Source: This Day
Funmi Ogundare writes that despite the harsh environment of Makoko, a slum in Lagos, the Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection, an advocacy group committed to girl-child education is empowering the girls through scholarships, mentorship and training to enable them succeed
Source: Tunis Afrique Press
A regional conference on documentation and strategic planning on gender in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan will be organised by the Centre of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) on January 30-31.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
A ruling by Kenyan's top court that schools can ban the hijab could lead to Muslim girls - already at risk from practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage - dropping out of school, campaigners warned on Friday.
Source: LiberianObserver.com
Liberia has joined 11 West African countries to embrace the "50 Million African Women Speak (50MWS) Project", a women's economic empowerment initiative that is meant to improve the ability of women to grow and sustain their businesses.
Source: Bulawayo 24 News
Scores of women from Harare's Hopley area alleged they were raped by soldiers during the ongoing crackdown against opposition activists linked to last week's protests against fuel price hikes which turned violent, resulting in the killing of 12 people by security forces.
Source: Swenga
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 January as International Day of Education, in celebration of the role of education for peace and development. Without inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong opportunities for all, countries will not succeed in achieving gender equality and breaking the cycle of poverty that is leaving millions of children, youth and adults behind.
Source: Daily Monitor
The Police in Kween District have arrested 19 people over allegations of aiding women and girls to undergo the illegal Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in various sub-counties.
Source:aljazeera
Nigeria's anti-trafficking agency said it has found thousands of missing girls and women in southern Mali, many of whom were sold as sex slaves.
Source: ThisIsAfrica
A study by the Reproductive, Educative and Community Health Programme (REACH) has shown that traditionalists in Uganda have now shifted to circumcising married women with the consent of their families, causing the prevalence of FGM to rise drastically in older women.
Source: Forbes
As leaders gather in Davos this week, ecological challenges are on top of the agenda. The World Economic Forum Global Risks report released earlier this month cast shadows on our common future. The top three most likely risks for 2019 are all climate-related: extreme weather, failure of climate-change mitigation, and adaptation and natural disasters. A lot of climate solutions already exist that need to be scaled up, such as this grassroots solution pioneered by International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) that works with women in indigenous communities in Kenya.
Source: New York Times
MARADI, Niger — He didn’t hit her. He didn’t yell. He didn’t cheat, as far as she knows. It was just that, less than two years into their marriage, Zalika Amadou’s husband had changed. He’d become far too neglectful and indifferent for a young woman who expected, well, more.
Source: CNN
On a warm Saturday afternoon, more than a dozen young men and teenage boys sit on plastic chairs in a yard in their neighborhood.They gather to talk about women, respect -- and sex.It's a meeting that occurs twice a week in Pankop, a small town in Mpumalanga province, in eastern South Africa.Some of these young men are virgins, and the group's head, Kabelo Chabalala, is at pains to emphasize that it is OK to be one.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation News
No schoolgirls in western Kenya are being forced to undergo examinations for female genital mutilation, Kenyan authorities said on Tuesday, after a government official sparked outrage by proposing compulsory tests to curb the crime.
George Natembeya, commissioner for Narok County, said on Friday that girls returning to school after the Christmas break were being screened for female genital mutilation (FGM) in order to prosecute their parents and traditional cutters.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
In many countries women are excluded from religious rituals and banished from their homes while they are on their periods
Violent protests and strikes have rocked southern India after three women defied a centuries-old ban on entering a Hindu temple.
The hilltop temple is one of a handful in India that bar women of menstruating age - a practice that stems from the belief that women and girls are impure during their periods.
Menstruation taboos can be found all over the world - here are 10 of the most common.
DON'T PRAY
Women face being excluded from religious rituals and places during their periods in many parts of Asia, including mainly Hindu India and Buddhist communities in China and Japan.
Muslim women across the world are restricted from entering mosques or taking part in prayers during their periods.
Last January, Ghanaian schoolgirls were banned from crossing a river while on the periods, sparking criticism from activists. The ban was purportedly issued by a local river god.
BANISHED FROM HOME
In parts of Indonesia, India, Nepal and in some Nigerian tribes, girls and women are banished from the family home during their periods and often have to sleep in animal sheds.
