Travel USA Women

On the road: Montana, part 7

Two female writers, a bank robbery and an adopted fox

The best thing about traveling is the people I meet along the way. At Flathead Lake in Montana, I met two remarkable women. Both are rooted in their Christian faith, write under a pen name and self-publish their books. Get to know Hannah and Sarah and their powerful stories – in real life as well as in their books. More here.

Woman Thinking Sitting ©Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay
Muslim world Politics Women

How long will women be allowed to breathe?

Afghanistan: women’s rights continue to be restricted.

The systematic eradication of women from public life continues with a new Taliban decree. Nevertheless, the USA and Germany, for example, continue to finance humanitarian aid projects. What do Afghan women’s rights activists say about this? More here.

From X ©unknown
Muslim world Women World

Commemorating a stoning in Europe

Twenty years ago, Ghofrane Haddaoui was cruelly murdered in Marseille.

Stoning to death: an archaic punishment only in Iran and Afghanistan? It is the year 2004: a 23-year-old woman is beaten and pelted with stones in the middle of Europe, in France, so that she dies in agony. How could this happen? More here.

Book cover ©Publisher
Culture Guest post Women World

Sexual abuse in the African church

A book review about a taboo subject. Guest post by Volker Seitz

The film “The Abused Servants of God” (2019) and Pope Francis’ admission that the abuse of nuns exists have sensitized societies in Europe. In Africa there was silence. In her pioneering work, nun Mary Lembo describes the exploitation of young nuns by Catholic priests. More here.

Book cover ©Aschendorff Verlag
Politics Women

Note from the road

Former GDR women’s prison: a memorial since July 2024

Hoheneck / Oxensepp CC BY-SA 2.0 de

There were cells for solitary confinement and dark detention. Around 24,000 women were imprisoned in Hoheneck in the Ore Mountains, around 8,000 of whom were political prisoners – the “Hoheneck women”. One of them was the biologist and now travel writer Carmen Rohrbach. She tells her story here.

Guest post Politics Portrait USA Women

“Time is running out”.

Guest post: Film “Petra Kelly – Act Now!” about Green icon

Petra Kelly ©Archive Green Memory / Permission John Kelly

Petra Kelly, born in Germany, grew up in the USA in the 1960s. As a student, she worked in Robert F. Kennedy’s election campaign team. Her role model was Martin Luther King Jr. with his philosophy of civil disobedience. In the early 1980s, she mobilized hundreds of thousands of people in Germany against the deployment of US nuclear missiles. More here.

Muslim world Politics Women

Stop the stoning of Madina!

The Taliban have been ruling Afghanistan again for three years now.

Stoning in Afghanistan ©Unknown

After the end of the NATO mission and the head-over-heels withdrawal of the USA, the Taliban declared themselves the new government of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021. Since then, women have lost all their rights. One woman is even to be stoned to death for extramarital sex. More here.

Culture USA Women

Note from the road

August 9: 30th International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples

As part of the exhibition “Matriarchs of Wounded Knee – the strong Indigenous women” in Munich, a Zoom call with activist Marcella Gilbert and film director Elizabeth Castle (“Warrior Women”) will take place at 1pm EST via Link.

Marcella Gilbert at the UN ©Warrior Women Project
Politics USA Women World

The one and only Jewish Miss America

On the 100th birthday of Bess Myerson

Bess Myerson ©public domain PD

Even before the state of Israel was founded, the first Jewish beauty queen was crowned in Tel Aviv. A few Jewish beauty queens also made headlines outside the country. The first was Bess Myerson. She was born on July 16, 1924, 100 years ago, in the Bronx, New York. More here.

Culture USA Women

Women’s pants and music

An extraordinary music festival once again in Montana.

Main stage at the Red Ants Pants Music Festival ©Rebecca Hillauer

It’s that time of year again: from July 25 to 28, a cattle pasture in the Montana outback is transformed into the venue for the Red Ants Pants Music Festival. The venue, created by women’s pants manufacturer Sarah Calhoun, is THE event for music lovers – and fundraisers for women’s projects and community projects every year. More here.