of evidence.

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Maine grandmothers lobby for reproductive rights

Judy Kahrl, who lives in Maine, US, may be 82 years old, but she is still concerned with the barriers that surround reproductive health care. “Access to contraception and the ability to control fertility empowers women,” she says.

That’s why Kahrl founded GRR! – Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights. The group of nearly 100 grandmothers in Maine lobbies for access to contraceptives, abortion and sex education.

The issue is personal for these women, who came of age in the 50s, 60s and 70s, when access to reproductive health care was very limited. Kahrl says all members of the group have stories of sisters or cousins ‘disappearing’ to get abortions or have babies. The women are keen that their daughters and granddaughters don’t have to face those same barriers and stigmas.

Access to contraception and the ability to control fertility empowers women

Being a grandmother advocating for reproductive rights has its advantages. Group members, with their “wrinkled faces and yellow T-shirts,” as Kahrl puts it, draw attention from media and legislators in Maine’s capital Augusta. The group scored a victory last year when a bill to expand pregnancy testing, contraception and STI treatments to low-income residents became law.

“Grandmothers have a lot of power,” Kahrl says.

The indigenous elder taking on foetal alcohol syndrome

Some 22 years ago, great-grandmother and Minnesota Ojibwe elder Mary Lyons received a call: a six-month-old boy crippled by foetal alcohol syndrome wasn’t expected to live long. Could Lyons, an advocate for indigenous children affected by alcohol, take care of him in his final weeks?

Lyons had fostered many children and adopted six. The work was emotionally taxing, and she was ready to stop. Yet she felt she couldn’t say no. The baby, Chauncey, is now 22 and Lyons’ adopted child. He’s a testament to her commitment to helping children affected by foetal alcohol syndrome live full lives, and to keeping indigenous families together.

The battle is personal for Lyons: she was one of many Native American children removed from their families and placed in institutions decades ago. Alcohol was one coping mechanism her generation turned to, she says.

That is why it’s not just children Lyons fights for. A winner of the Minnesota Congressional Angels in Adoption award, Lyons gives lectures as a United Nations active observer and supports women as a grandmother counselor for sobriety group Women of Wellbriety, International.

“Women, when they rise up together, they can rule mountains,” she says.

The woman providing food and housing for Cape Town HIV orphans

Zodwa Hilda Ndlovu – or Mama Zodwa as she prefers to be called – recognised the Aids crisis in her South African community when her daughter died of the disease and her HIV-positive son committed suicide out of shame. Fear of talking about these issues, she decided, was simply too dangerous.

In 2001, she began running a soup kitchen out of her home to feed children who were left orphaned by Aids. Now named Siyaphambili – which means ‘going forward’ – the nonprofit has turned into a sort of village in Cape Town. It provides food and housing for orphans and facilitates healing conversations among families about HIV.

Mama Zodwa, who is HIV-positive, says she does this work so that other people don’t lose their children to shame and hopelessness. She believes open discussion is crucial to destigmatising the disease and teaching prevention, and grandmothers are in unique positions, as community elders, to bring about change. “In the future, I would like to see everybody treat HIV as a normal disease,” Mama Zodwa says. She explains that too often sufferers are cast aside or too afraid to admit they need help. She hopes for a day when Africa is eventually free of Aids.

This article was originally published in YES Magazine. Main image: Camden Conference

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“I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and I’m sure that many of you do too, particularly the women,” said Michelle Obama, emotion tangible in her words. Taking to the stage in New Hampshire several weeks ago, the first lady was mid-way through a speech in reaction to Donald Trump and the “hurtful, hateful language about women” he used throughout the election campaign.

“The shameful comments about our bodies,” she continued. “The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. It is cruel. It’s frightening. And the truth is, it hurts.”

As Obama went on to explore in a speech hailed a “masterclass in speaking from the gut”, gender equality remains a distant prospect in the US. A typical woman working full-time can expect to earn 21 per cent less than her male counterpart, while women hold only 19 per cent of seats in the House of Representatives – just 84 of the 435 available spots.

The world’s eyes are firmly fixed on the election result, partly because what happens in the US has so many global reverberations. Many believe Trump threatens to not only slow progress for women, but also to chip away at existing rights: access to contraception, abortions and sexual health checks among them.

