Source: Malawi News Agency
Minister of Gender,Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati has emphasized the need for gender equality, equity and women empowerment if the country was to achieve sustainable development.
Source: NPR
Four hours. That's how much time physicist Rabia Salihu Sa'id has each day to get her research done at Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria.
"Each day, my university is giving me only four hours of electricity. I can't do research in four hours!" Sa'id says, laughing, despite her frustration.
Source: The World Economic Forum
Despite progress in many societies, women almost everywhere still suffer from significant levels of discrimination. Even in countries where gender equality has advanced furthest, women are over-represented in lower-paying jobs, under-represented in senior government and business positions, and on the receiving end of most domestic violence.
Source: African Press Organization
"Agricultural research and development in Mozambique is an important tool for increasing production, and consequently reducing household malnutrition and poverty, particularly in children and women," says Olivia Narciso Pedro, a lecturer and researcher at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique. "My vision for agriculture-led growth in Mozambique is to design alternatives to mitigate loss of genetic diversity, and ensure conservation of species, while improving household food security."
Source: The Citizen
The failure of gender-based violence (GBV) to crack the barest hint of a nod during President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address last week has activists worried.
"We are extremely disappointed the president never spoke about it," said Sonto Magwaza of Sonke Gender Justice.
Source: ReliefWeb
More than $56 million is urgently needed to provide vital reproductive, maternal and newborn health services in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
This amount, according to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will cover the initial six months of the UNFPA-led Mano River Midwifery initiative-a new Ebola-response effort that would increase the number of health workers to ensure that women and girls of childbearing age stay healthy and safe despite the crisis. The funds will also cover the cost of contact-tracing to identify all potential contacts of Ebola cases and help prevent infections.
Source: openDemocracy
How can we address the global threat to women's rights with no space for girls' - or even women's - voices at the UN? How will we design a post-2015 framework that responds to the needs of the most marginalized?
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
Malawi has passed a law banning child marriage, raising the minimum age to 18 in a country where half of girls end up as child brides.
Women rights campaigners hailed the move as "a great day for Malawian girls" and said the law would help boost development in one of the world's poorest countries.
Source: The Herald
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe will be joining the rest of the world in commemorating the International Women's Day through its exhibition, "Out of Darkness".
The exhibition will run from March 21 to April 20.
Source: The Globe and Mail
The London School of Economics has just opened its Centre for Women, Peace and Security, or, in less euphemistic terms, "the centre for why so many women are raped and tortured in war zones, and why so few people care about it."
Source: The New York Times
The pattern is striking. Men who are eventually arrested for violent acts often began with attacks against their girlfriends and wives. In many cases, the charges of domestic violence were not taken seriously or were dismissed.
Source: World Economic Forum
For far too long, women and girls in Africa have faced discrimination and inequalities in the workforce which have not only hurt them, but their families, communities and their countries as a whole. As we begin 2015, the African Union'sYear of Women's Empowerment, one thing is clear: we will not reduce poverty without working to achieve gender equality.
Source: Egyptian Streets
There is no doubt that violence against women (VAW) is a major challenge in Egypt, in all its shapes and forms. Most prevalent cases are sexual harassment, domestic violence, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), forced marriage and socio-economic discrimination. An extremely concerning fact regarding the reporting of such cases is that less than 5% of women seek help from the authorities.
Source: Channel 4 News
A civil rights worker in Nigeria's restive northeast organised the dramatic rescue of nearly 500 schoolgirls from a town under attack by Boko Haram. He has been credited with averting a repeat of the abduction, in April last year, of 279 students from the town of Chibok, most of whom are still missing.
Source: Open Democracy
Last month the results of a global survey on women living with HIV were published. The survey was designed and conducted by women, and commissioned by the World Health Organisation. Will the findings be acted upon?
Source: The Guardian
Advocacy group Equality Now says that despite progress many discriminatory laws remain 20 years after a call to repeal them – and more are being passed.
Source: Sun Star
Women advocates will use dance as a vehicle to raise global awareness on violence against women when they hold the One Billion Rising Revolution (OBR Revolution) today, February 14, at Rizal Park in Manila.
Source: IT Web Africa
Women being under-represented in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector has long been discussed and debated.
Why are there not enough women in the ICT sector? What must be done to get more women in ICT? Are there enough women who occupy decision making roles within the sector, are only some of the questions.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Sudanese army forces raped more than 200 women and girls in an organized attack on the north Darfur town of Tabit in October 2014, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) should take urgent steps to protect civilians in the town from further abuses.
Source: The Economist
A couple of days ago, a senior African cleric was holding forth on the need to combine religious instruction with, in the broadest sense, sex education. Both at home and at school, declared Archbishop Henri Isingoma, boys must be taught about the higher purpose of sex as "the way God wanted to make the human race continue."