News
- 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?...
- Angola: Women target 50/50 representation at decision-making levels
Angolan women, particularly in government, want to achieve equal representation in the number of decision makers in the coming years, the Minister of Familiy and Women Promotion, Genoveva Lino has said....
- Global: 2010 NGO global forum for women: Beijing +15
2010 marks the 15th anniversary of the Beijing World Conference on Women. In recognition of this anniversary, the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY is organizing an NGO Global Women’s Forum to consider implementation of the Beijing Declaration...
- Africa: Congo First stop for U.N.'s Wallström
Margot Wallström starts March 1 her two-year stint as special U.N. representative on ending conflict-zone sexual violence. She says she'll be going right away to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a global epicenter of mass rape....
- Swaziland: Some women can now own property
The High Court of Swaziland ruled on 23 February 2010 that some married women will be allowed to register property in their own name. It has been five years since the new Constitution granted women equal status, after centuries of being classified an...
- Africa: Dossier on women victims of trafficking
This dossier is an answer to the pressing and serious need to inform the funding Authorities on the new and unknown patterns which the trafficking for sexual exploitation machinery is assuming. In particular, Be Free wishes to report the modalities t...
- Global: Hidden Herstories: Women of Change
"Hidden Herstories: Women of Change" is a youth-led heritage project which looks at 4 influential women who haven't had their rightful place in the history books. 20 young people from west London have set out to right this wrong; using their film-mak...
- Togo: First female presidential candidate withdraws
Brigitte Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson, head of the opposition Democratic Convention of African Peoples party, is Togo's first female presidential candidate. But she has withdrawn from the electoral process....
- East Africa: Women want visibility in regional union
As the East Africa Community (EAC) gradually moves towards a political confederation, women’s rights groups from the five member states are pushing for an East African Protocol on Gender and Development to bridge the gender gaps within the integratio...