She is set to join the likes of high-profile global advocates who’ve been honoured with this award in the past, including Malala Yousafzai,  Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Nelson Mandela and former German chancellor Angela Merkel. The only other Australian to receive the award is former Foreign Affairs Minister Gareth Evans.

The Four Freedoms Awards are presented each year to men and women committed to the four principles proclaimed by US president Franklin D. Roosevelt in a historic 1941 speech: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of want and freedom from fear. 

Forrest’s work eradicating modern slavery will be honoured with the ‘freedom from fear’ award.

The eldest child of billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest and Nicola Forrest, she co-founded the international human rights group, Walk Free, in 2011 under the family’s philanthropic venture, the Minderoo Foundation. 

Each year, Walk Free produces the Global Slavery Index, which is the world’s most comprehensive dataset on modern slavery. 

The Index estimates that 50 million people were living in modern slavery on any given day in 2021, an increase of 10 million people since 2016. 

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In an essay for Marie Claire in 2023, Forrest shared that since founding Walk Free she’s “recognised the innate vulnerability women and girls face with modern slavery and other forms of extreme exploitation”, but has also come to realise their true power to “reimagine and build long-term change”. 

Forrest has campaigned against this human rights abuse for over a decade, developing policy based on extensive field research. This advocacy has informed new laws across the globe.

Recently, she joined former UK prime minister Theresa May’s Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, alongside UN Under-Secretary General Adama Dieng. They will work towards putting modern slavery on the global political agenda, especially in G20 countries where 50 per cent of all people in modern slavery live, according to Walk Free’s Index.

Upon hearing the Roosevelt freedom award announcement, Forrest said on Wednesday she is “deeply humbled” to be nominated and considers it “an honour” as there’s “a rich history of human rights and international law behind it”. 

The other award announced on Wednesday was the Freedom of Speech medal, which will go to Netherlands-based investigative journalism group Bellingcat for its work separating fake news from fact in international conflicts.

The awards ceremony will take place in the Netherlands on April 11.

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In Ireland, a country whose 86-year-old constitution was written through a conservative Catholic lens, progressive laws have been steadily amended to reflect the reality of modern society. In 1973, the country removed a declaration stating “the special position of the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church”. Then, in 2015, Ireland became the first nation to legalise gay marriage, and in 2018, abortion was legalised and “blasphemy” was removed as a crime. 

Now, the Irish government has this week proposed plans to remove sexist language from the nation’s constitution, which declares women shouldn’t be expected “to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home”, and which describes the “common good” as dependent on defending women’s “life within the home”. 

A national referendum to vote on these amendments is set for March 8– International Women’s Day– where the first amendment would remove gendered language and commit to value the work of all family carers. 

The second amendment would broaden the definition of the family to include all households with “durable relationships” as the current clause states the constitution commits the state “to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack”. 

The new wording of “durable relationships” will include the roughly third of couples in Ireland with children born out of wedlock. 

Whether or not these amendments take place will depend on the referendum’s outcome. Meanwhile, just one in five people in Ireland believe women are treated equally in the home, according to a poll conducted last year.

Catholicism in Australia

According to this year’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index, Ireland ranks as the 13th best country in the world for inclusion, justice and security for its female population– a ranking that comes in just behind Australia, which is 11th best. 

While Australia does rank above Ireland in this context, our institutions have had their fair share of religious reckoning when it comes to women’s rights.  

Just this week, the head of Catholic Education Tasmania, Gerard Gaskin has come under fire for taking issue with mandatory consent education as outlined in the national curriculum, saying it includes “highly sensitive, amoral and potentially harmful information”. 

In an article on the Archdiocese of Hobart’s website, Gaskin wrote: “In Catholic morality, consent is necessary, but not sufficient, to make the sexual act right or wrong. It is the long-held teaching of Christ that sexual activity is only legitimately expressed within the loving relationship between husband and wife.”

The updated curriculum would incorporate consent education, including an understanding of gender stereotypes, coercion and power imbalances– a welcome move by many women’s rights activists.

In response to Gaskin’s conservative Catholic views, Australia’s well-known spokesperson for consent and founder of Teach Us Consent, Chanel Contos said consent education shouldn’t be made political or religious. 

“Sexual relationships can and do occur outside of marriage,” Contos told The Greek Herald. “Abstinence is a choice, sexual assault is not.”

She noted that “marital rape is also illegal in Australia”, so consent education would benefit even those inside a marital contract. 

“Whilst I do not personally agree with teaching abstinence, consent education can always be taught in conjunction with religious values.”

Last year, the Plenary Council of Australia addressed the experience of women in the Catholic Church by amending rules to the equal dignity of women and men in its guiding document. 

