March is Women’s History Month — and this year, our theme is clear: free markets give women choices.

This month, LOLA leaders made waves across four regions — Latin America, Europe, Brazil, and Asia — with 11 media mentions championing the idea that economic freedom and women’s empowerment go hand in hand.

We’re proud to highlight the articles and voices pushing this conversation forward. ⬇️

Featured Appearances 

Free women, free markets: the impact of trade and competition on women’s freedom. (ESP)
Oriana Patricia Aranguren Batista, LOLA Caracas, Venezuela

Our leader from Venezuela, Oriana, wrote about one of the most compelling arguments of our Women’s History Month campaign: that free markets have been one of history’s greatest yet underappreciated allies in women’s liberation.

Drawing on economist Gary Becker’s insight that discrimination is costly in competitive markets, Oriana argues that trade, industrialization, and technological innovation have expanded women’s autonomy in profound ways — from financial independence to greater decision-making power at home. Access to credit, contraception, and entrepreneurship tools have further given women control over their time, bodies, and economic futures.

Powerful women, obsolete structures. (ESP)
Patricia Ivonne Erives Reyes, LOLA Chihuahua, Mexico

This article focuses on the tension between growing female representation in positions of power and the persistence of outdated cultural and institutional structures that continue to shape those spaces.

It moves beyond the recurring narratives that tend to dominate public discourse every year around women in power, such as glass ceilings, wage gaps, and quotas, to ask a deeper question: does simply placing women in positions of authority actually transform anything? Or do the underlying systems, often rigid, hierarchical, and built around traditionally masculine norms, remain unchanged?

At its core, the piece challenges readers to reflect on whether true empowerment comes from occupying spaces of power or from reimagining how power itself is structured and exercised.

“Our biggest fear is that the regime will remain in place” – An exiled Iranian in conversation (GER)
Mia Kilian, LOLA Stuttgart, Germany

For many people in Europe, the conflict in Iran registers as distant news. But for a young Iranian person now living in Austria, it is anything but. Their family remains there, and the weight of that reality shapes every update, every headline, every silence.

Mia, our LOLA leader from Germany, sat down with them for a close and deeply personal conversation that brings a human face to a story that too often gets reduced to geopolitical analysis. Through their testimony, readers get a rare glimpse into what it means to carry the burden of a homeland in crisis while building a new life far from home.

The piece is a powerful reminder that behind every conflict, there are individuals whose lives, families, and futures hang in the balance.

Full List Of Media Mentions

Ailyn Martinez, LOLA Bogota, Colombia
From Rionegro to 1991: what happened to us? (ESP)

Preksha Acharya, LOLA Itahari, Nepal
Strong leadership, empowered youth (NEP)

Lourdes Romero, LOLA Latin America, Regional Leader
Lara, the moralizing TikToker: a warning to Bolivian liberalism (ESP)

Aylen Van Isseldyk, LOLA Colazo, Argentina
When the State Spreads Misinformation: Tobacco and Nicotine in Mexico (ESP)

Sofía Rojas, LOLA Latin America, Regional Leader
March 8th and tribal morality: when ideology replaces principles (ESP)

Preksha Acharya, LOLA Itahari, Nepal
Special program on women’s rights and equality successfully concluded (NEP)

Izabela Patriota, LOLA’s Director of Development
Trump is not the sheriff of the world (POR)

Izabela Patriota, LOLA’s Director of Development
Trump is not going to save Venezuela (POR)