Part of: #GalswithLEI

Hear from women activists and advocates as they discuss reproductive rights and the pervasiveness of gender-based harassment and violence globally as well as what rights and protections exist on paper vs in practice, and the local and national efforts to expand these rights. Panelists will also share a spark of hope they are seeing amidst the struggle for greater bodily and sexual autonomy that continues to propel them forward.

A recent UN Women report reveals that nearly 750 million women and girls alive today married before their 18th birthday, and 214 to 225 million women who want contraception are unable to access it. Moreover, more than 47,000 women die annually from unsafe abortions while 35% of women globally have experienced gender-based harassment or violence. Policies advancing reproductive rights and protecting women’s bodily and sexual autonomy are not only central to their livelihoods and gender equality in both developing and developed economies but increase women’s participation in the formal labor force by over 5 percent.

Panelists:

• Gloria MALONE, Senior Manager, Vital Strategies and Founder, TeenMomNYC.com, New York, USA
• Mallika DUTT, Founder, Breakthrough, New Delhi, India
• Samhita MUKHOPADHYAY, Former Executive Editor, Teen Vogue, and Co-editor, Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump’s America, New York, USA
• Rozana ISA, Executive Director, Sisters in Islam, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
• Rachael WONG, Co-founder, Safe Spaces & Workplaces Initiative and Founder & Strategic Advisor, One Shared Future, Hawaiʻi, USA

Moderator:

• Olie BODY, Founder, Wā Collective and Changing Faces Seminar Alumna, Wellington, New Zealand