Plenary Council president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB addressed the assembly, saying, “There is a long way for the Church to go in the understanding of the proper role of women in the life of the Church.”

“The way we move forward to properly understand God’s plan in relation to women is important,” he said.

Women’s role in the Catholic church

Only just this year did the Catholic church– the first time in the institution’s 2000-year history– first allow women to vote in the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at Vatican City. 

And recently, despite strongly opposing the idea in the past, Pope Francis created two commissions to study the possibility of female diaconate. This would mean women would be allowed to preach at mass and perform marriages and baptism, however, they would not be allowed to celebrate Eucharist or hear confessions.

Strong opponents to female diaconate argue allowing women to participate this way in the church would eventually lead to permission for women to be ordained as priests.

Despite this, nuns outnumber brothers almost 10 to 1 globally. And women make up the majority of members in the Catholic Church at 60 per cent.

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Out of a total of 177 countries included in the analysis, Scandinavian and European countries topped the list, including Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg.

Australia was ranked 11— just missing out on the tenth spot, which went to our humble neighbours, New Zealand. 

The biennial index, launched at the Norwegian Mission to the United Nations in New York this week, was published by Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). 

It uses 13 indicators to measure women’s status, including economic participation, parliamentary representation, health, risks of violence, education, employment, laws, and proximity to conflict — which estimates the number of women who live within 50 kilometres of armed conflict.

Georgetown alumna, Elena Ortiz, who is also the lead author on the report, said that the index shows that when women are doing well, everyone in society is doing well. 

“Countries where women are doing well are more prosperous, peaceful, democratic and better prepared to respond to the impacts of climate change,” Ortiz said. 

This year’s index, the fourth edition in history, introduced a new indicator measuring political violence targeting women – a phenomena that has been “escalating” in the past few years, and one that “threatens to stall and even roll back progress,” the report explained. 

“New and emerging threats, such as the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence, introduce unprecedented and often incalculable gendered impacts that multiply these risks.”

The report addressed the multiple forms political violence can target female participants in politics, including physical and sexual to the digital. 

It mentioned recent attacks on women that “instill fear and portray governments as unable to protect their citizens”, such as the gang violence in a women’s prison in Honduras that left 41 women dead in June this year, and the assault and harassment of Senegalese lawmaker Amy Ndiaye Gniby by two male politicians, which also occurred in June. 

Afghanistan ranked the lowest on the index, followed by Yemen, the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. 

The twenty lowest-ranking countries experienced armed conflict in the past two years, with half of all women in Afghanistan, Yemen, Central African Republic and South Sudan living in close proximity to conflict. 

During armed conflict, maternal deaths and risks of gender-based violence surge, while barriers to employment and education prevent women and girls from pursuing livelihood opportunities. 

In Yemen for example, less than six per cent of women are employed, while in neighbouring Oman, 42 per cent of women are employed.

Countries that recorded the highest rates of political violence against women include Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar. 

“For women to meaningfully participate in civic spaces and decision-making roles, they must be able to do so safely without risks of political violence,” Ortiz said. 

“With its scores, rankings, and robust data, the WPS Index offers a valuable tool for people working on issues of women, peace and security. Policymakers can use it to pinpoint where resources are needed.”

Comparing the latest WPS Index alongside other global indices, such as a UNESCO study on violence against female journalists, and the UN’s Human Development Index, the data revealed that women’s well-being is directly linked with the well-being of a country. 

Countries where women are prospering scored higher in terms of peace, democracy and employment. 

“The world is enveloped in a growing number of conflicts, and there is a rise in authoritarianism and push back against women’s progress,” Melanne Verveer, the executive director of GWIPS said. 

“The index reminds us that there is a direct correlation between the well-being of women and the well-being of nations. Investments in advancing gender equality are also investments in peace, security and prosperity.”

Read the report here.

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According to the latest research by girls’ rights organisation Plan International, almost one in five adolescent girls and young women activists have had safety concerns during their time campaigning and doing advocacy work. 

One in 10 said they have faced threats of physical violence as a result of their work, while 15 per cent have experienced online harassment and abuse. 

The international study surveyed more than a thousand girls and women aged between 15 and 24 across 26 countries including Ethiopia, Jordan, Canada, Kenya and Philippines.

A quarter of respondents said that negative views from members of their family or community were compromising their ability to campaign to the best of their abilities, while more than half reported shortage of funding as the single biggest factor affecting their campaigning. 

In Australia, 35 per cent of activists said that campaigning for their basic rights had taken its toll on their mental and emotional wellbeing. 

