A gender perspective needs to be integrated into countries’ criminal justice systems to ensure women are not “ruled out of the law,” the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Gabriela Knaul said today.
Source: theguardian
In a tiny hall in Nasarallah, a poor agricultural village in the hills beyondTunisia's historic Islamic city of Kairouan, Jamila Brahid is irate. Sitting in a huddle of country women wearing traditional rural headscarves, the 50-year-old villager is proud to have had a primary school education in a place where many of her female friends – mostly seasonal fruit-pickers – cannot read or write.
Source: UN Women
A series of Open Days on women and peace and security are being held around the world in the run-up to a UN Security Council Open Debate on the 28th of October.
Source: Voice of America
In Kenya, a Cabinet task force is grappling with how to implement a constitutional requirement that women comprise at least one-third of the country’s Parliament.
“Do I have to be broken to be an Oriental woman; do I have to always say 'yes' to be an Egyptian woman?" reads a satirical poem by Marwa Sharaf el-Din, an Egyptian Law PhD candidate at Oxford University. In the eight months since the January Revolution, Egyptian women have learned that the fight for their rights is only beginning.
Feminists in the south find their own solutions. Our role is to support and celebrate them. If you only read northern discussions and publications about international development and women's rights you could be forgiven for thinking feminists don't exist in the developing world, let alone work there or achieve remarkable things.
Source: The Standard
Are there Kenyan women soldiers battling Al-Shabaab? Curious people may want to know and the answer is yes.
Tackling the taboo of mothers returning to school, say campaigners, will reduce the rate of teenage pregnancies "When you educate a woman, you educate a nation," says Kalunde, whose foster child was thrown out of her rural school and her home after becoming pregnant. "A woman is a mirror and spends much of her time with her children."
Nine months after the overthrow of the former president, Tunisia has voted in the first open and fair election in the region. In part one of a three part article Kristine Goulding asks: Is a Tunisian feminist fall, driven by local, national and international support, possible? Or will countervailing forces of politics, social pressure and religion prevail?
Human rights defenders continue to be harassed, attacked, killed and ‘disappeared’ around the world more than a decade after the adoption of an international declaration meant to protect them, a United Nations expert warned today.
The release of the Annual Report is a key momentum of the daily activity of the Observatory. This report tells of the struggle of human rights defenders in about 70 countries - civil society activists, journalists, trade-unionists, lawyers or simple citizens “indignant” at injustice, arbitrariness, or horror.
Only one in 100,000 women has access to funds for economic empowerment, according to statistics.
Source: The Guardian
The international community has "made a mistake" with the intensity of its focus on the global HIV-Aids epidemic and lost ground on family planning issues as a result, according to the head of the United Nations population agency.
Last week held the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17th) and was an opportunity to reflect on what opportunities women’s economic engagement pose for global efforts to make the world a more prosperous place.
The First Lady of the Republic of Zambia, Dr. Christine Mwela Kaseba-Sata, urged African countries to rapidly ratify the Maternity Protection Convention (183) of the International Labour Organization to speed up women's social and economic empowerment in the region.
The Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah has announced that the Ministry is leading a nationwide education and consultative tour to gather inputs for the drafting of Affirmative Action Bill to be laid before Parliament for consideration.
Greetings, Dear Sisters, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, from the Government and people of Liberia, and from me, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Source: All Africa
As Rwanda joins the rest of the world to mark the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it was revealed that there is not a single doctor specializing in the management of the disease.
Source: IRIN
KIGALI, 24 October 2011 (PlusNews) - A proposed initiative to distribute condoms to Rwandan secondary school students has divided parents, teachers and other members of society, with some cheering the plan and others concerned that teens are not mature enough to use condoms responsibly.
Source: AWID
The International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) is a comprehensive household questionnaire on men’s attitudes and practices - along with women’s opinions and reports of men’s practices - on a wide variety of topics related to gender equality. The survey has been coordinated by the International Center for Research on Women and Instituto Promundo.