Source: Daily Observer
United States Ambassador Christine Elder on Tuesday urged Liberian women to create networking opportunities based on shared interests.
Source: Daily Nation
Despite gains made toward gender equality in the country, women still lag behind in political engagement with few men ready to support women in their quest for political leadership, a study has revealed.
There is overwhelming evidence that empowering women and girls has transformative personal, social, economic and health benefits for individuals, their children, families and society at large. And yet the recent startling statistics by the African Union show that out of 75 percent of girls starting school in Africa only 8 percent finish. This calls for African countries to reflect on the urgent matter as we commemorate International Women's Day 2017 but all hope is not lost.
Professor Modupe Onadeko, a retired Consultant on Reproductive and Family Medicine, University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, has advised Nigerian women to take the right initiatives as change agents in the society.
Onadeko gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) while speaking on the observance of 2017 International Women’s Day (IWD) in Ibadan on Wednesday.
Today is International Women’s Day, a global celebration of women’s achievements, as well as a call to arms for the improvement of women’s rights everywhere. But there remains a huge and pressing threat to women’s lives today, no matter where they are: sexual violence. According to the UN, around 120 million girls around the world have been subjected to rape or forced sexual acts at some point in their life – that’s one in 10 women. “If it were a medical disease,” points out the charity Equality Now, “sexual violence would have the serious attention and the funding to address it, from governments and independent donors alike.”
Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030
Message by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on International Women's Day, 8 March 2017
Across the world, too many women and girls spend too many hours on household responsibilities—typically more than double the time spent by men and boys. They look after younger siblings, older family members, deal with illness in the family and manage the house. In many cases this unequal division of labour is at the expense of women’s and girls’ learning, of paid work, sports, or engagement in civic or community leadership. This shapes the norms of relative disadvantage and advantage, of where women and men are positioned in the economy, of what they are skilled to do and where they will work.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres Wednesday joined Kenyans as they commemorated the International Women’s Day (IWD) where President Uhuru Kenyatta enumerated the many strides that the country has achieved towards gender parity.
Source: allAfrica
The plague of Child marriages and teenage pregnancies continue to deprive young girls of their childhood, and the potential to become drivers of Zambia's development.
Source: The Monitor
At least 200 girls run away from their parents and guardians' home due to domestic violence, an Action Aid official has said. Ms Irene Ahimbisibwe, an Action Aid's psychosocial support officer, said they record more than 500 cases of girls and women who fall victim to domestic violence countrywide weekly.
Source: DW
A senior South Sudanese military official says three soldiers suspected of mass rape have been arrested. Both rebels and government troops have been accused of committing war crimes.
Source: Daily Nation
In the 2013 General Election, a notable outcome was that voters decided not to elect any woman to the position of governor in all the 47 counties.
Source: Daily Trust
The African Women's Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) has called for inclusiveness of women entrepreneurs in building the Nigerian economy.
Source: Anadolu Agency
In Korogosho, one of Kenya’s largest and most dangerous slums, local elderly women are pushing back against a scourge of sexual violence, literally fighting back with punches and kicks.
Source: African Science News
Infertile women still suffer discrimination, stigma and ostracism, Sarah Opendi, Minister of State of Health, Uganda noted that in Africa including Uganda has disclosed.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Update: On February 23, Abdelrazeq al-Nadhouri, chief of staff of the forces known as the Libyan National Army (LNA) and the military governor of the region that extends from Derna to Ben Jawwad, repealed his order requiring women who wish to travel abroad to be accompanied by a male guardian and replaced it with a new order imposing travel restrictions on all men and women ages 18 to 45. The new order specifies that people in that age group need clearance by relevant security agencies ahead of any international travel from eastern Libya. Justifying these restrictions, the order refers to the “necessity to put in place measures to counter risk from abroad that threaten national security.”
Libyan officials in the east should immediately repeal this new order, Human Rights Watch said. While governments have the authority to restrict travel on an individual basis based on narrow and appealable grounds laid out in law, al-Nadhouri’s order, by its sweeping nature targeting all would-be travelers of a certain age, gravely undermines the right enshrined in international law that entitles everyone to leave any country, including their own, and to return to their country.
(Tunis) – Officials in eastern Libya should immediately repeal an order, issued on February 16, 2017, that bans women under age 60 from traveling abroad unless they are accompanied by a male guardian, Human Rights Watch said today. The order threatens to curtail freedom of movement for women in eastern Libya, including for medical treatment, education, and professional travel.
“Requiring adult women to have a male guardian with them when they travel is a humiliating step backward for women,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.
In a television interview on February 19, al-Nadhouri claimed that the order was necessary for the “national security of Libya” and that it had “no religious or political background.” Al-Nadhouri claimed, without providing any details, that several young women had collaborated with foreign intelligence agencies, creating a risk that they would disclose information that could harm the national interest. He also warned, “As long as [a Libyan woman] is in Libya, she is free. Once she leaves Libya our eyes will be on her.”
Many women’s rights activists and human rights lawyers rejected the regulation, saying it violated women’s rights, as protected by Libyan laws. On February 22, women’s rights activists staged a demonstration in al-Kish square in Benghazi protesting the travel restrictions.
Libyan women have had the right to travel abroad without the permission of a male relative. In 2014, the Tripoli-based religious authority, Dar Al-Iftaa, called for a woman to be accompanied by a male guardian if she wished to travel abroad, but the religious edict, or fatwa, never became law.
The Libyan National Army operates with affiliated militias and the army special forces in eastern Libya under the command of Khalifa Hiftar, a retired general who served under the ousted Gaddafi government. The LNA has gained control over territory in much of eastern Libya since the outbreak of hostilities in May 2014. It is aligned with the so-called Interim Government based in al-Bayda, and the House of Representatives, based in Tobruk, both in the eastern part of the country. The Interim Government is not recognized by the United Nations or the international community and is competing for legitimacy with the Tripoli-based and UN-backed Government of National Accord.
Article 14 of the Libyan Constitutional Declaration guarantees the right to freedom of movement. Libyan authorities are also bound by numerous international treaties ratified by the country. The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), to which Libya acceded in 1989, legally obligates member states to end all discrimination against women, without delay, and guarantees the right to freedom of movement.
As a state party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, Libya must ensure nondiscrimination and the right to freedom of movement for all people, without distinction as to gender. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights also provides: “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state… [and] to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
Abdelrazeq al-Nadhouri, chief of staff of the forces known as the Libyan National Army (LNA) and the military governor of the region that extends from Derna to Ben Jawwad, issued the order requiring women who wish to travel abroad by land, air, or sea to be accompanied by a male guardian, also known as a mahram. The text of the order justifies it as necessary for “reasons of public interest” and “to limit negative aspects that accompanied Libyan women’s international travel.” On February 21, after a public uproar, al-Nadhouri reportedly suspended implementation of this regulation until further notice.
Women from the EAC met on 24 February and established the East African women solidarity movement for peace and security in the region. They have the main objective of fostering the African women solidarity and pleading for Burundi.
London — "The route is mostly controlled by smugglers, traffickers and other people seeking to prey upon desperate children and women who are simply seeking refuge or a better life"
28 February 2017 – Delivering her first address as the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed underlined that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are essential for a safe and secure future that brings prosperity, opportunity and human rights for all.
- GE and Santa Clara University's Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship will graduate 14 social entrepreneurs who completed training and mentorship aimed at improving and accelerating maternal and/or child health outcomes in Africa
Source: Deutsche Welle
Many elderly women in northern Ghana have fled their homes to live in so-called witch camps. They have been accused of witchcraft and fear being killed. As Maxwell Suuk reports from Tamale, attacks are increasing.