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Category: Gender Equality
Empowering Women
Jesamine Rikisahedew

When a Country Turns Purple: From South Africa to the Baltics, the Fight AgainstGender-Based Violence Knows No Borders

In November 2025, my home country, South Africa, is turning purple. From landmark buildings lit in violet to social media feeds filled with the same colour, a
nationwide protest movement is gaining momentum. Led by the organisation Women For Change, the campaign calls for gender-based violence and femicide to be declared a national disaster.

Jesamine Rikisahedew November 21, 2025
Empowering Women
Jesamine Rikisahedew

Why Are So Many Young Women Afraid of Ageing?

Firstly, what even counts as “old” these days? I’m the eldest child in my family, and I remember the creeping anxiety that came with being the first to turn 30. It feels like a scarily big number – the age that makes everything feel official. I’m meant to have everything (career, relationships, and beauty) figured out. If I haven’t, it must mean I’ve failed. That fear doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s baked into the media we consume, the social norms we’ve internalised, and even the influencers we follow (many of whom are just as young and anxious). The result is a cultural obsession with youthfulness that makes the natural process of ageing feel threatening instead of inevitable.

Jesamine Rikisahedew June 30, 2025
IWNE
Diversity and Integration
Lilly O'Toole, MPH

The First Female Prisoner of Conscience in Georgia

It has been more than one month since Mzia Amaglobeli — founder of Batumelebi and Netgazeti, two of Georgia’s most well-regarded independent media platforms – was arrested. She has been on hunger strike ever since. Due to the critical risk of organ failure, Amaglobeli was relocated to a hospital outside of Tbilisi. The refusal by Batumi court to lift her pre-trial detention period, the strictest measure possible, means that she must remain in detainment until her trial on March 4th. The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner says her pre-trial detention for assaulting a police officer is unjustified.

Lilly O'Toole, MPH February 20, 2025
IWNE
Diversity and Integration
Palina Yaroshyk

Is the Highest Form of Love According to Plato Only Available to Homosexuals? 

This work analyses the concept of love in Plato’s Phaedrus and Symposium. Many scholars while referring to the apparent emphasis on same-sex male relations conclude that the highest stage of eros—reaching the Form of Beauty—is only possible for males and only through homosexual love. By considering Plato’s texts as complementary, this essay argues that it is possible to understand Plato’s conception of love as transcending gender demonstrating that women, like men, are capable of experiencing and inspiring love in its highest, most ideal forms. Moreover, it argues that homosexual love, even though explicitly discussed by Plato, is not the only suitable interpretation, but it is also can be stretched to accommodate heterosexual relations. 

Palina Yaroshyk February 3, 2025
IWNE
Empowering Women
Maria

The Gendered Crisis: Women’s Unpaid Work and Cheap Labour as a Non-traditional Security Threat

It was my summer semester break, and I was visiting my home in Pakistan. I relished the delicious food my mother made every day when I noticed that she got sick from the hot one day, and even then, she continued working in the kitchen. Summers in Pakistan are blazing hot, with severe electricity shortages, and the temperature often exceeds 40°C (104°F). Middle-class families cannot afford the luxury of having an air-conditioner in their kitchens, thus making the kitchen the hottest room. While the less privileged people can hardly afford the perk of having an air-conditioner in their homes, one can imagine the dire conditions in which women work. My mother’s condition made me wonder why a woman working at home does not enjoy the same benefits as any office worker.

Maria December 23, 2024
IWNE
Diversity and Integration
Chiara Carucci

Shaping Nightscapes: Lighting Design for Inclusion and Sustainability

Lighting surrounds us, yet one rarely thinks about it—until something changes. Imagine a woman walking home late at night. A streetlight flickers and dies, plunging her path into shadow and leaving her with a sinking sense of vulnerability. Or picture a child gazing at a monument, its lights revealing hidden stories and sparking quiet wonder. Lighting shapes how we feel—fearful or safe, indifferent or inspired—proving it’s so much more than a backdrop to our lives.

