Source: BBC
Women's rights activists in Morocco have welcomed plans to change and article of the penal code that allows rapists of underage girls to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims
Source: The Star
Women and children are the worst hit by the Tana Delta clashes. Out of the 163 people killed, 90 are women and children. Fifty one women and 39 children were killed in the violence compared to 64 men who lost their lives.
Source: Shabelle Media Network
Somali authorities should immediately release a journalist and three others linked to the case of a woman who reported being raped by state security forces, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Human Rights Watch said today. The detainees have now been held for more than a week – one for 12 days – without charge.
Source: Radio Dabanga
A group of armed militias carried out random attacks at the El-Shaheed town, in Kabkabiya locality, North Darfur. Sources confirm that a woman was raped and that other citizens were severely beaten.
Source: allAfrica
When the chair of the African Union (AU), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma walked into the 21st bi-annual Gender is my Agenda Campaign (GIMAC) meeting on Tuesday she was given a reception, I am sure, she does not usually receive when carrying out her official business. Women, who represent the 55 civil society organisations that make up the GIMAC movement, welcomed her with song.
Source: allAfrica
A total of five candidates have been nominated to contest for the Butaleja district Woman parliamentary seat. Three candidates - Betty Hamba (Independent), Felista Namwihiri (FDC) and Perusi Munaba (Independent) - were nominated on Monday to contest in the by-elections scheduled for February 11.
Source: allAfrica
President Goodluck Jonathan and the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, have said this year will be "a tipping point for change" and global awareness for saving more lives, especially those of women and children. The two leaders, who are co-chairs of the United Nations Saving Life Commodities for Women and Children, in a joint report presented in Oslo, Norway Tuesday, also praised Nigeria's initiative of saving one million lives.
Source: allAfrica
THE ARRIVAL IN Liberia of a team of illustrious women rights campaigners, including Nobel women laureates, not only defines Liberia's place in women empowerment but also refocuses the nation to the last vestiges of discrimination and abuse still lingering in the social space.
Source: allAfrica
National and traditional leaders, as well as many other stakeholders in the Kavango Region yesterday began a specially convened two-day conference at Kamutjonga, 25km from Divundu, to deliberate on burning issues such as teenage pregnancies and malnutrition in the region.
Led by the Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku the conference is taking place at the Kamutjonga Inland Fisheries Institute.
Source: UN Dispatch
This post was co-written with Carol by Jason Warner, a PhD student in African Studies and Government at Harvard University.
You may have missed it, but 2012 was a very a big year for African women.
Source: UNFPA
Africa has many accomplishments in which to take pride and confidence. Progress on many fronts is dramatic with a new sense of optimism right across the continent. Economic growth is strong, feeding through into increased incomes and better living standards.
Will the increasingly vocal support for education, economic empowerment and a change of attitudes help in the struggle for gender equality?
Source: UN Women
“We need millions of men as agents of change and we have many rivers and oceans to cross before we get there,” says Antonie de Jong, Director of Resource Mobilisation at UN Women and one of the 15 men who rode as part of a motorcycle caravan across nine countries in southern Africa.
Source: East Africa Business Week
Winifred (winnie) Byanyima, a Grassroots activist, human rights advocate, senior international public servant, and world recognized expert on women's rights, has been appointed Executive Director of Oxfam International - a role that provides strategic direction and coordination for the worldwide confederation of Oxfam affiliates.
Source: Radio Dabanga
Armed herders killed two women and raped another two in separate events that took place in West Darfur, a number of sources told Radio Dabanga.
Source: The Star
A tough battle is looming for the race Narok women's representative seat after the daughters of the former MPs get the tickets for March 4, general elections.
Source: Swazi Media Commentary
A women who is seven months pregnant was jailed in Swaziland, even though there were no allegations of wrongdoing or pending convictions against her, after her mother told a magistrate her daughter needed correcting.
Source: BBC News
Women and girls were hit the hardest by the global recession, according to child rights and development organisations.
"The world is failing girls and women," a report by Plan International and the Overseas Development Institute said.
A shrinking economy sent girls' infant mortality soaring, and more females were abused or starved, they said.
This could erode gains made in recent years towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals, they added.
Source: Egypt Independet
The National Council for Women said during a meeting Monday that calls for Egyptian men to marry Syrian refugee women were "a crime committed in the name of religion."
Source: opendemocracy.net
The social movements of the 60s gave American women the skills to name and address the injuries they faced in their own lives, and led to a global women’s movement that is now facing a violent backlash. We need to know this history in order to fight for women’s rights today