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.
Source: Voice of America
Member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region wrapped up a five-day summit on sexual and gender-based violence on Friday, calling for collective action in tackling an issue that has touched every country in the region.
Source: Voice of America
The United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Rashida Manjoo spoke to reporters in Nairobi Friday about her just-concluded mission to Somalia, where she examined the occurrence of gender-based violence there.
It is an exciting time for Egypt as the country headed to the polls again this week for another round of parliamentary elections in what is being widely hailed as the first free and fair vote in decades. But for Egypt’s women, who make up 52% the country’s eligible voters, the polling is less fair than they had hoped.
Source: France 24
Hamadi Jebali, the secretary general of Tunisia’s moderate Islamist party Ennahda, spoke to FRANCE 24 on Wednesday as he was officially named the country’s new prime minister. He is now tasked with forming a government.
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro today stressed that efforts to restore peace and stability in Africa’s Great Lakes region will not come to fruition unless the scourge of sexual violence is completely eradicated and justice systems are strengthened to end impunity.
Source: IPS
The women of Makoko, a low-lying slum close to the Lagos Lagoon along Nigeria’s Atlantic coast, always sleep with one eye open. Many live in fear that when they go to sleep at night they will wake to flooded homes and business."The other day, I slept and dreamt that a cold breeze was blowing on me. When I woke up I realised that I was actually sleeping in a flooded room," Dupe Faseun, a single mother of five and self-employed canteen owner, told IPS.
Source: The Daily Beast
At a conference in D.C., women from South Sudan help develop solutions for problems with literacy, banking, agriculture, oil revenues, and other challenges facing their new nation.
Source: IPS
Pointing out that women played a critical role in the referendum that made South Sudan an independent country in July - 52 percent of voters in that referendum were female – South Sudanese women pushed for measures that would help secure a strong female presence in sectors including government, agriculture and the economy.
Source: AlertNet
A policy aimed at ensuring future security of food supplies must centre around the world's 500 million smallholder producers, many of whom are women who farm less than two hectares of land, a leading United Nations official said on Wednesday.
Source: Bikyamasr
A group of Egyptian women’s rights advocates in Alexandria organized a protest on Saturday calling for greater participation for women in public and political life, coinciding with the anniversary of the human rights declaration.
Source: The Daily News Egypt
CAIRO: The results of the first round of parliamentary elections indicate that female representation will be minimal, if not nonexistent – a phenomenon experts and candidates attribute to cultural barriers.
Source: Women News Network
On March 9, in response to the uprising, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI issued a televised statement announcing new guidelines to the Moroccan political system and a revision of the 1996 constitution. A commission was appointed by His Majesty to draft a proposal for a reformed constitution, chaired by Abdellatif Menouni, a prominent jurist.