For 40 years, AJWS has been advocating for global justice and equality, and women’s rights have been an essential part of that fight. Feminist activists supported by AJWS have addressed many of the most pressing issues facing women and girls worldwide, from early, child and forced marriage to abuse like genital cutting and gender-based violence. …
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Sanjay Jagtap has spent the past 25 years of his life as a public bus driver in the state of Maharashtra in India. He always thought sexual harassment was an important but distant issue, something he read about in newspapers or heard about on television. That’s before he had a major wake-up call. Thanks to …
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AJWS ally Rabbi Eve Posen Urges Congress to act on the Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act
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In Kenya, seven women die every single day from complications related to unsafe abortions — conducted at home or in backstreet clinics, often using dangerous methods like knitting needles or bleach. This astounding figure, far higher than the global average, is directly correlated to a simple fact: while abortion is a constitutional right in Kenya …
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Pooja Gurjar is a young woman from Rajasthan. She was married off at the age of 16 years and sent to her marital home. At her insistence, she returned to live in her parents’ house and is has continued her education. She recently completed MJAS’ Grassroots Journalism course and wants to build her career in …
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“We are telling the truth. We want to be heard, and we want justice,” said a petite, elderly woman to a room full of journalists and human rights activists in Guatemala City on February 13, 2016. A survivor of sexual slavery during Guatemala’s decades-long civil war, the woman’s face was obscured by a Mayan scarf to protect her identity.
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Raising a voice for women amid the horrors of war
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Aiding Haitian earthquake survivors
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Mobilizing women to make peace
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Grace is the mother of seven children. She lives in Democratic Republic of Congo, a country rife with ethnic conflict that has been called “the rape capital of the world” by U.N. officials. In addition to the vulnerability of being a woman in a war-torn region, Grace and her family are Pygmy, an ethnic minority …
Read MoreOn December 16, 2012, 23-year old Jyoti Singh was raped by six men while riding on a bus in New Delhi, India. The attack reportedly lasted over two and a half hours, and Singh died two weeks later in Singapore from her injuries. Four of her attackers were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging.
Read MoreA shocking and inspiring episode in Parashat Pinchas occurs when the five daughters of Zelophechad stand up to Moses, Aaron and Elazar and demand to inherit their father’s property, in the absence of any sons. This courageous act, which challenges the assumption that tribal land can be passed on only from fathers to sons, seems to leave Moses speechless and moved, and he takes their claim to God.
Read MoreYou likely know that our ancestors wandered the wilderness for 40 years until they entered the Promised Land. You may find it surprising, though, that the ancient Israelites actually arrived at the border of the Land of Israel only two years after the Exodus. The other 38 years of wandering weren’t a long journey to the land; they were the consequence of ill-fated events that took place during Parashat Shlach.
Read MoreTorah—with its rich narratives and poetry, glimpses of the Divine and profound wisdom—is a text we turn to for inspiration, intellectual stimulation and meaning. Yet there are moments in the Bible when culturally located prejudices come to the fore and the reader is left struggling with the tension between timeless writing and context-bound oppression. One such moment is the law of the sotah—or wayward woman—found in Parashat Naso.
Read MoreWalking—putting one foot after the other—is, for many of us, our most basic vehicle for navigating the world. Yet we probably don’t put much thought into it. We’re more concerned with where we’re going than how we’re getting there; and unless we’re on a hike, we rarely think of walking as an end in itself, or count it among our blessings.
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