Europe
Women’s stories, reporting, leadership and perspectives connected to Europe.
Latest from Europe
59 published stories
Europe’s Forced-Labour Guidance Needs Workers, Not Audits, at the Centre
New EU implementation guidance prepares companies and authorities for a 2027 ban on products made with forced labour. Human Rights Watch says the framework is a positive step but still needs stronger worker participation, remedy and transparency.
WHO Review Links Cigarette Smoking to Lower Fertility—And Finds Quitting Matters
A WHO review says women who currently smoke face an estimated 40% higher risk of infertility than non-smokers, while former smokers fare better than current smokers. The evidence supports cessation care, not blame for people already navigating infertility.
A Breast-Cancer Trial Missed Its Goal—Without Erasing Camizestrant’s Other Evidence
Camizestrant plus palbociclib did not significantly delay progression in a large first-line trial. Patients should read this as a result about one combination and treatment setting, not as proof that the medicine has no role in breast-cancer care.
Hungary’s Government Could Reopen Adoption Decisions to Same-Sex Couples
Prime Minister Peter Magyar says professionals, not politicians, should decide whether gay and lesbian applicants may adopt. Repealing the Orbán-era restriction would remove a barrier, but equal treatment will depend on the law and its implementation.
Zahra Joya Refuses to Let Afghanistan’s Women Vanish From the Record
In a new interview, Afghan journalist Zahra Joya connects her own forbidden education to the reporters still documenting life under Taliban rule. Her testimony shows why women’s journalism is not merely representation: it is evidence against enforced erasure.
Zahra Joya Refuses to Let Afghanistan’s Women Vanish From the Record
In a new interview, Afghan journalist Zahra Joya connects her own forbidden education to the reporters still documenting life under Taliban rule. Her testimony shows why women’s journalism is not merely representation: it is evidence against enforced erasure.
Six Weeks for Fathers Could Give Mothers More Room to Recover and Stay Employed
A campaign backed by 105 UK Labour MPs seeks six weeks of paternity leave paid at 90% of earnings. Better leave for partners is also women’s economic policy because it can redistribute early care, support maternal recovery and weaken the assumption that mothers alone step back from work.
Postpartum-Psychosis Case Returns to Court With the Medical Emergency Still Misunderstood
Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer has asked a Massachusetts judge to acquit her after a mistrial in the deaths of her three children. The unresolved criminal case should not obscure a clear clinical fact: postpartum psychosis is rare, treatable and requires immediate emergency assessment.
Menopause Supplements Promise Precision That the Evidence Does Not Yet Provide
A UK market analysis found 201 menopause supplements with widely varying ingredients, doses and prices, while evidence for symptom relief remains limited. Women deserve clear labelling and clinical advice—not the assumption that “natural” means effective or risk-free.
UK MPs Reject Assisted-Dying Bill After a Debate Shaped by Care and Safeguards
Britain’s House of Commons rejected a new assisted-dying bill by 286 votes to 270. The result leaves the law unchanged and renews scrutiny of palliative care, disability rights and the largely female workforce that would help implement any future system.
Green Women’s Misogyny Claims Test Whether a Progressive Party Listens Inward
Women in England and Wales’s Green Party say they have been sidelined, patronised or intimidated and want the autumn conference to order structural reforms. The allegations are not findings of misconduct, but they pose a legitimate test of whether an equality platform is reflected in internal practice.
Emma Bonino Turned a Private Ordeal Into Half a Century of Public Freedom
Italian civil-rights leader Emma Bonino, who died on 11 September aged 78, transformed her experience of illegal abortion into a campaign that helped change national law. Her larger legacy is a warning that rights survive only when people keep organising to defend them.
Lana Nusseibeh Sets Out the UAE’s Next Germany Strategy Before Billion-Dollar Deals
The Emirati minister says investment, energy and AI agreements due on 10 September will deepen ties with Germany. Her role shows women leading high-stakes economic diplomacy, while the value of the package must be judged after full terms and safeguards are published.
Yuja Asks What Virtuosity Costs When a Woman’s Appearance Competes With Her Music
Lorna Tucker’s documentary follows pianist Yuja Wang through performance, practice and isolation. Its most urgent cultural question is why coverage of a woman musician can still make clothing as visible as artistic command.