Chiara Carucci December 9, 2024
IWNE
Gender Equality
Palina Yaroshyk

Alexa, Why Are You Not Alexandro? Reinforcing Cognitive Biases Through Technology

This essay uses a post-phenomenological approach based on I-technology-world relations to analyse gender biases in technologies. The focus of this work is on feminised personal assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Cortana. These systems, designed to mimic human interaction, often reinforce stereotypes by associating femininity with obedience and care.  This perpetuation of stereotypes poses a dual problem: it reinforces existing biases in human cognition and contributes to their normalisation through daily technological interactions.

Palina Yaroshyk December 2, 2024
IWNE
Empowering Women
Maria

Why Climate Crisis is Patriarchal? Towards a Feminist Climate Justice

The climate crisis affects everyone, but it does not affect everyone equally. Women, who already make up the majority of the world’s poor, are at the forefront of facing disproportionate impacts of the climate crisis. UN figures note that 80% of the people displaced by climate change are women (Halton, 2018). There remain several intersecting factors that exacerbate the consequences of the climate crisis for women: they make up the majority of people living in poverty, they are burdened with the responsibility of looking after their families and their lives are often rendered unimportant as compared to males. The feminist circles and movements have, therefore, placed patriarchy as one of the root causes of the climate crisis, and this puts climate justice as a global feminist issue.

Maria November 11, 2024
IWNE
Diversity and Integration
Sara Hossni

Bridging Divides: How WCRA is Empowering Vulnerable Women and Children across Egypt and Beyond

The movement of people from the rural south to the more industrialized north has long characterized migration in Egypt. This internal migration pattern, driven by economic hardship, has disproportionately affected women and children, especially those from Upper Egypt. The Women’s and Children’s Rights Association in Assiut (WCRA) has emerged as a vital support system for these vulnerable groups, providing technical and legal assistance to help them navigate the social, economic, and environmental challenges they face in internal migration. 

Sara Hossni November 4, 2024

Latest Articles

When a Country Turns Purple: From South Africa to the Baltics, the Fight AgainstGender-Based Violence Knows No Borders

In November 2025, my home country, South Africa, is turning purple. From landmark buildings lit in violet to social media feeds filled with the same colour, a nationwide protest movement is gaining momentum. Led by the organisation Women For Change, the campaign calls for gender-based violence and femicide to be declared a national disaster.

Gender Equality in Estonian Workplaces: What Motivates SMEs to Collaborate with IWNE?

Why Are So Many Young Women Afraid of Ageing?

Firstly, what even counts as “old” these days? I’m the eldest child in my family, and I remember the creeping anxiety that came with being the first to turn 30. It feels like a scarily big number – the age that makes everything feel official. I’m meant to have everything (career, relationships, and beauty) figured out. If I haven’t, it must mean I’ve failed. That fear doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s baked into the media we consume, the social norms we’ve internalised, and even the influencers we follow (many of whom are just as young and anxious). The result is a cultural obsession with youthfulness that makes the natural process of ageing feel threatening instead of inevitable.

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Latest Articles

When a Country Turns Purple: From South Africa to the Baltics, the Fight AgainstGender-Based Violence Knows No Borders

In November 2025, my home country, South Africa, is turning purple. From landmark buildings lit in violet to social media feeds filled with the same colour, a nationwide protest movement is gaining momentum. Led by the organisation Women For Change, the campaign calls for gender-based violence and femicide to be declared a national disaster.

Gender Equality in Estonian Workplaces: What Motivates SMEs to Collaborate with IWNE?

Why Are So Many Young Women Afraid of Ageing?

Firstly, what even counts as “old” these days? I’m the eldest child in my family, and I remember the creeping anxiety that came with being the first to turn 30. It feels like a scarily big number – the age that makes everything feel official. I’m meant to have everything (career, relationships, and beauty) figured out. If I haven’t, it must mean I’ve failed. That fear doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s baked into the media we consume, the social norms we’ve internalised, and even the influencers we follow (many of whom are just as young and anxious). The result is a cultural obsession with youthfulness that makes the natural process of ageing feel threatening instead of inevitable.

Empower Change, support Our Community's Vision!

DONATE