Archive for May, 2010
Haitian women’s rights activists are still living in tents and cars, and mourning the loss of three leaders in the January earthquake. They are also organizing. A loose-knit coalition hopes to rebuild a more women-centered Haiti. A loose-knit coalition of 106 organizations called Femmes Citoyennes Haiti Solidaire, or Women Citizens Haiti United, has emerged from [...]
Decriminalisation of New Zealand’s sex industry has resulted in safer, healthier sex workers, a new book by University of Otago, Christchurch, researcher Gillian Abel shows. Since decriminalisation seven years ago sex workers are more empowered to insist on safe sex, Abel’s book “Taking the crime out of sex work – New Zealand sex workers’ fight [...]
28th May [2010] is the 49th anniversary of Peter Benenson’s launch of Amnesty International. But as the organization begins planning celebrations, Gita Sahgal asks whether Amnesty International’s leaders have lost their grip on reality. Do sections of the human rights movement lend their credibility to protecting Islamists rather than protecting their rights? In an article [...]
In March 2010, Women’s human rights defender and WLUML council member, Shadi Sadr, took the extraordinary step of dedicating her International Women of Courage Award to Shiva Nazar Ahari, a young human rights activist and a member of the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), currently imprisoned in Iran for ‘acts against national security’. Sadr [...]
When she is sworn in as prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says she will bring the same kind of care and attention to governing Trinidad and Tobago that she has devoted to her own family. “I will lead a government of compassion. As a mother and grandmother, I will not let you down,” she told supporters, [...]
Mrs Longhitano says Catholicism is crippled without women A married teacher has become the first woman priest to be ordained in Italy. Maria Vittoria Longhitano, 35, who belongs to a breakaway faction of the Catholic Church, received the holy orders at an Anglican church in Rome. She belongs to the Italian Old Catholic Church, a [...]
In This Issue: UNIFEM Welcomes Security Council Support for Indicators on Resolution 1325 Support for UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE Campaign across All Regions UNIFEM around the World UNIFEM and the Government of Spain Sign Three-Year Agreement to Promote Gender Equality Worldwide Memorandum of Understanding between UNIFEM and the Inter-Parliamentary Union Seychelles: Action Plan on Ending Gender-Based [...]
Armed with a search warrant from Chief Superintendent Peter Magwenzi, Detective Inspector Chibvuma, on Friday evening led a team of police officers to search for dangerous drugs and pornographic material at the GALZ offices in Harare’s Milton Park. The police arrested two GALZ employees Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi, who were detained at Harare Central [...]
A Malawi gay couple were sentenced to the maximum 14 years in prison with hard labour for holding the country’s first same-sex wedding, which landed them with a sodomy conviction. Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza were arrested on December 28 after their symbolic wedding and accused of violating “the order of nature”. They have been [...]
In Indonesia a woman’s lack of power over her own healthcare decisions is contributing to the high maternal mortality rate. “Inequality in decision-making, limited access to health services in rural areas and lack of information on healthy pregnancy are among the factors that contribute to maternal deaths,” said Masruchah, secretary-general of the National Commission on [...]
There has been some increase in the number of women accessing antenatal healthcare services in Yemen over the past four years, but most mothers still deliver at home and their health situation remains rather bleak, according to new reports from the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO). The proportion of women benefiting [...]
“Violence against women is not only domestic, it also happens in the streets. Not having the right to feel safe in a city square or at a bus stop without someone bothering us, that’s also violence.” Nervousness or even fear of street harassment, even among young girls, prevents women from freely moving around, hinders their [...]
The First International Women and Film Festival for Gender Equity drew enthusiastic audiences this month in the Argentine capital, where movies from nearly 40 countries were screened. In comments to IPS, the organisers said they felt they had achieved their goals of increasing the visibility of women’s problems, raising awareness among viewers about the debate [...]
But Prof. Catharine MacKinnon agrees that she has been less successful in fighting pornography. In at least one area – pornography – Catharine MacKinnon has failed spectacularly. Ever since she began writing about women in the pornography industry and to advocate for them, at the start of the 1980s, nothing in their situation has changed. [...]
An increasingly sexualized consumer society and inadequate funding for social services are major reasons why more young girls are being pressed into sexual slavery, a human-trafficking expert told a Fort Worth audience last week. Fishnet-clad dolls, “porn star” T-shirts, Juicy brand jeans and the mainstreaming of the word “pimp” all are signs of “demonic forces” [...]
The United Nations has launched a major campaign for universal adoption of treaty protocols that outlaw the sale of children, child prostitution and pornography, and protect youngsters in armed conflict, with UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon calling for full ratification by 2012. “The sad truth is that too many children in today’s world suffer appalling abuse,” [...]
More than half of the 72 million primary school-aged children out of school are girls. These children mostly come from the world’s poorest communities and, in many cases, from nations with long histories of conflict. For the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), UNICEF Radio podcast moderator Amy Costello spoke with [...]
A five-year campaign to boost the number of UN female peacekeepers is progressing steadily in police units, but “seems to be stuck” at a miniscule percentage in military contingents, Lt-Col Alejandro Alvarez of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), told IRIN. The UN Secretariat has repeatedly emphasized the proven benefits of having more female [...]
Humanitarian workers in Liberia worry that as the UN and NGOs scale down aid operations, the fight against sexual violence will suffer, given a limited capacity in national institutions to take it on. The fight against sexual violence, led by the Ministry of Gender and Development, is part of a wider four-year national plan to [...]
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
Brazil should reject ‘Fetal Rights’ Bill says Human Rights Watch
26 May 2010 in Abortion Contraception, Childbirth Pregnancy, Government, Legal Police, Opinion Comment, Rape and Sexual Assault, South America, Uncategorized
Measure Would Deter Pregnant Women From Seeking Medical Care Brazil’s Congress should protect women’s dignity and human rights by rejecting a bill that confers extensive rights to fertilized ova, Human Rights Watch have said. The measure would give the rights of the fertilized ovum “absolute priority” under Brazilian law. The proposed bill would require any [...]