Where Have All the Young Girls Gone? Female Feticide and its Impact on Human Trafficking
by Laura J. Lederer In 1992 Amartya Sen wrote an article in the British Medical Journal in which he introduced the concept of “missing women.” The phrase referred to early female mortality in poor countries due to bias in healthcare, food,...
Cutting Out the Devil: Female Genital Mutilation
by Olivia Jackson “I saw dried blood on the jagged edge of the blade. She spat on it and wiped it against her dress... The next thing I felt was my flesh, my genitals, being cut away. I heard the sound...
One Woman’s Dream or Another Woman’s Nightmare?: The Real Story Behind Egg Harvesting
by Michele Clark Calla Papademas was a 21-year-old Stanford senior with a fashion-model body, above-average grades, and a big heart. She had a boyfriend, planned to go to graduate school, and hoped to make a difference in the world. Enter the fertility industry, the modern dreamweaver of infertile women’s deepest hopes and dreams, an emerging Daddy Warbucks to thousands of young women across the United States who want to get rid of their credit card balance and go to graduate school...
Sorrow beyond Childbirth: Obstetric Fistula in the Developing World
by L. Lewis Wall, M.D. The book of Genesis famously declares that “in sorrow” women shall bring forth children. This is still a sadly accurate characterization of many women’s childbirth experiences, particularly in poor countries. Each year over half a million...
Breaking the Silence: In War-Ravaged Congo, Rape Survivors Offer Hope in the Face of Unspeakable Atrocities
by Camerin Courtney While rape has been a horrific companion to most wars throughout history and is a current reality in areas of political unrest such as Colombia and Darfur, rape has reached epidemic proportions in the Democratic Republic of Congo...
Ain’t I a Human?
by B. Julie Johnson (illustration by Yvonne Valenza) Prostitution. Few social practices have generated more controversy, confusion, scorn, pity, fascination, intrigue, myths, and theories — and for thousands of years. At the same time, it’s difficult to think of any other...
Breaking the Resource Curse
by Rusty Pritchard Evelyn Adams won the lottery (twice). But despite hitting the jackpot to the tune of $5.4 million, she currently lives in a trailer in New Jersey, broke. Billy Bob Harrell Jr. won $31 million and committed suicide after his life fell apart. Janite Lee won an $18 million jackpot and filed for bankruptcy eight years later. Apparently winning the lottery is a good way to ruin your life. In much the same way, many of the countries that are...