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Good afternoon, and happy Friday. It’s International Women’s Day, and if you’re looking for worldwide gender equality, you’ll sadly have to wait.
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Photo: Aaron Favila / AP
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1. Truly, what gives?
The good news: Experts say the world will see gender equality. The bad news is that, at the current rate of progress, it won’t happen until 2108 at the earliest, according to Equal Measures 2030, a coalition of feminist networks. So, people who are 16 years old today and live to 100 can maybe enjoy that!
There are two major reasons why gender equality is taking so long to achieve, says Equal Measures 2030: austerity and widespread underfunding of public services and social infrastructure, including child care.
“Whether because of ideology, or conditions enforced by lenders like the IMF and World Bank, countries — no matter whether rich or poor and across all regions — are embarking on damaging cost-cutting programs that hit the poorest and most marginalized girls and women hardest,” wrote Alison Holder, executive director of Equal Measures 2030.
To tide you over until 2108, here are a few steps in the right direction:
- On Friday, people in Ireland voted on two referendums that would remove references to women’s domestic duties and broaden the definition of family in the country’s constitution. Results are expected Saturday.
- Women are back in the workforce at a higher rate since COVID in the U.S., the European Union, Japan, Australia, and in most major Asian and Latin American countries, according to a report from Moody’s.
- On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he wants to enshrine the right to an abortion in the charter of the European Union. He was speaking in Paris at a ceremony officially sealing the right to an abortion in the French constitution.
- Six couples sued the Japanese government on Friday over the right to use different surnames after marriage. The law currently requires the husband or wife to choose the other’s name, and 95% end up going with the man’s.
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2. Israeli settlement expansion amounts to war crime, says UN
The establishment and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem amounts to a war crime under international law, according to a report presented to the U.N.’s Human Rights Council on Friday.
The report found that approximately 24,300 housing units in extant West Bank settlements were “advanced” from Nov. 1, 2022, to Oct. 31, 2023, the highest number recorded since tracking began in 2017.
And just this week, Israel approved plans for the development of 3,476 new settler homes in the West Bank.
“The West Bank is already in crisis. Yet, settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian State,” said the report’s author, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk.
In other Middle East news, Blue Marble published new reporting this week on the role of Jordan in the conflict. Jordan, which shares a border with the West Bank and Israel, fears the Israel-Hamas war and violence in the West Bank will lead to a forced “permanent expulsion” of Palestinians from the occupied territories and into Jordan.
Jordan has said it won’t accept Palestinian refugees, but that this refusal is not rooted in prejudice. Rather, as explained by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the policy is “a countermove to deny Israel the opportunity to empty the West Bank and Gaza of as many Palestinians as possible.”
Read Blue Marble’s full story: Jordan is seen as a stable country in the Middle East, but fears the Israel-Hamas war could spill over to its borders.
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3. Fans mourn the death, and celebrate the life, of ‘Dragon Ball’ creator Akira Toriyama
The immensely influential creator of the manga and anime series “Dragon Ball” died on March 1 at the age of 68. Toriyama’s manga and design production company, Bird Studio, confirmed the death on Friday in a joint statement with Capsule Corporation Tokyo.
Toriyama first published the seminal action comedy comic in 1984. The series was a smash hit, spanning 42 volumes and selling more than 260 million copies worldwide. It later spawned films, video games, and TV series, including the hugely popular “Dragon Ball Z,” ultimately becoming one of the most famous manga in the world.
Fans and fellow artists around the world paid tribute to Toriyama on Friday:
“He showed us the dream that manga can go worldwide. It was like watching a hero going forward,” said Eiichiro Oda, who created the “One Piece” manga series.
Blue Marble’s own AJ Caughey had this to say:
“For a latchkey kid in the 2000s like me, Toonami’s afterschool ‘Dragon Ball Z’ episodes were must-see TV. Every turn of the Majin Buu Saga kept me on my toes, and decades later I still think Kid Buu is one of the scariest villains in shonen anime.
“I’ll even admit to spending real-world cash on Piccolo and Goku Fortnite skins, because there’s nothing like going Super Saiyan after a victory royale. Toriyama was a transformative artist with power levels well over 9,000, and he will be missed by millions of fans like me all across the world.”
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In other news
- On Friday, the U.S. embassy in Russia warned of imminent plans of an attack in Moscow by “extremists” and advised citizens to leave the country immediately or, at the least, avoid large gatherings like concerts. [Reuters]
- In its latest crackdown on public dissent, Hong Kong said on Friday it’s hoping to fast-track a proposed law that will punish residents who “endanger national security” with life imprisonment. [Al Jazeera]
- U.S. soldier Korbein Schultz was arrested on Thursday after being charged with selling military secrets to China over the course of several years for $42,000. [UPI]
- Pornhub and two other porn companies are suing the European Union over new regulations that put extra restrictions on “very large” online platforms — those with 45 million or more monthly users. Pornhub’s parent company says that the EU overestimated the size of the site’s audience and that the new rules should therefore not apply to it. [Barron’s]
- In addition to nominees like Sandra Hüller, Cillian Murphy, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Justine Triet, international stars Michelle Yeoh, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Lupita Nyong’o will be at the Oscars ceremony this Sunday. [The Cut]
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Say that again
“Since most of the things we are interested in are either taboo or prohibited, when we start doing those things we are essentially breaking the rules. Those acts turn into acts of disobedience and protest,” said Nesa Azadikhah, one of the first Iranian women to DJ in Iran’s underground raves.
People in Iran are frequently arrested at such parties — for drinking alcohol or hanging out with people of the opposite sex. [BBC]
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‘I realized that I had no choice but to join the struggle’
Meet the Filipino climate activist encouraging other young people to join the movement.
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What we’re watching
You’d be forgiven if last year was the first time you heard of Sandra Hüller. The German actress starred in two incredible films in 2023 — “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall” — both of which could (and should) win awards at this Sunday’s Oscars. (The full list of nominees can be found here.)
I recommend both of those films and also a third: 2016’s “Toni Erdmann.” In it Hüller plays a corporate consultant whose stressful business dealings are interrupted by her prankster dad, who dons a wig, fake teeth, and an alter ego in an effort to get her to lighten up.
The movie is far stranger than that description — and far more convincing than the father character’s cheesy disguise.
—Laura Adamczyk, staff writer
Thanks for reading. We’ll see you on Monday.
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