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Sarah Williams, a First Nations woman and survivor advocate against sexual assault, described activism as “so taxing and draining.”

“There can be a point where it becomes too much,” she said. “I ultimately feel that it is my duty to help survivors of sexual abuse and people in need, so I will continue if my mental health can stay on a good path.” 

Globally, a quarter of respondents said that their work has made their mental and emotional wellbeing suffer. 

Almost a third of respondents in Australia said they feared for their physical safety, and identified that reason as a significant barrier to participating in advocacy or activism campaigning. 

Respondents worked across a wide range of issues, including sexual and reproductive health rights, climate action, First Nations justice, gender equality, disability rights, equal pay and opportunity for women in sport, and ending gender-based violence — though the majority (60 per cent) identified gender equality or gender-based violence as their top concern. 

In more positive news, the report found that almost all activists reported the act of campaigning has made them feel proud, empowered, and capable, and two thirds said the impact of their work has met or exceeded their expectations. 

Disability activist Hannah Diviney hopes that in the near future, she will be having different conversations to the ones she is currently having “because we’ll have made some progress.” 

“Hopefully … the notion of not having disabled stories and characters on screen will be a far forgotten thing of the past,” the editor-in-chief of Missing Perspectives and author of “I’ll Let Myself In” said. 

“In 10 years we’re not going to see gigantic movement on girls’ rights, because we’ve got a long way to go and we just keep getting set further back and further back and further back, but I think hopefully it won’t feel like banging our heads against brick walls.” 

Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena said that global injustices are driving girls to act and that they are “taking it into their own hands and demanding we all act, sooner, to beat the clock.” 

“We have young women such as Chanel Contos and Yasmin Poole fighting back against sexism, misogyny and consent, and the formidable Anjali Sharma, who has put forward a proposal to alter Australia’s Climate Change Act and establish a duty of care in Australian law to protect young people from climate harm,” she said. 

“Young women and girls in Australia are calling for change and are empowered to do something about it. They know that we simply cannot wait another 131 years – the current World Economic Forum projection – to reach gender equality.”

One of the study’s co-researchers, Yasmin Poole, said that the report had validated her own experiences of how tough and unrelenting campaigning for change is as a young woman of colour.

“In a world where gender discrimination remains widespread, young female activists are all too often ignored, or worse, harassed, or ostracised,” Poole, a Plan International ambassador, said. “Their incredible achievements often come at real personal cost. Access to funding and policy making spaces is also often in short supply, adding to the struggle to get their voices heard,” she said. 

Fellow co-researcher Elizabeth Payne wants to see a widening of participation in  key decision-making processes, to “make sure that our future generations aren’t being left behind.” 

“Girls and young women have the right to be heard and to shape the decisions that affect their lives,” she said. “They are making great achievements despite the personal risks to them, showing great courage. Without their work, we remain a long way from achieving gender equality.”

“That’s why it’s critical that we all play our part in supporting the work of girl activists. Their safety and wellbeing must be protected.” 

The report, which was launched ahead of International Day of the Girl on 11 October, provided several recommendations for improvement, such as government funding to support girl and youth-led activist initiatives and groups, formalised education on gender equality in schools, targeted education for girls on democratic governance and programs to improve confidence and skills in activism. 

You can read the full report here. 

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Only by labelling it as such and making clear the situation in Afghanistan is a crime against humanity can the international community legally fight the systematic discrimination against the country’s women and girls.

Erasing women from the public sphere is central to Taliban ideology. Women’s rights institutions in Afghanistan, notably the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, have been dismantled while the dreaded Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has been resurrected.

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has been dissolved and the country’s 2004 constitution repealed, while legislation guaranteeing gender equality has been invalidated.

Today, Afghan women are denied a post-secondary education, they cannot leave the house without a male chaperone, they cannot work, except in health care and some private businesses and they are barred from parks, gyms and beauty salons.

Women targeted

Of the approximately 80 edicts issued by the Taliban, 54 specifically target women, severely restricting their rights and violating Afghanistan’s international obligations and its previous constitutional and domestic laws.

The Taliban appear undeterred, continuing where they left off 20 years ago when they first held power. The results of their ambitions are nearly apocalyptic.

Afghanistan is facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. About 19 million people are suffering from acute food insecurity, while more than 90 per cent of Afghans are experiencing some form of food insecurity, with female-headed households and children most impacted.

Gender-based violence has increased exponentially with corresponding impunity for the perpetrators and lack of support for the victims, while ethnic, religious and sexual minorities are suffering intense persecution.

This grim reality underscores the urgent need to address how civil, political, socioeconomic and gender-based harms are interconnected.

