12 December 2017 is an auspicious day, as it marks Kenya’s independence from colonial rule in 1963. Today is also Universal Health Coverage Day. It is the anniversary of the first unanimous United Nations resolution calling for countries to provide affordable, quality health care to every person, everywhere.
Source: Al-Monitor
CAIRO — The Egyptian parliament passed a new Inheritance law Dec. 5 giving women their legitimate right to inheritance after the majority had been deprived of it, especially in Upper Egypt where cultural norms and traditions are ingrained with sexism.
Nume Ekeghe writes on FirstBank of Nigeria's women-focused banking products
Thousands of small and medium enterprises in Mauritius will benefit from a US $100-million loan to the country from the African Development Bank.
Source: The London School of Economics and Political Science
For many journalists, critiques and insults are a badge of honor. A few slings and arrows are considered part of the job of ‘afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted’. These attacks become a mark that you must be doing something right if ‘they’re coming after you’.
Karonga — Women in Karonga have hailed Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) for ensuring that women have access and control over land, a development they say has enhanced food security in their homes.
Traditionally many Ethiopians abhor abuse or harassment. This is believed to have secured dignity for the people of the country over the years. Someone who denounces harassment tends to respect the rights of others.
In the heat of a late September day in Mozambique, southern Africa, we started filming a meeting of young charity volunteers. They had poured heart and soul into an ambitious project aimed at combating HIV and spreading a message about contraception in the province of Gaza.
Source: UN News
The armed conflict in Somalia continues to exact a heavy toll on civilians, damaging infrastructure and livelihoods, displacing millions of people, and impeding access to humanitarian relief for communities in need, according to a United Nations report launched today in the country's capital, Mogadishu.
Source: IPS News
The space for civil society organizations is shrinking around the world, with particular impacts on women activists and human rights defenders who face additional barriers due to their gender or sexual orientation.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
Family planning is a key tool for reducing poverty since it frees up women to work and leads to smaller, healthier families
Source: UN Women
There is hardly a woman or a girl, in urban and rural areas alike, who has not experienced sexual harassment or the threat of sexual violence in public spaces. Unwanted sexual remarks and jokes, groping, indecent exposure and many other forms of sexual harassment are often trivialized and rarely legislated. As women’s voices around the world rise in protest, UN Women’s Safe City programme in Marrakech has engaged people from all walks of life—from bus and taxi drivers to journalists—to prevent and respond to sexual harassment.
Source: Inter Press Service News Agency
- At an event held on October 29 at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Gender Awards 2017, five countries were honored for impressive achievements in gender equality and women’s empowerment despite harsh conditions and numerous daunting situational and societal obstacles. The five countries are Bangladesh, Mozambique, Colombia, Morocco, and Mauritania.
Source: Inter Press News Service Agency
- This weekend marks World Toilet Day (November 19)– and the news is disheartening. One in three people are still waiting for a toilet; still having to face the indignity and often fear of relieving themselves in the open or using unsafe or unhygienic toilets.
Source: Inter Press Service News Agency
- I rent a tent for five dollars a week, and pay 30 as a monthly fee to access an artisanal mining camp of more than 900 miners. To get there takes a two-hour climb from the nearest trading centre. I sleep with about six male workers, each of whom pays about three dollars per session.
ECOWAS countries have been tasked to enforce gender-friendly and inclusive agriculture laws to increase production and value-chain in order to meet up with Africa's Zero Hunger target by the year 2025.
Osogbo — People of Osun State on Tuesday declared an end to the practice of female genital mutilation and promised to champion the campaign and advocacy to eradicate and banish the practice totally.
Source: Inter Press Service News Agency
- Sally Mboumien remembers the day she pressed a steaming hot stone against her chest. In Bawock, the rural community of western Cameroon where she grew up, young girls often had their young, sprouting breasts flattened with a hot iron or a hammer or spatulas that had been heated over burning coals.
It’s the fifth day of the 16 days campaign on violence against women but I feel like the campaign started months ago because of the powerful #MeToo campaign. While I applaud this campaign, I have some thoughts that I believe could make this a truly global watershed moment in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence.
Source: Forbes
November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This important day was established by the UN General Assembly Resolution 54/134 in December 1999. Violence against women and girls includes: "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."