Archive for February, 2010
As organisations and individuals who stand for and support the universality of human rights, we have noted with concern the suspension of Gita Sahgal, Head of the Gender Unit at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London, for questioning Amnesty International’s partnership with individuals whose politics towards the Taliban are ambiguous. We come from [...]
Iran: URGENT call to authorities to stop imminent executions Please write to the Iranian authorities calling on them to halt executions of nine people arrested in relation to protests following the disputed presidential elections. The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to halt the executions of [...]
A Canadian bill that would protect the divorce rights of aboriginal women is being delayed by the suspension of parliament during the Olympics. Some First Nations women’s advocates oppose the proposed law as infringing on their sovereignty. Due to a gap in legislation over matrimonial property rights for couples living on First Nations reservations, some [...]
Fiji’s new Crime Decree will be harsher on prostitution, penalizing not only those who make a living off prostitution but also those involved in prostitution-related activities. According to Fiji Times Online, under Fiji’s new Crime Decree, those who make a living off prostitution are liable for a jail term of six months while people caught [...]
Nearly 48 per cent of women sold for commercial sex exploitation in Tamil Nadu were ensnared when they were children, a recent study conducted among over 1,500 victims of trafficking, has showed. While 3.6 per cent of them were sold when they were less than five years, 12.9 per cent of them were between 6 [...]
Sixteen years after the Rwandan genocide, many women are struggling to come to terms with the violence they endured. According to the association of genocide widows NGO, Avega Agahozo, sexual violence was used to humiliate, degrade and abuse women during the 6 April to 16 July 1994 killings. In many cases, the violence was meted [...]
Before she was killed, she had sought help from the police, going to them several times to report the domestic violence she and her mother suffered from. The police turned her away and sent her home to where a two-meter-hole under the chicken coop became her grave — in which she was buried while awake [...]
Elisabeth Badinter, a leading French feminist, has warned the green movement is threatening decades of improvements in gender equality by forcing women to give up their jobs and become earth mothers. Mrs Badinter claims a “holy reactionary alliance” of green politicians, breast-feeding militants, “back to nature” feminists and child psychologists is turning Frenchwomen into slaves [...]
After three decades of (admittedly uneven) progress towards full human rights, women now must contend with the agenda of Stephen Harper. The Prime Minister’s disdain for women’s equality is one of the most dramatic examples of his wider assault on democracy. Democracy is not just political parties, voting and Parliament — it is a whole [...]
In its annual resolution on equality between men and women in the EU, Parliament called last week for greater efforts to tackle violence against women, for paternity leave to be addressed at EU level and for equal pay legislation to be revised. A majority of MEPs also say women must have control over their sexual [...]
Jerusalem’s highly touted center for treating child victims of sexual abuse and rape is unable to offer assistance to the capital’s significant Arab-speaking population, unless they can communicate in Hebrew, The Jerusalem Post has discovered. A spokeswoman for Shaare Zedek Hospital confirmed to the Post on Monday that a teenage boy from an east Jerusalem [...]
Israeli high court judges last week questioned the state’s support for buses catering to ultra-Orthodox Jews on which women are told to sit in the back. The case, which spotlights an ever-widening rift between religious and non-observant Jews in Israel, dates from 2007, when a group of women and liberal Israeli groups complained about gender-divided [...]
The United Nations should urge Nicaragua to repeal its ban on abortion following a human rights’ review of the country on 8 February said Amnesty International. During the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review, UN members will have the opportunity to raise questions about the country’s absolute ban on abortion. Nicaragua’s revised Penal Code, which came [...]
An alliance of South Korean women’s groups has called on the government to protect women’s rights to choose abortion amid a growing outcry about the number of illegal abortions in the country. Their move came after the “Pro-Life Doctors,” a group of anti-abortion obstetricians, filed a complaint with the prosecution earlier Wednesday against three obstetrics [...]
The National Commission for Women (NCW) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to combat trafficking in girls and women and “feminisation” of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Under the MoU, the two agencies will engage in developing strategies to reduce all forms of violence among women, including [...]
PAKISTAN: Mental Illness among Women: Gender-Driven? http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50173 WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “Machista” but Valued by Feminists Nonetheless http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50164 BURMA: Ethnic Women Expose Opium Fields in Junta Strongholds http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50170 KENYA: Documenting Sexual Violence http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50147 BOLIVIA: Unprecedented Gender Parity in Cabinet http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50123 FRANCE: Burqa Ban Keeps Immigration Issue Alive http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50142 ARGENTINA: Slow Progress in Cutting Maternal Deaths http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50109 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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
- Tower Hamlets Residents Solidarity Campaign – Solidarity with women involved in prostitution in east London
- East London Fawcett: Free Gallery Tour ~ 12 May & Pay Gap Talk ~ 23rd May 2012
- The Light Bulb Moment and future of feminism Book launch and panel – Bristol ~ 15th May 2012
- Hollaback! Portsmouth launch event – Tuesday 22nd May 2012
- Run for Congo Women – Deadline extended to 25th May 2012!
- Fast fall in number of male-only FTSE 100 boards
- Why has the UK got so few women scientists?
- The Haven Wolverhampton E Bulletin May 2012
- 2 vacancies – Shakti Women’s Aid (Edinburgh) ~ 28th May 2012
- Volunteering for Dorset Rape Crisis Centre
- new on women in london
- Information added in March 2012
- Information added in February 2012
- Information added in January 2012
- Pro-Choice Public Meeting – Abortion Rights ~16th May 2012
- Fawcett on Queen’s speech: flexible parental leave / red tape challenge
- Policy and Campaigns Internship – Power and Agency campaign – Fawcett ~ 22nd May 2012
- Administration and Finance Worker – Women in Prison ~ 18th May 2012
- A Women’s Agenda for the Local Elections May 2012 – Survey Results
- Friends of the Women’s Library update on the future of the Library
- Women in Black, vigils and Facebook page
Women’s liberation today – Socialist ideas (Australia)
16 February 2010 in Australasia, Children Parenting, Employment Work, Family Marriage Partnership, Feminism, Government, Opinion Comment
Forty years after the second wave of the women’s liberation movement began there has been a major slide in consciousness about women’s rights and the continuing need for women to struggle for them. Since the demise of the movement in the late 70s women have been the target of a sustained ideological campaign, or a [...]