The biggest single factor in the presidential race – and the most overlooked – is gender

Catherine Mayer, co-founder of the UK’s Women’s Equality Party, writes: “The biggest single factor in the presidential race – and the most overlooked – is gender. Though often discussed, its true impacts have largely gone unremarked.”

If only women went to the polls today, it is likely that Hillary Clinton would sweep into office in a landslide victory.

Chantal Pierrat, who lives in Boulder, Colorado, is founder and CEO of Emerging Women, a company that helps women excel in business using feminine values. “In my view, this election has been valuable in bringing to light the clear imbalance of masculine forces in our culture,” she told Positive News. “In Donald Trump we see the masculine as a caricature of itself, distorted, unbound, and narcissistically clinging to an old paradigm where women (and other marginalised groups) do not have a strong voice in the shaping of our future.

“This old paradigm is breaking down, especially in the face of a more connected and interdependent world. We are entering into an age of connectivity, where technology, systems, and all of life are increasingly shared. The model in which there is one master, one CEO, one celebrity, one dictator, one product, one channel, cannot survive in this new age, where those who learn the ways of a more connected and collaborative approach where diversity is celebrated, will thrive.”

Meanwhile, 11 descendants of suffragists have reminded us that only a relatively few years ago, women couldn’t vote for president, let alone run for the position.

“If you don’t understand what your history is, you don’t understand that you have to fight for things,” Shirley Marshall, surrogate granddaughter of suffragist Elizabeth Green Kalb, told New York Magazine.

There had been 70 years of brave, selfless women fighting to give us the right to vote

“There had been 70 years of brave, selfless women fighting to give us the right to vote. People forget you have to keep that fight going.”

Regardless of political leaning, many have welcomed the way women’s rights have been central to debate around this race for the White House. A presidential election with the first female nominee for a major party has sharpened this focus, but Donald Trump’s choice of language has helped galvanise women too.

As Marshall says, recalling the time her grandmother spent in jail for being a suffragist: “There’s more to be done. Someone needs to keep fighting and passing that spirit on.”

Read about three of our favourite women’s rights campaigns sparked by the US election.

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1. Celebrating feminist success: National Pantsuit Day

A tongue-in-cheek riff on Hillary’s favourite outfit, National Pantsuit Day unfolded with colourful aplomb across New York and five other major US cities on 22 October. From sharply-cut navy numbers with shining gold buttons to pleated tangerine statement two-pieces, women (and men) donned suits and marched in celebration of ‘shoulder-padded unity’.

“As a woman and independent business owner in New York City, I’m repeatedly reminded of all the ways in which females are not seen as equal to their male counterparts,” wrote co-creator of National Pantsuit Day, Lauren Benet Stephenson.

“We were tired of listening to continual tirades, smirking asides and dog whistles that insisted equality of all American citizens was just a fabrication by the liberal media. National Pantsuit Day was designed to recognise the progress we’ve made as a country, and the incredible work Hillary Clinton has accomplished to further the equal status of women and minorities. And, honestly, to add some much needed levity and fun to the conversation.”

Image: Benjamin Sidoti/www.benjaminsidoti.com

2. “Not our shame anymore”

When old footage was revealed of Donald Trump describing how he “moved” on women, it prompted women all over the world to share their stories of assault. As more and more people heard the Republican candidate discuss his wooing methods [“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women. I just start kissing them…. And when you’re a star, they let you do it”] women in their thousands began to reveal often deeply personal tales of sexism and sexual assault.

Tweets containing the #NotOkay hashtag, originally shared by Canadian writer Kelly Oxford, began to flood in in their millions. Oxford later tweeted: “I am in such horrendous shock and yet so proud of the women sharing their assaults. #notokay‬‬ is trending in US. Not our shame anymore.”

US figure skater Michelle Kwan at the October National Pantsuit Day march in New York City. Image: Benjamin Sidoti/www.benjaminsidoti.com

3. Nasty women bite back

When Trump interrupted Clinton to brand her a “nasty woman” during one of the televised presidential debates, it didn’t go unnoticed by the internet. Some decided to turn the criticism into an empowering feminist message, with many using #IAmANastyWomanBecause to hammer the point home.

