For Esenam Amuzu’s peers in Ghana, teen pregnancy, gender-based violence and risky sexual behavior are often the norm. On World Population Day, she explains how sex education and access to contraception can turn girls’ lives around.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
Egypt is the most populous in the Arab world with 93 mln citizens and is set to grow to 128 mln by 2030.
Source: Life for African Mothers
According to the World Health Organisation, approximately 800 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, with 99% of all maternal deaths occurring in developing countries. These figures, while having improved drastically in recent years, suggest an urgent need for maternal care in these countries to address this shocking mortality rate.
Source: UN Women
The 2030 Agenda aspires to peaceful, just, inclusive societies to underpin sustained development.
Source: United Nations University
African women have always been active in agriculture, trade, and other economic pursuits, but a majority of them are in the informal labour force. In 1985, women's shares in African labour forces ranged from 17 per cent, in Mali, to 49 per cent in Mozambique and Tanzania (World Bank, 1989).
Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa
Addis Ababa, 24th August, 2017: The 4th Acting On The Call (AOTC) conference started on the 24th August 2017 at the African Union, Addis Ababa Ethiopia with a theme “Overcoming Critical Barriers to Maternal and Child Survival”. The AOTC conference which is hosted by the governments of Ethiopia and India gathered more than 500 participants from 24 countries and held in the presence of the President of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, Ministers and high level policymakers from the public and private sectors, NGOs and UN agencies including UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO.
FGM is usually motivated by cultural or religious belief systems, and is more common in some regions of Africa.
Source: Online Africa Renewal
A decade ago, African women had reason to expect change following a much-heralded global conference that set ambitious targets to transform the lives of women across the world. This year marks the 10th anniversary of that milestone event, the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China, in 1995. Like their counterparts elsewhere, African women are taking stock of progress and asking to what extent promised reforms have been implemented. They are also examining why progress has been limited in many countries and are seeking ways to overcome the obstacles.
Source: Our Africa
Status of women
Women have fought to achieve equal rights in many parts of Africa. But as in other regions of the globe, a woman’s status varies by country and region.
Several organizations working in Africa have found the most effective way to stop the practice of female genital cutting is to avoid assigning blame and help communities tackle the practice from within.
Vaginal microbicides are meant to give women autonomy over how they protect themselves against HIV. But a recent study set in Zambia shows that social ideas of masculinity mean men get to dictate how and when women use microbicides.
Uganda has made progress on HIV/AIDS, but activists say discrimination is still rampant. Now, two women who say they were fired after forced testing revealed them to be HIV positive are fighting back.
With a higher proportion of women in Parliament than any other country, Rwanda seems to be a model of equal representation and empowerment. But politicians and rights campaigners say the nation’s women still struggle to be heard.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
FGM is still taking place because it is a big source of income for the cutters. We want to see more ngaribas dropping their knives.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
A national survey in Morocco found that nearly two-thirds of women had experienced physical, psychological, sexual or economic abuse.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thousands of elderly Tanzanian women have been strangled, knived to death and burned or buried alive over the last two decades after being denounced as witches.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
Fati Ibrahim was one of scores of women gathered outside a tent in a remote community of Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, struggling for a chance to get in and receive help. Three years ago her husband was murdered, her first son went missing, and she was forced to flee her hometown of Gwoza in northeast Nigeria when Boko Haram Islamist militants attacked.
Source: AllAfrica
Maseru — Women's representation in Lesotho's parliament dropped by two-percentage points from 25% to 23% after the June 2017 National Assembly Elections.
Source: Vangaurd
Barely three months to the Anambra State Governorship Election, billed for November 18, 2017, the political terrain has once again been electrified.
Source: AllAfrica
Most women nominated by political parties to the Senate, National Assembly and Ward Representative in 2013, successfully used their positions as a stepping stone to elective politics, in the just concluded General Election.