Several have died in rural Nepal in recent years, usually of smoke inhalation after lighting fires to try to keep warm.
DON'T COOK
Superstitions about the effect of menstruating girls and women on food persist in many parts of the world.
In India there is a belief that pickles touched by menstruating women will rot, while other cultures believe they can curdle butter, cream and mayonnaise.
Some believe bread dough handled by a woman during her period will not rise.
DON'T BATHE
From India and Israel to several European and South American countries, women are told not to bathe or wash their hair during their periods in the belief that it could make them infertile or sick.
Even a dip in the pool or beach is to be avoided.
DON'T GROOM
Women are often advised not to cut, dye or perm their hair while menstruating. Some are advised against waxing for fear that their hair will grow faster, while others are told not to cut or paint their nails.
In Venezuela, it is reportedly believed that if menstruating women groom their bikini lines, their skin gets darker.
STAY AWAY FROM PLANTS
Some cultures ban menstruating women from touching plants, flowers or walking through crop fields in the belief they may cause them to wilt and die.
In India, women are sometimes told not to touch or water plants that are considered holy, like basil, during their periods.
STAY AWAY FROM ANIMALS
Some cultures believe contact with menstruating women will make animals such as dogs and horses agitated.
In parts of India and Nepal, girls on their periods cannot touch cows because they are considered holy in Hinduism.
In some tribes in Uganda, women are banned from drinking cow's milk owing to the belief that they could contaminate the whole herd.
STAY AWAY FROM MEN
Menstruating women are restricted from going out and having any contact with boys and men in many conservative pockets of the world.
Orthodox Judaism forbids women from having contact with men during their periods at the end of which they have to take a ritual bath called a "mikvah".
In parts of Poland and Rwanda, it is believed that having sex with a woman during their period can kill you.
DON'T EXERCISE
Exercising or playing sports can have damaging effects on a woman's period and her body, according to some beliefs.
In 2016, China's swimming star Fu Yuanhui revealed she was on her period when she competed at the Rio Olympics, breaking a major taboo and sparking nationwide discussion.
DON'T USE TAMPONS
Girls are often warned against using a tampon or menstrual cup over fears they could break their hymen - a source of shame in some socially conservative countries.
Source: Deutsche Welle
The sexual attacks and beatings in South Sudan over the last 12 days have targeted women walking to collect food to take home to their families. Groups of men numbering up to 20 have been accused of the assaults.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Saturday that it had given emergency medical and psychological help to 157 women and girls who have been raped, beaten and brutalized in South Sudan's Rubkona county since mid-November.
Source: AllAfrica
Discrimination of gays, young mothers and journalists is on the rise in Tanzania. Suspending the flow of money from abroad is one reaction but will this persuade President Magufuli to change his course?
Tanzania has been pushing through a highly restrictive policy on several fronts, repressing rights of homosexuals, clamping down on freedom of the press and recently reaffirming the country's policy of expelling pregnant girls from state primary and secondary schools. In September the country also made it a crime to question official statistics. This has been strongly criticized by the World Bank, saying the law will undermine the production of useful, high-quality data.
Tanzania's second-biggest donor Denmark has now said it will withhold $10 million (€8.8 million) worth of aid, citing concerns over human rights abuses and "unacceptable homophobic comments" made by a government official.
Source: The Guardian
“Though I still struggle with tramadol sometimes, I don’t take codeine and alcohol again said 17-year-old Halima who started abusing drugs when she was in JSS 2.
Halima’s voice reverberates with a renewed hope and courage to look to the future. She credits this continuing mental makeover to the mental health care and rehabilitation she got at a private health facility in Lagos.
Halima is one of the many fortunate teenagers that have turned the bend on drug abuse. Many more are still trapped in the web with little hope of getting the sort of help that can release from the grip of drugs.
The inappropriate use of substances including alcohol, medication, illegal drugs for fun, to perform more effectively, or to alter one’s perception of reality is not just a malaise that traverses the socio-cultural and economic layers of our society, it is undeniably a greater menace than we imagined especially amongst young persons, and we are probably waking up a little too late to it.
