Gender Inequality

8 sexist laws you won’t believe still exist

A woman drives a car in Saudi Arabia October 22, 2013. A conservative Saudi Arabian cleric has said women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and bearing children with clinical problems, countering activists who are trying to end the Islamic kingdom's male-only driving rules. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are barred from driving, but debate about the ban, once confined to the private sphere and social media, is increasingly spreading to public forums too. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY TRANSPORT) - RTX14JLI

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women aren’t allowed to drive Image: REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser

Stéphanie Thomson
Writer, Forum Agenda
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Gender Inequality

Image: Hindustan Times
Image: CNN
 Map showing where child marriage (under 18) is most widespread
Map showing where child marriage (under 18) is most widespread Image: UNICEF
Iranian women holding their passports wait to cast their votes at the shrine of Hazrat-e Massoumeh, granddaughter of Prophet Mohammad, during the presidential elections in the city of Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran, June 12, 2009.  REUTERS/Damir Sagolj   (IRAN POLITICS ELECTIONS IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR24KW1
Iranian women holding their passports Image: REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
 Belarus is one of 100 countries where women are barred from certain jobs
Belarus is one of 100 countries where women are barred from certain jobs Image: World Bank
A note placed by an unknown person on female driver Azza Al Shmasani's car, is pictured in Saudi Arabia June 22, 2011. Saudi Arabia has no formal ban on women driving. But as citizens must use only Saudi-issued licences in the country, and as these are issued only to men, women drivers are anathema. An outcry at the segregation, which contributes to the general cloistering of Saudi women, has been fuelled by social media interest in two would-be female motorists arrested in May.  REUTERS/Fahad Shadeed   (SAUDI ARABIA - Tags: TRANSPORT SOCIETY) - RTR2NYLS
A note placed on female driver Azza Al Shmasani's car in Saudi Arabia Image: REUTERS/Fahad Shadeed
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