AJWS Blog

The AJWS community has a lot to say about what's happening in the world. Read our insights about the struggle for justice and human rights around the globe — and meet the activists on the frontlines of the fight to build a better world.

Transformed by grief: A mother searches for Mexico’s disappeared

María Herrera did not expect to be quoted in international newspapers, meet with the Pope or see her name on Time‘s list of the 2023 world’s 100 Most Influential People. Fifteen years ago, she was busy caring for her family and running a jewelry and clothing business. Her life forever changed when two of her sons …

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Showing Up for Women and Girls: Shyleen’s Fight

Shyleen recalls the moment that sparked her activism.   A woman was giving birth in her backyard near her home in Kisii County, southwestern Kenya. As midwives hurried about helping her, passersby crowded around, gawping. What should have been a private moment turned into a spectacle. Even now, years later, the memory of it is still …

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Smashing the Patriarchy: Richa’s Fight

Growing up in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Richa was taught the do’s and don’ts of being a “good Indian girl.” “I actually had training on how to be a perfect wife and daughter-in-law according to Hindu society,” she said with an incredulous laugh. “My grandmother and mother always told me to behave a certain way. ‘Don’t …

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Putting Black Women and Girls at the Center: Flor Ángel’s Fight

Activism is in Flor Ángel’s DNA. The 28-year-old Dominican activist works with AJWS grantee Mujeres Sociopolíticas Mamá Tingó, a collective of social justice and community organizations fighting for equal rights for all women and girls. She comes from a long line of community organizers. Growing up in the southern locality of Batey La Altagracia, she …

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