Parents in Kisii were on Friday discouraged from forcing their daughters to under the outlawed Female Genital Mutilation and instead opt for an alternative rite of passage.
n October 2011, Compass Group Southern Africa, a food services company, placed South Africa third in the world in obesity rankings, after the United States and Great Britain.
Since its emergence in 2007, Pink Pearl Foundation has shown its dedication, determination, and assertiveness in eradicating breast and cervical cancer in Nigeria.
Source: Aswat Masriya
For the purpose of a video report on sexual harassment in Egypt, 24-year-old actor Waleed Hammad dressed as a woman to experience the assaults firsthand.
A baby's birth day is the most dangerous day of life--in the United States and almost every country in the world--according to Save the Children's State of the World's Mothers report, released today.
The gender conference will see women talking about new strategies to enhance the economic capacity of women through gender budgeting.
Mollin Siyanda, 46, a single mother of three from Harare’s low-income suburb of Hatcliffe, is scared of being arrested by the council police as she sells fruit, vegetables and second-hand clothes on the pavement of the city centre without a permit.
Source: IPS
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, a human rights lawyer and the general secretary of the global rights network World YWCA, knows what it is like to struggle against poverty and violence: she herself comes from a poor family in Magaya village in Murewa district, which lies northeast of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.
In a joint statement several women’s and human rights groups demanded that the media stops targeting female political activists.
Maghreb women have made many strides towards improved rights, but governments and social pressure continue to stand in their way. This was the tone taken at a two-day forum that ended Saturday (April 27th) in Casablanca.
The African Women’s Development and Communication Network ( FEMNET) is recruiting men to stand up for women under threat of being stripped or harassed for being skimpily dressed in public places.
During the rebel takeover of northern Mali in April 2012, many women said they were subjected to rape or sexual assault. Since then, little or no support has come through for these women, say aid workers.
More than 50 government, civil society, academic and United Nations experts came together for a meeting coordinated by the African Union (AU) in partnership with UN Women from 24 to 26 April in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to review key frameworks and initiatives on maternal and newborn child health and recommend actions for reduction of maternal and child deaths in Africa.
A big step was taken at the United Nations in March when governments adopted an historic agreement in the Commission on the Status of Women to prevent and end violence against women and girls. The agreement, which breaks new ground with its strong focus on prevention, protection of women’s rights and provision of services to survivors, sets a strong foundation for follow-up action and also for the future of international development.
AFRICA: Female Genital Schistosomiasis (FGS): Sub-Saharan Africa’s Secret Scourge of Girls and Women
PLOS NTDs editor-in-chief Peter Hotez highlights the subject of Female Genital Schistosomiasis in Africa that continues to affect women there heavily, yet receives disproportionally little attention.
Source: UN News Centre
There are encouraging signs that the new push for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) can succeed, Mary Robinson said today in her first briefing to the Security Council since taking her post as United Nations Envoy for Africa's Great Lakes Region.
"I believe we do meet at a moment of renewed opportunity," Mrs. Robinson told a closed door session in New York of the 15-nation Council via video teleconference.
The place of women in a nation's economy is very important because it enhances their participation in development which is essential not only in achieving social justice but also in reducing poverty.
Source: Human Rights Watch
International donors meeting in London to discuss the new Somali government's reform agenda should make accountability and women's rights a priority, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper sent to conference participants. On May 7, 2013, over 50 countries will convene to discuss the government's strategic plans for justice, police, and army reform, prevention of sexual violence, and financial management.
Source: Premium Times
About 24 days from now, thousands of medical practitioners, policy makers, development workers and advocates for improved health care delivery for women will converge on Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. Their mission will be the third edition of the Women Deliver Conference, a global conference put together by Women Deliver, an advocacy group comprising a coalition of organisations working towards generating "political commitment and resource investments to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health."
Source: Vanguard
Abiola Akiyode — Abiola Akiyode is an activist of note within and outside Nigeria. The Executive Director of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre- WARDC, in this interview, among other issues, she suggests the need for a gender struggle that is less elitist and which would easily accommodate the rural women who largely constitute the female population in Nigeria.