Haitian women’s groups report that while contributions from the international community continue to pour in, “in many camps essentials such as food and clothing are not yet widely available, especially for women and children.”
In a letter of appeal sent to colleagues in the international women’s movement, Sergia Galvan and Mayra Tavarez of Colectiva Mujeres Y Salud/CAFRA in the Dominican Republic write:
- ” … As with most other natural disasters, the strongest and the fittest tend to dominate disaster supply chain and distribution. Women and young girls are the last to have access to the supplies chain and distribution points. So they do not receive the supplies that they most urgently need in addition to food and water. So it is in Haiti.
“Rape of young girls and women is also a growing problem as is common in the aftermath of most disasters” they write. Because of this, there is also an “urgent need for the morning after pill.
Haitian women, young girls and youth are in need of:
* Feminine supplies.
* Combs.
* Feminine wipes.
* Panties, bras and clothes and other support (especially for pregnant women and new mothers).
* Personal/household supplies for birth delivery and after: (rubbing alcohol or disposable anti-germicidal substitutes; baby wipes, baby wraps, pampers, socks and caps and supplies for nursing. mothers/newborn; (It is cold at nights so there is need to cover the feet and heads of the newborns).
* Clothing and under garments for women and young girls.
* Bedding & blankets for babies and mothers.
Their plea: Send supplies or money to help purchase any of the above items. In general, say Galvan and Tavarez, “any supplies (such as toothpaste, tooth brushes etc) that can be used for daily living for men, women, boys and girls are welcome.”
- We need your support for these resources and any financial contribution towards shipment that you are able to make.
Donations can be sent directly to:
HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE FOR HAITI
Sergia Galvan and Mayra Tavarez
Colectiva Mujeres Y Salud/CAFRA
Calle Socomo Sanchez
No 74, Gazcu, Santo Domingo DR
This is a specific drive for Emergency Supplies for Haitian women and girls* that is being sponsored by the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) and Colectiva Mujers Y Salud (Women’s Health Collective), Dominican Republic, and the CAFRA Youth League in Haiti. This assistance is being transferred primarily through the Myriam Merlet International Solidarity Camp* directly to women and women´s organizations.
Myriam Merlet was a National Representative of CAFRA who was killed during the earthquake.
The solidarity camp is named after Myriam Merlet, a feminist activist who was killed in the earthquake last week. As an outspoken activist, Merlet helped draw international attention to the use of rape as a political weapon.
A Feminist International Solidarity Camp to help mobilize and transfer resources, and to open channels of communications directly with Haitian women will open next week on the frontier Jemaní between the Dominican Republic & Haiti. As a project organized by women’s groups in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere in Latin America & the Caribbean and beyond, the Camp will be eventually handed over to Haitian women.
The international solidarity camp is named after Myriam Merlet, It is organized as a Resource Center for international solidarity efforts to send resources directly to the women of Haiti, and also work with Human Rights defenders from Haiti to monitor, denounce and demand legal action regarding violations of human rights including women’s human rights during the earthquake and the aftermath.
Also to be included is a Health Center to help deal the grief, injuries, illnesses and traumas of the earthquake.
Coordinators of these efforts include the Women & Health Collective (COMUS) a women’s human rights and health NGO, and CIPAF, a feminist NGO of the Dominican Republic that works in building social/political movement.
The space will also serve as a Communications Center to include radio transmissions via Internet by FIRE (Feminist International Radio Endeavour), as well as blogs, and electronic networks organized by women’s communication networks throughout the region. FIRE was the first international internet radio created and run by women from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Participation is needed, particularly to find resources, share information from the Camp and develop solidarity in your place. .
For more information in English about the Myriam Merlet Feminist International Solidarity Camp and other ways to participate go to: http://www.radiofeminista.net (webpage of FIRE radio) as of Febrary 1st.
Write in English to oficina@radiofeminista.net
Or write in Spanish to: Colectiva Mujer y Salud in the Dominican Republic at http://www.colectivamujerysalud.org
Centro de Investigación para la Acción Femenina CIPAF also in the Dominican Republic at: http://www.cipaf.org.do
http://www.radiofeminista.net/index.php/es/noticias/70-solidarity-haiti-feminist.html
See also: “Myriam Merlet, Anne Marie Coriolan & Magalie Marcelin Feminist International Camp”
and: UNIFEM Mourns the Deaths of 4 Women’s Rights Activists in Haiti
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday said he intended to make Sweden’s Margot Wallstrom his special representative tasked with combating sexual violence against women and children in conflicts.
Ban announced he wanted to appoint the 55-year-old outgoing vice-president of the European Commission during a speech at the opening of the African Union’s 14th summit in Addis Ababa.
“I have informed the UNSC of my intention to appoint Margot Wallstrom, vice-president of the European Commission, as my special representative to intensify efforts to end sexual violence against women and children in conflict situations,” he said.
“We will continue efforts to end the conflicts in the east (of the Democratic Republic of Congo), restore state authority, facilitate the return of refugees, and protect civilians against all forms of violence including sexual violence,” Ban said.
“I’m horrified and outraged by the use of rape as a weapon of war,” he said.
The Swedish diplomat said Sunday she would lobby for sexual violence in war to be recognised as a war crime, attacking what she said was a tendency to explain the abuse of women as “cultural.”
“I say this is not cultural, it is criminal. It is a crime under international law and it is also a war crime,” she told Swedish public radio.
The long-running conflicts in Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — where abuses against women and children are rife — are expected to top the agenda of the AU summit, which winds up on Tuesday.
The United Nation sounded the alarm in November over systematic rape by warring parties in the DRC, where some 5,000 conflict-linked rapes were reported in Sud-Kivu alone for the first half of 2009.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gGV5g7YpslxtNtkqxCrTTqb65dAQ
Iranian women’s groups and other rights organisations are fighting a much discussed proposed law which they say would encourage polygamy by allowing a man to take a second wife without the permission of the first in certain circumstances.
The proposal comes at a time when the country has been rocked by protests, in which women have played a major part, following the disputed re-election last June of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Although Sharia law permits a man to take up to four wives, polygamy is not widely practiced in Iran and women have enjoyed greater rights and freedoms than in some other Muslim countries. At present, an Iranian man needs his first wife’s permission to take a second.
A so-called Family Protection Law, proposed by the government in 2008, said a man could marry a second wife on condition only that he could afford both wives financially. The parliament dropped that clause following a wave of opposition from women but is now reconsidering a different version of the provision.
The spokesman for the parliament’s Judicial and Legal Commission, Amir Hussein Rahimi, announced recently that the commission had now approved article 23 of the proposed Family Protection Law that said, “A man can marry a second wife under ten conditions.”
The new version still requires the first wife to give permission, though controversially this would not be required under certain conditions, such as if she is mentally ill, or suffers from infertility, a chronic medical condition or drug addiction, in which case the husband can marry another woman. Also if the first wife does not cooperate sexually, the husband can take another wife.
The change is being promoted by conservative members of the parliament as a move that supports Islamic law. A leading conservative deputy, Ali Motahari, said in parliament last year, “Polygamy is Islam’s honour.”
Iranian women still oppose the legalisation of polygamy, saying it weakens their role and status at home and in society. Shahla Ezazi, professor of sociology at Allameh Tabatabai University, conducted a survey in 2008 which showed that 96 per cent of Iranian women do not approve of allowing a man to take a rival wife.
