This ongoing series highlights women’s news and information about foreign policy. This week’s post covers July 08 to July 16.

USA

The United States Food and Drug Administration approved the first birth control pill to be sold without a prescription in the United States. In 2024, this medication—Opill—will become the most effective contraceptive available over the counter.

The company’s vice president, Frédérique Welgryn, said that the company is committed to making the pill “accessible and affordable to women and people of all ages.”

Read more here.

Pakistan

This week, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched the Initiative for Women Empowerment, to provide approximately $40 million to efforts aimed at securing women’s rights in Pakistan

Pakistan’s Population Council reported that 48 per cent of women in the country are illiterate, 79 per cent are not in the workforce, and only 10 per cent are able to make decisions about their own health.

Read more here.

Germany

Plan International—a charity focused on advancing children’s rights and equality for girls—released the results of a survey that revealed harmful patriarchal and misogynistic views held by men in Germany. Out of 1000 men interviewed for the project, 33 per cent said it was okay to engage in violence against women.

34 per cent of men admitted that they had been violent against women at some point in their lives, and over half of men stated that they supported traditional gender roles.

Read more here.

Cameroon

This week, leaders from 25 Muslim-majority countries in Africa meeting in Cameroon called for an end to the exclusion of women from political, social, economic and religious issues in the name of Islamic teachings.

Over 300 clerics, Islamic scholars and researchers at the U.N. conference on Islam, Women’s Empowerment and Peace Building said they were launching a campaign in Africa to counter stereotypes that impede the emancipation of Muslim women.

Read more here.

Nigeria

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has stripped Nigeria of the gold medal won in the women’s 4×100 meters event at Birmingham 2022.

Athletes Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Grace Nwokocha won gold in the 4×100 meters race during last year’s Games.

However, Nwokocha, who ran the anchor leg for Nigeria, failed a doping test during the competition after ostarine and ligandrol were found in her sample A urine.

Read more here.