Source: UN WOMEN
The most severe drought in decades is threatening the lives of more than 12 million people in the Horn of Africa, with the people of Somalia facing the greatest risks resulting from armed conflict and lack of sustainable security and governance. This confluence of famine and conflict is particularly devastating for women and children.
Source: Plus News
A new government study has found that more than half of workers in Swaziland's garment industry are living with HIV, and officials are realizing that the once-hailed promise of manufacturing employment has become
On June 16, 2011 the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) 100th Annual Conference adopted the Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers which requires governments to protect the human and labour rights of domestic workers and defines minimum standards for decent working conditions.
The release of recent figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that, despite an increase over 2009, donor countries are way off track on delivering on their aid disbursement commitments. Women’s organizations are mobilizing for profound changes in the system to better meet development needs and guarantee respect for women’s rights.
Source: AWID
Human rights and women’s organizations have welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s report as a significant contribution to validating the important role that women human rights defenders play in the defending human rights and acknowledging them not just as victims, but as active agents of social change and transformation.
Source: Care2
South Africans celebrate not one, but two Women’s Days every year. First there’s International Women’s Day in March and then there’s the country’s own National Women’s Day on the 9th of August. The latter commemorates the day in 1956 when 20,000 women from all over South Africa marched on the Union Buildings, the administrative seat of government in Pretoria, to protest against the Apartheid state’s repressive pass laws. All of August is officially designated as Women’s Month.
Source: allAfrica
The governance cluster of the Southern African Gender Protocol Alliance has called on SADC governments to redouble their efforts to attain the target of gender parity in all areas of decision-making by 2015.
Petite women pace the verandas of the Hamlin Fistula Hospital (formerly Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital) pulling multicoloured knitted blankets over their bodies to shield from the cool breeze that sweeps the well kempt trees and manicured lawns of their safe haven.
ACTING President Joice Mujuru has called for concerted efforts in uplifting women as they are key in contributing to economic growth and sustainable development in Zimbabwe.
Source: All Africa
With a widening market for fine art, the fine artists have had to pull up their socks to satisfy a more art-discerning public.
Ms. Faustina Otabil, Deputy Western Regional Director of the Department of Women and Children, said on Thursday that there was the need for equity and empowerment of women to realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on women by 2015.
Source: All Africa
The deputy Chief Gender Monitor, Ramazani Barengayabo, has petitioned districts to support policies aimed at economically empowering women.
Source: UN News Centre
11 August 2011 – The United Nations official leading the fight against sexual violence in times of conflict today voiced concern over reports that women and girls fleeing famine in Somalia were being raped or abducted and forced into marriage by bandits and
The United Nations official leading the fight against sexual violence in times of conflict today voiced concern over reports that women and girls fleeing famine in Somalia were being raped or abducted and forced into marriage by bandits and other armed groups as they tried to reach refugee camps in Kenya.
Source: Human Rights Watch
A lack of oversight and accountability for recurrent problems in the health system and abuses committed by health personnel contributes to South Africa’s substandard maternity care and undermines one of its top health goals: to reduce its high maternal death rate, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
Source: All Africa
At least 71% of women in Nebbi are ignorant of the ways to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexual transmitted diseases (STDs).
Source: All Africa
The deputy Chief Gender Monitor, Ramazani Barengayabo, has petitioned districts to support policies aimed at economically empowering women.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 9 (IPS) – While the exit of the Al-Qaeda-backed rebel group Al Shabaab has led to the first U.N. relief airlift in five years in the capital of famine-wracked Somalia, the situation for women and children remains precarious, humanitarian
The United Nations has encouraged Tanzania to urgently address the problem of violence against children in the wake of a new Government-led survey in which almost three quarters of girls and boys said they had experienced physical violence before the age of 18 at the hands of an adult or an intimate partner.
Long seen as the ugly step-child of HIV prevention, the female condom seems to be gaining popularity through grassroots campaigns, according to a report by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).