International crime

Karima Bennoune, an Algerian-American international law scholar, has advocated recognising gender apartheid as a crime under international law. Such recognition would stem from states’ international legal commitments to gender equality and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5 aimed at achieving global gender equality by 2030.

Criminalizing gender apartheid would provide the international community with a powerful legal framework to effectively respond to Taliban abuses. While the UN has already labelled the situation in Afghanistan gender apartheid, the term is not currently recognised under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as being among the worst international crimes.

Presenting his report at the UN Human Rights Council, Richard Bennett — the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan — stated:

“A grave, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the heart of Taliban ideology and rule, which also gives rise to concerns that they may be responsible for gender apartheid.”

Criminalizing gender apartheid globally would allow the international community to fulfil its obligation to respond effectively and try to eradicate it permanently. It would provide the necessary legal tools to ensure that international commitments to women’s rights in all aspects of life are upheld.

Shaharzad Akbar, head of the Rawadari human rights group and former chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, has urged the Human Rights Council to acknowledge the situation in Afghanistan as gender apartheid.

She’s noted that the “Taliban have turned Afghanistan to a mass graveyard of Afghan women and girls’ ambitions, dreams and potential.”

South African support

A number of Afghan women’s rights defenders have also called for the inclusion of gender apartheid in the UN’s Draft Convention on Crimes Against Humanity.

Most remarkably, Bronwen Levy, South Africa’s representative at the Security Council, has urged the international community to “take action against what (Bennett’s) report describes as gender apartheid, much like it did in support of South Africa’s struggle against racial apartheid.”

Elsewhere, the chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, as well as the head of its Delegation for Relations with Afghanistan, have described the “unacceptable” situation in Afghanistan as one of gender apartheid.

Whenever and wherever apartheid systems emerge, it represents a failure of the international community. The situation in Afghanistan must compel it to respond effectively to the persecution of women.

Recognising Taliban rule as gender apartheid is not only critical for Afghans, it is equally critical for the credibility of the entire UN system. As Afghan human rights activist Zubaida Akbar told the Security Council:

“If you do not defend women’s rights here, you have no credibility to do so anywhere else.”

The Taliban’s brutal two years in power in Afghanistan have taught us that ordinary human rights initiatives, while important, are insufficient for addressing gender apartheid. The world needs resolute collective international action to end the war on women. Not in two months. Not in two years. But now.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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As the first woman in the Kingdom’s history to serve in this role, bint Bandar is aware of the power of representation and has worked to improve the rights of women in Saudi Arabia since stepping into her role.

Earlier this week, she appeared on a panel organised by US think-tank Atlantic Council, titled “The Rising Female Workforce in Saudi Arabia and Its Impact on the Private Sector,” where she discussed the push for women’s participation in her country’s workforce. 

According to the 48-year old George Washington University alumni, the Kingdom’s economic future depends on establishing greater equality for women. No small feat for a nation that has a history of imprisoning women’s rights activists.

In a country where women were not allowed to drive up until a few years ago, gender equality is a huge upward battle.

Recent women’s achievements: 

Since the launch of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Kingdom’s Vision 2030, the economic and social progress of women has “drastically improved”— according to the Ambassador.

“Recently, the World Bank looked at 190 economies, and they ranked Saudi Arabia number one in terms of economic and social progress for women,” she said.

“Today in the kingdom, we have more women receiving advanced degrees than men, more women enrolling in STEM, and more than 40 percent of small and medium-sized start-up companies are owned by women. Women today in Saudi Arabia enjoy equal pay.” 

Is this true? A 2019 OECD study found that while female students accounted for more than two thirds of students studying undergraduate subjects in science, maths and statistics, less than 38 per cent graduated at a doctoral level.

Furthermore, the country had the lowest employment rate of tertiary-educated women — with just 41 per cent of them with jobs. 

On women’s economic participation: 

“Half of the world’s population are women, and yet, we still make up a fraction of leadership positions, of business owners, of middle management, and still too small a part of the overall workforce,” the Ambassador said. ”That needs to change. Because when women succeed, we all succeed.” 

Yet women’s participation across society is restricted by the strict interpretation of Islamic law — meaning the separation of men and women is a defining aspect of the Kingdom. 

Prior to 2018, women were not permitted to enter stadiums to watch sporting events, and it wasn’t until 2020 that the Kingdom established its own national women’s football team. 

“It’s not about just the bottom line. It’s about creating a more inclusive and equitable society,” the Ambassador continued.

“It’s the only way that I believe we can ensure that global, social and economic advancement is actual advancement, meaning advancement for everyone…advancement that doesn’t embrace the need for gender equity, that’s just not real advancement.”

