The Independent | The New Suffragettes

A hundred years after Emily Wilding Davison threw herself under the King’s racehorse at the Derby, the rights she fought for are largely taken for granted in Britain. But there are still many places around the world where women risk their lives in pursuit of basic freedoms.

In Saudi Arabia women cannot drive, have no freedoms and as yet do not have electoral equality with males, although some changes are being introduced, slowly.

Millions of women who stood with men during Arab Spring uprisings are now being pushed back into veils, homes, impotence or imprisonment. In Iran’s elections next month, women are banned from standing. Those we saw in the last election have been suppressed or jailed.

Yet women all around the world, with extraordinary courage, are continuing to fight. Some are among the “New Suffragettes” who will be celebrated in this week-long series.

Case studies

Fighting FGM in Iraq

Special Report:

The New Suffragettes: Unfinished Business

Emily Davison:

How the suffragettes targeted sport

Britain:

A history of women's suffrage

The protest movement:

Witness the bare-chested defiance of Femen

Pussy Riot:

The band that dared rock Russia's establishment

Iran:

Shirin Ebadi - the international figurehead

Saudi Arabia:

Campaigning for the right to drive

Courage in Cairo:

The Arab women’s awakening

Mexico:

Lydia Cacho - justice for women means the right to live in safety

Ireland and abortion:

The powers that be are in the dark ages

Special report: How my father's face turned up in Robert Capa's lost suitcase

The great war photographer was not one person but two. Their pictures of Spain's civil war, lost for decades, tell a heroic tale

The unmade speech: An alternative draft of history

Someone, somewhere has to write speeches for world leaders to deliver in the event of disaster. They offer a chilling hint at what could have been

Funny business: Meet the women running comedy

Think comedy’s a man's world? You must be stuck in the 1980s, says Holly Williams

Wilko Johnson: 'You have to live for the minute you're in'

The Dr Feelgood guitarist talks frankly about his terminal illness

Lure of the jingle

Entrepreneurs are giving vintage ice-cream vans a new lease of life

DJ Taylor: Who stole the people's own culture?

True popular art drives up from the streets, but the commercial world wastes no time in cashing in

Guest List: The IoS Literary Editor suggests some books for your summer holiday

Guest List: IoS Literary Editor suggests some books for your summer holiday

Before you stuff your luggage with this year's Man Booker longlist titles, the case for some varied poolside reading alternatives

Rupert Cornwell: What if Edward Snowden had stayed to fight his corner?

The CIA whistleblower struck a blow for us all, but his 1970s predecessor showed how to win

'A man walks into a bar': Comedian Seann Walsh on the dangers of mixing alcohol and stand-up

Comedian Seann Walsh on alcohol and stand-up

Comedy and booze go together, says Walsh. The trouble is stopping at just the one. So when do the hangovers stop being funny?

From Edinburgh to Hollywood (via the Home Counties): 10 comedic talents blowing up big

Edinburgh to Hollywood: 10 comedic talents blowing up big

Hugh Montgomery profiles the faces to watch, from the sitcom star to the surrealist

'Hello. I have cancer': When comedian Tig Notaro discovered she had a tumour she decided the show must go on

Comedian Tig Notaro: 'Hello. I have cancer'

When Notaro discovered she had a tumour she decided the show must go on

Bill Granger's Asia-influenced egg recipes

Our chef made his name cooking eggs, but he’s never stopped looking for new ways to serve them

The world wakes up to golf's female big hitters

With its own Tiger Woods - South Korea's Inbee Park - the women's game has a growing audience

10 athletes ready to take the world by storm in Moscow next week

Here are the potential stars of the World Championships which begin on Saturday

The Last Word: Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale's art of manipulation

Briefings are off the record leading to transfer speculation which is merely a means to an end