International Women's Day: Six stories you should read from hidden spy cameras to menstruating women banished to huts

A selection of articles you may have missed

For more than a century, International Women’s Day has provided a chance to reflect on female achievements and celebrate the movement for greater rights.

It has gone from a day which socialists proposed to advance women’s suffrage and equal rights in the early 1900s to an event formally recognised by the UN.

But it is not just a day to celebrate women’s contribution to humankind – it is also a day to reflect on women’s struggles and look at gender equality as a whole.

Held on 8 March each year, the day is marked as a public holiday in some countries but is largely ignored in others.

Here is a short selection of stories which show the difficulties women face:

From changing rooms to public toilets: The dark trend of hidden spy cameras filming women

Increasing numbers of women are being secretly filmed on spy cameras as covert recording technology becomes cheaper and more readily available, experts have warned.

Peeping toms are installing clandestine cameras in rental and student properties or public spaces including toilets, swimming pool cubicles, changing rooms and tanning salons, in an attempt to capture explicit photos of women without their consent.

This material is then being uploaded to porn websites where there is said to be a growing market for voyeuristic material.

Keith Roberts, who runs a company that detects spycams and bugs called Advanced Sweeping, said his cases ranged from detecting spy cameras placed in homes by partners or exes, to instances of people using the equipment to snoop on strangers.

“It has grown exponentially in the last five to seven years,” he said. “Our caseload is going up, which comes from these things being readily easy to buy. They used to have to go to spy shops but now it’s all on eBay and Amazon. It is shocking. Tech can lead people down some dark roads. It is terrifying. You have got to be very vigilant these days. We check businesses, residential homes, boats, vehicles.”

‘I felt really, really scared’: Nepalese women address horror of being banished to outside huts during periods

Women living in Nepal are routinely banished to an outside hut or animal sheds, stopped from taking part in family activities, having contact with men and given less food to eat when they are on their periods due to an ancient practice that remains prevalent despite a ban.

The Hindu custom of isolating women who are menstruating from the rest of the household because they are deemed “impure” is known as “chhaupadi”. Dozens of women and girls have died in Nepal in recent years as a result of the tradition, in spite of concerted campaigns by activists coupled with government measures to rid the area of the practice.

Public sector employees increasingly turning to sex work due to austerity, campaigners warn

Increasing numbers of public sector workers are being forced to turn to sex work due to austerity measures and welfare cuts, campaigners have warned.

A leading campaigning group, which supports the decriminalisation of prostitution, says more women in public sector roles are doing sex work to top up their income due to employers making no allowances for the fact they have children.

The warning came as the organisation, the English Collective of Prostitutes, released a report comparing sex work with other jobs commonly done by women. It found sex workers earn significantly more per hour than women working in the other jobs – including those in public sector positions such as nurses and midwives.

“I’m more tired at home but we can get the food we want and decent shoes for the kids,” said a teacher who chose to remain anonymous.

Majority of men believe women more likely to be sexually assaulted if wearing revealing clothes, study suggests

A majority of men in the UK think a woman is more likely to be sexually harassed or assaulted if she wears revealing clothes, new research suggests.

An exclusive survey conducted for The Independent found 55 per cent of men believed that “the more revealing the clothes a woman wears, the more likely it is that she will be harassed or assaulted”.

The research by polling company D-CYFOR found men are markedly more likely to hold this view than women – with 41 per cent of female respondents subscribing to the view that revealing clothing invites unwanted sexual advances.

Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, which runs a free 24-hour helpline for people who have been sexually assaulted, said the findings illustrated how deeply entrenched victim-blaming is in society.

Noeline Blackwell, head of the centre, said: “There is an assumption – not borne out by any evidence – that the way a woman dresses is likely to lead to rape or sexual assault.

“We know that people are raped wearing a variety of clothing. The idea that a woman who goes out scantily clad will be pounced on is the most common myth across generations. They could be in their jeans, school uniform, or pyjamas.”

Northern Ireland’s abortion ban: The harrowing experiences of domestic violence survivors and underage girls looking for help

A former Irish politician lifts the lid on the harrowing circumstances endured by domestic violence victims or women who are under 16 that fall pregnant in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland has a ban on abortions in almost all cases – even rape or incest. Abortion is only permitted when there is a risk to the life of the mother, or a serious risk to her physical or mental health.

“She had a contraceptive implant so he sat on her chest and cut out the implant with a stanley knife. He had raped her and had been raping her for weeks after that,” Dawn Purvis, former director of the Marie Stopes pregnancy advice service in Belfast and a former Independent Unionist member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, said.

Indian women’s rights campaigner says porn driving surge in underage girls being raped

An Indian women’s rights campaigner has said a surge in underage girls being raped can be attributed to the rise in men watching porn but condemned the decision to introduce the death penalty for such crimes.

Dr Rukmini Rao, who has campaigned for increased punishment for rape and the recognition of domestic violence, argued the growing popularity of porn was driving not just underage rape but also marital rape.

The 68-year-old argued there was a “very serious problem” with rape in the country – saying many young girls and women are not properly educated about the definition of consent.