Women’s Agenda has reported on multiple cases of Saudi women being arrested and sentenced to prison for speaking out. In August last year, Salma al-Shehab was handed a 34-year prison sentence for using her Twitter account to retweet about women’s rights.

And it was only in 2019 when the Kingdom allowed women aged over 21-years the right to obtain a passport and to travel without the permission of a male guardian. 

Nevertheless, the authorities failed to abolish the male guardianship system in its entirety — meaning men are still given considerable legal power over women.

In March 2022, the Kingdom legislated a series of discriminatory laws against women under the Personal Status Law (PSL).

Under the PSL, only men can be legal guardians, while women must have the consent of a male legal guardian to get married and for the marriage contract to be validated. Women are also not allowed to choose their own legal guardian, since the law defines the order of male legal guardians for marriage by rank — starting with the woman’s father, then his guardian, then the grandfather etc. In some instances, her guardian can even end up being her own son.

Is there equality between the sexes?

Clearly not. But the Ambassador is adamant things can be changed if more women enter the workforce. 

“I believe we need more women in leadership roles paving the way. We need more women in middle management positions continuing the work. We need more women business owners, more mentorship programs focused on female success, and more people investing in women-led startups.”

While the Ambassador didn’t put forth any recommendations for how these goals might be reached, she insisted that the country needed “more women at the table that help to shape the policies that affect us all. We need more role models to show young girls what they can absolutely achieve.”

On Girls Education:

The Ambassador also stressed the importance of educating and training young girls from an early age. 

“Education and training helps level the playing field. It gives women an equal footing in the workplace and fosters not only gender equality, but equity.”

“It also gives women greater control over their own financial lives, enabling them to participate more fully in the economic decision-making within their families and their communities. Education and training is about having the real-life skills. It’s about confidence-building, about preparing women to take their rightful place in society as full participants. We can shift cultural attitudes and norms around gender and business.” 

How are these shifts being conducted? 

In 2010, the kingdom’s first women’s college, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University was opened, giving female students better access to male-dominated fields such as medicine, computer science, management and pharmacology.

Less than five years later, Saudi women’s undergraduate enrolment rates surpassed those of men, with women comprising 52 per cent of all university students in the nation.

In 2005, a government-funded study-abroad program was launched to send young Saudi women to the US, UK, Canada and other countries each year. Yet women cannot study abroad on a government scholarship without guardian approval — the rules also require a male relative to accompany them throughout their studies abroad.

Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in 2019 that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman “…wants to be viewed as a women’s rights reformer, but Rahaf showed just how laughably at odds this is from reality when the authorities try to hunt down fleeing women and tortures women’s rights activists in prison,” referring to Rahaf Mohammed — the young activist who has used social media to call out the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia. 

Ambassador Princess Reema bint Bandar wants the world to focus on the positive accomplishments — like the record number of female Ambassadors for the Kingdom, reached earlier this year. 

Haifa al-Jadea is the ambassador and head of the Kingdom’s mission to the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, Inas al-Shahwan is the Ambassador to Sweden and Iceland, Nisreen bint Hamad al-Shibel is the ambassador to Finland and Amal al-Moallimi is the Ambassador to Norway. 

Promising future?

Before 2019, foreign travellers to Saudi Arabia could only visit the country for religious purposes. Since September 2019, the country has opened up nonreligious tourism. The government has set aside $1 trillion in the industry over the next decade, hoping to attract up to 100 million visitors annually by 2030. There are now “many, many female tour guides” operating their own businesses, as one American reporter discovered last month.

Despite its poor record on human rights and women’s rights, the Kingdom’s Deputy Minister of Commerce announced last month that its Vision 2030 (introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2016) seeks to improve women’s participation across all fields, developing initiatives that support women-related policies and helping women obtain positions at both ministerial and ambassadorial levels.

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Overnight, the spokesperson for the Taliban-run Virtue and Vice Ministry confirmed the details of a letter dated from late June that orders all beauty parlours in the capital, Kabul, and other provinces to close within the next month. No reason was given regarding why this decision was made. 

The ministry’s letter from June 24 contained a verbal order from the supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada ordering the closure of all parlours. The shops will also have to submit a report to the ministry confirming the closure. 

The spokesperson for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, told AFP news agency, “Once they are closed then we will share the reason with the media.” 

Spokesperson Mohammad Sadeq Akif Muhajir said that the ministry has given the salons enough time to shut down their operations so that they can exhaust any remaining stock and products without incurring losses. 

A report by the AFP a few years ago described the country’s beauty salons as “one of the last places…where women can meet outside their households, a bubble of freedom and even frivolity away from the gaze of men.”

