Women This Week: Around the World In 5
This ongoing series highlights women's news and information about foreign policy about women. This post covers February 28 to March 4.
Scotland
Holyrood’s presiding officer has called for a ban on all-male committees, along with quotas for key governing bodies and a new permanent proxy-voting scheme, in order to improve gender equality within the Scottish parliament.
Read more here.
United States of America
Tennessee Republican lawmakers have advanced legislation that would prevent transgender people from changing their driver’s licenses and birth certificates.
If enacted, the proposal would define male and female in state law and base people’s legal gender identities on their anatomy at birth.
Read more here.
Spain
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced a gender equality law that will require more equal representation of women and men in politics, business and other spheres of public life.
The Equal Representation Law will apply gender parity measures to electoral lists, the boards of directors of big companies, and governing boards of professional associations.
Read more here.
Japan
Japan has dropped to 104th place in the World Bank's latest report on women's economic opportunities. Japan's ranking has continuously fallen, ranking 74th in the 2020 report, 80th in the 2021 report and 103rd in 2022.
The annual survey, covering 190 countries and territories, assesses gender gaps in laws and regulations across eight areas, including workplace, pay, parenthood, and entrepreneurship.
Read more here.
Nigeria
The minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, has called for a gender-responsive approach to innovative technology and digital education for increased awareness of women, regarding their rights and civic engagement.
"women’s exclusion from the digital world has reduced $1 trillion from the Gross Domestic Product, (GDP), of low and middle-income countries in the last decade; a loss that will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2025 without action,” Tallen said.
Read more here.