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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
Read more ...
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.
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Source: Taarifa
Rwanda has broken it’s current world record of 64% women representation in parliament.
The new world record for women representation in parliament has now shot up to 67.5%.
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Source: THOMPSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
Sex outside wedlock is by far the most common cause of incarceration for women in Mauritania, accounting for more than 40 percent of female prisoners.
Khady knew the man who waited outside her house one evening, followed her down a dark street and put his hand over her mouth. She had refused his offer of marriage several months before.
The assault that followed is a blur. The 26-year-old fell pregnant, and five months later she was jailed for breaking Mauritania's law banning sex outside of marriage.
"They said I was guilty. I don't know why," she said at a centre for victims of rape in the capital, Nouakchott.
"I thought if I told the police what happened, they would put him in prison," Khady, whose name has been changed for her protection, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Sex outside wedlock is by far the most common cause of incarceration for women in Mauritania, accounting for more than 40 percent of female prisoners, according to a survey by the Mauritanian Association for the Health of the Mother and Child.
About 50 women were locked up for "zina" or sex outside marriage in the main women's prison in Nouakchott between July 2016 and June 2018, the rights group said.
Yet most are victims of rape, according to activists who hope the nation's new parliament will breathe life into an abandoned bill that could improve justice for Mauritanian women.
Mauritania, a vast desert country in northwest Africa, is an Islamic Republic with a penal code partly based on sharia law.
Adultery, sex between single people and rape are all crimes, yet the law does not define the latter or the notion of consent.
This means rape convictions for men are rare while prosecuting female victims of sexual violence for zina is common, according to campaigners who say rape victims must generally prove the use of force in order to be found innocent.
"Once a woman becomes an adult, in most cases, they say she consented," said Aminetou Mint Ely of the Association of Women Heads of Family, which runs support centres for rape victims.
"The laws are open, and they facilitate the interpretation of rape as zina," added Ely, the president of the rights group.
Mauritania's justice ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
A law on gender-based violence that would be tougher on rape and provide more support to victims was almost adopted two years ago, but it lost support in parliament as misinformation spread.
Now women's rights groups are campaigning all over again, as new deputies elected in September are set to review the bill.
JAIL TIME
Khady was taken to hospital in February where she gave birth before being returned to jail with a premature baby girl. She was released on special grounds a month later after persistent efforts by lawyers working for Ely's organisation.
"Night and day were the same," she said shakily, recalling how she kept to herself in prison and avoided the other inmates.
Zina is officially punishable by flogging or stoning, but Mauritania does not carry out corporal punishments in practice.
Yet without a good lawyer, women convicted of zina can idle in jail indefinitely, said Zeinabou Taleb Moussa, head of the Mauritanian Association for the Health of the Mother and Child.
The risk of incarceration is so high for adult rape victims that Moussa sometimes discourages them from going to the police.
"If we know that a woman is going to be imprisoned, we tell her, 'Unfortunately, the law does not protect you.'," she said.
"If you report it, he (the rapist) will be imprisoned, but you'll be imprisoned too."
Men are also charged with sex outside of marriage - not rape - in many of these cases, but they often serve shorter jail terms than women, according to several local rights groups.
SLOW PROGRESS
A 2005 child protection law made it less likely for girls to be prosecuted for zina, and there has been some progress in the treatment of rape victims in recent years, Moussa said.
"Before, every woman who went before a judge and said she was raped was accused," she said. "Now there are investigations, there are testimonies, there is attention given to the woman."
Yet the law remains stacked against adult victims, and even minors are still occasionally imprisoned, activists say.
On a recent visit to Ely's office, a 16-year-old in a pink headscarf tried to soothe her baby. Having been raped by her boss, she was convicted of zina but placed under probation - a victory for the association's lawyers because she escaped jail.
Sitting nearby, head bowed, a 15-year-old girl was less fortunate. Having flirted with the man who then raped her, she was judged to have consented, and jailed for a month.
Saleck Jeireb, an official in the ministry of social affairs, children and family, said the government had a plan to tackle gender-based violence, which includes training health workers and providing psychosocial support for victims.
"The response is not at the scale that we want, but we've started," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
NEW LAW
Ely and Moussa helped to draft a law on gender-based violence in 2012 which clearly defined rape and increased support services for victims, among other measures.
The executive branch and senate approved the bill in 2016, but debate broke out when it was sent to parliament.
The bill was pulled after rumours spread that it was against Islam, backed by Westerners, and condoned homosexuality.
"There was a debate, unfortunately founded on errors," said Jeireb of the ministry of social affairs.
With the instalment of a new parliament, the draft law will be resubmitted, he said.
Moussa sounded cautiously optimistic there would be allies in the new government, but she did not expect them to move fast.
