'He likes you, so he will rape you.'

Women and girls changing their worlds — and ours. No Images? [Click here]( [Across Women's Lives]( This week, Allison Herrera asked moms about breastfeeding in the wake of news about a US government effort to alter a UN policy encouraging breastfeeding. [Check out her story](, and don't miss [more comments on our Facebook page](. And then, don't miss [two]( [installments]( from reporter Rupa Shenoy's trip to Paraguay, where she examined how women there are asserting their rights, sometimes at great personal cost. Lastly, just in time for this weekend's World Cup final, The Conversation takes a look at the link between the soccer tournament and domestic violence. Have a great weekend and as always, please join in on the social conversation on [Facebook]( or [Twitter,]( with our hashtag, #womenslives. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? [Sign up]( to receive it every week. We asked readers and listeners about their experiences with formula and breastfeeding. "Did you feel pressured to use formula over breastfeeding? Does your government or community 'protect, promote and support breastfeeding?'" Here are a few of the responses we got. A new mobile app called Laudelina helps Brazil's domestic employees and their employers make sure they are complying with labor laws. The app features everything from salary and benefits calculators to rights explanations and help in locating the nearest union. The app won Google’s Social Impact Challenge in 2016. It took a long time for Andrea Valobra to realize something basic about her culture. She grew up knowing that women were expected to do certain duties that men didn’t have to do, like cleaning and cooking. But she didn’t understand the full extent of the machismo culture until she was in her teens. Her first boyfriend raped her. Gender-equal governments, which include the same number of men and women as ministry heads and in other cabinet posts, used to be the purview of woman-friendly Nordic countries and highly progressive societies. No longer. Mexico has announced that women will hold eight posts in his 16-member cabinet, including the powerful secretary of the interior position. And Spain has appointed women to almost two-thirds of cabinet positions. For years, the Wayuu tribe in La Guajira, a remote area in northernmost Colombia, was run by a male chieftain. But 13 years ago, male elders decided to appoint a woman as its leader. After the success of being led by a female head, the community changed its governance traditions and now exclusively appoints women to lead. “Now, we have a female leader; more women are taking more responsibility in the tribe. It’s impossible to separate issues like abortion, child sexual abuse and a lack of sex ed in Paraguay because they’re all linked to each other. Paraguayan women have a hard time talking about any of these issues without also mentioning a man who still symbolizes a culture of oppression and machismo: Alfredo Stroessner, the longest-serving dictator in South American history. Empower more women. Share this newsletter with your friends. [forward to a friend]( The best content about women and girls from across the web, curated by AWL Editors. ‘If England gets beaten, so will she’ – the link between World Cup and violence explained, [The Conversation]( Historically, football has always been associated with aggression and violence. Since its emergence in the 14th century, the game “on the pitch” has been gentrified. The FIFA World Cup epitomises this evolution, bringing together some of the world’s best athletes. But during this time, the violence “off the pitch” has intensified. Pregnant women say they miscarried in immigration detention and didn't get the care they needed, [Buzzfeed News]( Two weeks after arriving in the US seeking asylum, E, 23, found herself in a detention cell in Arizona, bleeding profusely and begging for help from staff. She was four months pregnant and felt like she was losing her baby. She had come from El Salvador after finding out she was pregnant, in the hopes of raising her son in a safer home. Brilliant ads highlight the unnoticed women who made history, [Digital Synopsis]( An ad agency has come up with an exceptional print campaign for Stabilo Boss highlighter pens that honors extraordinary but overlooked women who helped change the course of history. The ads feature old black-and-white photos of scientists, NASA engineers, and politicians. The women in the background are highlighted in fluorescent yellow by a Stabilo Boss highlighter. The tagline reads: Highlight the remarkable. Facing 20-year prison sentence for taking headscarf off in public, woman flees Iran, [Center for Human Rights in Iran]( Iranian women have been protesting against the compulsory hijab for more than three decades in various ways. All women in Iran are forced to cover the skin on their bodies (excluding the face) and their hair when they are in public. Women who fail to cover themselves according to current standards in public in Iran could be arrested, fined, lashed and imprisoned for committing “haram.” Sharp Objects turns a female gaze on women’s suffering, [The Cut]( HBO's Sharp Objects takes a genre fixated on harm to women’s bodies and makes it about the harm women inflict on themselves. Where the battered female bodies on crime shows typically serve as clues to the oh-so-mysterious-and-fascinating psyche of a (typically male) serial killer, Camille’s battered body offers clues to her inner life, which turns out to be the show’s real mystery. Why gender equality matters to achieving all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, [UN Women]( “Turning promises into action” is UN Women’s global report on gender equality. It makes an urgent call to step up efforts to end discrimination against women and girls everywhere. This graphic highlights each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and a call to action on ways to make women and girls count going forward. Gone gray, [Longreads]( Throughout my 30s I’d been a vigilant hair colorer, doing whatever it took to remedy and right the gray roots growing out from my middle part. I can’t remember exactly how old I was when coloring my hair went from an occasional, even enjoyable, splurge — an optional luxury — to a required part of regular beauty maintenance and of my looking professional and pretty. But as I entered my 40s, I found my feminist and aesthetic selves at war each month when I sat in the salon chair. How vegetarian food fueled the British suffragette movement, [Atlas Obscura]( In 1918, certain British women — those who were aged 30 or older, owned property, and university graduates—won the right to vote and stand for Parliament. Yet British suffragettes, some of whom had been imprisoned, force-fed, or fined while forcibly agitating for rights, weren’t satisfied. They wanted equal voting rights for all, not just the older and wealthy. They started campaigning once more. This time, their headquarters was centered at a club with a vegetarian café. Across Women’s Lives is PRI’s ambitious multi-platform journalism and engagement initiative about the connection between the empowerment of women and girls, and economic development and improved health around the world. This newsletter highlights our reporting and the work from staff at PRI, The World and The Takeaway in calling attention to the ways that women are shaping a better future for their communities. 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