Source: Open Society Initative for Southern Africa
South Africa has proven to be one of the most progressive countries on the African continent in terms of observing tolerance and people's rights, especially the rights of minority groups. However, although South Africa has made positive strides in equality and in guaranteeing rights, especially pertaining to sexual orientation, the country has seen a dramatic rise in brutal attacks against lesbians.
Source: IRIN News
The new government is responding positively to health workers and youth groups who have long called for a change in the 1861 law banning abortion except in exceptional circumstances.
In the aftermath of the political upheavals in the Arab world, women's rights have largely fallen by the wayside. Human rights organizations are concerned that gender equality has actually taken a step backward.
Source: Leadership
The Joint Task Force [JTF} in Maiduduri, the Borno State capital has refuted media reports that about 20 university female students were killed by suspected members of Boko Haram.
THE one third gender rule on elective positions should be achieved instantly and not progressively, the Supreme Court was told yesterday.
In Bo, central Sierra Leone, maternal mortality rates have dropped 61 percent since 1990 thanks to cost-free 24/7 emergency obstetric care and an efficient ambulance service and referral system.
Message of the Executive Director for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
While visiting families fleeing violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, WFP Web Editor Martin Penner met a woman named Liberata, who agreed to take some questions from our supporters on Facebook. Here is what she said.
In addition, the number of people with access to antiretroviral therapy increased by 63% in the last 24 months—AIDS-related deaths fell by more than 25% between 2005 and 2011 globally.
The United Nations agency tasked with advancing gender equality today announced a new initiative that will spotlight countries’ commitments to end violence against women and girls, seeking bold action and leadership to galvanize efforts to end the pandemic.
The senate yesterday hosted a meeting that discussed existing and planned interventions towards women economic empowerment through financial inclusion and devising means of addressing existing challenges.
The impact of not accessing family planning in Namibia can be seen in the daily occurrence of baby dumping and teenage pregnancies, according to Mary Hangula of the National Planning Commission.
On September 2, 2004, a document known as ‘The Women’s Manifesto for Ghana’ came into being.
Charles Kayongo of Uganda is a father of two girls aged five and three. And even though age-old traditions among his ethnic group, the Baganda, say a man should have an unlimited number of children and a son as an heir, Kayongo refuses to have more children.
Give a woman a hand-out and you feed her for a day. But teach her to farm, and how to add value to her product, and you feed her and her family for a lifetime. And if she happens to be Nigerian smallholder farmer Susan Godwin, she in turn will also provide jobs for her community and become a national food hero.
As little-known politician Fauzia Yusuf Haji Adan was sworn in as Somalia’s first female foreign minister and deputy prime minister on Monday Nov. 19, the stateswoman who hails from the unrecognised, self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland is tipped to become the country’s “Iron Lady”.
Customary and inheritance laws make it difficult for Ugandan women to own land, but are attitudes beginning to shift?
Source: CNN
When Babatunde Osotimehin last year became the head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -- the international development agency promoting female rights -- the news didn't go down too well with many women working in the field.
Dr Philomena Nyarko, Acting Government Statistician, on Tuesday said it was important for the country to draw on the assets and skills of women for socio-economic development.
Fifteen million babies globally are born prematurely each year and one million of them die, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).