- In a landmark ruling, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) decided that job ads posted to Facebook which targeted and were therefore seen only by younger men amount to discrimination against women and the elderly. Peter Romer-Friedman, one of the lawyers representing workers in the seven cases, told Vox:
“This historic decision shows that our civil rights laws apply to digital advertising and recruiting. It underscores that the internet is not a civil rights-free zone.”
- New research from Western Washington University establishes a correlation between “self-silencing” among women and an increased risk of a stroke. Lead researcher Karen Jakubowski explains:
“Women who felt less able to talk about their needs or feelings in their intimate relationships had a 14 per cent higher likelihood of showing the most plaque in their carotid artery… These results suggest the importance of supporting women toward greater self-expression of their feelings and needs in their intimate relationships, which may be important for their cardiovascular health in midlife.”
- A suspect confessed to the serial murders of 15 women in Nigeria, prompting protests condemning violence against women.
- On Wednesday, anti-FGM advocate Nimco Ali launched an initiative entitled The Five Foundation, with the goal of ending the practice by 2030. Ali, a survivor of FGM, told Reuters, “We need to lobby governments to act, but we also need to fund African women at the frontline as they are the orchestrators of their own destiny.”
- A US report reveals of the one in four women in the military who experience sexual assault or harassment, 13 per cent are over the age of 55. Bias against older victims of sexual violence leads to women not receiving proper treatment for psychological trauma.
- In a statement, Simon Fraser University confirms their commitment to freedom of expression as “a core component of intellectual enquiry and central to the pursuit of knowledge,” in response to calls to cancel an upcoming event discussing media bias and the gender identity debate.