In Nigeria today, there are myriads of anecdotes on Nigerian adolescents and youths, addicted to substance abuse. Recent reports on ubiquitousness of this problem are alarming, revealing the prevalent abuse of tramadol and codeine in the country. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) illicit drug use, alcohol, and tobacco are major global risk factors for disability and premature loss of life.
Earlier this year, Senate President Bukola Saraki expressed concern about the rising nuisance of drug abuse in the nation, while speaking at a public hearing on “The need to check the rising menace of pharmaceutical drug abuse among youths in Nigeria”.
“Drug abuse is an ill wind that blows nobody any good as many families are discovered to be affected including children and women. This has led to incidences of armed robbery, kidnapping, militancy and other vices, which have become a challenge to internal security, said Saraki.
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“Unfortunately, some of our youths who could become the leaders of tomorrow are caught in the quagmire of substance-abuse. This is a threat to their health and wellbeing and a threat to their families so we must stem this tide. We are now working on a legislation to tighten the loose ends on this issue and to ensure control and that victims are rehabilitated.”
Some of the substances largely abused include tramadol, codeine, Tom Tom candy soaked in Lacasera, a fizzy drink, dry pawpaw or plantain leaves, rephnol, methylated spirit in codeine or coke, gum, Cannabis (Marijuana) soaked in gin and more. Majority of these substances can be cheaply purchased, for as low as N100.
Not only has spiking rate of drug abuse in Nigeria, especially in urban centres such as Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt has contributed to increasing rate of mental illnesses, it is also contributing to the rate of crimes, said Dr Hope Abraham, the president of Vanguard Against Drug Abuse (VGADA).
While gender stereotypes and the belief that males are more likely to dabble into risky behaviours will have us believe that adolescent boys can be addicted faster, research has proven that, substance use can lead to abuse and addiction faster for adolescent girls than boys, even when the same amount or less of a specific substance is consumed.
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Report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse shows that women only need to use smaller amounts of some drugs over a shorter period of time before they become addicted.
It also explains that women are more likely to suffer relapse after being treated for drug addiction and more likely to die from an overdose or other effects of some substances.
The reason for this incidence is the menstrual cycle of the woman. “The monthly cycle of a woman plays a major role with respect to drug abuse and their response to drug use,” Abraham said.
“Studies have shown that women who take cocaine during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, when the estrogen is higher tend to abuse the cocaine more frequently because they get more “high” during this phase. Their estrogen tends to accentuates their reception to substance use during the cycle.”
The incidence of drug abuse among young girls in Nigeria is frightening especially codeine cough syrups and over-the-counter drugs such as tramadol, rohypnol, and others.
While the issue of drug abuse among young girls and women in Nigeria is steadily gaining more attention, it is still underreported largely due to cultural constraints and societal discrimination against women and the dearth of national drug use surveys and other factual documentation regarding this issue in the country.
The propensity for adolescent and young females to be exposed to and be affected by drugs demands the formulation of gender-sensitive drug policies and programmes aimed at preventing and treating drug abuse among young girls and women.
Source: AllAfrica
The opposition party, the Popular Democratic Movement Women's League (PDMWL) this week said that the sentences that are being given to convicted rapists in the country, are too lenient
The League's Secretary General, Loide Iipinge said the sentences in the country are too compassionate considering the grievous damage rape does to victims and society at large.
"We feel that there is need for the country's legal system to start looking at rape especially, as a serious crime that deserves the harshest of sentences among other crimes," she said
Source: AllAfrica
First Lady Madam Getrude Mutharika has said that child marriage is one of the violence against children which every Malawian should fight to stop as the country commemorates United Nation Security Council Resolution 1325.
She made the sentiments in Salima on Tuesday during the UNSCR 11325 commemoration, which was celebrated under the theme 'Peace and Security for the dignity of Women.'
"As we commemorate this day, we as Malawians should consider yourself as a lucky and blessed people as we have not known a war but our friends in war areas know the pains of war which mostly affects women and children,
But despite this not everybody is at peace in this country. We have children that are married off at a young age they are disturbed and affected heavily by their condition and they don't enjoy a peace of mind. It is therefore important that parents, guardian and all responsible Malawians to work hard to stop practices that leave others with no peace of mind like child marriages," Madam Mutharika said.