“#ImANastyWomanBecause‬‬ I’m not willing to stifle my intelligence to make the men around me more comfortable,” wrote one. Another woman shared: “#IAmANastyWomanBecause‬‬ I firmly believe that prioritizing education of the girl child will make the world a better place for ALL‬.”‬‬‬‬

Trump has so far failed to respond to Carolanne Monteleone from Pennsylvania who tweeted: “#IAmANastyWomanBecause‬‬ I believe a woman’s place is in the House (you know, the big white one built for presidents)‬.”

A ‘Nasty Woman’ T-shirt produced after Trump’s words in one of the US presidential debates. Image: Brenna Stark/Culture Flock www.brennastark.com

Read our feature on how the US election has thrust gender equality into the spotlight.

Main image: Benjamin Sidoti/www.benjaminsidoti.com

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Though many consider Iceland a world leader in terms of gender equality, a pay gap remains. On Monday this week, female workers gathered in Reykjavík’s central Austurvöllur Square after leaving work at 2:28pm. They, and women at smaller protests across the country, called upon authorities to close the 14-18 per cent gap between men and women’s wages. The action highlighted that any woman remaining at work beyond that time was effectively working for free.

It is not the first protest of its kind in the Nordic country. On 24 October, 1975, 90 per cent of Icelandic women staged a day-long walkout from their jobs in companies and at home, to protest the disparity in pay and their representation of women in society and in parliament. Further walkouts were staged in 2005 and 2010 leading to an estimated three-minute decrease in the gap with every protest.

Women in Iceland come together to strive for equality and ‘kvennafrí’ (women’s rights)

If the rate of progress remains the same, it will take Iceland 52 years for men and women to receive equal pay.

“It’s a very sad thing that society has managed to pay men better than women,” said Iceland’s former prime minister Vigdís Finnbogadóttir who was both Iceland and Europe’s first female president, and the world’s first female president to be democratically elected. “We know that it is done by labelling the work of men differently from the work of women, and that is what women are trying to correct by walking out again.”

Finnbogadóttir has long urged Icelandic women to speak out, to educate themselves and to rally with other women to better their community. “There is no doubt that Iceland can be a role model for equal rights in the world,” she said.

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Men in Iran and all around the world have uploaded pictures under the hashtag #MenInHijab to express solidarity with their wives, female relatives and women in general. Iranian journalist and human rights activist Masih Alinejad originally launched the My Stealthy Freedom project in 2014 to encourage Iranian women to unveil on social media.

The campaign attracted a fresh wave of interest in July. Some of the men have been posing beside women without scarves – a brave move for women in Iran where the hijab has been mandatory, as has the covering of their hair, for more than 40 years.

Bernat Añaños Martinez, who took part in the #MeninHijab campaign told Positive News: “I think men should equally want a fair balance between both genders. It is not fair to have some rights for being a man and not for a woman. I am for equality but until balance is achieved, I am clearly a feminist.”

Bernat Añaños Martinez (above) from Girona, Spain, shared his stance on the right for women to not be forced to wear the hijab

I am for equality but until balance is achieved, I am clearly a feminist

He went on to say: “This campaign, as many others, is not going to change the world. Maybe it is not going to suddenly change the Iranian government’s opinion either. However, I am one of those who believe that small changes and actions open minds and promote respect to those who are different. And when a mind is open and respectful, it is not going to be able to impose regulations such as pushing women to wear hijab.”

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“We made little cardboard houses and put them in a big box, and you reached your hand in and pulled one out … ‘What number are you in? … Aiyee! you’re my neighbour!'” says Lubis proudly. “It was an amazing experience. From that moment forward, we thought as a collective.”

Lubis is the owner of one of the 98 life-size, concrete realisations of those little cardboard houses and one of the leaders of the Liga de Mujeres Desplazadas (League of Displaced Women), the Colombian women’s group. The organisation’s efforts have built a community known as the City of Women, to restore the right to housing to some of its most vulnerable members and their families.

Based in the northern region of Bolivar, the Liga is a grassroots group run by and for women affected by the conflict between the government, right-wing paramilitaries, crime syndicates and leftist armed rebel groups, such as Farc, a battle that is still ongoing despite a peace process which began in 2012. The six-decade long conflict in Colombia has displaced more than six million people, hitting indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in particular.