Amsterdam’s Kusama Retrospective Becomes a Posthumous Reckoning With Her Radical Career
The Stedelijk Museum’s two-floor survey opens four weeks after Yayoi Kusama’s death at 97. By returning to her formative Dutch and European connections, the exhibition can move attention beyond spectacle to the labour, exclusion and persistence behind her work.
Amsterdam’s Kusama Retrospective Becomes a Posthumous Reckoning With Her Radical Career
The Stedelijk Museum’s two-floor survey opens four weeks after Yayoi Kusama’s death at 97. By returning to her formative Dutch and European connections, the exhibition can move attention beyond spectacle to the labour, exclusion and persistence behind her work.
Spain’s Football Fertility Benefit Expands Choice—but Cannot Replace Maternity Rights
Spain’s football federation will support egg freezing and assisted reproduction for eligible players and referees through 2029. The scheme may help athletes plan families, but critics warn that reproductive technology must remain voluntary and accompany strong protection during pregnancy and return to play.
Paracetamol Study Finds Differences in Girls’ Reproductive Development—not Future Infertility
A Danish observational study linked prenatal paracetamol exposure with smaller average ovarian and uterine measurements in girls. The research cannot prove the medicine caused the differences, cannot predict fertility and does not justify abruptly abandoning treatment for pain or fever during pregnancy.
Noel Clarke Faces Six Sexual-Offence Charges Involving Five Women
British prosecutors have authorised six charges over alleged conduct between 2007 and 2016. Active proceedings require precise, restrained reporting that protects both the complainants and the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
Noel Clarke Faces Six Sexual-Offence Charges Involving Five Women
British prosecutors have authorised six charges over alleged conduct between 2007 and 2016. Active proceedings require precise, restrained reporting that protects both the complainants and the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
Australia’s Violence Report Says Progress Is Too Slow for the Harm Women Face
The national Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner says sexual-violence reporting reached its highest recorded rate in 2024 and family law can still be weaponised. The report shifts attention from promises to whether systems produce measurable safety.
Eva Umlauf’s Warning After an AfD Victory Is About Memory—and Who Feels Safe Now
The Auschwitz survivor says the far right’s electoral advance in Saxony-Anhalt has frightened minority communities. Her intervention links historical remembrance to present-day choices about migration, education and democratic power.
IAEA Fellowship Offers Women Up to €40,000 for Nuclear Master’s Study
Women from IAEA member states who are accepted to or enrolled in a nuclear-related master’s programme can seek tuition and living-cost support. Applications close on 31 October, and eligibility extends beyond nuclear engineering to medicine, safety, law and related fields.
UN Rights Chief Demands Hard Limits Before Advanced AI Outruns Oversight
Volker Türk has called for strong global guarantees around advanced AI and warned against control concentrated among a few companies and individuals. A credible safety regime must treat discrimination and gendered digital violence as present harms, not distractions from hypothetical catastrophe.
Australia’s Online-Safety Bill Would Make AI ‘Nudification’ a Design Risk
: Australia is preparing a digital duty of care that would require platforms to assess foreseeable harm in AI and recommender systems. For women and girls targeted by image-based abuse, the crucial shift is from removing one image to preventing a product from enabling the abuse at scale.
The Bayeux Tapestry Returns to England—and So Does the Question of Women’s Work
The British Museum is preparing to display the 70-metre embroidery in England for the first time in nearly a millennium. Its battle narrative contains only three women, but the labour of women may be embedded in nearly every stitch.
Victoria’s Work-From-Home Bill Moves Toward a Decisive Vote
Australia’s Victoria state is advancing a statutory right to work remotely for up to two days where reasonable, after delaying commencement and revising costs for employers. The design could help caregivers while preserving a divide between remote-capable and frontline work.
Next’s Equal-Pay Appeal Resets a Major Test for Women in Retail
Britain’s Employment Appeal Tribunal accepted market recruitment pressures as justification for higher basic pay in male-dominated warehouses than in female-dominated stores. Other premium-pay claims survived, and the workers plan a further appeal
Kyiv’s Maternity Teams Keep Delivering as Air Raids Intensify
Mothers and clinicians in Ukraine’s capital are making urgent decisions about labour during repeated drone attacks. Their experience shows that maternal care in war depends on shelters, power, water and staff—not resilience slogans.
