Egyptian women protest violence used against them in clashes between police and protesters, Cairo, Dec. 20, 2011 (AP photo by Amr Nabil).

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series inviting authors to identify the biggest priority—whether a threat, risk, opportunity or challenge—facing the international order and U.S. foreign policy today. The world must find a way to end violence and discrimination against women. In any other context between human beings, the endemic violence committed by men against women would be considered warfare or terrorism. But rather than being seen as a war against a segment of the population—a real genocide or “gendercide”—which it would be if the targets were not women, the violence and oppression targeting half of […]

A young mother working at a marketplace, Yoff, Senegal, Oct. 14, 2015 (Bioversity International photo by Sandro Bozzolo via Flickr).

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the globe. A group of grandmothers on the outskirts of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, are using their influence in their village to promote modern health care and medicine in a bid to improve women’s health, a plan that nongovernmental organizations hope can be replicated across the country. In an email interview, Hawa Ba, the head of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa’s Senegal country office, discusses women’s rights in Senegal. WPR: What is the current status […]

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström speaks to journalists, New York, June 28, 2016 (UN photo by JC McIlwaine).

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the status of women’s rights and gender equality in various countries around the globe. Last week, Sweden’s minority center-left government announced that it plans to propose legislation that will require 40 percent of all corporate board members to be women by 2019, with fines for companies that fail to comply, despite the fact the center-right opposition has said it will vote against the measure. In an email interview, Ann Numhauser-Henning, a professor at Lund University, discusses gender equality in Sweden. WPR: To what degree is Sweden’s reputation as […]