“Beauty salon[s] has, for now, remained a place where women can relax among themselves outside the household and share their woes — or forget them in favour of fun and fashion,” the article said.

“The oasis of feminine industry provides income for the staff and moments of indulgence for the clients.” 

The AFP report from 2021 cited a letter one beauty salon owner received from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice that warned her to close down her shop.

Less than two weeks ago, the supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada released a statement saying that his government had taken the necessary steps to improve the lives of women in Afghanistan, and that they could now live a “comfortable and prosperous life according to Islamic Sharia”.

Indeed, it appears his government is doing the opposite — since its takeover in August 2021 the Taliban have imposed severe restrictions on women, including barring girls from school, requiring women to wear burqas in public and banning women from travelling without a male chaperone.

In the final weeks last year, the Taliban escalated their restrictions on women’s rights in Afghanistan by banning female staff from working in foreign aid and NGOs  — citing the breach of some workers to adhere to the regime’s strict dress code. 

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Among a strong field of candidates, the Peace Prize jury selected Boniadi “for drawing attention to human rights violations, for lending a powerful voice to support Iranian women and girls and their #WomanLifeFreedom movement, and for using a high-profile platform to promote freedom and justice in Iran”. 

As an actor, Boniadi has used her public profile to campaign in solidarity with the people of Iran. Following the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini last year, she played a significant role in bringing Iranian human rights into sharp focus on the world stage. 

Boniadi also put the case of human and women’s rights in the country before the UN Security Council, the US Senate Human Rights Caucus, the British Parliament and forums across the globe. 

Upon receiving the 2023 Sydney Peace Prize for her advocacy, Boniadi described the recognition as an “extraordinary honour”.

“As my compatriots in Iran are subjected to unspeakable assaults on their minds, bodies and souls and risk their lives to speak out against the injustices they experience daily, I can only dedicate this recognition to them and pledge to use this opportunity to further amplify their voices, centre them on the world stage, and support their dreams of a free, prosperous and secular democratic Iran.”

During a ceremony at Sydney Town Hall, Boniadi was officially announced the winner of the prize. In attendance was Sydney Peace Foundation patron and Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore as well as gender and human rights expert Elizabeth Broderick.

“On behalf of the City of Sydney, we congratulate Nazanin for her long-time fight for justice. Her activism and advocacy for human rights and women’s rights in Iran is helping to turn outrage into action,” said Moore.

Broderick thanked Boniadi for “standing in solidarity with the women of Iran, who are bravely raising their voices for freedom, equality and human rights,”

“Recognising the importance of this female-led movement through this year’s Peace Prize winner will contribute to the much-needed momentum for change in Iran.”

Co-chairs of the Sydney Peace Foundation, Joy Kyriacou and Felix Eldridge said: “We must continue to pay attention to the atrocities faced by the people of Iran. The 2023 recipient, actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi, is a powerful advocate for the #WomanLifeFreedom movement, dedicating her platform to amplifying the voices of the brave protestors risking their freedom and their lives.”

Later in the year, Boniadi will travel to Australia to attend the Sydney Peace Foundation’s annual lecture at Sydney Town Hall and gala dinner at the University of Sydney. Here she’ll be formally awarded the Sydney Peace Prize. 

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It’s looking like we are unlikely to meet the UN’s goal of gender parity by 2030 without increased investment into women’s rights. The research cites cultural biases and pressures as the hindrance to women’s empowerment, globally. 

In the latest Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) report, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) analysed seven biassed gender social norms among both men and women to find that they’re “prevalent worldwide”. 

“Almost 90 per cent of people have at least one bias”, according to the report. And half of people worldwide still believe men make better political leaders than women, with more than 40 per cent under the belief that men make better business executives as well. 

A staggering 25 per cent of people also believe it’s justified for a man to beat his wife, and only 27 per cent believe it’s essential for democracy that women have the same rights as men. 

The GSNI uses data from the international research programme World Values Survey (WVS), which draws from data sets spanning 2010-14 and 2017-22. Eighty countries and territories, covering 85 per cent of the global population, were included in the survey.

Women are more skilled and educated than ever before, yet the report shows that even in the 59 countries where women are now more educated than men, the average gender income gap remains a disheartening 39 per cent in favour of men. 

Looking at leadership, the stats show, on average, the share of women as heads of state or heads of government has remained around 10 per cent since 1995. In the labour market, women occupy less than a third of managerial positions.

And despite more and more women’s rights and social movements popping up, such as #MeToo, the Covid-19 crisis has stalled progress on inequality. Many women lost their income during this time and took on greater caring responsibilities on account of biassed social norms. 