While most of the combatants in this war’s armed factions are men, more than 50 percent of those forcibly displaced by it are women. It is estimated that half of these have experienced sexual violence: perpetrated systematically mainly by paramilitary groups, but also by state forces and rebel groups.

“I had six children, and I had to flee many times from rape,” says Everledis

In the Colombian context, being “forcibly displaced” means being violently expelled from your home by gunmen. Some fled after witnessing the murder of their partner, having their children “disappeared”, their farm razed or their community massacred.

“I had six children, and I had to flee many times from rape,” says Everledis, one of the founding members of the Liga. “The paramilitaries took our pigs, cows, and horses. They would kill the men and throw them in the river.”

“My town was [a big producer of] palm oil. They burned cars, did their best to make people leave, and now the multinationals can buy very cheap land because no one lives there,” says another Liga member. “There had always been showdowns between the guerrillas and the army, but when the paramilitaries entered the area, there was an extermination.”

Survivors of this violence typically settle in impoverished shanty towns on the outskirts of Colombia’s major cities, where they live in informally constructed shelters without access to clean water or healthcare – let alone employment, support networks or processes of justice.

A backdrop of extreme poverty

El Pozon, located far from the five-star hotels and postcard-perfect tourist attractions of Cartagena, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, is one such neighbourhood.

With about 100,000 inhabitants, it is Cartagena’s most densely populated borough, having received a steady influx of internally displaced people over the past 50 years. This marginalised population live in precarious homes which are hand-built from cardboard, tin and plastic sheeting and are not equipped to withstand the region’s periodic floods.

It was in El Pozon that the Liga was founded, against a backdrop of extreme poverty, paramilitary “social cleansing”, forced recruitment, domestic violence, and territorial fighting over the strategic narco-trafficking routes in the Cartagena bay area.

Some of the women displaced there began to organise around what they termed their “Sueno de vida digna”: dream of a dignified life.

And it was a dream, because a city of houses built by and for displaced women seemed impossibly far from the reality of their lives in El Pozon.

“Everyone – including our own partners – said that we were crazy,” says Eidanis, another Liga leader. “[They told us] that this project was impossible. But we demonstrated that it is possible … It’s the only housing project belonging to female victims in the country.”

She says this with pride, from the terrace of the house she now owns in the City of Women.

It is almost a decade since its completion, and the city now has its own small primary school, a community centre, and a few informal shops selling food and household essentials, which are run from the women’s living rooms or by the roadside.

Each of the brightly painted houses has its own front terrace, furnished with rocking chairs and close enough to the neighbours to allow them to talk over the noise of children playing football or chasing chickens through the mango-tree-lined avenues.

“It’s not just the fact that we have a City of Women,” Eidanis continues, “but that it was us who built it. We had to learn about construction, topography … Some women designed the blocks, others built them.”

Building the city

Construction of the city began in Turbaco – a municipality on the outskirts of Cartagena – in 2003, thanks to international funding secured by the founder and lawyer of the Liga, Patricia Guerrero.

Eidanis describes how the labour was managed collectively. In an organisation that was by then five years old and already 300 strong, the collective effort to build the city solidified its foundations. While some women built and laid bricks, others tended the crops grown on site to sustain the community. Some were responsible for collective childcare, others cooked the meals.

“It was something that brought the organisation even closer together, us living and working together like that, day by day,” Eidanis remembers.

Seletina worries about whether she can afford the bus fare to take her sick grandson to a clinic in Cartagena

And as Lubis takes us through the city, teasing the children playing in the streets, laughing with neighbours, and shouting greetings through doorways, it is clear how continuing to live and work alongside one another for the past decade has only strengthened this collectivism.

“We form a group of women who make up a little Colombia,” says Dayanera, another Liga leader. The women living here are from all over the country: from Choco, Antioquia, Bolívar, La Guajira and many other regions torn apart by this unending war. Yet they are united by shared experiences of violence.

“Above all, this is our strength”, Dayanera says, “that the pain of one is the pain of all.”

This is an extract from an article which first appeared on Al Jazeera.

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