Archive for May, 2009
An influential women rights organisation in Malawi, Women in Law in Southern Africa-Malawi (WILSA-Malawi), is suing the government of Malawi for preventing women from accessing safe abortion. Malawian law prohibits abortion – Section 149 of the country’s penal code says any person who administers abortion shall be liable to imprisonment for 14 years, while Section [...]
Dominican lawmakers voted recently to approve a constitutional amendment that would effectively end legal abortion in the country. Assembly members approved the new Executive Branch article, which states that, “The right to the life is inviolable from conception until death.” Aldrian Almonte, president of the Dominican Gynecology and Obstetrics Society has warned that the number [...]
Inter Press Service last week examined how an increasing number of women living with HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean face stigma, discrimination and gender-based violence that is linked to the spread of the disease. UNAIDS reports that women overall now account for half of the population living with HIV in the Caribbean, compared with 30% in [...]
Anecdotal evidence that entrenched cultural beliefs among Swazis actively encourage the spread of HIV/AIDS has been confirmed by a joint government and UN report. The study by UN the Population Fund (UNFPA) and Swaziland’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare – The State of the Swaziland Population – echoes warnings by local NGOs that “AIDS [...]
Women’s and indigenous peoples’ advocacy groups are urging new Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to release the findings of the 2008 Penan task force. The task force was commissioned by the ministry under former minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen in October 2008. It was dispatched to investigate [...]
Eighty Ethiopian women have been in Tripoli Women’s Prison in north Lebanon for over a year, accused of not having a passport which was either taken from them when they started as domestic workers, or which they never had in the first place. Most were arrested on the street after running away from their employers [...]
Kenyan women’s organisations have called for a nationwide sex boycott to force feuding male politicians in the coalition government to resolve their differences. The women say they are prepared to pay prostitutes to withhold their services for a week to make the campaign more effective. The boycott has been sparked by a feud between Mwai [...]
The federal Government will provide an additional $41.5 million to tackle domestic violence, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced last week. “The Government’s position on violence against women is zero tolerance,” Mr Rudd said. “Laws must be strong enough to hold perpetrators to account and offer justice and safety for victims and their families. “We must [...]
Shortly after they were elected in 2001, the Liberals cut support services for victims of domestic violence as part of a wide-ranging effort to reduce spending and lower taxes. In their second term in office they changed the focus of services, putting more money into programs such as counselling and less into groups demanding changes [...]
The vast majority of Iraqi women face domestic violence on a regular basis and many commit suicide because of it, the United Nations said last month. Iraq and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan should take measures to stop violence against women, including honour killings and genital mutilation, the UN mission in Iraq, known as UNAMI, [...]
When heads of districts describe efforts to fight sexual violence as a waste of resources, it raises questions about the leadership’s commitment to deal with the matter. Such is the situation in northern Uganda where district commissioners, have dismissed sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) as non-existent, asking that donor funds for psychosocial support for survivors [...]
The parliament in Nepal has enacted laws making domestic violence and violence at health institutions and health professionals punishable. The Domestic Violence and Punishment Act 2065 passed on Sunday defines physical, mental, sexual, financial as well as behavioral violence as domestic violence. The Act has a provision of slapping up to four months of imprisonment [...]
Father Adrian, a Catholic priest in Musina, a South African town on the border with Zimbabwe, established a shelter for women and children fleeing, first, the violence, and then the socio-economic conditions in Zimbabwe. Conditions in the shelter in the old Catholic church in Nancefield, a Musina township, are basic, but the Church provides meals [...]
Awa was killed by her husband last November in Guelendeng, 150km south of the Chad capital N’djamena. Her death was the tipping point for the town’s women, who, appalled by the rampant violence they face, have decided to fight for their rights. In December dozens of women took part in a protest march, the first [...]
To mark International Day of the Midwife on May 5, Merlin is launching All Mothers Matter a report outlining why, without urgent investment in health workers in fragile states, the Millennium Development Goal for maternal health will not be reached. 50 per cent of women who die in childbirth every year live in countries caught [...]
With China’s rising affluence, increasing numbers of infertile couples have been seeking surrogate mothers to bear them babies. In recent years, officials have largely turned a blind eye to this underground womb-for-rent industry that defies the country’s strict childbirth laws. Now, there are signs the authorities are starting to crack down by forcing some surrogate [...]
Shabnam had dreamed of owning a home for years, but with few prospects for her husband, she followed the lead of many poor women in her town in western India: she signed up to carry a baby for another couple. At the clinic of Nayna Patel, perhaps India’s best-known “surrogate doctor” who delivered Anand town’s [...]
With only six years left to achieve its Millennium Development Goals (MDG), [see: http://www.mdgmonitor.org/factsheets_00.cfm?c=NPL] Nepal, like many other Asian countries, is lagging behind and must make further efforts, say local and international health experts. A top priority is the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), which Nepal’s government hopes to reduce to 134 women per 100,000 live [...]
The number of women dying in childbirth in Liberia has nearly doubled since the 1980s, according to a recent UN report that has policymakers calling for urgent attention to reproductive healthcare. While the report shows encouraging trends in infant and child survival, it puts maternal mortality at 994 women per 100,000 live births in 2007 [...]
Pregnancies among girls as young as 12 and women in their early 40s are on the rise in Mali’s rural north, according to health workers, who say cultural mores and economic pressures contribute to the potentially life-threatening pregnancies, which often go untreated due to scant health services. Bana Nimaga is a midwife at the Bankass [...]
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
