I don’t like being the face of FGM, says Australian survivor, but I must break the silence

Khadija Gbla is trying not to think about the fact she and her son, due in February, could die during labour due to medical ignorance about complications from female genital mutilation

2014: not such a bad year after all

The international news agenda tends to focus on things that go wrong. Here we present a selection of the year’s good news stories, as a counterbalance to the ravages of war, violence, disease, natural disasters, corruption et al

Homebirth or hospital birth? Choose what’s right for you, but educate yourself first

Jessica Valenti: We don’t have to declare doctors monstrous in order to promote midwives. Both choices can and should be made as safe and acceptable as possible

The day I got my first period

From confusing advice – ‘Don’t talk to lads now’ – to bumbling attempts to help, our readers share warm, moving, and funny stories about menstruation

Muna Hassan: ‘One of us mentioned vaginas and Michael Gove went really red!’

The young anti-FGM campaigner who told David Cameron to ‘grow a pair’ has helped to get the issue on the political agenda this year, writes Corinne Jones

FGM: ‘My daughter will never be cut. It stops with me’

In America, Jaha Dukureh has advised Barack Obama on the fight against female genital mutilation. But can she convince her own father at home in the Gambia? Alexandra Topping reports

The £400 Christmas present that you might want to think about buying yourself

Nicola Davis looks at the HPV vaccine and considers if women over 18 should be thinking about getting themselves a jab - if they can afford it that is

FGM: UK plan to require professionals to report suspected cases

Charities welcome government move but say heavy-handed mandatory reporting could drive practice further underground

We can’t be complacent about pregnant women’s rights in Britain

Rebecca Schiller: A local authority has failed to make drinking in pregnancy a crime, but we should be wary about further attempted incursions

Judge rules mother not guilty of crime for drinking while pregnant

Child born with lifelong damage after excessive drinking by mother is not entitled to criminal injuries compensation, court rules