The data showed women spend 6 times as much time as men on unpaid care work in countries with the highest levels of gender biases against women. 

“An important place to start is recognising the economic value of unpaid care work,” said Raquel Lagunas, Director of UNDP’s Gender Team. “This can be a very effective way of challenging gender norms around how care work is viewed.

Amongst the grim data, however, the report emphasises that change towards greater gender equality is possible with increased investment, insurance and innovation into human development.

This means investing in laws and policy measures that promote women’s equality in political representation and “all spheres of life”.

The report also recommends using education that directly addresses social norms to change people’s views.

Head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office, Pedro Conceição said, “Social norms that impair women’s rights are also detrimental to society more broadly, dampening the expansion of human development.” 

“In fact, lack of progress on gender social norms is unfolding against a human development crisis: the global Human Development Index (HDI) declined in 2020 for the first time on record—and again the following year.”

“Everyone stands to gain from ensuring freedom and agency for women.”

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Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said the state is set to sign off on new legislation today in anticipation of regulating businesses and the industry.

“The Palaszczuk Government broadly supports the QLRC’s recommendations and is committed to decriminalising the sex work industry – improving safety for workers while meeting the expectations of the community,” the Attorney-General said in a statement. 

“As part of its review, the QLRC found that a majority of submissions from across the State were overwhelmingly opposed to any continued criminal law specifically targeting sex workers.”

“The Law Reform Commission found that the current laws stigmatise sex workers, increase their vulnerability to exploitation and violence and fail to protect their human rights.”

“The review has provided the opportunity to consider how best to modernise our laws, support business in the state, and reduce discrimination and stigma associated with workers in the sex work industry. We will now consider how to best implement laws and regulations that will afford sex workers the same rights and legal protections as any other business or industry.”

Before today, legal sex work was restricted to services offered by a person working alone from a premise or giving in-house calls. 

Other services including escort agencies,massage parlours, unlicensed brothels, street workers and working in small groups are illegal.

Mish Pony, CEO of Scarlet Alliance at the Australian Sex Workers Association, welcomed the latest news, saying “Decriminalisation is a cost-effective, high compliance model for government and supports workplace health, safety and rights for sex workers.” 

On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterated on KIIS FM that individual states determine the laws around sex work. 

“The states look after all of that,” he said. 

“But clearly criminalising prostitution doesn’t really work – it just drives it underground and leads to worse behaviour and worse treatment of people involved in what can be a dangerous industry.”

New South Wales, the ACT, Northern Territory and Victoria have decriminalised sex work — to varying degrees. 

Comparatively, Tasmania and South Australia have restrictive legislations around sex work, while in Western Australia, it is illegal to carry out street-based sex work and most prostitution-related activities are illegal. 

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I’m hearing that a lot these days – and it is usually followed by “men are now being discriminated against”. 

The latest proof of this trend against equality was in a global survey recently released by Ipsos and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London. It found more than half of people (54%) think that when it comes to giving women equal rights with men, things have gone far enough.  

In Australia, where 1000 people were surveyed, this figure is 43%, which while lower than the global average, is still an increase from 35% a year ago.  

Globally, 48% of people agree with the statement: we have gone so far in promoting women’s equality that we are discriminating against men. In Australia, this is 51%.  

As much as I want to roll my eyes and immediately rebut this claim and dismiss those who make it as being wrong, it’s important to understand that responding requires an understanding of the complexity that leads people to think this way. 

It’s easy to write people off or stereotype them as biased or simply uninformed. Most of us are the heroes in our own stories and men who think “gender equality has gone too far” aren’t necessarily misogynists who believe men are superior to women – instead, they are often motivated by fear. 

If you’ve lived your life with advantages that you’ve taken for granted (and may not even have consciously been aware of), of course you will worry that this might be taken away.  

People resist loss, not change – men could fear losing jobs, promotions, status, or power. 

Men will often claim that they are being overlooked for job because of “gender quotas” when the reality is that the barriers have been let down to allow a more qualified woman into the role. This increases the competition for men. 

In fact, research from Norway found that introducing targets resulted in mediocre men being pushed out by talented women. Far from being unfair, this ensured that appointments are truly due to the candidate’s merit, not their gender. 

If either of my adult sons came to me and blamed gender equality for missing out on a job, I’d say “pull your socks up – only mediocre men need to worry.” 

But also, this is not about policies being out to get men  –  it’s about fixing an unfair system. This has benefits for everyone, including freeing men from the restrictive stereotypes that result in them missing out on their entitlements to parental leave, carers leave and flexible work. 

