The most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of
women in the world.

Latest items for PHBP-PRACTICE-2

Nov. 28, 2023, 12:49 p.m.
Countries: South Korea
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"The 'escape the corset' movement took South Korea by storm in 2019, a rejection of the country's standards of beauty and social pressure to conform" (pp 18).
Jan. 21, 2023, 8:08 a.m.
Countries: Iran
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"Iranian fashion designer Amen Hadem hires acid attack victims as models to reintegrate them into society" (para 4). "Dozens of women in Iran have been attacked with acid in recent years by family members or presumably by hardline supporters of the Islamic Republic and compulsory hijab" (para 13). "Iranian Parliament passed a legislation in 2019 that approved death sentence for perpetrators of 'acid attacks aimed at bringing about terror and instability in the society'." (para 14). "Though officials have denied links with these militant groups that conducting the acid attacks, there is an overlap between their activities and that of the Basij, wish is overseen by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard...more
Oct. 5, 2020, 8:41 a.m.
Countries: Argentina, United Kingdom
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“AnyBody was founded in the United Kingdom and has been working for six years in Argentina to combat the negative body image "epidemic" there, along with trying to ensure compliance with the law in assorted campaigns in all areas against women being treated as "objects." The NGO's mission is to "stir people's awareness" and exert pressure on those who have social influence regarding the idea of beauty and health so that they confront the damage the industry is causing by promoting a negative view of body shapes that don't conform to "ideal" standards. "The lack of sizes attacks society," emphasized Camila Ocampo, an activist with AnyBody Argentina and a size...more
Sept. 20, 2020, 8:58 p.m.
Countries: Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Switzerland, Togo
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“Melanin Foundation is a non governmental organization that was established to combat the spread of skin bleaching . . . Having already conducted advocacy campaigns in Geneva, Dakar, Accra, Abidjan and Lome, Melanin Foundation seeks to scale up its activities in order to better fulfill its objective.”
Sept. 20, 2020, 8:49 p.m.
Countries: Nigeria
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2, PHBP-DATA-1

“According to a 2011 estimate from the World Health Organization, 76 million Nigerians, mostly women, use skin-lightening products regularly. Some darker-skinned Nigerians are pushing back against the idea that lighter is better. They say black is beautiful with the so-called “Melanin Movement.””
Sept. 20, 2020, 8:37 p.m.
Countries: India
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“Kavitha Emmanuel is the founder of Women of Worth, an Indian NGO that is standing up to an ingrained bias toward lighter skin. The Dark is Beautiful campaign, launched in 2009, is not “anti-white,” she explains, but about inclusivity—beauty beyond color.”
Sept. 20, 2020, 3:42 p.m.
Countries: Cameroon
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“Two NGOs in Cameroon, GIZ and RENATA, are currently advocating against breast flattening. GIZ supported a national study in 2005 that uncovered the basic facts that are now known about breast flattening, including prevalence rate by region, some common methods, the effected age groups, and proposed side effects. RENATA has subsequently included the issue of breast flattening in its educative sensitization workshops, which run for one week in both urban and rural centers across Cameroon and target teen-mothers. RENATA has held over 200 trainings, directly reaching over 1,000 girls. From preliminary research, it appears that the practice of breast flattening is decreasing thanks to sensitization campaigns, improved sex education in...more
Aug. 26, 2020, 3:04 p.m.
Countries: United States
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“[Mayor of NYC,] Mr. Bloomberg[,] is taking on the popular, unattainable notions of beauty promoted by professional image-makers with a campaign that tells girls that they are beautiful the way they are. Mainly through bus and subway ads, the campaign aims to reach girls from about 7 to 12 years old, who are at risk of negative body images that can lead to eating disorders, drinking, acting out sexually, suicide and bullying… The ads show girls of different races and sizes, some playing sports and one in a wheelchair. Each one ends with the campaign’s overall slogan: ‘I’m beautiful the way I am.’…A 30-second video will be shown in taxis,...more
Aug. 13, 2020, 8:04 p.m.
Countries: Philippines
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“Samson . . . [is] now the face of a Manila-based movement called Moreno Morena, a term used to describe Filipinos with darker complexions. “Being in the campaign feels like I am empowered,” Samson says. “I feel beautiful and there are no buts.””
Aug. 13, 2020, 8:03 p.m.
Countries: Philippines
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“Mercury is illegal above trace amounts in most countries; one part per million is the max in both the U.S. and the Philippines. But it’s also incredibly cheap, so it has found its way into skin-bleaching products that are often counterfeit, mislabeled, or smuggled. It’s an epidemic in the Philippines, where products loaded with mercury are still commonly sold in grocery stores and outdoor markets. Thony Dizon, chemical safety campaigner for environmental NGO EcoWaste Coalition, and his team have found them in stores all over metropolitan Manila. During our investigation, we accompanied one of his colleagues on an undercover buy. Not only did we find products quickly and easily, but...more
Aug. 2, 2020, 4:35 p.m.
Countries: Pakistan
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-1, PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“The ridicule started at age 6. Classmates would bully Fatima Lodhi, taunting her and other darker students with derogatory names. It got worse as she got older. In high school, she was nominated for the "Makeover Required" category in her high school in Islamabad, Pakistan. And in graduate school, fellow students would yell "let's paint her white" whenever she crossed their paths. "All this was done by my light-skinned fellows, just to make me feel bad," said Lodhi, a 28-year-old early childhood educator who started the anti-colorism campaign Dark is Divine in 2013. The campaign conducts classes online and in schools on media literacy, confidence-building and inclusion, with the goal...more
Aug. 2, 2020, 4:22 p.m.
Countries: South Africa
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“In the early 1990s, [South African] activists convinced the government to ban all cosmetic skin lighteners containing known depigmenting agents – and to prohibit cosmetic advertisements from making any claims to “bleach”, “lighten” or “whiten” skin. This prohibition was the first of its kind and the regulations immediately shuttered the in-country manufacture of skin lighteners.”
Aug. 2, 2020, 4:20 p.m.
Countries: Somalia, United States
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“Somali-American activists recently scored a victory against Amazon and against colorism, which is prejudice based on preference for people with lighter skin tones. Members of the non-profit The Beautywell Project teamed up with the Sierra Club to convince the online retail giant to stop selling skin lightening products that contain mercury. After more than a year of protests, this coalition of antiracist, health, and environmental activists persuaded Amazon to remove some 15 products containing toxic levels of mercury. This puts a small but noteworthy dent in the global trade in skin lighteners, estimated to reach $31.2 billion by 2024.”
Aug. 2, 2020, 11:32 a.m.
Countries: Switzerland
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

