- An appeals court in Missouri has lowered the amount of damages awarded to women who claimed that Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder products caused their ovarian cancer from $4.69 billion to $2.12 billion.
- Garment workers in Southeast Asia are facing a humanitarian crisis as clothing sales dwindle in the wake of COVID-19. Women and girls represent the majority of garment workers and are disproportionately affected by the exacerbation of pre-existing power imbalances in the fashion industry. OpenDemocracy reports:
“While the pandemic is unprecedented, the abusive practices by clothing brands that have been exposed are not. The fashion industry is built on an exploitative business model which relies on minimising production costs at the expense of garment workers to maximize profit.”
- Croatian women, including the ex-president, are using social media to share photos of themselves giving the middle finger gesture in response to statements made by anti-abortion politicians during campaigning.
- A high court in India dismissed a rape allegation because the complainant fell asleep after the assault, explaining that this “is unbecoming of an Indian woman; that is not the way our women react when they are ravished.”
- A city in China is introducing a system that allows couples planning to be married to conduct a background check, with the aim of protecting women from marrying a man with a history of abuse.