The original plan was dropped after a group of intellectuals, religious, social and human rights activists created a movement to voice their opposition to the law. In September 2008, a group of 50 well-known women, including poet Simin Behbahani, politician Azam Taleghani and lawyer and Noble prize winner Shirin Ebadi, met representatives from the parliament to express their concerns about what they called “an anti-family protection law”.
Islamic organisations such as the Zeinab Association and the Women’s Organisation of the Islamic Revolution also supported the movement. In addition, organisations such as the One Million Signatures campaign, which opposes discrimination against women, played a significant role in mobilising public opinion.
The law was also controversial among government officials and several reformists protested against it openly. Iran’s former president, Mohammad Khatami, called it “persecution”. Even a leading cleric, Grand Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, stated, “If the first wife does not permit her husband to take another wife, the marriage will not be legitimate, even if a man can support both wives financially.”
Nevertheless, the speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, has declared that it will consider a slightly amended version of the controversial article.
A lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, “When a government imprisons the women who ask for a change of discriminatory laws, and it persistently proposes a law that encourages men to marry a second wife, it is only natural that women don’t trust such a government.”
A young member of the Centre for Iranian Women, Taraneh Bani Yaghoub, said, “The women’s movement will not remain quiet.”
Iran’s first law that recognised polygamy according to Islamic Sharia law was passed when Reza Shah, who ruled between 1925 and 1941, was in power. In 1970, women activists demanded the secular government of Mohammad Reza Shah outlaw polygamy but despite the government’s positive reaction to their demand, clerics prevented it. In 1975, an alternative was adopted that polygamy was permitted under certain conditions, such as obtaining the first wife’s permission.
Much has changed in Iran since the 1976, when only 36 per cent of women were literate. Now, according to the Statistical Centre of Iran, 80 per cent of women are educated, and almost 1.6 million are university students – half the total and compared to 46,000 in 1976. Women’s education has also brought about a drastic change in their demographic behaviour. A woman’s average age on marriage is 24 while in 1976 it was 18 and the birth rate has dropped by one third compared to 30 years ago.
In addition, despite government restrictions on women, the number of female professionals has increased at around six per cent a year, so that about 2.5 million women were working in 2006, according to official statistics. A large group of educated women – scientists, doctors, academics, writers, artists, cinematographers, lawyers – has shaped today’s Iranian society. For years, these women have demanded legal and social rights and equal treatment with men. They have resisted any law that weakens their rights or degrades their position in society.
They say the proposed new law on polygamy is intolerable, also in the light of other laws on, for instance, divorce, fixed-term marriage contracts for men (or Sighehs), and child custody. Under Iranian divorce law, men can split from their wives under any circumstance, whereas women must have a “valid justification” such as the man’s addiction to drugs. Married men can have as many Sighehs as they wish, whereas women are stoned to death if they have an extramarital affair. In most cases, men also get custody of the children.
While women are angry with the proposed new law, they have also been disappointed by the reaction of key figures of the opposition movement. A recent statement signed by a group of women activists accused defeated presidential contenders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi of ignoring women’s rights and even their existence in their political manifestos. “We believe that women’s issues are a major part of the current crisis and no solution will be achieved unless this issue is included,” they said.
A 17-member national steering committee that will oversee the implementation of the national intervention data base project for combating human trafficking in Ghana has been inaugurated in Accra. The initiative which seeks to demonstrate Ghana’s commitment to fighting the menace comes in the wake of the release of the ninth annual Trafficking in Persons report (TIP) published in 2009 by the US Department of State and which sheds light on the faces on modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem.
The report named Ghana as a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.
Mrs. Sylvia Hinson-Ekong, Executive Director of Rescue Foundation Ghana (RSG) told journalists in Accra that, the outputs of the project will include capacity building, generation of a first national report on human trafficking in Ghana and dissemination of the report among others. “The database will serve as a source of information on human trafficking for planning and implementation of projects in the sector. It should encourage more players to work in the sector and attract more donors to the sector. I hope this partnership example between government and civil society will be replicated in other sectors to accelerate national development.”
Outgoing minister for MOWAC, Ms Akua Sena Dansua noted that the lack of a national database affects effective planning and programming for making interventions in trafficking in persons in Ghana. She was hopeful the project will also promote effective advocacy, decision making, planning, programming as well as adopting innovative mechanisms in combating human trafficking in Ghana.
The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Trans-national Organized Crime (2000) states that, “Trafficking in persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, engaging others in prostitution or forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking persons”.
Reports say trafficking in persons is a global phenomenon and that the trend is going upward. Last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said global human trafficking yielded between 7 and 12 billion US dollars, the third most profitable form of trafficking after arms and narcotics. Yet, whereas those who deal in drugs and guns can expect stiff penalties, if caught, penalties for traffickers in many countries seem less severe.
Ghana passed the Human Trafficking Act, Act 694 in 2005, to help deal effectively with the issue.
The TIP report stated that trafficking within the country is more prevalent than transnational trafficking and the majority of victims are children. Both boys and girls are trafficked within Ghana for forced labor in agriculture and the fishing industry, for street hawking, forced begging by religious instructors, as porters, and possibly for forced kente weaving.
Over 30,000 children are believed to be working as porters, or Kayayei, in Accra alone. Annually, the IOM reports numerous deaths of boys trafficked for forced labor in the Lake Volta fishing communities. Girls are trafficked within the country for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.
The TIP stated that trans-nationally, children are trafficked between Ghana and other West African countries, primarily Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Nigeria, the Gambia, Burkina Faso, and Gabon for the same purposes listed above. Girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation from Ghana to Western Europe, from Nigeria through Ghana to Western Europe, and from Burkina Faso through Ghana to Cote d’Ivoire.
Last year, Chinese women were trafficked to Ghana for sexual exploitation and a Ghanaian woman was also trafficked to Kuwait for forced labour. According to the report, Ghana does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking although it is making significant efforts to do so, despite limited resources. During the year, Ghanaian police intercepted a greater number of trafficking victims than the preceding year.
Despite these achievements, the government demonstrated weak efforts in prosecuting and punishing trafficking offenders or ensuring that victims received adequate care; therefore, Ghana is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.
The TIP report recommends that Ghana increases efforts to prosecute and convict trafficking offenders, including those who subject children to forced labour in the Lake Volta fishing industry and those who force Ghanaian children and foreign women into prostitution. It further recommends to Ghana to establish additional victim shelters, particularly for sex trafficking victims; continue to apply Trafficking Victim Fund monies to victim care; and train officials to identify trafficking victims among women in prostitution and to respect victims’ rights.
The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWAC) has the mandate to coordinate activities on human trafficking. Trafficking units are established in both the Police and the Ghana Immigration Service while several NGOs and stakeholders have projects to combat human trafficking. However, all these are scattered and uncoordinated.
It is for this reason that MOWAC is collaborating with Rescue Foundation Ghana (RFG) with support from the British High Commission to develop a national database on stakeholders and interventions being undertaken to combat trafficking of persons in Ghana.
First Secretary, Migration Policy (West Africa) of the British High Commission, Mr. Andrew Fleming, bemoaned that most victims of human trafficking often come from the poorest and most vulnerable sections and that the duty of all and sundry should be to help them spiritually and ethically.
“Help is not just about preventing trafficking and the rescue of victims. It is equally critical that cross sector partnerships work together to rehabilitate these victims.”
He commended Ghana for her attempts to ensure good practice on rehabilitation but said more victims need to benefit from this.