““It’s very dangerous for pregnant women to take bleaching tablets,” warns Catherine Tetteh, founder of the Melanin Foundation, a Geneva-based nongovernmental organisation that campaigns against skin bleaching.”
July 26, 2020, 8:55 p.m.
Countries: China
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“The foot binding reformers . . . used an education campaign which explained that other countries did not bind feet and that China was ‘losing face’ and being internationally ridiculed. Secondly, the advantages of ‘natural’ feet were explained, alongside the disadvantages of binding. Thirdly, natural foot societies were formed, with members pledging not to bind and only allowing sons to marry unbound girls (Vento 1998). Three groups were involved in the campaigns against foot binding: a group of Western missionaries focused on Chinese Christians, another group focused on Westerners and the elite, and a group of Chinese reformers campaigned with the non-Christian Chinese elite (Little 1899). A London Missionary Society...more
June 4, 2019, 4:55 p.m.
Countries: Austria
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"Gender aspects have been consistently incorporated into the National Strategy on Violence Prevention in Schools. Information and teaching material, workshops, dialogues and qualification initiatives for students and key multipliers in schools all address (sexual) violence against women and girls, honour crimes, stereotyped beauty ideals for girls, bullying in schools and anti-sexist boys work" (16-17).
Jan. 2, 2019, 10:32 p.m.
Countries: Mauritania
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"Dr. Sidi Ahmed, a heart disease specialist at Nouakchott’s Sabah hospital says, 'We have launched several campaigns aimed at putting an end to this mentality that links beauty and fat, which brings some people to review their customs and traditions'" (para 7). "Nearly 40% of women and 55% of men reported that gavage has no advantages. The most common reason given to not practicing gavage was improved health. In contrast, approximately a quarter of both men (23%) and women (25%) cited no disadvantages with the practice of gavage. Among respondents with at least one daughter, 17% of women and 11% of men reported the intention to practice gavage. The most...more
July 5, 2017, 5:46 p.m.
Countries: United Kingdom
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

¨Five months later, Ms. Thorp, an actress originally from the northern seaside city of Blackpool, started a petition calling for a law that would make sure no company could ever again demand that a woman wear heels to work.The petition garnered more than 150,000 signatures, helped spur a popular backlash — dozens of professional women posted photographs of themselves on Twitter defiantly wearing flats — and prompted an inquiry overseen by two parliamentary committees.On Wednesday, more than two years after Ms. Thorp, now 28, strode into that office in her chic but sensible black flats, the committees released a report concluding that Portico, the outsourcing firm that had insisted she...more
Jan. 27, 2017, 6:55 p.m.
Countries: Colombia
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"The Colombian Society for Plastic Surgery, Aesthetics, and Reconstruction helped push for the law, which makes an exception for ear surgeries, nose jobs, and reconstructive surgery" (para 6).
May 10, 2016, 7:04 p.m.
Countries: Mauritania
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"L’Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF), a local women's and children's rights organisation, is also calling for child marriage to be criminalised and is campaigning to get force feeding included as an offence under a new Bill on violence against women. AFCF says it has seen an increase in the number of girls being fattened up and married off early, which it attributed to families facing increased financial difficulties. The organisation has recently handled around 140 cases of child brides subjected to gavage, mostly chemical gavage. It tries to annul marriages, and encourage girls to lose weight, get medical attention and go back to school" (14-16).
Feb. 29, 2016, 9:23 a.m.
Countries: Ukraine
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