We like to think we are an egalitarian society, but the evidence shows that much more work is needed to achieve gender equality – consider the pay gap, the superannuation gap, and the fact that women over 55 are the fastest growing group at risk of homelessness. 

Our Commission’s audit of the public sector workforce last year disproves the claim that the gender equality pendulum has swung too far. Despite some men believing they are more likely to be discriminated against in promotions, our data shows men still make up the majority in leadership. Despite women making up 66% of employees in the public sector workforce, they make up only 45% of those in senior leadership roles and more than 3 in 5 chief executives were men. Men are also more likely to receive promotions than women, while women are more likely to work part time – because gender stereotypes around parenting and pay inequality mean that women are more likely to stay home with the children. This impacts career progression and women’s earnings. 

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of this month’s Ipsos survey was that younger generations were more likely to believe the push for equality is now negatively impacting men and that they are being expected to do “too much” to support progress. 

In fact, many of the questions showed that younger generations were less supportive of efforts to advance gender equality than Boomers. 

 As young people are facing particularly adverse socioeconomic conditions right now, many are looking for a simple answer for why their lives feel so difficult: and it’s easy to see why some have pointed the finger at efforts to level the playing field where they’ve had the advantage.  

There are signs everywhere that attitudes seem to be regressing, especially on social media. Misogynistic influencers are ubiquitous. Some people have also pointed to “evidence” of feminism having gone “too far” in the fact that girls now tend to outperform boys at school. 

Recently, the review undertaken by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission into sex discrimination and sexual harassment in Victoria Police noted widespread perceptions of ‘reverse discrimination’ among some male employees and a small number of female employees. However, no evidence of actual systemic discrimination against men was found. Instead, this may reflect resistance to gender equality.  

As concerning as this is, we shouldn’t spiral into a panic – in fact, encountering resistance shows that gender equality work is achieving traction.  

I expect the current discomfort will shift to acceptance and recognition that achieving gender equality is an essential evolution for our society. 

Thanks to the tireless work of campaigners and activists, women’s rights in Australia have taken huge leaps forward in the past 100 years. That said, there’s still a long way to go before true equality is reached.  

The post When they say ‘gender equality has gone too far’: Victorian Commissioner for Gender Equality in the Public Sector Dr Niki Vincent responds appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Their impacts and activism range from fields in government to arts and sports. 

One of Australia’s own, Cate Blanchett is among the powerhouse group of women for her work in the arts and fighting for change in Hollywood.

“Blanchett’s prowess in front of the camera is itself a testament to the multitudes that women contain,” writes Time, adding that she “is both spectacular and reprehensible” for her role as the protagonist in this year’s highly celebrated film, Tár. 

“We are brave, we are noble, we are generous, we are collaborative,” Blanchett told Time. “But we are also the dark side of that, because women are complex things.”

Iranian journalist and activist, Masih Alinejad was recognised for her refusal to stay silent against the horrid treatment of women in her home country. 

After exposing corruption in the Iranian government, Alinejad has been the target of at least two regime-backed kidnapping and assassination plots. She was exiled in 2009 and has been living in the US, where she continues her fight for Iranian women’s rights. 

In Brazil, Anielle Franco is channeling the grief of her sister’s assassination into action as Minister for Racial Equality in the new government. Now a leader in Brazil’s Black rights movement, Franco lost her sister Marielle, a city councillor in Rio de Janeiro to a 2018 assassination for protesting against police violence and corruption. 

Championing women’s health, feminist activist Véronica Cruz Sánchez has helped women in Mexico safely navigate abortion for years and, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, is now supporting American women.

Also advocating for abortion rights on Time’s list is indie-rock musician Phoebe Bridgers. Having shared her own abortion story to her millions of fans last year, Bridgers is making the conversation more transparent through her songwriting and activism. 

In Ukraine, Olena Shevchenko has been advocating for women’s and LGBTQI rights as Russia’s war has increased the vulnerability of marginalised groups.

Making crucial impacts on climate change in her community in Pakistan, Ayisha Siddiqa is calling out the links between human rights and climate change. In November, she delivered a powerful speech at the U.N. Climate Conference in Egypt on climate justice’s urgency.

“We, collectively, have come to a point where we are ignoring the cries of earth mother,” says Siddiqa. “That is how the climate crisis is linked to women and girls, because the same structures that are uprooting, abusing, hurting, taking without consent, is how we treat planet earth. The very thing that gives us life.”

Also on the list of influential women is Ramla Ali, Angela Bassett, Megan Rapinoe, Quinta Brunson and Makiko Ono

Many of the women will be attending Time’s Women of the Year gala on International Women’s Day (March 8th) in Los Angeles. 

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