The testimonies of women who survived sexual violence during post-election conflict in 2008 should be heard, say advocates. The magnitude of the crimes committed against women because of their gender must be recorded and prosecuted to prevent such violence from occurring again.
“We have realised there is no political intention to ensure the perpetrators of gender-based and sexual violence are brought to book, says Patricia Nyaundi, executive director of the Federation of Women Lawyers Kenya (Fida).
In presenting its findings, the Waki Commission of Inquiry into the Post-Election Violence described rapes committed against women, children and some men; carried out by gangs of thugs, by neighbours and by the security forces. The Commission states that the evidence it collected represented a tiny fraction of the full extent of gender-based violence — just 31 women came forward with testimony of this nature.
A single facility, the Gender Violence Recovery Centre at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital, reported attending to over 650 cases of sexual violence during the chaos. Anecdotal evidence suggests thousands of other women across the country survived similar violence.
FIDA is one of a group of organisations working to document gender-based and sexual violence in the aftermath of 2007 General Election as well as during other conflicts that have rocked Kenya, such as the Mount Elgon conflict where armed militia for months terrorised residents over land disputes.
“By documenting these testimonies, we are taking this opportunity to give women who underwent horrific ordeals a chance to tell their stories, to create historical evidence that this actually happened.
“This kind of evidence will force this country to move from denial and accept what happened during that period,” says Nyaundi.
“Violence against women has been systematic and entrenched in our society, but the post-election period saw an unprecedented number of women subjected to widespread sexual violence,” says Rosemary Okello.
“Many women were sexually assaulted, gang raped or sodomised. Many of these acts of sexual violence occurred in the presence of the women’s spouses, children or parents causing trauma, humiliation and stress suffered by the survivors and their families.”
Okello is executive director of another partner in the documentary project, the African Woman and Child Feature Service (AWCFS), which promotes diversity, gender equity, social justice and development in Africa through media, training and research. Also participating are the NGOs Centre for Rights Education and Awareness and Women Fighting Against Aids in Kenya.
The documentation project is supported by the Urgent Action Fund (UAF-Africa), which has wide experience working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Northern and North Eastern Uganda, Liberia and Zimbabwe, providing rapid response grants to women and human rights organisations.
“Women survivors become guiltier than the perpetrators of the violence,” says UAF executive director Jessica Nkuuhe.
“The women fear to share what they have been through because they are afraid of stigma and being deserted by their families, especially their spouses. They thus shut down and unfortunately this ordeal eats at their very existence, giving rise to depression and eventually some lose the will to live and die miserable.”
Nkuuhe says the documentary project is an off-shoot of similar endeavours in northern and northeastern Uganda, Liberia and Zimbabwe through which survivors of sexual and gender-based violence have been able to share their experiences with each other.
“We brought together survivors of sexual violence to a conference. Before that most of these women had kept their experiences silent. When they met other women who had been through similar horrific ordeals, they were able to open up and share. Sharing their stories provides an avenue for the survivors to seek help to heal after such a traumatising ordeal,” Nkuuhe says.
Kenyan member of parliament Millie Odhiambo says unless women speak out, sexual offences committed in times of conflict will go unpunished.
As Kenya takes account of what happened in 2008 and prosecutes perpetrators, the gender-based violence dimension must be brought into focus.
“As a country, we were not prepared for the level of gender-based and sexual violence that was witnessed. By documenting this, it shall provide a basis for our government to develop policies on preparedness to handle such scenarios. The evidence will also act as shock therapy for Kenya and we shall never forget what happened to these survivors,” Odhiambo says.
Judy Waguma of AWCFS says despite the existence of legislation such as the Sexual Offences Act, there has been minimal prosecution of sexual offences during the post-election chaos.
“During situations of crisis — as evidenced by the post-election violence —the government response to sexual violence is very limited, and it is usually the civil society organisations that have to step in to design and implement responses. Therefore there is a marked lack of access to justice for survivors of sexual violence.”
Odhiambo says the project to document testimonies comes at an opportune time, ahead of the entry of International Criminal Court investigators who will carry out a fact-finding mission on Kenya’s post-election violence, after the government failed to act on findings and recommendations of the Waki Commission.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will be gathering evidence for prosecutions of those “most responsible” for the violence. The documentation project should be an important part of making sure responsibility for gender-based crimes is not neglected.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539546/853272/-/9w1fu5/-/
A recent fatwa banning female genital mutilation/cutting in Mauritania will help reduce the practice only if religious leaders take the message to the people, scholars and anti-FGM/C activists say.
Given the widespread practice of FGM/C in Mauritania and the belief that it is imposed by Islam – families cut their girls “as Allah wishes”, one woman said upon hearing of the fatwa – convincing people to stop will take time and engagement from religious leaders.
“Imams and Muslim scholars must not stop at just talking about the ban in their sermons,” Muslim scholar Baba ould Mata told IRIN. “They must go before the people, especially in remote regions where FGM/C is prevalent.”
A group of Muslim clerics and scholars on 12 January signed the religious decree against FGM/C after two days of debate led by the Forum de la pensee islamique et du dialogue des cultures in the capital Nouakchott.
A 2007 Health Ministry study showed that 72 percent of women in Mauritania had undergone FGM/C – about the same proportion as in 2001 despite years of awareness campaigns and a 2005 law punishing anyone cutting a child and “causing injury”.
But education campaigns did help bring about the fatwa, religious heads said. The Muslim leaders issuing the decree drew on a 2008 declaration by Mauritanian doctors and midwives that FGM/C is “harmful to health and can have grave consequences including death”.
In 2006 a Mauritanian association of Islamic scholars issued a fatwa denouncing FGM/C but few religious leaders agreed to sign it. The 2008 declaration put more weight behind the move this time, Muslim scholar and secretary general of the forum, Cheikh ould Zein told IRIN.
He said of the recent fatwa: “Our reasoning went like this: Are there texts in the Koran that clearly require this practice? No. On the contrary, Islam is clearly against any act that would have negative repercussions for health. Today Mauritanian doctors unanimously declare [FGM/C] threatens health; therefore it is against Islam.”
But many Mauritanians, like one in Nouakchott who gave her name just as Fatimatou, say they cut because Islam requires it. “We practice this from generation to generation as Allah wishes,” she told IRIN. “A girl who is not cut cannot pray or get married.”
She asked several times for confirmation of the fatwa then said: “I have my doubts. I am going to ask about this in the village; we have a marabout [religious leader] there.”
Fatimatou, pregnant with her third child, added: “But if the child I’m carrying is a girl, I think I’ll have her cut because I don’t want her to have a bad life.”
Ould Zein said FGM/C is too often seen as required by Islam. “The difficulty is separating tradition from religion.”
Given “the weight of tradition” scholar ould Mata told IRIN, hearing of FGM/C’s harmful effects from NGOs will not be enough. “Though if an imam goes to a village and says, ‘Yes, Islam is against FGM/C’, men and women can no longer defend the practice with a religious argument.”
Mauritanian law has had little effect on the ground, said Yakhare Soumaré with the Mauritanian NGO Action. She agreed that the fatwa can have influence only if religious leaders actively promote it. “It has been the position of many religious leaders up to now that was the greatest obstacle to our awareness efforts. Even if our campaigns reach remote populations, it is always the religious leaders who have the last word.”
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/c36b1991925ca4e73289a2418295faf5.htm
Evo Morales began his second term as president of Bolivia by swearing in a cabinet made up of an equal number of women and men – unprecedented in this South American nation with a strong patriarchal tradition.
