SOURCE: allAfrica
Working women have an unrestricted right to fully-paid maternity leave of at least three months and the law that only gives them a maximum of three periods of maternity with one employer must be struck down as unconstitutional.
In the heads of argument filed at the Constitutional Court by Harare lawyer Mr Caleb Mucheche on behalf of his client Ms Emelda Mhuriro this week, it was also argued that the law that denies newly-employed women of less than one year service from enjoying the right to paid maternity leave must also be deleted from the books of law.
She said Section 65(7) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe guaranteed unlimited right to maternity leave to all female employees, but Section 18(1) and (3) of the Labour Act and Section 39(1), (3) and (4) of the Public Service Regulations, Statutory Instrument 1 of 2000 set conditions for the enjoyment of the right, thereby discriminating against newly employed women.
Section 65(7) of the Constitution reads:
"Women employees have a right to fully-paid maternity leave for a period of at least three months."
To that end, Ms Mhuriro, on behalf of the civil servants and other employees at large, argued that the laws were unconstitutional and that they should be struck off the statutes.
In the recently-filed heads of argument, Mr Mucheche said Section 18(1) of the Labour Act denies newly-employed women the right to maternity leave.
"This means that a female employee who has not served for at least one year is not entitled to any fully-paid maternity leave, let alone the maternity leave itself as a right.
"Clearly Section 18(1) of the Labour Act is ultra-vires Sections 65(7) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and runs foul to section 2(1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe," argued Mr Mucheche.
He added that Section 18(3) of the Labour Act which puts a cap on the number of times a female employee can go on maternity leave was also unconstitutional.
The Ministers of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare; Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs; Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development and the Attorney-General were listed as respondents in their official capacities.
Ms Mhuriro, in her founding affidavit, argues that Section 18(1) and (3) of the Labour Act violates women employees' rights in general -- the right to fully-paid maternity leave, while sections of the Public Service Regulations SI 1 of 2000 violates the right of female civil servants to maternity leave.
Ms Mhuriro argued that the limitations to the right to maternity leave occasioned by the labour laws was discriminatory in nature.
It is her argument that the alleged violations of the right to maternity leave was contrary to the International Labour Organisation's conventions on maternity leave and rights of women/female employees, and the international law on the protection of women's rights.
She further argued that the said violation was not reasonably justified in a democratic society.
Source: The Citizen
Japemungo Julienne watches the maternity ward in Nyarugusu refugee camp from her metal bed frame.
Source: The Citizen
Family planning is probably the last thing on the mind of any person struggling to find food and shelter. It is understandably not something that any person tends to think of while trying to navigate challenging circumstances as a refugee.
Source: Refinery29
All too often, we forget about countries that have recently been ravaged by conflict, disease and natural disaster, because the news coverage slows down, and then stops, the online petitions disappear, and the despairing social media statuses vanish from our feeds – and we tell ourselves it's because it's not happening anymore.
After 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths from Ebola, things in West Africa are far from ‘sorted’. The region may have been declared Ebola-free in January 2016, but the underlying problems of public health, social injustice, gender inequality and infrastructure just became more severe after 18 months of contagious disease.
Source: AA
Human rights campaigners in Zambia have expressed concern over soaring levels of violence against women and girls, including sexual harassment and spouse battering in the country. Zambians feel the vice has continued to rise despite progress in the promotion of gender equality, health, education and legal rights for women.
On July 1, several Zambian women held a peaceful protest organized by local rights groups under the theme, “Stop Violence against Women and Girls”.
Source: EIN News
Theme: "The Contributions of Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights in Achieving Gender Equality in Africa: Stocktaking, Opportunities and Accountability"
What: 3rd AU High Level Panel on Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment
Source: Foreign Policy
Ameenah Gurib-Fakim and Ory Okolloh discuss the continent's brain drain and debate the best ways to keep talent at home:
According to the World Bank, 12 percent of humanity lives in Africa, yet it produces only about 1 percent of global research output.
Source: Al Jazeera
Over the past decade, tens of thousands of Zimbabwean children have taken quite remarkable risks to smuggle themselves across the border into South Africa. For the most part they are acting illegally, and most travel alone or unaccompanied by adult relatives, but it is the only way that many of them feel they can escape the debilitating poverty, disease and violence they have experienced under Robert Mugabe's regime.
Source: Voice of America
Women may hold some of the highest positions in Ghana — including attorney general and foreign affairs minister — but that doesn’t mean the country doesn’t have a gender-equality problem.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
Abuja — Former Boko Haram captives, and their children born of rape, face persecution when they return home
Source: The New Times
Gone are the days when students used to walk miles to access school, thanks to the emergence of alternative means of transport like school buses and private cars.
Source: Eyewitness News
Minister for the Department of International Relations and Corporation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane has praised outgoing African Union (AU) chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, saying she’s demonstrated that women can lead the continent.
