Championing the cause of gender equality and women's rights, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Saturday called for action to end early and forced marriages in member states.
Tunisia has voted in the first open and fair election in the region. In part two of a three part article Kristine Goulding warns against framing Islamism in direct opposition to women's rights. The Arab Spring redefined the roles of both women and the Islamist al-Nahda, and the two cannot be seen as mutually exclusive.
Source: Gender Across Borders
For the past ten years, we have worked in Morocco for gender equality recognition both in law and in Moroccan society. During this time we have traveled throughout the Northern African state and we have heard countless stories of abuse. But there is one story that stayed with us.
Source: allAfrica.com
Kampala — The shortage of health workers in Uganda is a "crisis", says the Minister of Health, and activists say expectant mothers are bearing the brunt of the country's staffing deficiency.
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When Adnan Nevic was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina back in October 1999, he was hailed as the world's six billionth person, triggering a visit to Sarajevo by then Secretary- General Kofi Annan.
Source: The Guardian
A support campaign for Swazi women living with HIV is transforming lives, but needs international backing. Siphiwe Hlophe's shrewd, enterprising spirit is apparent within moments of meeting her.
Source: AfricaNews
In the African context, traditional leadership is a preserve of males while women are restricted to the kitchen and the house chores. It is not by design that women find themselves in such marginalized areas of everyday lives but the African society has socialised them into believing that they are subordinated to their male counterparts.
The Government has published a review of the National Action plan on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 Women, Peace and Security.
With the world population projected to reach 7 billion in five days’ time, actions taken now will decide whether the future will be healthy, sustainable and prosperous or marked by inequalities, environmental decline and economic setbacks, according to a United Nations report issued today.
President Sirleaf also commended those who voted for her during the first round, as a sign of appreciation for the level of work that has been carried out by her administration during the past six years.
Source: Angola Press
A seminar on domestic violence law gathers staff of National Police in Luanda, under the promotion of the Association of Support to Police Women of Angola (AAMPA).
TINY Tunisia, where a fruit seller’s suicide sparked the Arab Spring, held its first free elections on Sunday. Over 90 percent of registered voters turned out, far exceeding expectations. Lines of beaming blue-fingered voters poured out of polling places, proudly posting photos of their freshly inked hands on Facebook.
Source: PlusNews
Reports of gender-based violence are on the rise in Kenya's cities, and experts say the police must improve their handling of cases of sexual assault to build public trust in the security and justice systems.
When Jackie Nalule was pregnant with her first child, she did not get the two required tetanus toxoid vaccines.
A gender perspective needs to be integrated into countries’ criminal justice systems to ensure women are not “ruled out of the law,” the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Gabriela Knaul said today.
Source: theguardian
In a tiny hall in Nasarallah, a poor agricultural village in the hills beyondTunisia's historic Islamic city of Kairouan, Jamila Brahid is irate. Sitting in a huddle of country women wearing traditional rural headscarves, the 50-year-old villager is proud to have had a primary school education in a place where many of her female friends – mostly seasonal fruit-pickers – cannot read or write.
Source: UN Women
A series of Open Days on women and peace and security are being held around the world in the run-up to a UN Security Council Open Debate on the 28th of October.
Source: Voice of America
In Kenya, a Cabinet task force is grappling with how to implement a constitutional requirement that women comprise at least one-third of the country’s Parliament.
“Do I have to be broken to be an Oriental woman; do I have to always say 'yes' to be an Egyptian woman?" reads a satirical poem by Marwa Sharaf el-Din, an Egyptian Law PhD candidate at Oxford University. In the eight months since the January Revolution, Egyptian women have learned that the fight for their rights is only beginning.
Feminists in the south find their own solutions. Our role is to support and celebrate them. If you only read northern discussions and publications about international development and women's rights you could be forgiven for thinking feminists don't exist in the developing world, let alone work there or achieve remarkable things.