“My great dream has come true: half of the members of my cabinet are women, and half are men,” said a visibly moved Morales when he presented his new team of ministers Saturday, the day after he was sworn in to a second term.
“This was an impressive surprise,” Jimena Leonardo, one of the heads of the Bartolina Sisa federation of peasant women of La Paz, told IPS.
Three of the 10 female members of the cabinet are indigenous social activists.
The 50-year-old Morales, the first indigenous president in this country where Amerindians make up over 60 percent of the population, said that since his days as a rural trade union leader, he had stressed the need for women’s participation in top posts to be “chacha-warmi”, which means roughly fifty-fifty in Aymara, his mother tongue.
Bolivia has thus become the second country in Latin America, after Chile, to have a cabinet with gender parity, said Mónica Novillo, head of advocacy and lobbying for the Coordinadora de la Mujer, a Bolivian umbrella organisation of more than 200 women’s groups.
Referring to the new constitution that took effect in February 2009, Novillo told IPS that “this was a promise that President Morales made when the new constitution was enacted, which has been fulfilled with the swearing in of the new cabinet.”
Noting that the women in his 20-member cabinet include “singers, lawyers, activists and social leaders, economists, doctors and workers,” the president highlighted the fact that Bolivia will have a female labour minister for the first time ever – while calling on trade unionists not to protest the historic appointment.
Novillo pointed out that there are now twice as many women in Morales’ cabinet, compared to his first term, which began in January 2006. The leftist leader was reelected – to a five instead of four-year term under the new constitution – in an unparalleled landslide victory, with 64 percent of the vote, on Dec. 6.
She added that gender parity in the three branches of the state is a long-time demand of the women’s movement.
The new constitution, which guarantees equal rights for men and women, empowers both women and the country’s historically downtrodden indigenous majority.
The naming of 10 women ministers was preceded by the election of a female legislator, Ana María Romero of the governing Movement to Socialism (MAS) party, as the powerful president of the Senate – another milestone for gender equality touted by Morales.
The proportion of women in the new parliament – in which the total number of legislators was expanded under the new constitution – will be double what it was in the previous Congress: 46 out of 166 seats (28 percent), compared to 22 out of 157 seats (14 percent).
In appointing his new cabinet, Morales had to respond to conflicting pressures from the various social movements that make up his support base and from his supporters among the middle class and intellectuals. He also apparently made a small concession to his adversaries by replacing his interior and defence ministers and chief of staff, who were extremely unpopular among the opposition.
But seven ministers stayed on, including three who were considered key to the success of his first administration: the ministers of economy and finance, autonomy, and foreign relations.
Bolivian women’s organisations have been celebrating the new cabinet as a far-reaching achievement in a country where machismo runs deep.
Women have quietly made headway in politics as part of the process of change that brought Morales to power. But only now is the strength of their participation since 2006 gaining recognition, under the leadership of indigenous and community activists from poor rural and urban areas in the country’s western highlands region.
Leonardo is one of them – a farmer who led thousands of peasant women as they showed their strength in roadblocks, days-long marches along highways, and protest demonstrations that formed part of the struggle against the free market economic policies implemented by governments between 1985 and 2005.
Researchers and indigenous thinkers say the major changes seen in Bolivia over the last four years are largely due to the strength and drive of women. But up to now, the women’s movement had not taken a front seat role.
When he announced his new cabinet, Morales also said that Bolivian women’s social conscience, patriotism and dedication to defending national interests, as well as the respect he feels for his mother, sister and daughter, were factors in his decision to break with a long history of discrimination against women.
The female members of the cabinet include popular folk singer and activist Zulma Yugar in the Ministry of Culture; lawyer and former ombudswoman Nardi Suxo as the anti-corruption minister; U.S.-trained economist Elba Viviana Caro in the Ministry of Development Planning; Antonia Rodríguez, the head of an association of women artisans, as Minister of Productive Development; Nilda Copa, a leader of the Bartolina Sisa federation of peasant women of Tarija, in the Justice Ministry; and Carmen Trujillo as Minister of Labour and Social Security.
Others are Dr. Sonia Polo as Minister of Health and Sports; María Esther Udaeta as Environment Minister; Nemesia Chacollo, a leader of the Bartolina Sisa federation of peasant women of La Paz, as Minister of Rural Development and Land; and Minister of Legal Defence Elizabeth Arismendi.
But the organisations that make up the Coordinadora de la Mujer have no intention of resting on their laurels, and have already launched a campaign to achieve gender equity at the municipal and regional levels, demanding that half of the candidates fielded by political parties in the Apr. 4 local and provincial elections be women.
Women are not welcome.
Our list of macho shows is long and non-exhaustive, including:‘On n’est pas couché’ , the Laurent Ruquier’s show, ‘Vous aurez le dernier mot’, presented by Franz-Olivier Giesbert, ‘Mots Croisés’ Yves Calvi, ‘L’objet du scandale’ with Guillaume Durand, ‘Le plus grand cabaret du monde’ with Patrick Sébastien, ‘Vivement Dimanche’ of Michel Drucker, ‘Ce soir (ou jamais !)’ with Frédéric Taddeï, ‘la Grande Librairie’ with François Busnel, ‘C dans l’air’ with Yves Calvi, ‘Parlez-moi d’ailleurs’ with Franz-Olivier Giesbert, ‘Ça vous regarde’ with Arnaud Ardouin, ‘Bibliothèque Médicis’ with Jean-Pierre Elkabbach, and even ‘A vous de juger‘ with Arlette Chabot ;
In all these popular shows of French public broadcasting, the proportion of women to men reaches barely, and episodically, 15%. It is not unusual to find 100% men in most of these shows.
Women are not welcome on the shows of the biggest French public channels – France2, France 3, France 5 France 5, La Chaîne Parlementaire (the channel for the lower parliamentary house), Public Sénat (Channel of the Senate). However this is very different to the French private channels (TF1, M6) or Arte the Germano-french channel where there are lots of women and minority groups represented.
MACHISMO IN THE COUNTRY OF THE SUPPOSED FREEDOM, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY
Ironically, France has many groups working against machismo in our society, including the High Council of the Audiovisual (CSA), the High Authority of the fight against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE), an Observatory of the parity between men and women working under the special authority of the Prime Minister, a Minister of Work and Family, the State Secretary of the Family, the Delegation for the rights of women and the equality of opportunity between men and women, civil servant journalists working against inequalities, the political parties, the Unions, the Economic Council (CESR) that are supposed to foster equality!
Last but not least, the French Government wants to make a law to set a percentage of women in entreprise. However the participation of women in public broadcasting shows has still to be discussed.
MORE THAN 200 MACHISMO SHOWS IN THREE MONTHS ON FRENCH TV
From September to November 2009, we recorded more than 200 machismo shows on French public broadcasting and this research is not exhaustive.
Ruquier, Giesbert, Durand, Calvi, Taddeï, Drucker, Sébastien, Busnel, Elkabbach, Ardouin, provide machismo shows on French TV each week, all financed by the taxes of female and male citizen.
http://www.service-public.tv/editorial.htm both in English and French
See also: Sensation that Il Corpo delle donne (Women’s Bodies) has become in Italy
Thousands of women are dying every year during pregnancy and childbirth in the African state of Burkina Faso because discrimination stops them from accessing sexual health services, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
“Women in Burkina Faso are trapped in a vicious cycle of discrimination which makes giving birth potentially lethal,” Claudio Cordone, Amnesty’s interim secretary general, said in a report.
