Child bride sparks outrage in Nigeria

29 April 2010 in Africa, Children Parenting, Faith, Family Marriage Partnership, Uncategorized, Women's Group

Nigerian women’s groups say they’ll take legal action against a politician who married a 13-year-old Egyptian girl at Nigeria’s national mosque. Female members of the country’s senate have promised to support a petition to reprimand Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima, 49, the BBC reported Wednesday. Sani married the girl at the mosque in Abuja several weeks [...]

Investing in women farmers key to halving hunger

29 April 2010 in Africa, Climate Environment, Employment Work, Publication, Uncategorized

Investing in women smallholder farmers is the key to halving hunger and results in twice as much growth as investment in any other sector, a new ActionAid report reveals. Less than one per cent of the agriculture budget is targeted at women in the three countries researched by ActionAid in its new report Fertile Ground [...]

UN Security Council: Act Now to Protect Women

29 April 2010 in Global, Opinion Comment, Publication, Rape and Sexual Assault, War Conflict

Reject Delay in Steps to End Rape in War and Include Women in Peace Talks The United Nations Security Council should immediately begin using measurable benchmarks to protect women caught in conflicts around the world and to ensure that women are included in peace negotiations, rather than delaying this step, Human Rights Watch said today. [...]

UNHCR criticizes lack of justice for rape survivors in Congo

29 April 2010 in Africa, Rape and Sexual Assault, War Conflict

The UN refugee agency has expressed concern about the lack of justice for the thousands of women who are raped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) every year, and prevailing impunity for rapists. “Sexual violence constitutes among the most serious of crimes and should be treated as such,” UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told [...]

Broadcasting Women’s Voices in Haiti’s Reconstruction: Women’s Community Radio

29 April 2010 in Media, South America, Women's Group

Haitian women have been increasingly vocal and active in social, political, and economic issues since the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986. Though it has not come easily, their progress in changing gender relations of power within the home, within social movements, and within the nation has been steady. Women’s organizations have been key [...]

Spain adopts measures to provide protection for battered women in domestic violence

29 April 2010 in Abortion Contraception, Europe, Government

The justice minister, Francisco Camaño, managed today, despite opposition from the European Commission, supported by a sufficient majority of Member States to adopt the European order of protection for battered women, one of the priorities of the Spanish presidency. His goal now is to conclude in the coming weeks the details of the new standard [...]