Archive for January, 2009
Marrying off Mauritanian girls as young as six years old to men in Gulf states is turning into a profitable trafficking enterprise as a typically rural marriage practice migrates to the city, according to urban families. “It used to be widespread in the rural milieu, but now child marriages are more developed in urban areas [...]
A new study has revealed that religious and traditional challenges are a hindrance to dealing with HIV/AIDS and violence against women (VAW). It states that in Northern Ghana, women continue to suffer violence in spite of existing laws due to negligence and ignorance about women and people’s rights, and misinterpretation of religious and cultural practices. [...]
Denis Mukwege, a Congolese doctor who runs a hospital for abused women and children in eastern Congo, says the youngest rape victim he has treated was just three years old. After being honored with a U.N. human rights prize in New York last month, Mukwege said the world should do more to end the conflict [...]
Book: Today You Will Understand Author: Femrite Publisher: Femrite Volume: 66 pages The greatest tragedy of the twenty-two year old war in northern Uganda is the human victims, especially girls and women who are especially vulnerable. Femrite, the Uganda Women Writers’ Association, in conjunction with IRIN Radio, which provides news and analysis about sub-Saharan Africa [...]
Kenya’s investigation of rapes committed during post-election violence is foundering. Rights groups question whether an all-women police task force set up to investigate the violence is little more than a ruse, and female lawyers have dropped out. Hundreds of Kenyan women have reported being raped during ethnic clashes that left more than 1,300 people dead [...]
Sweden is responding to its low rate of prosecuting and convicting rapists by helping victims and clinicians collect DNA evidence. It’s also adding street lighting, to the frowns of critics who point out that most rapes are committed indoors. A simple cardboard box is one way Sweden, with its high rate of reported rape, is [...]
The police are refusing to implement a new government initiative designed to combat domestic violence. From the New Year, officers will be expected to impose a house ban on men guilty of or threatening their partners with physical abuse. The men will be barred from contact with their partners and children for ten days and [...]
The RU486 abortion pill is to be made available in Italy next month despite objections from the Vatican and the ruling centre Right, which described it as “legal back door abortion”. The pill, which blocks the action of hormones needed to keep a fertilized egg implanted in the uterus, was censured by the Vatican in [...]
Malta and Ireland have the highest percentage of newborn deaths due to congenital anomalies, a pan-European report has found, pointing out that this could be due to abortion being illegal in both countries. Figures released last month as part of the comprehensive European Perinatal Health Report (EPHR), which compares data on maternal and infant health [...]
It is possibly one of the toughest, life-changing decisions a woman may ever be asked to make, yet the subject of abortion in conservative and predominantly-Catholic Portugal still remains very much a taboo. Most people will know – or know of – someone who has had a termination, though will rarely find themselves openly discussing [...]
The Palestinian medical rescue teams found on Sunday bodies of 100 Palestinians killed during the last three weeks of the Israeli military air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, said Gaza emergency chief Mo’aweya Hassanein. Hassanein told reporters that the bodies were found under the rubbles of destroyed houses, mainly in southern, eastern and [...]
More Accurate Methodology Shows Urgent Need for Preventive Action A new government report showing huge increases in the incidences of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault over a two-year period in the United States deserves immediate attention from lawmakers and the incoming administration, Human Rights Watch has said. The statistics show a 42-percent increase in [...]
Taliban militants have banned female education in northwest Pakistan valley of Swat, depriving more than 40,000 girls of schooling while holding security forces at bay, officials said on Saturday. “My daughters are sitting at home. Their future looks bleak because they will stay uneducated and I don’t see any improvement in situation,” said Mohammad Ayub, [...]
Women’s organisations from across the country have strongly condemned the attack on a woman activist, who was stripped and beaten for spearheading an anti –liquor movement in Balasore district in Orissa. Jayanti Padhi, the victim has also accused police of inaction and says that the police has been shielding the culprits, as the crime took [...]
