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Despite efforts to educate the public and prevent transmission, Zambia’s HIV-infection rate hovers at 14%. Having lost her family to the pandemic, Voices of Our Future correspondent Chinemu has vowed to be an agent of healing and change. Read More »

“I was now the only surviving member of a family of five.”

UGANDA: Creating a Healthier Future for Our Youth

by ikirimat

As early marriages, pregnancies, botched illegal abortions, and sexually transmitted diseases threaten to end childhood for Uganda's girls, Voices of Our Future correspondent Ikirimat Grace Odeke fights for their missing futures. Read More »

"We’ve got no time to lose."

ARGENTINA: 500,000 Reasons to Legalize Abortion

by nasreenamina

As women’s reproductive rights come under threat in the US, activist and devoted single mom Nasreenamina reminds us that the right to choose is a universal issue with dire consequences for many. Read More »

"I am tired of hearing the cliché ‘children are the future.’ Mothers are the present."

SAUDI ARABIA: Claiming Our Right to Drive

by Farona

On June 17, Saudi women have chosen to collectively take the wheel despite a nation-wide ban against female drivers. According to World Pulse correspondent Farona, the collective action couldn't come soon enough. Read More »

"I will only believe in my country’s reform when I can see it and touch it."

RWANDA: Defying History

by Anne-christine d'Adesky

It’s been 17 years since more than 500,000 Rwandans were killed in the horrific genocide of 1994. Today, this tiny East African nation has become a poster child for women’s rights. How have they done it? And what more needs to be done? Read More »

"We have become leaders."

Assumpta Umurungi | AVEGA

Courageous Love

by Sara Schonhardt

At least 80 countries criminalize same-sex intimacy, but a growing movement to change that is gaining ground. Read More »

"Lesbians are invisible here—but that's because of the fear we plant in our own hearts."

Ade Kusumaningrum | Indonesia

NEPAL: Driving with Dignity

by nilima

In Nepal, female taxi drivers are getting behind the wheel of own lives—and shaking up gender stereotypes in the process. Read More »

“I can proudly say that I am the man of the house.”

Sita Thapa, female taxi driver

CAMEROON: Mama Hates My Sprouting Breasts

by Leina

Breast ironing, a violent attempt to prevent the sexual development of adolescent girls, has scarred the bodies and psyches of millions of girls in Cameroon. Chi Yvonne Leina reports. Read More »

"Think of a woman whose vagina is mutilated at the age of 9, whose breasts were ironed at the age of 10..."

SAUDI ARABIA: Women Behind Walls

by Farona

Saudi activist Farona resists restrictions on her freedom, insisting that women's participation in public life is not only a right, but a necessity for her country's development. Read More »

"Men fear women in public space more than the devil."

COLOMBIA: Speaking to Survive

by Martha Elena Llano Serna

Martha Elena Llano Serna tells her harrowing story of surviving sexual assault and connects the dots between sexual violence and the drug trade in Colombia Read More »

"When we speak, we make this planet a better home. When we talk, we change history."