"They promised they would study it, but we don't know when," said Ely.
For countless young rape victims in Mauritania, the legal system remains a source of bewilderment. Some could barely articulate their confusion at having been raped then punished.
Source: Quartz Africa
Mobile phones have become widespread all over the world, including in rural and low-income communities. As research shows, these devices have the potential to bring about significant societal change – a fact acknowledged in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
But while the promising role that mobile phones and other Information and Communication Technologies could play in empowering women – particularly in Africa – has long been discussed, relatively little is known about how, when, and why this happens.
We conducted a study with women from the Nigerian city of Kano to see how they were using the mobile messaging service WhatsApp. We wanted to know whether the app had opened up opportunities and freedoms that contributed to empowering them.
Many women said that WhatsApp had allowed them to communicate better, particularly with local politicians. They felt empowered to talk about their concerns openly in WhatsApp discussion groups. And they had more access to information. Others joined religious study groups on WhatsApp, sharing questions and knowledge with other women. Some women converted their access into opportunity. For instance, they advertised small businesses or services on WhatsApp groups, and earned money as a result.
The women in our study were able to use WhatsApp groups to push the barriers of societal norms that typecast them in gendered roles of mothers and housewives. Using this technology, they were able to become agents of their own change as well as make and exercise choices.
Women in Kano
Kano is a predominantly Muslim community. It is in Kano state, which has one of Nigeria’s highest smartphone densities—about 7.81 million of the country’s 60 million smartphone users live there.
First, we identified two women leaders in community groups to help us find participants for the study. These were selected based on how actively they were engaged in community groups. They also needed to own a smart mobile phone. We did interviews and focus groups with a diverse group of women, asking how they used WhatApp and what benefits they felt this had.
Some had become more politically empowered. Murja’atu*, a 34-year-old housewife, said:
Initially I always wondered on how to communicate with elected officers especially those of them located in Abuja. We only saw them during the election period but now this online group allows me to interact with them more frequently using the women leader as the intermediary.
Her experience was echoed by 28-year-old Safiya, a shop owner:
Our senator made some certain promises during his election campaign after some time we still had not heard from him. I posted it on the group and other members picked up on it, we kept at it till the woman leader passed on our message. Some of the issues have been addressed now.
The inexpensive and simple form of sharing information on the groups enhanced women’s ability to learn and get clarification about concepts that were unclear to them. In other cases they were able to get help with their children’s homework. This was mentioned repeatedly in the focus group session as one of the things women valued the most about being part of a WhatsApp group.
WhatsApp also proved to be a valuable source of information about health and safety. For example, 41-year-old Asabe, one of the community group leaders, shared this story:
A husband of one of our group members is a health worker, so she regularly posts information regarding health practices, during the last cholera outbreak, I learnt of it from the post she made. It includes preventive measures such as washing vegetables thoroughly, adding salt while washing and boiling water before drinking.
The focus groups participants repeatedly mentioned that WhatsApp groups made them feel like part of a community. There was a strong commitment to working together and solving problems.
Economic opportunities
The WhatsApp group forums have also enabled the women to conduct business sales by marketing their products and services. These entrepreneurs usually send photos of the products and services to prospective clients to have a precise image of what they are planning to buy. A customer is allowed to choose the method of payment and also the method of delivery.
These business women have also used WhatsApp to reach out to their customers on changes in prices. With the current economic situation in country, market prices fluctuate on a daily basis. The women use the forum as a platform where they can post and discuss changes in market prices.
The women now have greater access to customers all over Nigeria. One said:
I met a lady that lives in Yola (910 kms away from Kano) through WhatsApp and now she has become one of my most trusted and loyal customers, I send her products worth thousands of Naira and I have never met her physically before.
Postings about jobs and vacancies also formed part of the discussion in these WhatsApp groups. These jobs included household jobs, events and catering. Those who were interested usually contact the employers and interviews were arranged using WhatsApp voice and video calls.
Positive impacts
The findings of this study show that income generation, saving opportunities, expansion of businesses were all economic capabilities that were expanded and afforded to the women by the use of mobile phones.
The use of mobile phones also led to other capabilities that covered other aspects of human development and that have different impacts on the lives of these women and their communities.
Source: ThisisAfrica
What is Trokosi?
Trokosi is a traditional system where virgin girls, some as young as six years old, are sent into Troxovi shrines (shrines for gods) as slaves to make amends for wrongs committed by a member of the virgin girl’s family. Until the Trokosi system came to the attention of the general public in the 1990s, girls sent to the shrines stayed for life. After the 90’s some of the priests and elders were willing to let the girls go back home after a few years, for a few months, but had to return whenever they were sent for. When they die, the family must replace her with another virgin girl. This means that the family will pay reparation, of one girl, forever.
