Source: BBC
As more than 25 million people are placed on a two-week lockdown in parts of Nigeria in a bid to curtail the spread of coronavirus, poor people in congested neighbourhoods are worried about how they will cope, writes the BBC's Nduka Orjinmo from the commercial capital Lagos.
Source: Al Jazeera
In a "good month", about 100 girls will be brought by their families to Halima Hirsi's* underground clinic in Nairobi to be subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM).
Families come here from all over the world, willing to pay $150 a time for their daughters to be cut.
"The Somali diaspora are good people for my business," says Hirsi, 69, the manager of the clinic, who also carries out procedures.
Source: All Africa
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is still widely practised in the African country of Djibouti. Despite efforts by the government and development agencies to curb this practice, culture, tradition and religion continue to slow down progress.
Source: United National Population Fund
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages around the world, governments are taking unprecedented measures to limit the spread of the virus, ramping up health system responses and announcing movement restrictions affecting millions. But amid these efforts, policymakers must not lose sight of the vulnerabilities of women and girls, which have been exacerbated by the crisis, says a UNFPA guidance note released today.
Source: World Economic Forum
Senegal's start-up scene is dominated by men, the laws are complex and the taxes are high - all reasons why talented businesswomen from the West African nation shy away from creating companies, said entrepreneur Seynabou Thiam.
.Source: All Africa
The Darfur Consultative Women Forum demands security and peace, protection of (displaced) people, restructuring of the security system and weapons to be collected as top priorities in North Darfur.
Source: BluePrint
The Phenomenon of land grabbing in developing countries like Nigeria has led to worsening livelihood choices for smallholder farmers who depended on communal lands for subsistence; ADEOLA TUKURU writes: Land grabbing has become a challenge to land acquisition in Nigeria. And mostly affected are women farmers who form a majority of small holder farmers.
Her alarm goes off at 6:45am. She opens her eyes wide and sticks her leg outside her bed cover. It’s cold, her bed is warm and cosy, but she has an interview to get to. Today is not a day to snooze. She had been out of a job for such a long time, thanks to the recession. She gathered all her hope, enthusiasm and poured it into the day.
Source: All Africa
PRESIDENT John Magufuli on Monday reiterated his position on birth control, saying a large population is beneficial to the economy.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
When Namibian activist Venicia Shanjenka first saw the tweet naming and shaming a rapist in the tiny southern African country of 2.5 million, she thought it was a brave but isolated act.
One day, when my daughter was eight, I asked her to help me unload the dishwasher. She moaned, dragged her feet and pleaded for Haribo in exchange for this simple task. I asked her if she knew how lucky she was and told her that, in many homes in Nigeria, girls as young as her were forced to do chores all day, every day. They were not allowed to go to school, or eat at the table, or watch TV. She was amazed. Looking into her face, the horror of what was considered so normal during my childhood really hit me.
Source: Daily Oserver
A Civil Society Group of women led by women’s rights groups and networks has released a communique calling for reform in the New Elections Law Section 4.5 (b) and (c).
Source: The Nation
Each year on International Women’s Month, corporate organisations around the world join activists and advocates to contemplate the place of women in contemporary life and what roles everyone must play in ensuring women are more represented in public spaces. It is a time for much celebration and introspection, and hopefully lasting solutions.
Source: The Herald
NEDBANK, BancABC and ABC Holdings, have made senior executive changes to their management with two of the firms appointing women into leadership positions.
Young women in Zimbabwe are becoming increasingly vulnerable to sex trafficking because of the country’s economic climate and because of the lack of enforcement of international legal instruments.
This year marks a hundred years of official campaigning against female genital mutilation, a movement which began with an international conference in Egypt in 1920. Yet the practice is still going strong: according to Unicef, 200 million women alive today are affected by it and it is still practised in almost 30 African countries. After so much campaigning, we have to ask: why is FGM not eradicated?
Source: IPS News
This year, the Paris Agreement’s effectiveness as a global response to the climate crisis is being tested as governments are preparing to submit more ambitious national targets for mitigation and adaptation. The combined ambitions of these targets should match the urgency to strengthening resilience and limiting the disastrous climate change impacts around the world.
Source: IPS
Women are the face of HIV in Africa, yet four of every 10 persons living with HIV in East and Southern Africa are men. Despite higher rates of HIV infection among women, more men living with HIV are dying.
Source: Vanguard
Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, has said Nigeria cannot achieve economic progress without the social emancipation of women, especially in the North.