“Every woman has the right to life and the right to adequate healthcare, and the government should redouble its efforts to address preventable maternal death.”
In a special report on maternal death in Burkina Faso, Amnesty said there were shortages of medical supplies and trained staff, and said discriminatory attitudes and corruption among health workers were also preventing women seeking care.
Some women die because they cannot reach a health clinic in time, many die because they can’t pay the fees demanded by medical staff, and yet more die because of shortages of blood, drugs, equipment or qualified medical staff, the human rights group said. Many of the 2,000 deaths each year could be easily prevented if women had timely access to healthcare.
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world and is ranked 177 out of 182 countries in the United Nations Development Programme’s 2009 report.
Despite having equal status under the law, Amnesty said most women in Burkina Faso were subordinate to men in their lives and had little or no control over decisions such as when to seek medical care and when to get pregnant.
Women and girls are often forced into early marriage and female genital mutilation, the report said.
Poverty is a major contributing factor in preventable maternal death, particularly for women living in rural areas.
Amnesty said a government policy introduced in 2006 to subsidise between 80 percent and 100 percent of the cost of childbirth for some of the poorest women was a good intention, but had been thwarted by a lack of information and corruption.
The rights group called on Burkina Faso’s authorities to expand and improve access to family planning services, remove financial barriers to maternal healthcare services and strive for more even access to health facilities and trained staff.
“Maternal death is a tragedy that robs thousands of families of wives, mothers, sisters and daughters each year,” Cordone said. “So long as women are not allowed control over their own bodies, they will continue to die in their thousands.”
In the lead-up to the 28 January London Conference on Afghanistan hosted by the UK Government, Afghan women human rights defenders said strong, specific recommendations on security, development and governance priorities for their country. These recommendations provide the only concrete input from consultation with Afghan women into the key decisions affecting the future of their country that will be set in London by international actors.
Deeply concerned about the exclusion of Afghan women’s perspectives from the dialogue surrounding the London Conference, the statement issued today by the women activists comes as a result of broad-based consultations with Afghan women civil society leaders at the Dubai Women’s Dialogue and London Dialogue over the last week, involving the Afghan Women’s Network and supported by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Institute for Inclusive Security.
“As the global community knows, nowhere are women’s human rights more at stake than in Afghanistan. Therefore it is of grave concern that women’s voices and perspectives are largely missing from this London conference on Afghanistan’s future. The international community should stand behind the women of Afghanistan and elevate their voices, not barter away their rights in the name of short-term peace and stabilization,” said Wazma Frogh, Afghan Gender and Development Specialist.
Women’s participation in and perspectives on security solutions for Afghanistan are of particular relevance given the way that their rights and freedoms have been a focus of some of the conflict in the country. “Besides the high levels of violence experienced by ordinary women and girls, there has been a very high rate of deadly attacks on women human rights defenders and women in prominent public roles. This makes the determination of the women who have travelled to London to share their concerns and proposals all the more inspiring, and the international community needs to hear what they have to say,” said Anne Marie Goetz, Chief Advisor, Governance Peace and Security for UNIFEM.
The status of Afghan women continues to be one of the worst in the world with 87 percent of them facing domestic abuse. They are also systematically neglected as key partners for conflict resolution, peacebuilding and recovery. “Afghan women have the most to gain from peace and the most to lose from any form of reconciliation compromising women’s human rights. There cannot be national security without women’s security, there can be no peace when women’s lives are fraught with violence, when our children can’t go to schools, when we cannot step on the streets for fear of acid attacks,” said Mary Akrami, Director of the Afghan Women Skills Development Centre.
Pointedly reminding international donors and the national government that women’s participation is critical for sustainable peace, and that women can spearhead efforts to moderate extremism, the advocates demanded that women be included in all security and development processes, including any negotiations and reconciliation programmes involving warlords, the Taliban, and other insurgents. “Women are the single, greatest under-utilized resource in efforts to return stability and prosperity to Afghanistan. Peacebuilding efforts cannot be fully effective when they ignore the expertise, insights, and ideas of half the population,” according to Carla Koppells, Director of the Institute for Inclusive Security. Adds Orzala Ashraf, independent women’s rights activist: “Short-term deals with insurgents will not deliver long-term stability if there aren’t guarantees of women’s rights. In the end women’s well-being i s the test of real security and stabilization.”
From the London Conference, the advocates hope to see a clear plan that will provide greater clarity of direction and priorities for the new Afghan administration as well as the inclusion of gender concerns, and a renewed commitment to implement existing commitments to Afghan women. Their specific recommendations include:
Ensuring women’s representation in peace processes. Consistent with constitutional guarantees for women’s representation, women must comprise at least 25 percent of any peace process, including any proposed upcoming peace jirgas. They must be represented in any national and local security policy-making forums, such as the Afghan President’s National Security Council.
Guaranteeing that reconciliation protects women’s rights. The government and international community must secure and monitor women’s rights in all reconciliation initiatives so that the status of women is not bargained away in any short-term effort to achieve stability.
Implementing gender-responsive security policy. All efforts to enhance security in Afghanistan must better serve women.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/VVOS-824NCW?OpenDocument
See also: Afghan Civil Society Fears Taliban Talks Will Compromise Rights
The Government in Cyprus launched a National Action Plan against domestic violence last week to develop a national strategy and coordinate the overall approach taken by the state in battling the phenomenon.
There were 1,067 recorded incidences of domestic violence in Cyprus last year.
“I wish to underline that despite everything done to recognise and address domestic violence in Cyprus what was missing was a national strategy to combat domestic violence in Cyprus and this is what we are announcing today,” said Sotiroulla Charalambous, the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance.
The legal structure already in place in Cyprus to deal with domestic violence has been repeatedly rated as one of the best internationally, according to many European organizations. In particular it is praised for its inclusive approach which provides for the protection of victims, the punishment of those responsible and therapy for those who have been involved in incidents of domestic violence.
“It is very important when a woman has experienced domestic violence for there to be therapeutic programmes that she can join to help her overcome the incident and develop,” said Charalambous.
Charalambous went on to say that domestic violence usually arises due to socio-economic problems which tie in to the relationship situations of a couple. She said that “violence is about power in a relationship” and emphasised that Cyprus, as a state, was using all the international tools at their disposal “to combat this phenomenon”.
The provisional figures for 2009 record 1,067 incidents of domestic violence in Cyprus, the majority of which are against women, though many involve children also. The incidence of domestic violence against men, whilst they are not excluded from consideration as potential victims, is very low.
In practice, the National Action Plan was originally formulated to coordinate government policy over the time period 2008-2013 but was only recently approved by the Cabinet on December 3 2009. An analytical process will now follow to formulate how the ministries and departments will work together interactively on the issue and to decide which provisions within the plan are the most essential. It is these most essential items within the Action Plan which will be included in the 2011 budget to secure financing to carry them out.
There are already mechanisms in place to address the problem of domestic violence in Cyprus and the state infrastructure is not starting from zero on this matter. “We are improving the mechanisms and tying them into a coordinated, strategically designed, spherical whole,” said Charalambous of the new Action Plan.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/national-action-plan-launched-battle-domestic-violence/20100126
The former Florida quarterback, who’s known for writing Bible verses under his eyes, has been receiving criticism for starring in a planned Super Bowl commercial that critics say conveys an anti-abortion message.
