‘A tactical assault’: why women should be watching the UN’s next moves with trepidation

In this week’s newsletter: we look at the global ‘tactical assault’ on women’s rights, how AI slop is affecting our understanding of atrocities, and Nigeria’s bid to preserve its history in the Arctic “A few beatings won’t kill you.” This pronouncement, delivered by a judge to a woman trying to divorce her abusive husband, emerged last week from Afghanistan. Under the Taliban’s gender apartheid there is no justice for women. Instead they are sent back to violent husbands. The barbarity of a criminal code that allows men to beat their wives is so extreme it’s tempting to see it in isolation. But the more I research the global pushback against women’s rights, the more I see how these abominations exist on a spectrum of violence. While the Taliban is at the extreme end of that spectrum, it is not alone in wanting to keep women at home. The Heritage Foundation – architect of Project 2025 – has published a report, Saving America by Saving the Family, outlining how to “end America’s family crisis” – where alongside a raft of pro-natalist economic policies, it recommends a deeply patriarchal model that will encourage women have more babies earlier in life