Around The World In 5

This week, Document Women gathered stories from around the world focused on women’s firsts, struggles and ongoing conversations

South Sudan

In the Bor region of South Sudan, there have been reports of young women and girls being harassed for their choice of outfits. They have often been slut-shamed, and have been subject to violence on the streets; sometimes, these women and girls have been jailed.

Abul Oyay’s “The Loose Woman” is the first of its kind in South Sudan, an art exhibition to battle slut-shaming in South Sudan and explore perceptions of women, societal expectations, mental awareness, and relationships.

Switzerland

Switzerland has now become the 17th country in Europe to legalize marriage equality, which will come into effect in July next year.

Although same-sex couples have been permitted to engage in civil partnerships since 2007, there had never been any progress on this front. In 2013, legislation was introduced to allow same-sex marriage, however, this was followed by 8 years of campaigning and debates.

Afghanistan

In September, Mohadese Mirzaee became Afghanistan’s first woman commercial airline pilot, flying to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and India. All that changed after the Taliban established its all-male government and women were removed from their jobs

Now a refugee in Bulgaria, Ms Mirzaee determined to fly again

Indonesia

Indonesia put out a decree to address sexual violence in the country’s universities. It covers the definition of sexual violence, which includes verbal, physical, and non-physical sexual assault, as well as assault through information and communication technology. It also introduces punishments for perpetrators in universities, including dismissal or expulsion of the perpetrators.

This decision has brought criticism by Islamist groups.

Space

Before Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson started on the space race, Anousheh Ansari was the first female space tourist, spending nine days on the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. She is still the only woman ever to have travelled to space on a self-funded mission, which cost her $20 million.