Jehmu Greene, president of Women’s Media Center, asked CBS on Monday not to air the commercial, saying, “An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sporting event of the year.”
The Women’s Media Center is coordinating the effort to have the ad pulled with support from the National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority Foundation.
A CBS spokesman said it had approved the advertisement’s script and it would be “appropriate for air.” The network said today it would be willing to air more advocacy ads during the Super Bowl.
Tebow and his mother, Pam Tebow, appear in the advertisement, which was financed by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family. In the expected ad, Pam recounts how doctors recommended she have an abortion after developing complications while pregnant with Tim. The ad also shows how Tim went on to become one of the most successful college quarterbacks in the country.
“I know some people won’t agree with it, but I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe,” Tim Tebow said.
Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger said his group was “a little surprised” by the controversy the ad had drawn. “There’s nothing political or controversial about it,” he said.
Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women disagrees, saying the commercial is “not being respectful of other people’s lives.”
“It is offensive to hold one way out as being a superior way over everybody else’s,” she said.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/01/tim-tebow-super-bowl-ad-prolife-womens-media-center-controversy-pam-abortion.html
Stop Anti-Choice Super Bowl Ad
CBS’s recent decision to air an anti-choice advertisement ad during Super Bowl XLIV was outrageous. Even worse is the network’s about face from its own policy of rejecting controversial Super Bowl ads. The Women’s Media Center, and organizations dedicated to reproductive rights, tolerance, and social justice, are urging the network to immediately cancel this ad.
Click here to TAKE ACTION!! http://www.notunderthebus.com/?page_id=886
Why do men visit prostitutes? This may seem like a silly question with a one-word answer, but advocates battling sex trafficking say the reasons are actually quite complex and could be key to understanding the changing face of prostitution in modern times.
Psychologists from international advocacy groups sat down with 700 Johns in several countries to learn why they decided to pay for sex. The study has illuminated some personal stories of loneliness, to pure desire. “No big deal, it’s just like getting a beer,” one man said, whiles others suspected that the women were held against their will.
“She was frightened and nervous. She told me she had been tricked,” one man in London told researchers from the non-profit Prostitution Research & Education and the London-based charity Eaves.
Gone are the heydays of the local brothel or even the red light district. With the rise of the Internet, a new anonymity was born and with it a covert business model that blended in with local homes and businesses. Some Internet advertisements are from individual prostitutes and some are from pimps who run sex trafficking rings that exploit women captured into sex slavery through force, threats of violence or coercion.
Experts say sometimes Johns may not even know the difference — so a coalition of non-profits dedicated to abolishing modern day sex trafficking decided it was time to shift from interviewing women about why they were selling sex to asking why men decided to pay for sex.
The answers varied. From two-hour interviews with 103 men aged 18-70 in the London area who responded to a newspaper ad, some explanations included:
“Prostitution is like masturbating without having to use your hand.”
“I feel sorry for these girls but this is what I want.”
“Look, men pay for women because he can have whatever and whoever he wants. Lots of men go to prostitutes so they can do things to them that real women would not put up with.
“We’re living in the age of instant coffee, instant food. This is instant sex.”
“Prostitution is a last resort to unfulfilled sexual desires. Rape would be less safe, or if you’re forced to hurt someone or if you’re so frustrated you j*** off all day.”
The most common reason why men said they bought sex was to satisfy immediate sexual urge; 21 percent of time men wanted to select women with certain physical racial and sexual stereotypes such as being submissive; 20 percent went to prostitutes because they were unsatisfied with their current relationship; and 15 percent went to prostitutes because there was no emotional connection or commitment.
Only 3 percent of the responders in the survey said they went to prostitutes because of a sex addiction or because they were drunk.
Melissa Farley, clinical psychologist and a co-author of the study, said she wants legislators to understand the Johns’ motives to find a way to crack down on prostitution. For instance, Farley also asked what would deter the men from visiting a prostitute.
More than 80 percent of the men said the following would deter them: being added to a sex offender register, having your picture and/or name on a billboard or local newspaper, mandatory prison time, having your picture and/or name posted on the Internet or a letter sent to family members.
Only 47 percent of men said a requirement to attend educational services about prostitution would deter them. Farley said she aims to stamp out prostitution in addition to sex trafficking because of the stories she’s heard in the 12 years she spent researching prostitution.
“Our non-profit spent 12 years studying women in nine countries on five continents,” said Farley who is executive director of the non-profit Prostitution Research & Education. “Women in prostitution, men in prostitution, and transgender people in prostitution all say the same thing. That is harmful to them and they would do anything else if they had the choice.” Farley said previous studies show 98 percent of women in prostitution do not enjoy it.
But Ed Laumann, professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, points out that the research in the London study was far from definitive — the sample of men was small and the responding men were skewed to those who read the newspaper or want to respond to an ad looking for Johns.
Laumann also says that there may never be a universal answer to the question of why men buy prostitutes because the “oldest profession” changes so often depending on time and culture.
For instance, large surveys have showed prostitution in the United States dropped significantly over the last century, while today 1 in 4 men report visiting a prostitute in some parts of southeastern China, according to Laumann.
“The kinds of folks who used prostitution in the modern era are very different than the ones before,” Laumann said, speaking of the results of the National Health and Social Life Survey in 1992 which interviewed a random group of 3,432 people. In that survey, which questioned people ages 18-59, about 10 percent of older men reported that their first sexual experience was with a prostitute.
“That goes to zero in the youngest cohort,” said Laumann.
The reason, Laumann reasoned, is that the sexual revolution made premarital sex much more accessible. Now young men go to girlfriends for sex and vice versa instead of some young, unmarried people choosing to pay for sex at a local brothel.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MensHealth/study-attempts-find-men-pay-sex/story?id=9663694&page=1
See also:
* Shifting Sands: A Comparison of Prostitution Regimes Across Nine Countries – CWASU
* Men who buy sex: who they buy and what they know – Eaves
Zimbabwe still has a long way to go in achieving universal access to reproductive health with almost half of the women in rural areas failing to access family planning methods.
The second target, according to Millennium Development Goal number five of reducing the maternal mortality ratio to 174 deaths per 100 000 live births is also a dream still to come true, according to national indicator surveys conducted in the country.
The first comprehensive assessment of deaths resulting from pregnancy or childbirth released at the end of last year by the United Nations Population Fund, which partnered with the University of Zimbabwe and other UN agencies to produce the report, revealed that 725 women out of every 100 000 who deliver, die due to complications, a very high figure compared to the MDG’s target of 174 deaths per 100 000 live births.
HIV and Aids, postpartum hemorrhage (excessive bleeding after delivery), hypertension and sepsis (infection) are cited as the major causes of maternal deaths.
The UNFPA report further indicates that most maternal deaths occurred at home, where women had no expert care when they experienced complications.
It also said that the 29 percent of pregnant women who belonged to the Apostolic sect were at greater risk of maternal death due to their belief that health problems should be treated only through prayer.
The report further says the major challenge will be to develop a sensitive approach to the sect, which respects their right to religious freedom but also asserts women’s right to health.
The study advises that nearly half the maternal deaths could be avoided by successful prevention and treatment of complications, and that none of the interventions are complex or beyond the capacity of a functional health system in Zimbabwe.
Another report released by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in conjunction with United Nations agencies on maternal and peri-natal mortality (2007) said a total of 364 women in Zimbabwe died due to avoidable pregnancy complications in 2006 alone.