Britain Considers Shrinking Women’s Prisons to Ease Men’s Capacity Crisis
: Ministers are reviewing whether parts of the women’s prison estate could be converted for men. Reformers see an opening to reduce unnecessary imprisonment of women, but warn that removing beds before building community support would transfer rather than solve the crisis.
Austria’s Headscarf Ban Meets Its First Test in Classrooms
Austria’s prohibition on Islamic headscarves for schoolgirls under 14 is taking effect as the new term begins. The government calls it protection from coercion; critics say a rule singling out Muslim girls cannot deliver equality.
Francesca Albanese Says Britain’s Settlement-Trade Ban Must Be a Beginning
The UN special rapporteur welcomed Britain’s proposed ban on trade with Israeli settlements while arguing that goods alone are too narrow a test of legal consistency. Her intervention asks whether a policy reset will change material relationships or simply its language.
A Deadlocked Trial Exposed the Gaps Around Postpartum Psychosis
A Massachusetts jury could not agree whether Lindsay Clancy was criminally responsible when she killed her three children. The case cannot diagnose other mothers, but it has exposed how little many families and clinicians know about a rare, severe and treatable postpartum emergency.
Emma Delaney Becomes OMV’s First Woman CEO—With an Energy Transition to Prove
Emma Delaney has taken over Austria’s OMV after more than three decades at BP. Her historic appointment breaks a leadership barrier, but the substantive measure will be capital allocation across fossil fuels, chemicals and lower-carbon businesses.
Tensive Secures €20 Million as New Data Supports Its Bioresorbable Breast Implant
The European Investment Bank is backing Tensive’s bioresorbable scaffold for breast reconstruction after lumpectomy. Clinical findings reported by the company and early peer-reviewed evidence offer encouraging signals on patient satisfaction, imaging and radiotherapy, although longer-term pivotal data and regulatory review are still required.
Emma Reyes Enters London’s Canon Without Surrendering Colombia
White Cube has opened the first UK solo presentation of Colombian artist Emma Reyes. The exhibition brings a self-taught woman’s six-decade practice into a major commercial space while asking who gets recognised internationally—and who controls the story after an artist’s death.
Gestational Diabetes Can Signal Type 2 Diabetes More Than a Decade Earlier
Danish cohort data show that women with previous gestational diabetes developed type 2 diabetes at a median age nearly 13 years younger than other women with the disease. The preliminary conference research strengthens the case for long-term follow-up after pregnancy, not blame.
Romania’s New Tate Indictment Must Be Reported Around Evidence, Not Spectacle
Romanian prosecutors have indicted Andrew and Tristan Tate in a new case involving alleged trafficking of minors and other offences. The serious allegations demand survivor-centred scrutiny, clear separation from parallel proceedings and respect for the presumption of innocence.
EIT’s Free VC Academy Offers Women Practical Investment Training
Early-career women in European venture and investment roles can apply for a free six-week online programme covering due diligence, valuation and deal structure. Applications close on 20 September at 23:59 CEST.
Kaja Kallas Leads the EU’s Response to an Alleged Russian Drone Plot
The EU foreign-policy chief called the attempted Leipzig airport attack state-sponsored terrorism and backed stronger sanctions. Her leadership will be judged by whether Europe responds firmly without outrunning verified evidence or lawful process.
Ülle Madise Becomes Estonia’s Second Woman President
Parliament elected the constitutional lawyer and human-rights ombudsman with 71 votes in the first round. Her largely ceremonial office still carries influence over legislation, appointments and national security debate.
KOVE Raises CHF1.6 Million for an Implant Intended to Make Fetal Surgery Safer
The University of Zurich spin-off is developing a device to seal the fetal membrane after minimally invasive surgery. Funding will move it toward first-in-human testing; effectiveness in patients has not yet been established.
Maggie Gyllenhaal Opens Venice With a Challenge to Who Defines ‘High Art’
The Venice jury president says women directors still face systemic barriers to finance and recognition. With only two of 21 competition titles directed or co-directed by women, the festival’s selection gives her argument immediate evidence
Holifya Raises €2 Million to Combine GLP-1 Care With AI—Evidence Must Scale Too
The women-led Italian health startup is expanding a remote obesity clinic combining medicines, diagnostics and algorithmic monitoring. Investment can build infrastructure, but company-reported outcomes need independent clinical validation.
