03.17.2021.

10 years on from when the Istanbul convention first opened for signatures significant steps forwards have been made in terms of cooperation and sharing of best practices. 34 out of the 47 Council of Europe member states have acceded to the Istanbul Convention. Hungary signed the Convention in March 2014 but is yet to ratify the Convention. There remain several challenges which were highlighted by the COVID-19 lockdowns where several women were affectively imprisoned with their abusers.

The 8th of March marks the second day of the year (after Valentine’s day) when women are inundated with flowers and chocolates. These token gifts supposedly highlighting the appreciation owed to us by the rest of mankind to which we then dutifully express our undying thanks. There is nothing wrong with these gifts in and of themselves, but they only serve as lip service when we consider the other 363 other days of the year. 

Women are tragically subjected to daily abuse be that online, in the workplace, at home or even walking home as Sarah Everard was on the 3rd of March 2021 when she was kidnapped.  Her remains were found a week later hidden in a woodland. She was only walking home. Unfortunately, these kinds of occurrences are far from rare and the WHO estimates: “that globally about 1 in 3 women worldwide has been subjected to either physical and or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.”

However, even in the face of great sadness there is still cause for celebration in terms of how far women have come. 

Here are the top 10 things that were achieved in the last year for the rights of women.  The list was compiled by Amnesty International. 

  1. Argentina’s Green Wave swept to victory: abortion was legalised in Argentina in December 2020
  2. Activists kept fighting for restrictive abortion law: Poland, Honduras and Argentina are all examples where women have rallied together to lobby for the change in discriminatory laws

  3. Pregnant girls in Sierra Leone can return to school: in March 2020, a law was overturned which prevented pregnant girls from sitting their exams

  4. Rape laws were reformed: Denmark passed a law which defined sex without consent as rape

  5. Recognition of same-sex marriage: Costa Rica the first country in South America to legalise same-sex marriage.

  6. LGBTI rights in the workplace were protected: US Supreme Court rules that LGBTI people are protected under the Civil Rights Act

  7. Sudan abolished FFM: in July 2020, the practice was outlawed

  8. Women’s rights activist was released from prison in Saudi Arabia: in February 2021, an activist was released after nearly 3 years in prison

  9. The UK’s ‘tampon tax’ was abolished: in January 2021, the UK government abolished its tampon tax after years of campaigning

  10. Protests against gender-based violence were louder than ever: 2020 saw the voices of women growing even louder during the pandemic

As we can see much has changed but much remains to be done to change the attitudes towards woman and their relevant role in society.