Source: The Star
ANALYSIS
"I don't want to be a compliment to anybody else. I want to be me. I am not an entertainer. I do not want a borrowed rib!" So came the impassioned statement by Malawi presidential candidate Jessie Kabwila, a woman toughened by a strangely unapologetic anti-female prevailing political tradition in a country already headed by a woman president.
Source: IIP Digital
DOCUMENT
Remarks by Anne C. Richard, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
Let me start by thanking you for organizing this event.
And thank you for preparing this video. It is inspiring to see how enlightened family planning policies can transform the lives of women like Mihret who was a child bride and young mother and is now proudly helping others make their own choices about when to bear children.
Source: AlertNet
Girls kidnapped by Islamist insurgents in Nigeria earlier this month are being married off to militants in mass weddings, according to a report in the British newspaper the Guardian.
Source: Premium Times
Abuja — Scores of Nigerian women, and a few men, defied the heavy Abuja rain Wednesday to protest and demand the release of over 200 girls kidnapped on April 14 by insurgents believed to be members of the extremist Boko Haram sect.
Tunisia has officially lifted key reservations to the international women’s treaty, an important step toward realizing gender equality, Human Rights Watch said today. The Tunisian government should next ensure that all domestic laws conform to international standards and eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.
Hundreds of parliamentarians, dignitaries and policymakers from around the world gathered in Stockholm, Sweden, from 23 to 25 April to reaffirm their support for women’s and adolescents’ human rights, particularly their reproductive rights.
Hundreds of mainly women protesters have marched through the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to press for the release of 230 schoolgirls abducted by militants two weeks ago.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday signed into law a controversial bill that legalises polygamy for men, overriding criticisms from women’s groups, female parliamentarians and Christian leaders.
Source: The New Times
The First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, urged women to work hard and exploit the environment that offers them level ground so as to achieve their potential and get rid of poverty.
Source: UNGEI Blog
Many government officials in countries all over the world ask, “What works to get and keep girls in school and to transition to secondary?” Many developing countries have identified promising strategies but challenges remain to ensure girls successfully complete primary school and transition to secondary in a safe and supportive learning environment .
Source: FrontPageAfrica
Monrovia — FrontPageAfrica's Newsroom Chief Wade Williams will form part of a panel discussion on Media freedom at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in observance of this year's World Press Freedom which will be celebrated on May 3rd.
Source: The Star
There exists a very thin line between the joy of motherhood and childbirth complications. Dressed in a pink gown, 65-year-old Joyce Mumbi sits on a bed at Guru Nanak Hospital in Nairobi awaiting her turn to go to the theatre. She has lived with fistula for more than 30 years.
Source: allAfrica
This special investigation, supported by the Liberia Women Media Action Committee (LIWOMAC), features a teenage girl brought in Monrovia from Foya, Lofa County, by relatives who promised her education, protection and better life. But her present life is a complete irony of what was promised her few years ago.
Source: The Star
All the country's 47 women's representatives will sue Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich if he delays to give them the certificate needed to facilitate the proposed Women Fund Bill.
Source: Maghreb Arab Press
Casablanca — HRH Princess Lalla Salma, president of the Lalla Salma Foundation for Cancer Prevention and Treatment, inaugurated, on Monday in Casablanca, a reproductive health reference center for breast and uterine cancer early detection in the Mohammadi neighborhood.
Source: Vibe Ghana
Plan Ghana in collaboration with Ghana Education Service, at the weekend opened an eight-day Girls’ Camp in Accra for 150 underprivileged school girls from the Akwapim North and East Akyim Districts of the Eastern Region.
The Camp which is being funded from Plan Ghana’s Girl Power Project is on the team: “Building the future through all inclusive education.”
It will train the girls in information and communications technology, gender studies, adolescent and reproductive health issues.
It aims at increasing and rekindling girls’ interest and enthusiasm for education by exposing them to various role models, who would inspire them to pursue academic excellence and reach for greater heights, and also seeks to improve school retention and completion rates, especially in less endowed communities.
In his keynote address, Mr Asum-Kwarteng Ahensah, Plan Ghana Strategic Programme Support Manager, said though there had been elaborate plans on inclusive education, implementation of these plans has unacceptably lagged behind.
He expressed the need for government and other stakeholders to commit adequate resources to education as a means of addressing long-term socio-economic inequalities.
“We may observe that, in Ghana, training in inclusive education is pursued only at the decree level at the University of Education, Winneba,” he said.
He said it is necessary for government to consider mainstreaming “inclusive education” curriculum into all colleges of education, where majority of teachers are trained.
This, Mr Ahensah explained would ensure that teachers at all levels are better equipped to support the inclusive education drive.
He urged policy makers to broaden the definition of “inclusive education” to cover children who are excluded from education due to religious, cultural, gender and geographical factors.
He cited examples of girls bonded under trokosi, and children living in “witch camps”, who risk being excluded forever unless innovative and targeted interventions are put in place under inclusive education policy formulation and strategies.
He noted that such policies and plans should be backed with adequate budgetary allocation so that they do not remain unimplemented.
Mr Ahensah gave the assurance that Plan Ghana would continue to collaborate with Ghana Education Service and other strategic partners to devise innovative programmes and interventions such as the camp to build the capacity of girls as part of their equality initiative.
To the participants, he said: “Plan Ghana and all stakeholders want you to dream big, develop a spirit of optimism and assertiveness to climb up the educational ladder”. GNA
A one million-woman match will hold in Abuja on Wednesday to press home the urgent need for federal government to step up efforts to rescue the abducted students of Government Girls’ Secondary School (GGSS) Chibok from Boko Haram captivity.
Rape was a “cheap and devastating weapon” affecting thousands of women, children and men and demanded the Security Council’s singular attention and action, senior officials told the 15-member body as more than 60 delegates expressed a range of views during a day-long debate on conflict-related sexual violence.
Source: Daily Maverick
For anyone who is concerned about gender equality, it is significant that patriarchy is not raised by any political party in their election campaign. One understands the silence of the patriarchs who lead or hold prominent places in the ANC and its allies, but what of the organisations that purport to oppose the Zuma project? By RAYMOND SUTTNER.
Source: Tanzania Daily News
Karatu — Until recently, giving birth in the remote Mbulu-Mbulu Ward of Karatu District used to be nothing short of nightmare.