Over 2,600 cases have been reported since 1999, according to the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) of Bangladesh [see: http://www.acidsurvivors.org/]. Almost all the attacks have been on women or girls. Many of the victims are under 18, says ASF, which has been working to eliminate acid violence for almost a decade. The main reason for the [...]
Maiba is in her late 40s. More than 20 children live under her care – her own children and those of her deceased siblings. In June, she was captured, gang-raped and severely beaten by youth militia, members of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party, as punishment for saying she had no food to give them. Afterward, they [...]
Violence against women in South Sumatra rose dramatically in 2008, from 396 cases in 2007 to 568 cases, a year-end report from the Palembang chapter of the Women’s Crisis Center (WCC) has revealed. WCC Executive Director Yeni Roslaini Izi said on Wednesday that cases of domestic violence topped the list, with 210 incidence (39 percent), [...]
Women’s groups and the Iraqi government agree on the need to help the huge number of widows in Iraq — but they disagree on how to proceed. A women’s rights activist and a Baghdad government official agree that the government needs to take action to help the huge number of widows in Iraq — but [...]
In the Soviet Union feminism was elevated to the status of official state policy and ultimately was destroyed as an ideology and a social movement. The dominant concept was one of a general, global equality; as a result, a separate movement for the rights of women simply could not exist. The feminist reference points of [...]
Recent postings- Towards a Future without Fundamentalisms: New Report Analyzes Religious Fundamentalist Strategies and Feminist Responses
- Statement on the Murder of Marisela Escobedo Ortiz, women’s human rights defender of Ciudad Juarez
- Sudan police arrest women protesting at flogging video
- UN Chief Leaves Women out of Year-End Summing Up
- Sex education is expelled from Egyptian schools
- Kurdish Parliament Turns Blind Eye to Prostitution
- Sexual harassment cases in Israel’s civil service rose 40% in 2010
- Women in south Sudan have been targeted in a string of abusive attacks by police cracking down on Western clothes
- Women and girls living in Haiti’s makeshift camps face an increasing risk of rape and sexual violence says Amnesty International new report
- Stand up against hatred and threats against LGBT in Malaysia
- new on womensgrid
- Where are the Women? Free cross university student led Women’s conference ~ 18th February 2012
- Louder Now! Launch Event – Feminism on Film season – Newcastle ~ 29th February 2012
- 6 February: An evening with Sister Fa – A celebration of progress made to end Female Genital Cutting
- Stalking consultation – closes 5th February 2012
- Woman who suffered years of domestic violence jailed because too terrified to testify
- I feel like as a woman I’m not welcome – Asylum Aid’s new research report combines legal and qualitative research in a gender analysis of the UK asylum system
- New report challenges social sector to smash the glass ceiling once and for all
- Leveson must back ban on sexualised images in media say women’s groups
- Ministers press on with controversial abortion changes
- Abolishing social fund will hit women and children hardest
- new on women in london
- Advocacy & Support Advisor – Complex Needs (Female*) – Solace – 9th February 2012
- 4 vacancies – Refuge – 3rd and 6th February 2012
- OBJECT present evidence at the Leveson Inquiry to end Page 3
- Support for women who have experienced sexual violence – Amina Scheme – Eaves
- Women Involved with the Criminal Justice System: One Day Training – Women in Prison – 29 March 2012
- Quiz Night – Womans Trust – 27th January 2012
- Development Manager – Clean Break ~ 6th February 2012
- Volunteer Bookkeeper – RASASC ~ 16th February 2012
- New Report – Silenced Voices Speak: Strategies for protecting migrant women from violence and abuse – ROW
- Hidden Value: Demonstrating the extraordinary impact of women’s voluntary and community organisations – WRC
Feminism is part of the class struggle in Sweden
18 January 2009 in Europe, Feminism, Opinion Comment
Every day we read in the newspapers about new proposals hatched up by Sweden’s neo-liberal government. One day brings cut downs in social funds. Another day it is tax deductions for domestic services, making it cheaper for the well-off to employ a maid or a nanny (this is known as pigavdrag – “maid deductions”), or [...]