Women

Canada province makes high heels optional

The government of British Columbia (BC) says the requirement is discriminatory as well as being a health and safety issue because they are dangerous.

It says that high heel wearers face a risk of physical injury from slipping or falling as well as possible damage to the feet, legs and back.

Footwear should be designed to allow workers to operate safely, it says.

The announcement of the ban comes after a provincial Green party politician in March introduced a bill in the BC legislature aimed at preventing employers from setting gender-based footwear requirements.

Nicole Kidman sparkes crucial conversation about domestic violence

But when you're playing the part of a woman who dabs makeup on bruises inflicted by the man she loves, incongruity is also apt.

Kidman has told reporters that immersing herself in the character of a woman married to an abusive, violent, controlling man was a gruelling one.

While filming, she would return to her hotel room at night hunting for painkillers, covered in bruises.

How 7 different women save their money

You're not alone if you feel way more comfortable dishing out the details of your sex life to your BFFs than you are revealing how much you earn. But money — earning it, spending it, saving it — is essential, and just having a casual convo about ca$h could inspire you to take a good, hard look at your own financial situation. Seven women from around the U.S. shared how much they're making and how much they're saving — and why they're saving it.

Music video highlights generational conflict between modesty and modernity

PNG has strict laws against pornography and strong censorship of sexually related content in movies and television.

But rapper Tati Mangi has pushed the boundaries of what's acceptable with a video clip that's got the whole country talking.

Who knew women's backsides could cause such a fuss?

Tati Mangi probably did, but he released a video clip for his song Bootilicious featuring young PNG women dancing in bikinis anyway.

Why there is more to Middle Eastern art

I explained that the symposium, in part, responds to those who doubt the wealth, breadth and quality of modernism in this region. She laughed, knowing all too well the criticism that Middle East art practitioners face.

As an arts writer, I've heard the uninformed allegations countless times.

"The Middle Eastern art scene is a bubble."

"Its art arena is five minutes old."

"There is no institutional interest or acquisition."

Who orgasms most and least, and why

But why does this gender gap exist, and what can be done to achieve orgasm equality? After all, about 40% of women experience sexual dysfunction, associated with a chronic difficulty in achieving orgasm.

Experts are offering some answers.

Ireland protests abortion ban on International Women's Day

Traffic ground to a halt in parts of Dublin Wednesday as women and abortion rights activists sang along to Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" during a raucous dance party on O'Connell Bridge.

After sundown, a second, separate demonstration -- also in protest of abortion rights -- commenced with Irish police estimating 10,000 to 12,000 people on the capital's streets.

MTV flips logo to stand with women

The music and culture network flipped its logo upside down -- turning the "M" into a "W" -- on TV and online Wednesday.

"WTV" also announced that employees running its social media accounts would go on "strike" for the day as a nod to protests expected worldwide.

A national strike movement called A Day Without a Woman has been organized to coincide with International Women's Day. The movement underscores wage disparity, discrimination and harassment.

Women's Day is about ensuring women can 'speak up'

"I think it's simply women having rights and conversations and engaging and talking, and I feel like certainly that's something I'm seeing happening much more," Dockery told CNN in an interview timed to her upcoming film, "The Sense of an Ending."

"I was at a dinner party recently, we were having a conversation, women having a conversation and being very open about our experiences and engaging, and I think that's ensuring that every woman has that right to speak up."

Trans woman calls for gender-equal world on International Women's Day

Victoria Anthony is relatively new to the world of womanhood. In 2013 she went on a gap year to New York, leaving Sydney as a man to return one year later as a woman.

The theme for this year's International Women's Day is Be Bold For Change, and Victoria celebrates the opportunity trans women have to be recognised, while calling for a more inclusive, gender-equal world.