Source: Daily News Tanzania
ON Monday, this week, the Draft Committee of the Constituent Assembly (CA) completed its work and officially presented the corrected version of the new Constitution for endorsement through voting.
Source: BBC News Africa
Sitting before a big screen with a list of key bullet points, women are busy taking notes about how to become Tunisia's next political leaders.
Source: Magharebia
Opposition activists with Morocco's Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) gathered in Casablanca recently to focus on women's rights.
Source: The point
Media practitioners at the WAJA training workshop last Wednesday called on female journalists to hold on to the profession, despite challenges they face.
Source: Ethiopian Radio & Television Agency
The Governments of Ethiopia and Finland, together with UN Women, organized a High-Level Ministerial Meeting on "Women's Right to Land - the Development Impact" in New York on Tuesday.
Source: The Guardian
Nairobi's high court convicted Jackson Namunya Tali of helping a Kenyan woman to obtain an abortion illegally, which led to her death. IQ4News reports
Source: The New York Times
Two years ago, when Jyoti Pandey, a 23-year-old Indian physiotherapy intern, was gang-raped and fatally beaten by six men on a bus in New Delhi, there was a moment of soul searching among South Africans.
Source: Tunis Afrique Presse
"47% candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections are women with only nearly 12% are heads of list," Secretary of State for Women and Family Affairs Neila Chaabane said Monday.
Source: Zawya
Nouakchott - Dr. Fatimetou Mohamed-Saleck, a key contributor to ICT (Information Communication Technologies) development in developing countries and Mauritania, with her prior experience with International Telecommunication Union, and a professional background in Information Technology, will contest the election for the post of Deputy Secretary-General (ITU). Mauritania has declared its intent to participate in the upcoming top-management elections of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which, through its Plenipotentiary Conference 2014, will elect its next Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General.
Source: Spy Ghana
Ms Comfort Agyemfra of Dynamic Women Organisation, an NGO, on Friday asked women to refuse dependency on their male counterparts and rather enter into self-sustaining entrepreneurship and skills training that would earn them jobs.
Source: BBC
Police in central Afghanistan are searching for a man who allegedly cut off part of his wife's nose with a kitchen knife.
The woman, thought to be 20, is in hospital. Officials say the man has reportedly assaulted his wife before.
Although such mutilation is rare in Afghanistan, reports of violence against women are increasing.
Last year the country's Human Rights Commission said violence against women rose by almost 25%, compared with 2012.
The names of the couple have not been released but police in Daykundi Province say the man attacked his wife after a heated argument.
"The husband cut his wife's nose with a kitchen knife," said Muhammad Ali Atai of the Provincial Crime Branch in Daykundi.
"Police transferred her to hospital. But her husband escaped from the area and is still at large."
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The woman's family has not commented on what happened and details are sketchy.
'Removed her fingernails'
Zakia Rizai, the head of Daykundi's Women's Affairs Department, told the BBC that the woman had been the victim of severe domestic violence in the past.
"Her husband was a violent man," she said. "We saw evidence that he had removed her fingernails. Once, she was kept locked inside a room without food or water for a week."
Cases of women being mutilated by male relatives are rare in Afghanistan but not unknown.
Last year, the BBC reported on the case of a 30-year-old woman called Sutara in Herat who spoke to reporters from her hospital bed.
She said she became engaged to her husband when she was just 11 and that he became addicted to heroin while working across the border in Iran.
Her husband wanted to sell her jewellery to buy drugs, she says. When she refused to hand it over to him, he knocked her unconscious, then stabbed her and cut off her top lip and her nose with a knife.
This latest case comes against a background of growing violence against women.
One reason behind the increase could be that more women are reporting abuse and the media is more likely to report their cases.
But analysts say many such crimes involving domestic violence still go unreported.
Some women are simply too frightened to speak out. Others may not trust the police to treat them fairly or have confidence that the justice system will support them if they do.
Source: AllAfrica
By Halimatou Ceesay
Did you know that there is a Declaration put together by the African Union on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment called the "African Women's Decade 2010-2020"?
Well, it has been in existence for four years now and it is all geared towards improving the lives of African women.
Energizing the African women's movement, and mentoring young women leaders and professionals, both in Africa and the Diaspora to be champions on gender equality and women's empowerment; implement the AU parity principle in line with the AU gender policy, and ensure targets for equal opportunities for women in decision-making positions, in the political, legislative, Judiciary and Executive are achieved.
Work with the African Union Peace and Security Department (PSD), the Peace and Security Council (PSC) and the Panel of the Wise in relation to United Nations Security Council Resolutions: 1325, 1820, 1888 and 1889, with particular focus on Violence Against Women (VAW), peace building and reconstruction.
Moving Africa from Commitments to Action
The African Women's Decade was launched in Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2010.
The Decade is an opportunity to integrate and strengthen linkages in the work on women's human rights, integrate women's social, political, economic and cultural rights in a single agenda.
It is also an opportunity to show the multiplier effect that achieving all these rights has for women and society at large.
To the greatest extent possible, the goals of the Decade should be linked to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which are the primary yardstick for progress in Africa.
The ideology behind this is not that women are being left behind by development, but that development on the continent is slowed by the exclusion of women.
As the continent experiences a wave of increased fundamentalism, the Decade can also be used as a critical space to foster dialogue on progressive views on culture, traditions and religion, as a catalyst for accelerated realization of women's rights.
The decade additionally provides an excellent platform for the women's movement to work together and reach out to other constituencies, to tell our stories, celebrate victories and achievements, and project our own images of African women and girls to Africa and the world.
The Ten Themes for the African Women's Decade (2010-2020)
1. Fighting Poverty and Promoting Economic Empowerment for Women and Entrepreneurship
Attain decent work for women and equal opportunity in employment, promotion, and movement towards parity at the work place.