The study also attributed the deaths of 628 infants, during the same period, mainly to pre-term births.
However, the study was quick to point out that the figures are not a true reflection of the actual figures on the ground saying there was “gross under-reporting” of deaths at district level from community and at provincial levels from health facilities.
According to the study, 63 percent of deaths occurred just after delivery (postpartum), 24 percent during pregnancy (antenatal) and 16 percent during delivery (intrapartum).
The study showed that most women who died delivered at home.
“Effective interventions exist to treat these complications (haemorrhage, hypertension/ eclampsia, sepsis and obstructed labour) and deaths from them are avoidable.
“Successful prevention and treatment of these complications represents the potential to reduce maternal deaths by 46 percent. None of the interventions are complex or beyond the capacity of a functioning health system in Zimbabwe,” read part of the report.
Part of a longer article at http://allafrica.com/stories/201001220360.html
A left-leaning umbrella organization active in fighting for the rights of non-Orthodox Jewish expression and Arab equality has begun a campaign to encourage haredi women to protest against gender segregation on buses and in other public places.
“In recent years, discrimination against women has emerged predominately in public buses, where women are forced to sit in the back; at holy sites such as the Western Wall, where women are not allowed to practice religion as they wish; and on sidewalks, where they are even not allowed to walk certain pavements in Jerusalem,” the New Israel Fund said in a statement on Monday.
The fund has facilitated the creation of a hotline called Hashmi’eini (make your voice heard to me), taken from a verse in the Song of Songs, as well as a blog on the Internet forum Tapuz that encourages haredi women to complain about negative incidents that they have witnessed or have experienced firsthand.
The organizations involved with the hotline ((02) 671-1911) and the blog prefer to remain anonymous for fear that haredi women will be scared off if they know who is behind the initiative.
“Since the hotline was launched this week, we have had six callers, five of them men, who have complained about various incidents,” said A., who helps manage the hotline and blog.
“One woman who identified herself as haredi said that she got on a bus with heavy grocery bags,” said A. “The woman said that she tried her best to move to the back of the bus, because she really wanted to respect the separation. She thought that she had passed the demarcation line, but a group of men yelled at her to move further back.”
A. said that the men who called mainly complained about the use of violence by haredi male passengers to enforce the segregation. There have been numerous incidents in which men have used violence, including beatings, to enforce segregation.
In a recent incident in Ashdod roles were reversed. A haredi man confronted a woman who sat at the front of the bus, and she hit him with pepper spray. The woman was arrested.
The NIF and the other organizations were unable to arrange for The Jerusalem Post to talk with haredi women who are opposed to the segregation or the way it is enforced. This was due to the unwillingness of the women to come forward, and to time constraints.
In contrast, Riki Shoshan, a veteran female journalist and the daughter of a deceased Hassidic leader, said that instead of trying to fight against gender segregation on buses and in other public places the NIF should “praise” it.
“Anyone who has ever traveled on a packed bus, especially in the summer when it is very hot and people are thrown together, will admit that it is a good thing to separate men and women,” said Shoshan. “It humiliates me to have my modesty compromised by being shoved into a man on the bus. Haredi women have different standards for what is acceptable than the secular public. It is an affront to us to be in such situations.”
Shoshan explained that the vast majority of haredim do not have their own cars and are therefore completely dependent on buses.
In response to allegations that haredi men were using violence to enforce segregation, Shoshan said that the Torah totally forbids such behavior. “Moshe killed an Egyptian for just raising his hand to strike a Jew,” she said. “In every society there are good fish and bad fish. People who use violence are bad.”
Asked if she felt her rights were being curtailed by being forced to sit in the back of the bus, Shoshan replied that she did not. “It is for a woman’s own good to be separated from men. And there are a lot of activities which men do alone, while there are things that women like to do by themselves.”
However, A. said there was nothing in Halacha that said such strict measures of segregation had to be applied. “Where does it say that a man cannot sit down next to his wife on the bus?” asked A., who defined herself as Orthodox but not haredi.
She added that the goal of the hotline and the blog was not necessarily to bring about a change in segregation policies but to give women the opportunity to share their experiences with someone sympathetic.
The NIF said that its campaign includes ads and posters placed on buses that pass through haredi neighborhoods, and leaflets handed out in strategic locations where haredi women gather, such at mikvaot [ritual baths] and the women’s sections of synagogues.
In addition, posters placed in haredi neighborhoods call on women to use the hotline. The NIF plans to distribute leaflets that include gifts for the women, who will find them in synagogues all over Jerusalem. The campaigners are considering ways to further expand the campaign to the Internet and other digital media.
Asked if the campaign wasn’t interference in internal haredi issues, Itzhak Shanan, director of NIF’s communications and public education in Israel, said, “The issue of gender separation – when conducted in a discriminatory, violent way – is an infringement of women’s rights.
“Therefore, it is not an internal issue of haredi society. It becomes the business of the entire Israeli society. The present initiative is not fundamentally different from the NIF’s decision to fund the establishment of a rape crisis center for religious women.”
Shanan noted that there were diverse opinions on gender segregation within the haredi society, with hassidic movements representing the most uncompromising position.
“Today, the haredi woman who suffers from violence has no place to turn inside the haredi community for help. There is a scare campaign stifling all opposition. Therefore, the hotline is essential because it is the only address for women who suffer from separation and are opposed to it.
“Another reason why this issue is relevant to all walks of Israeli society is because it has an impact on everyone. There are plenty of people who ride segregated buses and are not haredi. In Beit Shemesh, a lynch was barely avoided when a young woman boarded a segregated bus and sat in the wrong part.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1263147932453&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Suicide has emerged as the single leading cause of death among women in Nepal aged 15-49, outranking other causes such as accidents and disease, according to a government study.
The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Study 2008/2009 undertaken by the Family Health Division (FHD) of the Department of Health Services looked at changes in maternal mortality in Nepal since 1998, when the last survey was done.
The year-long study from April 2008 of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) was carried out in eight districts chosen to represent different ethnicities and levels of development in Nepal.
The total population of women of this age group in these districts was over 86,000. But in preliminary findings that the study described as shocking, of the 1,496 deaths recorded, suicide – rather than maternal-related issues – was the single leading cause of death, accounting for 16 percent of deaths.
In the 1998 study, suicide ranked as the third single cause of death.
The finding “highlights the urgent need to address this issue, which has received little attention since its significance was first noted in 1998,” the study said.
The second single leading cause was accidents, accounting for 9 percent of deaths; no details were specified about the nature of these.
“We are absolutely concerned with the findings. This was totally unexpected,” Bal Krishna Subedi, who led the study and is a former FHD director, told IRIN. “It has opened our eyes to delve into this issue,” he said.
The study also found the overall maternal mortality rate in Nepal had improved to 229 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to 539 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 1998.
The study said mental health problems, relationships, marriage and family issues were factors in suicides, as was youth, since 21 percent of the suicides were committed by young women aged 18 years and under.
However, it did not elaborate on these issues and noted that more research was required into the causes.
“Research is needed to improve understanding of the circumstances and contributory factors of these tragic events, to guide interventions,” it said.
“We need more analysis to find the causes behind suicide, in order to go forward to address this serious concern at the community level,” said Sushil Baral, health adviser for the Nepal office of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), one of the study’s funders.
“Gender-based violence could be one of the major cause(s), but to what extent it actually impacts, needs to be further studied,” he said.
