Momentous year for women’s rights despite hiccups

WASHINGTON: Pink hat-wearing protesters marched in the millions, celebrities called out their abusers as “pigs”, and countries from Chile to India passed pro-women legislation, making 2017 a momentous year for women’s rights despite setbacks, activists said.

Beginning with the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who swiftly moved to restrict abortions across the world, the year brought a reminder to many that women’s rights have a long road ahead.

But the trials ushered in a new era of resistance in the US and elsewhere, while countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America made strides toward ending gender discrimination, campaigners said.

“It was a year for tackling discriminatory laws,” UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo- Ngcuka said.

Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan all scrapped laws this year that allowed rapists to escape punishment if they married their victims, a move activists hope will spread to other Arab states.

In a string of victories against child marriage, Malawi, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvador and Guatemala all amended national laws to ban the practice, Mlambo-Ngcuka said.

In India, where child marriage is illegal but common, lawmakers ruled that having sex with a wife aged 15 to 18 is punishable as rape.

Trump’s expansion of the global gag rule – which withholds US funding from foreign clinics or groups that provide information about abortion – dealt a blow to family planning services and women’s health worldwide.

But in a victory for campaigners, Chile ruled to legalise abortion in certain circumstances, leaving only a handful of countries in the world where it is banned outright.

Other women’s rights leaders said it was the resistance to sexism that made the year noteworthy. Millions of women around the world marched in protest against Trump the day after his inauguration, many wearing pink “pussy-hats” in reference to his boast in a 2005 video about grabbing women’s genitals.

Months later, millions joined a popular protest movement by sharing stories of sexual abuse and harassment on social media using the hashtag #MeToo.

“I think this is just the beginning of a new awakening for women,” said Bob Bland, one of the co-chairs of the Women’s March on Washington. – Reuters

PICTURE: REUTERS Women take part in a protest against Donald Trump, when he was a Republican presidential candidate, in Chicago on October 18 last year.