Polish women protest against a legislative proposal for a total ban on abortion, Warsaw, Poland, Oct. 3, 2016 (AP photo by Czarek Sokolowski).

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. On Oct. 3, women in Poland staged a massive strike to protest a proposed law that would have criminalized all abortions, including in instances of rape or incest, and set punishments for women of up to five years in prison. Days later, lawmakers voted down the bill in parliament. In an email interview, Malgorzata Druciarek, the head of the Gender Equality Survey at the Institute for Public Affairs, discusses women’s rights in Poland. WPR: […]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, Tokyo, Sept. 12, 2016 (AP photo by Koji Sasahara). Reflecting the state of gender equality in Japan, Inada is one of only a handful of women who hold significant political positions there.

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 month, Renho Murata became the first woman to head the opposition Democratic Party in Japan. She is the third woman to recently take up a prominent political position in Japan, following the appointment of Tomomi Inada as defense minister and the election of Yuriko Koike as governor of Tokyo. In an email interview, Linda Hasunuma, an assistant professor at Franklin and Marshall College, discusses women’s rights and gender equality in Japan. WPR: What […]