Source: allAfrica
I remember one time when my grandmother paid us a visit in the city, she made a remark 'How the world has changed.' She was referring to a group of ladies, standing outside the restaurant who as they were chatting would pause every now and then to take a puff from the cigarette clutched between their meticulously manicured nails. She then went on to explain how during her time, you would not see a woman smoking, let alone a well educated woman as these women obviously were and certainly not in public.
Source: allAfrica
Four Nigerian women who sued the Abuja Environment Protection Board, AEPB, the Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Army and other government security agencies working for AEPB at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, have asked the court to give judgment in their favour.
Source: The Avenue Mail
The Seven Summits Women Team who all hails from Nepal is the first female team in the world to climb the highest mountain in each continent. In an epic journey starting from the summit of Mt Everest, the team has climbed successfully in all seven continents.
Source: Swazi Observer
SAD stories of gross violence against women at the hands of those who claim to love them take up a lot of space in local newspapers.
This is contained in a study conducted by Swaziland Rural Women Assembly (SRWA) which was presented during a short meeting at Mountain Inn yesterday. SRWA Director Hlobsile Dlamini-Shongwe explained that they monitored newspaper coverage of women and girls stories over two years. She said the organisation was formed to address the needs of rural women, noting that they lagged behind in many aspects.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
Forced underage marriage, trafficking, female genital mutilation and domestic violence – this doesn't sound like the "lucky" country. However, the harsh reality is that there are serious concerns in these areas and some have referred to domestic violence as a national epidemic in Australia.
Source: Times of Zambia
A young woman Lucy Nkonde (not real name), walked out of her husband's house, after enduring a two year loveless marriage in her natal village in Luwingu.
She ran to her sister in Kasama with a view of continuing her education from grade 9 where she had stopped after failing exams and dragged into a marriage against her will
Source: Malawi News Agency
Minister of Gender,Children, Disability and Social Welfare, Patricia Kaliati has emphasized the need for gender equality, equity and women empowerment if the country was to achieve sustainable development.
Source: NPR
Four hours. That's how much time physicist Rabia Salihu Sa'id has each day to get her research done at Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria.
"Each day, my university is giving me only four hours of electricity. I can't do research in four hours!" Sa'id says, laughing, despite her frustration.
Source: The World Economic Forum
Despite progress in many societies, women almost everywhere still suffer from significant levels of discrimination. Even in countries where gender equality has advanced furthest, women are over-represented in lower-paying jobs, under-represented in senior government and business positions, and on the receiving end of most domestic violence.
Source: African Press Organization
"Agricultural research and development in Mozambique is an important tool for increasing production, and consequently reducing household malnutrition and poverty, particularly in children and women," says Olivia Narciso Pedro, a lecturer and researcher at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique. "My vision for agriculture-led growth in Mozambique is to design alternatives to mitigate loss of genetic diversity, and ensure conservation of species, while improving household food security."
Source: The Citizen
The failure of gender-based violence (GBV) to crack the barest hint of a nod during President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address last week has activists worried.
"We are extremely disappointed the president never spoke about it," said Sonto Magwaza of Sonke Gender Justice.
Source: ReliefWeb
More than $56 million is urgently needed to provide vital reproductive, maternal and newborn health services in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
This amount, according to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will cover the initial six months of the UNFPA-led Mano River Midwifery initiative-a new Ebola-response effort that would increase the number of health workers to ensure that women and girls of childbearing age stay healthy and safe despite the crisis. The funds will also cover the cost of contact-tracing to identify all potential contacts of Ebola cases and help prevent infections.
Source: openDemocracy
How can we address the global threat to women's rights with no space for girls' - or even women's - voices at the UN? How will we design a post-2015 framework that responds to the needs of the most marginalized?
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
Malawi has passed a law banning child marriage, raising the minimum age to 18 in a country where half of girls end up as child brides.
Women rights campaigners hailed the move as "a great day for Malawian girls" and said the law would help boost development in one of the world's poorest countries.
Source: The Herald
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe will be joining the rest of the world in commemorating the International Women's Day through its exhibition, "Out of Darkness".
The exhibition will run from March 21 to April 20.
Source: The Globe and Mail
The London School of Economics has just opened its Centre for Women, Peace and Security, or, in less euphemistic terms, "the centre for why so many women are raped and tortured in war zones, and why so few people care about it."
Source: The New York Times
The pattern is striking. Men who are eventually arrested for violent acts often began with attacks against their girlfriends and wives. In many cases, the charges of domestic violence were not taken seriously or were dismissed.
Source: World Economic Forum
For far too long, women and girls in Africa have faced discrimination and inequalities in the workforce which have not only hurt them, but their families, communities and their countries as a whole. As we begin 2015, the African Union'sYear of Women's Empowerment, one thing is clear: we will not reduce poverty without working to achieve gender equality.
Source: Egyptian Streets
There is no doubt that violence against women (VAW) is a major challenge in Egypt, in all its shapes and forms. Most prevalent cases are sexual harassment, domestic violence, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), forced marriage and socio-economic discrimination. An extremely concerning fact regarding the reporting of such cases is that less than 5% of women seek help from the authorities.
Source: Channel 4 News
A civil rights worker in Nigeria's restive northeast organised the dramatic rescue of nearly 500 schoolgirls from a town under attack by Boko Haram. He has been credited with averting a repeat of the abduction, in April last year, of 279 students from the town of Chibok, most of whom are still missing.