Source: Diginomica
Nowhere is the old adage ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ more true than in Africa, that most misunderstood of continents.
Source: New Times
If women’s rights in Africa were to be measured by the number of laws and policies so far initiated towards that specific goal, then African women would be the most liberated human beings walking the face of the earth!
Source: EIN News
“My brothers and sisters I am an African woman.
I have lighter than usual hair and skin and very beautiful bright eyes. You continue to believe that my body can heal you from HIV/AIDS and bring wealth to you. That’s a fallacy! My body belongs to me and please let me enjoy a life free from fear of being hunted down to satisfy your unfounded beliefs and crimes. I am just like you and if you let me be I will continue to contribute to the prosperity of my continent in all respects.
SOURCE:allAfrica
There is renewed hope for Flora Julius, her life will never be the same after she attended a special training on entrepreneurship. She can now make batik (tie and dye), soap and detergents.
The 20-year-old is a resident of Nkende village in Tarime District, Mara Region. She is one of the 60 young women who benefited from four-days training held at a hotel in Tarime town recently.
"We have learnt many things including making batik, tie and dye and soap. We are now ready to go to business" Ms Julius remarked shortly after the training. Her similar words were echoed by several other participants interviewed by this news paper.
The training was organised recently by Children's Dignity Forum (CDF), a local Non-Governmental Organization under an ambitious project called Mobilising Action to Safeguard the Rights of Girls in Tanzania phase two.
Good news is that besides the training, the beneficiaries will be provided with small loans ready to embark on batik and soap making business, thanks to whoever is supporting the initiative.
"The participants will be given interest-free small loans to help establish income generating groups, " CDF Project Manager at Tarime Office Ms Kambibi Kamugisha said.
The beneficiaries of the project, according to Ms Kambibi are victims of FGM, child marriage, teenage pregnancies as well as those living in difficult conditions. It targets young women aged between 18 and 24 from five wards of Tarime district namely Matongo, Susuni, Mwema, Manga and Nkende.
The project, Ms Kambibi said is jointly implemented by CDF and FORWARD UK under the sponsorship of Comic Relief and Sigrid Rausing Trust, also from UK. Apart from engaging in income generating activities, the participants promised to stand firm in backing the on-going campaigns designed to stop FGM and child marriage in their villages .
"We are very grateful to the organisers of the training and we will also continue to educate girls to stop FGM and child marriage" said Elizabeth Joseph, another beneficiary. The training was provided by experts from Mara Regional Small Industry Development Organization (SIDO).
Mara Regional Manager Mrs Frida Mungulu commended the new initiative by CDF to provide the young women with loans and urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the opportunity to improve their living standard.
"I congratulate you (participants) for turning up to participate in this training and I thank CDF for coming up with the idea of small loans.
We now expect to see many batik and soap industries here" the SIDO regional boss said. In addition to batik, tie and dye and soaps making, the participants were further equipped with business recording and marketing skills.
Mrs Mungulu urged the young women to make good use of the opportunity in transforming their lives. "This is a great opportunity, work hard and become role models. We (SIDO) will be your guardian and we will give you full cooperation" she said.
She also observed since that the project beneficiaries are youth they stand to benefit from other opportunities provided by other development stakeholders including the government if they will set a good example in running their projects.
"Our desire is to see changes in the community. Use the available opportunities to improve your living standards", Mr Kabuje said. He said CDF is doing a commendable job that supplements on-going efforts made by the fifth phase government to improve living conditions of people.
He expressed optimism that the project will help to inspire development of women in one of the districts rated as having an alarming rate of Gender Based Violence (GBV) acts.
In a bid to create more business opportunities for women, authorities in Tarime have opened a gender desk at the Tanzania/ Kenyan Sirari border to enable women conduct crossborder business smoothly.
"Tarime should be a business opportunity and aim to enable women operate at the border without obstacles" the official said. He also called for zero tolerance against FGM acts in the district.
FGM is said to be the source of child marriage and school drop-outs among school girls. The harmful cut is illegal according to the laws of the country.
Source: The Guardian
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Jummai Aisha Alhassan, has decried the continuous discrimination against women in the political circle, saying the trend was impacting negatively on Nigeria’s nascent democracy.
Source: The New Times
Legislators have called on the Government to scale up campaigns at the grassroots level to educate young people about the dangers of human trafficking and protect them from modern-day slavery such as prostitution, drug dealing, and forced labour.
Source: The Monitor
Kampala — Despite the major strides women have gained in leadership, their representation in media is still wanting, says a report by Uganda Media Women Association (UMWA).
Source: The Daily Vox
The Soul City Institute held a panel discussion on sexual violence and women's voices on Wednesday morning at their offices in Johannesburg.