April 18, 2018 – Bridge Agents

The Long Tradition of Women Being Told to Shut Up

April 18, 2018 Bridge Agents

(Conversation) – Professor Mary Beard’s latest book Women & Power: A Manifesto is a short, sharp analysis of women in the West and their ongoing struggles for a voice in the public domain. Based on two lectures delivered in 2014 and 2017, Beard chronicles some of the major obstacles women continue to face, framing her analysis through the lens of the legacies of ancient Greece and Rome. In her first essay, Beard provides some examples from antiquity to illustrate the social and gender dynamics inherited in the West. In short,…

Northern Ireland Rape Trial Highlights Rough Deal for Victims

April 18, 2018 Bridge Agents

(HRW) – An unlikely source took a stance on respect for women: professional rugby. Two Northern Ireland players had their contracts revoked following their widely publicized rape prosecution. Both players, Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding, were acquitted of rape of a woman in 2016 when she was 19, but the trial revealed several players’ text messages bragging about what they considered sexual conquests, while referring to the woman in degrading, nauseating terms. On Saturday, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and Ulster Rugby let the players go for failure to…

How Indigenous Women Who Survived Guatemala’s Conflict are Fighting For Justice

April 18, 2018 Bridge Agents

Guatemala (Conversation) – In February 2016, Guatemalan women survivors and the alliance of organisations supporting them successfully prosecuted two former members of the Guatemalan military for domestic and sexual slavery in the groundbreaking Sepur Zarco trial. The trial marked the first time a national court has prosecuted members of its own military for these crimes. It was an historic achievement in the fight to stop violence against women and secure justice for wartime sexual violence. And yet, two years later, the Guatemalan government has not carried out most of the collective reparations measures ordered…