Women activists said the study results were not surprising, and that the problem could be even more widespread because suicides are under-reported.
“Most families will never report suicide cases as they are afraid of being entangled in police cases,” Pinky Rana, director of Samanta, a local women’s rights NGO, told IRIN.
The only way to prevent suicides is to criminalize the causes of death, such as dowry disputes and domestic violence, said Sapana Malla Pradhan, a member of parliament and president of the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD).
“Once there is suicide, the case is closed and never investigated on what led women committing such [a] drastic step, said Pradhan.
There was a need for proper research to get an accurate picture of suicide among women. However, most aid agencies were not interested in funding such research or studies, she added.
Women’s groups also said there was a need for psychosocial counselling in many parts of the country to help women to cope with issues such as depression.
“There is a crucial need for counselling training programmes and we need more counsellors to help these poor victims,” said Pradhan.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/426bbc123d046c243c90e7ad7f3b7aff.htm
COLOMBIA: Women Empowered by Restoring Desertified Land
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49875
TANZANIA: Addressing Energy Crisis Through Alternatives and Efficiency at Household Level
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49876
COTE D’IVOIRE: Independent Candidate Pledges Reconciliation
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49866
PAKISTAN: ‘Eye for an Eye’ Judgment Hailed, Denounced
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49863
SPECIAL OP-ED: Why Women’s Reproductive Freedom Ensures Our Survival
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49913
SOUTH SUDAN: Women’s Eyes on the Political Prize
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49907
Q&A: Bolivian Women’s Right to Land Thwarted by Patriarchal Traditions
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49967
INDIA: Hill Women Form Cooperative, Turn Entrepreneurs
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50011
KENYA: Clash Over Abortion Rights in New Constitution
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49984
MIDEAST: Will You Marry Poor Me
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49976
Q&A: Defining – and Defying – the ‘Most Proper Way’ to be Sexual
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50003
ZAMBIA: Police Breaking the Law to Prevent Crime
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49983
LIBERIA: Paper Rights Flimsy Protection
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49969
Q&A: ‘With More Political Space, Women Can Do More as Peacemakers’
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50087
Q&A: “U.S. Should Invest in New U.N. Women’s Agency”
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50091
PAKISTAN: Home-Based Workers Struggle to Climb Out of Poverty
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50089
ZAMBIA: Scarcely Room for Women in Male-dominated Politics
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50047
PERU: Victims of Military Rapists Wait for Justice 25 Years On
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50045
MAURITIUS: These Women Chose the Sea
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50083
BOLIVIA: More Women in Parliament, With Their Own Agenda
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50052
LAOS: Getting Women in the News Takes Much More than Policy
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50065
GHANA: Quietly Extending Options to Women
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50039
MORE IPS IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF WOMEN IN THE NEWS
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/women/index.asp
It is with tremendous sadness that UNIFEM learned about the deaths of several women leaders from governmental and civil society organizations in Haiti. Among these were Myriam Merlet, Chief of Cabinet of the Ministry of Women’s Condition and Rights and founder of the umbrella women’s organization National Coordination for Advocacy on Women’s Rights (CONAP); Myrna Narcisse, Director General of the Ministry of Women’s Condition; Magalie Marcelin, founder of KayFamn, which operates the only shelter for victims of gender-based violence; and Anne-Marie Coriolon, founding member of one of Haiti’s largest women’s groups, Solidarite Fanm Ayisyèn (SOFA).
These women had a long history of service and commitment to human rights, gender equality and social justice. Their lives exemplified the character traits of courage, fortitude and optimism. None of them was faint of heart nor easily discouraged by the magnitude of the socio-economic challenges that Haiti confronts.
UNIFEM honours all those women, men and children who lost their lives in the earthquake and pledges its long-term commitment to the task of rebuilding, to supporting in very practical ways the struggles of the Haitian peoples in this very difficult time.
We join Haitians in the knowledge that sustained work undertaken with optimism and good faith is the pathway to the realization of the vision of Haiti characterized by development, equity and peace for all.
http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=1014
See also:
* Women’s movement mourns death of 3 Haitian leaders
* A Directory of Organizations Working In and For Haiti
Recent postings- Haitian Women’s Groups Send Out Plea for Sanitary and Other Supplies for Women and Girls
- Feminist International Solidarity Camp “Myriam Merlet” To Open On Haitian-Dominican Republic Border
- UN chief appoints envoy to curb rape in wars
- Iranian Women Fight Polygamy Proposal
- Ghana to Establish Database on Human Trafficking
- Call for action as post-poll violence victims in Kenya speak out
- Fatwa alone will not stop FGM/C in Mauritania
- Unprecedented Gender Parity in Bolivian Cabinet
- MACHISMO IN FRENCH PUBLIC BROADCASTING
- Gender Issues Must Move to Heart of Davos Agenda
- new on womensgrid
- Yarl’s Wood women remain on hunger strike
- Protest in support of women on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood – 12th February 2010
- Pray The Devil Back To Hell: Screening & Benefit – 17th February 2010
- Gender, Race, and Religion in the Spectacle of Citizenship – 24th February 2010
- Where does Amnesty International stand on women’s rights after suspending Gita Sahgal for criticising links with Moazzam Begg?
- Statement by Gita Sahgal Head of Amnesty International’s Gender Unit
- 28 Days to Safeguard Women in Wales
- The Way We Were and Are – 40 Years of Women’s Liberation – 26th and 27th February 2010 – London
- What does the next election mean for women?
- Women of the Western Ward
- new on women in london
- FORWARD calls to make female genital mutilation history
- GLDVP Newsletter – February 2010
- Free Funding Seminar for Women’s Organisations – West London – WRC – 1st March 2010
- 4 vacancies – nia project – 16th and 23rd February 2010
- Starting Your Enterprise – Become An Entrepreneur!
- Realising rights: increasing ethnic minority women’s access to justice – Fawcett
- Spring Summer 2010 Listings at the Women’s Library
- Enfield Women’s Centre 60’s and 70’s Fundraising Disco – 26th February 2010
- Training Calendar Past 2010
- Funding Calendar Past 2010
Gender Issues Must Move to Heart of Davos Agenda
2 February 2010 in Employment Work, Equality, Financial, Global, Government, Opinion Comment with Closed
Despite the lack of gender issues on past agendas, ironically the forum’s annual Global Gender Gap report has become a trusted source of information on progress made – or the lack thereof – by the world’s nations towards gender parity. Its premise is that a nation’s well-being is correlated to the status of women. One has only to look at the top of the report’s rankings, dominated by Scandinavian countries, to see the connection. At the bottom of the 2009 list: Yemen.
The discourse at the forum itself, however, hasn’t been focused enough on the undervalued asset, in terms of human capital, represented by women and girls. Last year, during a Davos conversation on the collapse of Lehman Brothers, an investment bank, it was agreed that the 2008 economic crisis might have been averted had the firm been “Lehman Brothers and Sisters.”
Start of a longer article at http://www.womensenews.org/story/commentary/100126/gender-issues-must-move-heart-davos-agenda
See also: The Gender Agenda: Putting Parity into Practice http://www.forumblog.org/blog/2010/01/the-gender-agenda-putting-parity-into-practice.html
And video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-faj-HS_15s&feature=youtube_gdata
Plus: Microfinance Could Be Hazardous For Teenage Women http://www.womensenews.org/story/entrepreneurship/100115/microfinance-could-be-hazardous-teens