Source: NZ News
The 57th annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women opened on Monday at UN Headquarters in New York with its focus set on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls.
Source: Washington Post
South Africa’s parliament issued a reprimand to police Monday after media outlets reported that police stations across the country were running out of rape kits — a disturbing problem in a country once called “the world’s rape capital.”
Source: The Guardian
The head of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, has indicated she would be prepared to compromise on the language used in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) outcome document, as long as the words used "reflected the spirit" of the key issues and did not undermine past agreements.
Source: SciDev.Net
A large-scale trial to compare the effectiveness of oral tablets and vaginal gels for HIV prevention among young, unmarried African women has yielded disappointing results, a study reports.
Source: The Chronicle
Statistics from the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and other international organisations indicate that somewhere in Ghana, almost 60 women die each week from causes related to pregnancy and birth, while 2,700 women die each year from pregnancy or childbirth.
Source: Inkatha Freedom Party (Durban)
The South African HIV Clinicians Society reports that the current shortage of ARVs is forcing our doctors to share antiretroviral drugs among patients and sometimes prioritize patients who are at advanced stages of the disease over those who are stable. This puts those who are stable at greater risk of the virus advancing as they are not receiving regular medication.
Source: Leadership (Abuja)
Barely few months after a middle-aged woman delivered a baby with three legs in Katsina State, residents of Malumfashi local government area of the state were stunned yesterday as a 19-year-old housewife, Zainab Dahiru, was delivered a baby with two heads.
Source: The News
As part of efforts aimed at empowering women through small and medium skills enterprises, the Liberia Coca-Cola Bottling Company (LCCBC) has identified with more than 35 young women by providing assistance to them for the establishment of their own businesses.
Source: ThisDay
Governments across Africa and other stakeholders have been urged to allow women participate more in their economies. The call was made by Regus Vice-President Africa & Middle East, Mrs. Joanne Bushell, in a statement issued ahead of the International Women's Day 2013, which is on 8 March. The theme of the Day is 'The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum'.
Source: FIDH
On the eve of International Women's Day, FIDH joins human rights and women's rights organisations in Mali and the Coalition of the Campaign "Africa for Women's Rights: Ratify and respect !" to call for the full participation of women and the protection of their rights to be at the centre of the process towards peace and democracy in Mali.
Source: Tunisia Live
In what advocates say is an increasingly hostile social environment for women following the 2011 revolution, the Tunisian government signed on this week to a United Nations (UN) initiative that counters violence against women.
Source: Think Africa Press
Let’s start with some of the things you may take for granted. Freedom to walk on the streets, freedom to marry who you want to, protect your body and be safe. How would you feel if you were chatting away to your female friend on the bus and a group of men started attacking her? How would you feel if you were married and your husband didn’t allow you to choose when to have sex or become pregnant? We would be united in our condemnation or say that these scenarios are ridiculous.
Source: Mail&Guardian
They seek to force silent authorities and a reticent society to confront "sexual terrorism".
Source: Aswat Masriya
Rights groups, Political Parties and Women Initiatives called on Tuesday women of Egypt to march all over the country on Friday 8 March which marks the International Women's Day under the slogan "Women with the revolution" to declare their rejection of violence.
Source: Aswat Masriya
The Chief Executive Officer of Thomson Reuters Foundation, Monique Villa, said on Monday that helping women know and defend their rights tackles the very root of poverty.
Source: Aswat Masriya
The Egyptian National Council for Women announced on Monday commencing projects in four governorates that aim at raising the financial situation of female breadwinners and their families.
Source: Tanzania Daily News
THE Exim Bank Tanzania has pledged continued support to women empowerment in a various parts of the country in a bid to boost long-term economic development.
Source: The Chronicle
OFFICIAL REPORT from the Northern Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service has revealed that as many as 250 women have died during child birth, between January 2011 and December 2012.
Source: Think Africa Press
As Kenyans go to the polls today, could Sophia Abdi Noor become the first ever Somali woman to be voted in to the Kenyan parliament?
Source: Oxfam
Delegates from over 190 governments meeting at the UN-led Commission on the Status of Women this week in New York have the chance to take a critical step against the global scourge of violence against women, said international aid agency Oxfam. The agency said the two-week conference must go beyond discussing agreements made some 20 years ago at the landmark women's rights conference in Beijing in 1995.