Good New Friday: Advances For Women from 2023

 

As I said last Friday, many of us have a feeling that 2024 is going to be a year filled with challenges. My plan is to post a few "good news" stories each Friday because 2024 feels like a year we are all going to need as much good news stored up as possible. (Though we will see we know what we do with plans LOL "Gentle, Gentle")

Today I am highlighting advances for women globally in 2023 as shared on the site gapminder.com (Yes, in many cases it is sobering it took until 2023 for these things to happen, but they are still advances we can celebrate)

1. Paid menstrual leave introduced in Spain: Spain became the first European country to introduce paid menstrual leave for women experiencing painful periods.
2. Women finally allowed to vote everywhere: The last state to allow women to vote was the Vatican City, which in 2023 finally granted women the right to vote, meaning that women now finally have the legal right to vote in every single country in the world (although the Taliban has been removing the rights from women in Afghanistan that they first won in the 1960s)
3. Game-changing new league for India’s female cricketers: Professional women’s cricket league, the Women’s Premier League (WPL), launched in India
4. More equality in earnings among married couples in the US: Husbands and wives are equal earners in a growing number of US marriages, according to new Pew research.
5. Free maternity care to mothers in DRC: Pregnant women across the Democratic Republic of the Congo are now offered free healthcare in an effort to cut the country’s high rates of maternal and neonatal deaths.
6. Fewer Brazilian women handwashing the laundry: Brazil is one of the world’s most populated countries, and more households than ever (70%) now have a washing machine – an invention that releases time for women in households almost everywhere!
7. Female Leader in Bosnia & H.: First female leader elected as Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
8. Same pay for female sports in Wales: For the first time, Wales’ men’s and women’s senior football players will be paid the same for representing their country.
9. More women in parliaments: Globally, 27% of politicians in national parliaments in 2023 were women. Back in 1997, it was just 12%
10. Gender gap in science closing: New research showed a sharp increase in gender equality in science.