Thai massage therapists find community and mental health support in self-defense classes

In the debate over how to reduce sexual assault on university campuses, proposing self-defense classes for women is controversial. But, according to new landmark Canadian research, it works.

In India, corruption in the distribution of government ID cards leaves the poorest without legal identity or protection. A non-profit group is creating and distributing unofficial ID cards and legal aid for day workers in major cities in India.

The minimum wage issue has been debated endlessly, with arguments both for and against its effectiveness. An increase, tested in some states and enacted in others, immeasurably betters the quality of life for low-income families.

Bangladesh has often struggled maintaining safety in the workplace. But a new effort ensures that Bangladeshi workers are trained about how to better follow security and safety restrictions to create a safer working environment.

A national survey showed that few college students intervene when witnessing a sexual assault. The school with the highest rate of student intervention was Dartmouth College, where students receive bystander prevention training.

In the past five years, as federal and state minimum wage levels failed to keep pace with the cost of living, and as the recession took its toll, the living wage movement has accelerated. Across the United States, more than 125 cities and counties have enacted ordinances or passed ballot initiatives to lift the wages of the working poor.

After years of banning labor unions in Bangladesh, garment workers unionized to fight for higher wages and safer working conditions. For women, this isn't traditionally a space they were welcomed in, but now they’re holding their own meetings to ensure women’s safety is ensured on the job.

For decades, migrant workers in Florida have been employed under dreadful conditions, picking produce without breaks under extreme temperatures and women being sexually harassed. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has demanded that growers increase wages, mandate rest breaks, and prohibit sexual harassment. The Coalition has partnered with big food companies, notably McDonald’s, Yum Brands, and Walmart, which have pledged to buy only from growers who follow these standards.

2014 was a year marked nationwide by activism and unprecedented federal attention to the issue of campus sexual assault. The University of Texas system is putting $1.7 million into a comprehensive, multi-year effort to combat sexual assault on campus.

Many independent workers feel that the battle for affordable health insurance is one they are losing. The Freelancers Union is working to provide protections for “contingent” workers that go beyond just health care.