Women Of The Week: Nicola Sturgeon, Kenyan Politician Gloria Orwoba, Japanese Women
Here are all the inspiring women you should know about this week.
This week, we see women all around the world are inspiring us to stand up for what we believe in.
1. Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation on Wednesday Feb. 15, after eight years in office.
During her speech, Sturgeon said she had questioned whether remaining was the best choice for herself, the country, party, and the Scottish independence movement.
“In my head and in my heart I know that time is now. That it is right for me, for my party and for the country.”
As the longest serving Scottish first minister, she led Scotland through the pandemic, became the head of the independence movement and advocated for education and transgender rights.
2. Kenyan Politician Gloria Orwoba
Gloria Orwoba, a nominated senator, went to parliament with what looked like a period stain on her trousers to protest period poverty and stigma.
She was then asked to leave the parliament after she arrived in white trousers stained with fake menstrual blood.
In response, she said she was disappointed to be questioned over “an accident that is natural”.
Orwoba is campaigning for a bill to help end both issues.
“Unfortunately I have been kicked out because I’m on my period and we are not supposed to show our period when we are on our period and that is the kind of period stigma girls and women are having outside,” Orwoba told journalists outside.
3. Japanese Girls And Women
Japanese girls and women who campaigned for an end to sexual exploitation of children saw the justice ministry propose a plan to raise the age of sexual consent from 13 to 16.
The move comes after the acquittal of several accused rapists in 2019, which sparked public outrage.
In one case, a court acquitted a father who had repeatedly raped his teenage daughter even after it recognized the girl had not consented.
Under Japan’s current law, victims need to prove that there was violence and intimidation and that they had been unable to physically resist in order to secure a conviction.
The new proposal seeks to clarify that violence and intimidation includes intoxication, drugging, catching victims off-guard and using psychological control, according to the Guardian.
The proposal also aims to make grooming minors and voyeurism a crime, as well as expand the definition of rape.
