News
- Global: 10 facts on obstetric fistula
Each year between 50 000 to 100 000 women worldwide are affected by obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal. The development of obstetric fistula is directly linked to one of the major causes of maternal mortality: obstructed labour....
- Global: Why is Violence Against Women not on the HIV funding agenda - yet?
This International Women's Day, we not only mark the 3 year anniversary of the Women WON'T wait. End HIV and Violence Against Women. NOW. campaign, but also reflect on where we are since the historic 4th World Conference on Women in 1995. The Beijin...
- Global: International Women's Day 2010 - Rights and recognition for domestic workers
Domestic workers around the world are organizing to challenge the harsh, abusive, often slave-like conditions in which they work. They are organizing unions and support networks, and they are mobilizing in support of an international Convention that ...
- Nigeria: Women protest at Jos killings
Hundreds of women have taken to the streets of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, and the central city of Jos in rallies against Sunday's massacre near Jos. The women, mostly dressed in black, demanded that the government protect women and children better....
- South Africa: Gender loses out in basic education crisis
With the 15th-year review of the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women taking place at the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women in New York, South African teachers and education experts say they fear that a special focus on the advancement of g...
- Africa: Africa's success stories in gender empowerment
Whenever gender empowerment is a vibrant topic of discussion internationally, some of the countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America are invariably singled out for their success stories in politics, education, health care or civil liberties even as ...
- Tanzania: Pregnant teens forced out of school
Pregnancy is the leading cause of dropouts for school girls in Tanzania. And a national law forbidding young mothers to return to school after giving birth did not make it any easier for them to continue their education. But thanks to pressure from t...
- Global conversations on women
Featuring Norah Matovu-Winyi, Monica Amollo and Pollyne Owoko, the following is a recording - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/stand-up-against-poverty of a United Nations 'global conversation' video-stream on women's rights, gender equality an...
- Global: Women in prison - Standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners
8. ( a ) Men and women shall so far as possible be detained in separate institutions; in an institution which receives both men and women the whole of the premises allocated to women shall be entirely separate;...
- Global: Rise and fall of gender empowerment
The 45-member Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), presiding over one of the largest gatherings of women at the United Nations, listened Monday to dozens of speakers spelling out the successes and failures of gender empowerment worldwide....
- Africa: Africa lax on CEDAW reporting
African countries, known for their penchant to ratify international conventions and other instruments, are not doing well when it comes to providing periodical reports on progress made in implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of...
- Africa: International bodies kick off discussion on gender parity
The UN Millennium Campaign, Femnet and Oxfam GB have announced the commencement of a series of global conversations to discuss the status of the promises world leaders have made to women in the Millennium Development Goals....
- Global: Migiro praises women groups for advancing gender equality
Deputy UN Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro has lauded women groups for their achievements in advancing gender equality globally. Speaking at the opening of the 54th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) in New York, Migiro urg...
- South Africa: Beijing+15: Time to go back to the streets
Sitting in my office in Johannesburg reading the daily newspaper published for the Beijing+15 Review at the Conference on the Status of Women in New York, I feel a sense of discomfort, a sense of a world going wrong. First, I read the article ‘Playin...
- South Africa: Beijing+15: Media - a hard nut to crack for women
Women are yet to make significant inroads into the media 15 years after the Beijing Platform of Action recognised its centrality in advancing women’s rights. Preliminary findings of the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project conducted by the World Asso...
- Global: Six UN agencies call for intensified efforts to help adolescent girls
Adolescent girls have often been missing in policy and programming. Yet many believe that their well-being the key to eliminating poverty, achieving social justice, stabilizing the population, and preventing foreseeable humanitarian crises....
- Global: Gendered impact of small arms & light weapons - book
Over time, women’s rights advocates have named a host of contributing factors to violence against women. Perhaps none of these has been less explored than the proliferation and unregulated use of small arms and light weapons – until now. A new book, ...
- Mali: "Reality check" needed in proposed changes to family code
A husband and wife can keep separate homes, but only with the husband’s approval. A divorcée can keep her ex-husband’s name – if he agrees. A girl should be able to marry at 15. These and a dozen other changes to the family code are being proposed by...
- Global: Free care for expectant mothers - is it enough?
The government of Sierra Leone has announced that from Independence Day (27 April) it will abolish user fees for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five, but will this, on its own, improve their lot?...