A Phone Contract Forced a Survivor Back Into Contact With Her Abuser
A British customer says O2 repeatedly required contact with an abusive former partner before it would separate a family account. The company has apologised, but the case shows how ordinary administrative rules can extend financial and coercive control.
Scotland’s Violence Pledge Faces the Harder Test of Implementation
Scotland’s first minister has placed violence against women and girls at the centre of his governing agenda. Previous legal reforms were ambitious, but campaigners say weak implementation and strained services have limited their effect.
Grace Berlin Offers Women Founders €2,500 a Month to Build Pre-Revenue Startups
The eight-month accelerator provides an equity-free monthly stipend, mentoring and workspace for women developing early-stage businesses in Berlin. Applications close on 22 September, with immigration and residence requirements for founders arriving from abroad.
Women TechEU Offers €75,000 Equity-Free Grants Before the 16 September Cutoff
Early-stage women-led deep-tech companies in Europe and associated countries can apply for €75,000 and business-development support. Ownership, company age, technology readiness and previous fundraising rules are strict.
Meloni Nears Italy’s Stability Record, but Longevity Is Not the Same as Progress
Giorgia Meloni is set to lead Italy’s longest-serving postwar government after Silvio Berlusconi’s second administration. The milestone reflects coalition discipline, but stalled reforms and political pressures will test what stability has achieved.
EU Puts ChatGPT Under Its Strictest Online-Safety Tier—Girls’ Risks Now Belong in the Audit
The European Commission has designated ChatGPT a very large online search engine under the Digital Services Act. The decision creates enforceable risk-assessment duties that should include gendered harassment, sexualised content and harms to minors.
Liberian Women’s Advocates Warn Sweden’s Exit Is More Than a Budget Cut
Sweden’s bilateral aid programme in Liberia ends today after supporting women’s health, rights and peacebuilding for years. Liberian activists say the withdrawal threatens local organisations whose work cannot be replaced quickly by larger international institutions.
Masai Russell’s 12.09-Second Run Rewrites the Women’s Hurdles Record Editor’s summary: The American athlete lowered Tobi Amusan’s four-year-old world record under zero-wind conditions in Zurich. The performance belongs within the cultural history of Blac
The American athlete lowered Tobi Amusan’s four-year-old world record under zero-wind conditions in Zurich. The performance belongs within the cultural history of Black women transforming sprint hurdles.
New Heart-Attack Definition Could Reduce the Diagnostic Gap for Women
International cardiology bodies have adopted sex-specific blood-test thresholds and clearer recognition of heart-attack mechanisms more common among women. The guidance could improve diagnosis but is not a tool for self-assessment.
Women Headliners Put Bristol’s Clean-Power Festival Infrastructure to the Test
Lorde, Little Simz, Tems and other women artists are performing as Bristol trials renewable temporary power at major cultural events. The project could reduce diesel pollution for audiences and crews if its emissions claims survive independent measurement.
Anita Hill Scholarship Offers Five $10,000 Awards to US Law Students
The scholarship supports second- and third-year law students committed to civil rights, democracy and gender equity. Applications close on 22 September.
‘Practical Magic 2’ Returns With Women Across Generations at Its Centre
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return as stars and producers almost three decades after the original film. The sequel’s significance lies in women retaining authority over a major studio story as they age.
Australian Trainee Programme Shows a Route From Apprenticeship to Executive Leadership HOLD — confirm application deadline and roles through Power and Water Corporation or GTNT.
Eleven paid trainee and apprenticeship positions are being promoted through a programme highlighting the career of executive Belinda Small.
MacKenzie Scott’s Unrestricted Education Giving Offers a Different Power Model
Scott has reportedly given $461 million to California public-education institutions since 2021 while allowing recipients to decide how to use the money.
Portugal’s Face-Covering Ban Reopens the Debate Over Women’s Freedom
Portugal says its new law protects equality and public security. Women’s-rights and civil-liberties advocates argue that a measure presented as liberation may instead restrict Muslim women’s choices.