Source: acessed from allAfrica
December 2011Women's participation in the political life of a country has always faced an uphill struggle. Beginning with the fight for the right to vote, which was granted very late even in such well-developed countries as Switzerland, a major hurdle has been the underlying patriarchy of many nations.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
President Obama has been issuing a series of executive orders to show his administration is getting things done despite being stymied by Congress on a number of fronts. On Monday, the White House will announce an executive order to create a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.
Activists and lawyers in Egypt have accused the military of violating human rights in the recent violence in Cairo in which women protestors treated particularly poorly.
Women's organisations must strategize to maintain the peace of the nation throughout the processes of Election 2012 while they up their activities towards increasing their representation in politics and decision-making to ensure gender equity.
While heads of state and negotiators gathered behind closed doors at the 17th conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, more than 500 women from across Africa arrived by the busload at the nearby University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) chanting and singing.
Half of all peace accords signed in the last 20 years have failed—and one reason is that they were left to men. Swanee Hunt on the women leading the charge in fixing how war and peace are waged.
This year’s election in Nigeria saw some important gains in women’s political participation. President Goodluck Jonathon appointed 33% of cabinet positions to women (up from 10% in the last government), including the ministerial portfolios of finance and education. This is in keeping with Nigeria’s commitments to gender equality, encapsulated in the National Gender Policy, which sets the benchmark for women’s seats in Parliament at 35% - 5% higher than the international standard.
Source: Voice of America
A British Medical Journal editorial calls for a moral and political movement to end violence and oppression against women and girls. It says about one billion women worldwide have been beaten, coerced into having sex or otherwise abused.
Female prisoners around the world are being subjected to body cavity searches, beatings and force-feeding, are held in padded cells, shackled during childbirth, and made to work in chain gangs. Some of the worst conditions are in developing countries, but there are also serious abuses and overcrowding in Europe and North America. These are the major findings of a survey by The Independent on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of United Nations rules governing the treatment of women in prison.
Source: IRIN
Aid agencies are warning donors to act now to avert a drought and food security crisis that could mean over 11 million people sink into further food insecurity, poverty or malnutrition.
Source: Uganda Media Centre
Your Excellencies, In the past, it has been said that women’s concerns are ‘cultural’, while men’s concerns are ‘political’. Accordingly, rape has been regarded as private and cultural, rather than criminal and political. The Great Lakes Conference, however, treats women’s rights and the prevention of sexual violence as central to its peace, security and development interests.
Source: IPS
As South Sudan maps out its economic future at the South Sudan International Engagement Conference (IEC) this week in Washington, women from the new country called on donors to invest in projects that ensure women benefit equally from development plans.
In January, Egyptian women stunned the world when they took to the streets alongside men to topple the corrupt Mubarak regime. With their designer sunglasses and flowered scarves, they won the hearts of people around the world.
Source: IPS
On an elegant veranda adorned with a red carpet, Malawi’s Vice President Joyce Banda recalls how her childhood friend Chrissie Mtokoma was always top of their class and how she struggled to beat her. But now decades later Banda is a likely contender for the country’s presidency in 2014, while Mtokoma lives in poverty.
A Ugandan woman has been elected to serve as a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
Source: The Guardian
The arrest and brutal treatment of this young woman reminds us that the revolution is far from over. The woman is young, and slim, and fair. She lies on her back surrounded by four soldiers, two of whom are dragging her by the arms raised above her head. She's unresisting – maybe she's fainted; we can't tell because we can't see her face.
Source: The Herald
From November 25 to December 10 the nation commemorated 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence. This period also saw the launch of the 4Ps Campaign on Zero Tolerance to gender based violence.
Source: IMF
Up to the moment when Edna Sakwa, 22, walked into the offices of AkiraChix in downtown Nairobi, she had barely touched a computer. Her lack of tech savvy meant she was puzzled when she first heard the acronym “IT” for information technology.
Source: GNA
The Enslavement Prevention Alliance-West Africa (EPAWA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) has urged men, especially those in leadership positions to collaborate with women, and other key stakeholders to fight against women-based violence in the country.
Source: Times of Zambia
First Lady Christine Kaseba has called on member States of the Great Lakes Region to domesticate all relevant international and regional instruments that focus on women.