Read more ...
Source: AllAfrica
El Geneina — The lack of representation of women in the new government of West Darfur has led to large-scale protests by women leaders in the state.
On Tuesday, the Governor of West Darfur, Hussein Yasin, announced his new cabinet, consisting of five ministries, all headed by men.
Yasin said that the Sudanese state governors recently pledged to President Omar Al Bashir that the state governments will serve the people, not the rulers.
The priorities of the new West Darfur government will focus on promoting peace, fighting poverty, and developing the economy in the state "to reflect positively on the life of the people".
Ministry for Women
Women leaders in West Darfur reacted to the men-only government by threatening to suspend the political, social, and cultural work women are doing in the state, until they are well represented in decision-making positions.
On Thursday, they called for the establishment of a Ministry for Women, in addition to the appointment of women as commissioners and general managers.
The women demanded the West Darfur government "to urgently respond" to their demands.
The #MeToo movement has been lauded for helping women to report their abusers. Sadly, this isn't much help to women in Africa.
The #MeToo campaign has given mostly Western women confidence to speak up about violence at the hands of men, but in Africa, women say stigma and victim-blaming still keep many silent.
Fiercely patriarchal societies and religious and traditional views on the role of women means even complaining about domestic violence is an uphill battle, let alone bringing down abusive men in power, activists say.
In Kenya, a confident and bubbly 40-year-old psychologist – who, tellingly, asked to remain anonymous – told AFP she was stunned when a former boyfriend slapped her in the face in front of his family.
Their reaction was that he had a “hot temper”. Later, much to her surprise, five of her close friends revealed they too had been abused in relationships.
“If even that is ‘normal’ and we don’t talk about it, how does the #MeToo movement… how do we interact with that?” she asked.
Like others interviewed by AFP, she said the #MeToo movement had prompted more discussions about women’s rights and sharing stories of sexual assault, but mostly in private WhatsApp groups or Facebook chats rather than publicly. The psychologist said:
“The issues definitely affect (us) but the blame is always shifted back onto the woman, that it is her fault, her dressing, her speech or she needs to be taught a lesson because she is too strong. It’s not only men but women who are thinking that way.”
Archaic attitudes towards abuse
Nevertheless, in the year since #MeToo went viral, there have been cases in which women have spoken up or refused to be silenced.
In March in Uganda, angry women took to Twitter to call for the resignation of MP Onesmus Twinamasiko who gave a television interview encouraging men to beat their wives to “discipline” them.
“Yeah, you need to do a little beating, it shows the love even,” he said.
He later apologised but did not face any consequences. His view is not uncommon in Uganda. A government report published in 2016 showed that one in five female Ugandans between the age of 14 and 49 had reported physical or sexual violence within a 12-month period.
When female lawmaker Sylvia Rwabwogo pressed charges against a man who stalked and harassed her for eight months leading to his jailing in June for two years, she faced a backlash of criticism and mockery from Ugandans sympathising with the “lovestruck” student.
“The fact we can attack an MP who has been a victim of sexual harassment… instead of asking ourselves what is wrong here, we are not yet there,” said activist Rosebell Kagumire.
Sex for marks
As discussions about male abuse of power trickle through, an increasing number of reports have emerged of university lecturers in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria coercing female students into having sex with them for higher marks.
In Uganda, this led to several suspensions this year, while in Sierra Leone 71 people – including teachers and pupils – were arrested last month for “exam malpractice”.
“One of my science teachers demanded sex for a favourable grade after our final exams a year ago,” a second-year student at the Freetown Teachers College told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A secondary school pupil, named Elizabeth, said she had faced several sexual advances but “never complained about it for fear of reprisals from teachers”.
A report on the safety of girls and young women released this week by Plan International listed Johannesburg, Kampala, Lima, Nairobi and Bamako as the top five most risky cities in the world for sexual assault and rape.
Kampala was the most dangerous for kidnap and murder, and Kampala and Nairobi were fifth and sixth respectively in terms of the risk of sexual harassment.
#MeToo: Is the law on their side?
Wangechi Wachira, head of the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) in Kenya, said that while the #MeToo movement resonated with women, many were unwilling to follow through with complaints due to an unsympathetic justice system, lack of support and burden of proof being on the victim. She said:
“The whole system that needs to be supporting you is trying to traumatise you more. Most workplaces do not even have mechanisms to deal with sexual harassment complaints.”
Monica Godiva Akullo, a Ugandan lawyer and activist, pointed out that many of the challenges faced by African women were global, despite the #MeToo movement coming from “rich, famous women”.
She referred to the case of US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, whose alleged sexual assault victim Christine Blasey Ford was mocked by President Donald Trump himself at a political rally.
“From Uganda to the US, our societies still don’t believe women,” she said.
