As Senegal edges closer to becoming the first African country to fully abandon female genital mutilation/cutting, younger women are supporting campaigns to change social norms surrounding the practice.
Source: IRIN News
The self-declared Republic of Somaliland is grappling with high child and maternal mortality rates, malnutrition and inadequate medical personnel, health officials told IRIN.
Source: allAfrica
Delegates who recently attended a gender summit in Addis Ababa hope the African Union Summit on Intra-African Trade that was also held there will take their recommendations into account to benefit the continent's women.
Source: The Citizen
A local organisation in Muleba District is running a unique programme in Nshamba Division to equip young girls with self-defence techniques for use against being sexually abused.
The high number of unnecessary deaths during pregnancy and childbirth is unacceptable for Intel Corporation and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
The government came under fire yesterday, as Members of Parliament exposed gross violation of women’s rights and various forms of violence against women and girls in the country’s prisons.
Women living with HIV/Aids in Gasabo and Nyanza districts are being denied their rights to inherit family property by their spouses and other relatives, a research conducted by the Women’s Network for Rural Development, commonly known by its French moniker Reseaux Des Femmes, has shown.
ProNet North, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) is undertaking projects in four districts of the Upper West Region to promote women’s participation in politics.
Cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), as well as domestic violence, are increasing in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland, with social workers attributing the trend to hard economic times made worse by recent drought in the region.
Brussels, the European Commission, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today announced the launch of a multi-country initiative to enhance women’s participation in peace-building and post-conflict planning and economic recovery.
The Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) held its General Assembly, today 30 January 2012, at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the theme: “An HIV/AIDS free tomorrow needs caring men and women today”.
Source: Leadership
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has assured women in the State of 50 per cent slots in both appointive and elective positions in government at the state, local and ward levels.
Source: Leadership
A prominent traditional ruler in Osun State, Oba Adebukola Alli, the Alowa of Ilowa in Obokun local government area of the state has disclosed that he made love with an ex- corps member, Miss Hellen Okpara just as he claimed that Okpara enjoyed it whenever they had fun.
Source: Biz-Community
In a double first, a South African, Cherilyn Ireton, has been appointed executive director of the WEF, and she is the first woman to head the global organisation of world's editors.
Source: Vanguard
THE vague fight against the ignorance of skin bleaching among Nigerians has received yet another boost as Bunmi Ogunmoyero, Public Relations student of University of Westminster, UK, launches her campaign "Love the Skin You Are In" to open a new vista of knowledge into how young Nigerians can stop confusing inferiority complex for confidence.
A major new global initiative, the Third Billion Campaign, aimed at expanding women’s employment, access to finance, markets and education, will be launched in New York City on February 1, 2012. The initiative of La Pietra Coalition, the Third Billion Campaign is spearheading the decade long campaign to galvanize corporations and NGO’s all over the world to tap into women’s economic potential as employees, entrepreneurs, producers and consumers.
Zhang Daliu, 46, a carpenter from China never imagined himself in the dreadful confines of a stinking and overcrowded Zambian jail where conditions are so terrible that they lead to gastronomic disorders and skin diseases within days of confinement.
Last week, tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo on the one-year anniversary of the 2011 revolt. With Islamists winning nearly half of the seats in Parliament recently, some Iranian women caution their Egyptian counterparts to learn from their revolution, after which they say they lost rights with the formation of an extreme Islamic state.
Source: AllAfrica
While launching its elections assistance project with the theme 'Breaking barriers: Empowering women to register to vote, the 50/50 Group of Sierra Leone has urged all women in the country to go out in their numbers and register for the forthcoming November 17 elections.
A highly anticipated election for the position of African Union Commission chairperson petered out into a stalemate after four rounds of voting failed to conclusively reveal a winner. But it wasn’t quite a damp squib. Quite the contrary, actually: the election served up all the drama of a World Cup semi-final. By KHADIJA PATEL and SIMON ALLISON.