In The News

China Considers Relaxing One-Child Policy

Tania Branigan March 24, 2011
Human-rights advocates have long railed against China’s one-child policy – and exemptions have gradually been granted to a limited number of families, allowing them two children. Warned about population imbalances and young adults overwhelmed with caring for aging parents without sibling support, officials quietly ponder how to extend a two-child policy gradually for all Chinese. One out of six...

Women's Rights in Afghanistan Lose Steam

Tom A. Peter March 9, 2011
As the world observed International Women's Day, news of the the fate of women in Afghanistan is discouraging. Since the US overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan a decade ago, women in urban communities gained basic human rights, including education, voting and the ability to step out onto public streets. But cultural resistance to equality in Afghanistan remains strong, reports Tom A....

Move Over US Soaps, Telenovelas Seduce the Globe

Susan Froetschel June 1, 2010
There was time when the US dominated daytime television programming with soap operas designed for housewives. Spanning decades, television producers and storylines kept up with social themes, like AIDS or racism, but did not adjust to changing US demographics or work patterns. Directors in Mexico, on the other hand, tweaked the US model early on, initially emphasizing Catholic values, but also...

Hear Them Roar

Rana Foroohar April 16, 2010
In countries and conflict zones where female voices are traditionally stifled, women have proven to be some of the most active dissidents. This tendency is not limited to the ranks of activists as female participation in politics and business has grown dramatically worldwide. In the developing world, the levels of basic education for women are rising. There are now as many girls as boys in...

Gendercide: The World Wide War on Baby Girls

March 5, 2010
In ten years, China will have more boys than girls. Skewed sex ratios, a result of infanticide and sex-selective abortions, have become a huge problem not only in China, but also in India, South Korea, Singapore, and even some ex-Soviet states. Reasons for preference for boys include a desire to avoid the cost of dowries to be paid on the daughter’s wedding, a woman’s adoption into her husband’s...

Globalization's Ugly Side: Sex Slavery

John Boudreau June 11, 2009
In the grim side to globalization, scores of young girls from Vietnam are being transported across national borders to serve as sex slaves in countries like China and Cambodia. The traffickers prey on the daughters of poor, often illiterate families who are oblivious to the danger or consequences of human trafficking. These girls, often lured by false promises of profitable employment, are only a...

Quiet Revolution: Can Globalization Help Women Out of Traditional Roles?

Barbara Supp February 11, 2009
Television, internet and travelers send new ideas around the globe and that includes changing roles for women in business and government. As more females become the “face of power,” this also changes business and government traditions, explains Barbara Supp in an article for Spiegel Online. Globalization and the new ideas it delivers often runs”up against archaic social ideas that cement...