""There are NGO's that offer support for eating disorders and help, which is our main harmful beauty practice here in Ukraine." Natalya Bochkor" (4)
Sept. 23, 2015, 7:08 p.m.
Countries: Germany
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth answers the growing need for counselling and therapy for women and girls with eating disorders, a result of the increasing number of new cases, by funding a study on the practices employed in treatment, entitled ‘Ensuring Quality in Counselling and Outpatient Therapy for Women and Girls with Eating Disorders’ (Qualitätssicherung in Beratung und ambulanter Therapie von Frauen und Mädchen mit Essstörungen)…The Federal Centre for Health Education also focuses on the prevention of eating disorders. A series of brochures and other material has been published for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as for multipliers; an Internet portal and...more
April 11, 2015, 11:05 p.m.
Countries: France
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"Controversial new measures to prohibit modeling agencies from hiring dangerously thin models and to require that retouched photos of models be clearly labeled overcame a major legislative hurdle on Friday, winning approval by the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliamen...Backed by the French government, the measures are intended to protect models from being pushed into losing unhealthy amounts of weight and to reduce the images of extremely thin women popularized by the fashion industry, which lawmakers say encourages young girls to become anorexic" (para 1, 5). "Another provision would make it illegal to encourage anorexia on the Internet. Some websites encourage and reinforce efforts by women to lose weight...more
March 28, 2014, 10:51 a.m.
Countries: Mauritania
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“In its report Equality Now calls for Mauritania to ban force feeding and child marriages, which account for over 35 percent of all marriages in the country, according to the U.N. Population Fund. The report says gavage is closely linked to early childhood marriage because it accelerates puberty and makes younger girls appear more womanly. L’Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF), a local women's and children's rights organisation, is also calling for child marriage to be criminalised and is campaigning to get force feeding included as an offence under a new Bill on violence against women. AFCF says it has seen an increase in the number of girls being...more
Feb. 13, 2012, 2:45 p.m.
Countries: Mauritania
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"Increased government, media, and civil society attention to the problem led to a marked decline in traditional views encouraging female obesity despite the health risks. Nevertheless, overeating to conform to cultural standards remained an issue in rural and urban areas. Many urban women endangered their health by taking pills to gain weight or increase their appetite"(section 6).
Sept. 16, 2011, 1:23 p.m.
Countries: Colombia
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"The Health Secretariat and the different institutions of education have developed campaigns to prevent de bulimia and anorexia, by showing the harmful effects and terrible consequences of having this eating disorders, and also by increasing the self-esteem of boys and girls that think this are the ways to reach beauty."
Sept. 24, 2010, 9:27 p.m.
Countries: Eritrea
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"The National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW) was founded in 1979. Its mission is to ensure that all Eritrean women stand for their rights, equally participate in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres of the country and share the benefits. Its objective is to: eliminate all forms of discrimination against women; create an environment conducive to the effective and meaningful participation of women in all sectors of national development; enhance the quality of life for women and the community at large; sensitize and enhance gender awareness among women and the society at large; eradicate illiteracy among women and provide skills training; build the institutional capacity of NUEW; ensure and...more
Feb. 18, 2010, 4:40 p.m.
Countries: Brunei
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“An NGO, Council of Women of Brunei Darussalam acts as a national body in representing the views of all women in Brunei. Its main aim is to enhance the status of women in all fields especially in education, economy, welfare, culture and social, specifically to improve and upgrade the status of women in all fields particularly in education, economy, welfare, social, cultural and community development” (Para. 10, 11).
Sept. 16, 2009, 5:52 p.m.
Countries: Lebanon
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

“The campaign will conclude with an alternative fashion show that celebrates real women’s bodies in all their shapes and sizes. Lebanese cartoonist Stavro Jabra and Nienke Klunder, a Dutch-American photographer who works with the themes of body image and self-expression, have already signed up to collaborate on the campaign, as has web developing company Star Point Star, who offered to design the website. “Everyone has a different opinion of beauty,” Bou Jaoude said, adding she hoped the ANADiva campaign will improve Lebanese women’s perceptions of themselves, celebrate individuality, and encourage critical thinking about mainstream standards of beauty. “The public should be given an alternative” to the one currently toted by...more
May 2, 2008, 11:09 a.m.
Countries: Mali
Variables: PHBP-PRACTICE-2

"Malian society is heavily influenced by cultural considerations that are not without adverse consequences for women's and children's health. The National Action Committee on the Eradication of Practices Harmful to Women's and Children's Health (CNAPN) was set up within the ministerial department responsible for women and children by Decree No. 99-157/PM-RM of 16 June 1999. The Committee is responsible for proposing strategies and action against practices harmful to women and children's health. Social and cultural investigations carried out by the Committee in pursuit of the National Programme for Combating the Practice of Excision (CNAPN/PNLE) have identified 16 practices harmful to women's and children's health. Mali regards the following 16 practices...more