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What happened in August 2021?

South Kurdistan: Yazidi women who were detained by IS seven years ago are still fighting for justice. The Iraqi government passed legislation that qualifies IS’s treatment of Yazidis as genocide. The Yazidi Female Survivor Law, meanwhile, demands the Iraqi government to compensate Yazidi female IS survivors.

Afghanistan: Since the Taliban retook control in Afghanistan, women have been particularly vulnerable to their rule. A large number of female journalists and activists face the death penalty. Some of them have already been executed, while many more have been asked to resign from their employment.

Zarifa Ghafari: She is the mayor of Maidan Shar, a city of around 50000 people near Kabul. Because their lives were in danger, she and her family fled to Germany. Last year, the Taliban assassinated her father in an attempt to scare her, but she remained in her post.

China: Gong Lijiao, the Olympic gold-medal winner, was described as a “manly woman” by the host of a Chinese state Tv-channel. He was giving her an interview about her performances during the Olympic Games. He also asked if she wanted to get into “a woman’s life” assuming that being an athlete is contradictory to being a woman.

Sarafina Nance: In Hawaii, an Egyptian-American astrophysicist took part in a simulation simulating the conditions of a Mars mission. On her Instagram and Twitter accounts, she details the entire training process. She is also a health advocate, being herself diagnosed with breast cancer and forced to have a mastectomy. She also uses her Instagram account to raise awareness regarding racism.

https://twitter.com/starstrickenSF?s=20

https://instagram.com/starstrickensf?utm_medium=copy_link

Joséphine Baker: The Panthéon in Paris will be home to a well-known dancer and singer. She will be honoured for her anti-racist activism and resistance throughout WWII. Joséphine Baker was born in the United States but later became a French citizen. She will be the first black woman to be buried in the famous necropolis, having died in 1975. She will also be the 6th woman to be buried in the Pantheon, with Marie Curie becoming the first in 1995, more than 200 years after the first man.

Brasil: Alexya Salvador is the first trans woman to become a pastor. She is also the first trans woman in the country to adopt children. She hopes to be able to help other LGBTQ+ people with her position.

Sources:

https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/7-years-after-islamic-state-genocide-yazidi-survivors-still-seeking-justice

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/25/asia/taliban-women-workplaces-afghanistan-intl/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/06/chinese-uproar-as-state-tv-host-calls-gold-medal-winner-a-manly-woman

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2021/08/23/josephine-baker-sixieme-femme-au-pantheon-quels-sont-les-criteres-pour-y-entrer_6092143_4355770.html

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/aug/19/brazils-first-transgender-pastor-all-humans-have-flaws-being-trans-isnt-one-of-them

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58343250