Women's rights in 2014

Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai shared the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2014. She was shot in October 2012 by the Taliban for her efforts to secure education for girls.[1]

2014 was described as a watershed year for women's rights, by newspapers such as The Guardian. It was described as a year in which women's voices acquired greater legitimacy and authority.[2][3][4][5] Time magazine said 2014 "may have been the best year for women since the dawn of time".[1] However, The Huffington Post called it "a bad year for women, but a good year for feminism".[6] San Francisco writer Rebecca Solnit argued that it was "a year of feminist insurrection against male violence" and a "lurch forward" in the history of feminism,[2][7] and The Guardian said the "globalisation of protest" at violence against women was "groundbreaking", and that social media had enabled a "new version of feminist solidarity".[3]

Denise Balkissoon, writing in The Globe and Mail, disagreed with and criticized the view that 2014 marked a "watershed" moment and that "some collective 'we' has finally had enough", citing her ongoing concerns regarding a "broken system" with respect to violence against women.[8] United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Rashida Manjoo, said that violence against women "is acknowledged as a pervasive and widespread human rights violation" and that as of 2014, "no single country can claim that there is progressive elimination occurring".[9]

  1. ^ a b Charlotte Alter, "This May Have Been the Best Year for Women Since the Dawn of Time", Time magazine, 23 December 2014.
  2. ^ a b Rebecca Solnit, "Listen up, women are telling their story now", The Guardian, 30 December 2014.
  3. ^ a b "The Guardian view on a year in feminism: 2014 was a watershed", The Guardian, 31 December 2014.
  4. ^ Marlene Leung, "2014: The year women joined forces online and the Internet listened", CTV News, 24 December 2014.
  5. ^ Margaret Shkimba, "Outrage prompts new era for women", The Hamilton Spectator, 31 December 2014.
  6. ^ Emily Tess Katz, "2014 Was A Bad Year For Women, But A Good Year For Feminism", The Huffington Post, 24 December 2014.
  7. ^ Rebecca Solnit, "Why #Yesallwomen Matters", Mother Jones, 3 June 2014.
  8. ^ Balkissoon, Denise. "Sorry, we haven’t reached a 'watershed' on violence against women", The Globe and Mail, 5 November 2014.
  9. ^ Rashida Manjoo, Hearing Submission: Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales) v. United States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 27 October 2014. Pages 3, 5, 9–10. Accessed: 11 January 2015.