Create employment and services by supporting women entrepreneurs particularly in informal sectors, including small medium enterprise (SME), medium enterprise (ME) and grow them to big businesses.
2. Agriculture and Food Security.
Achieving food security and fighting hunger.
Increase women's access to agricultural land, farm inputs, credit, technology, extension services, irrigation and access to water through water harvesting, boreholes etc.
Source: AllAfrica
Despite global gains in the number of children enrolled in school, many of the world's students fail to leave their educational experiences with the skills necessary for them to succeed in life and help their nations develop, United Nations officials said today.
"Something very important is at stake - the future," Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson declared in his opening remarks at the Global Education First Initiative (GEFI) high-level event held on the margins of the General Assembly in New York.
"Many countries have made major strides," Mr. Eliasson continued. "We must not let them down."
He pointed out, however, that with 58 million children still out of school worldwide and 250 million primary school-aged children in the world still unable to read, delegates were faced with some "uncomfortable facts."
"The world is now experiencing a global learning crisis," the Deputy Secretary-General stated, adding that there were "308 million reasons" to focus on improving access to quality education which is "a fundamental human right."
"Quality education is more than an entry point into the job market. It is the foundation for personal fulfilment, for gender equality, for social cohesion, for sustainable development, for economic growth, and for responsible global citizenship."
Launched in September 2012 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Initiative seeks to put every child in school, improve the quality of learning, and foster global citizenship.
In delivering the keynote address to the event, the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, echoed Mr. Eliasson, declaring that the international community had made "tremendous progress" on the issue of global education. She warned, however, that the world "should not be satisfied" with its successes and added that much remained to be achieved in terms of gender equality in education.
"When it comes to educating adolescent girls," said Ms. Obama, "the real challenge isn't about resources; it's about attitudes and beliefs."
Ms. Obama cited her own experiences, as a daughter and a mother, to illustrate the important role men can play in promoting the education of women. But, she added, encouraging gender quality was also key and she emphasized that "addressing gender-based violence must also be on the agenda."
The Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and co-organizer of the Initiative, Irina Bokova, similarly affirmed that the need for quality education was an "imperative," especially for girls and women.
Ms. Bokova noted that among the 58 million children out of school worldwide, girls and young women were still "hit hardest" and warned that the lack of education not only "threatens stability" but also "condemns entire generations to despair."
This message was echoed by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, who underscored the link between female education and the schoolgirls of Chibok, Nigeria, kidnapped by Boko Haram militants last April. The Nigerian schoolgirls, Mr. Brown said, were kidnapped for the sole reason that they sought an education and he urged the international community to resurrect its global efforts in supporting those girls still held in captivity.
In addition, Mr. Brown emphasized the importance of schooling in unlocking the future potential of children and noted the obstacles that still lay in the way of universal education for many children around the world.
"We cannot deliver universal education unless we end child marriage. We cannot deliver universal education unless we end child labour," Mr. Brown said.
"Education first is not a slogan, but a priority," he concluded. "Education first, education foremost, education forever."
Source: AllAfrica
A new report highlights strategies to end child marriage, a harmful practice that turns millions of young girls worldwide into child brides.
The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) launched the report in Washington and hosted a panel discussion that included international NGOs and humanitarian agencies.
The ICRW said the groups explored successful programs in Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia and India that focused on empowering girls, preventing child marriage and mitigating its harmful effects among an estimated 15 million girls.
Violating human rights of girls
"That's 15 million girls whose human rights are violated when they are forced into marriage" says Ann Warner, a senior gender and youth specialist for ICRW. "Not only are those individualized girls' lives compromised-their health, their futures, their aspirations and their well-being-but that also has really profound implications for the health of their families, their future children and the communities."
Warner said they analyzed a few programs that work directly with the girls who are either at risk of being married as children, or who are already married.
The programs work with girls in group settings, providing them with a variety of information.
"What we found is that these kinds of activities for girls really do help them a lot," said Warner.
The success of these programs shows in the girls themselves. Warner pointed out that the information they receive helps them to see themselves as contributors to the welfare of their families and communities. The programs also help to change the perceptions of others in their communities about the benefits of letting girls grow up and make their own choices about learning and contributing to the community.
"The programs also introduce alternatives for girls such as going back to school or staying in school, or seeking economic opportunities like small income-generating activities, or doing savings and loans with their peers," explained Warner.
She also said that poverty plays a huge role in the choices girls and they families make regarding their lives.
"We know that parents everywhere want the best for their children. They want them to be educated and to be happy. But, in context where there are few alternatives for girls, extra support is often required to equip girls with this information, with new skills and with social support," Warner said.
This year's UN General Assembly included the issue of child marriage in events hosted by ICRW and their partners.
"Our goal is to make sure that ending child marriage is a priority in the next set of development goals that are being shaped right now," said Warner.
Source: Lusaka Voice
Minister of Community Development, Mother and Child Health, Emerine Kabanshi says Zambia remains committed to strengthening the her health systems so as to provide universal access to sexual and reproductive health services in order to save lives.
Source: Sogi News
Address by South Africa’s Minister for Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, MP, on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly on the commission on population and development on harnessing the demographic dividend and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health in Africa, at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Source: Punch
Ahead of the 2015 general elections, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has developed a curriculum targeted at encouraging women at all levels to equip them to actively in the participation of women in politics and key gender-related positions.
Source: GhanaWeb
Despite progress that Africa has made in the past 20 years in the advancement of women, over 180,000 women on the continent still die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth each year.
Source: The Guardian
Those who design nutrition programmes can no longer ignore the evidence that success depends in part on women's power
Source: Reuters
Women must take a greater leadership role in fighting climate change because its effects fall hardest on women, the head of UN Women said this week.