Archive for June, 2010
Update, 21/06/2010: According to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters (CHRR), Shiva has been transferred from solitary confinement to the women’s section of Evin prison, which is a public prison. In an interview with the news agency, Reporters and Human Rights Activists of Iran on 12 June 2010, Shiva Nazar Ahari’s lawyer, Mohammad Sharif, said: [...]
An abortion hotline set up in Pakistan on Saturday has been condemned by Islamic groups and political parties as “anti-Islamic” and “colonial”, even though it will save the lives of thousands of women who die each year in back street abortion clinics, reports The Independent. The hotline, set up by women’s groups in Pakistan and [...]
The Muskoka Initiative, formally announced Friday, has largely failed to inspire both at home and abroad. Despite the $2.85-billion, five-year commitment of Canadian taxpayer money, the initiative is high on rhetoric but short on detail. Buzzwords — like voluntary family planning, country ownership, health workers, information systems, continuum of care, accountability and effectiveness — are [...]
At least 245 million women around the world have been widowed and more than 115 million of them live in devastating poverty, according to a new study launched Tuesday night by Cherie Blair, wife of the former British prime minister. The most dire consequences are faced by 2 million Afghan widows and at least 740,000 [...]
Authorities in the Maldives view women’s issues as a core human rights problem and are keen to tackle them head on, but cultural and religious issues often stand in the way. “No doubt the government of President Mohamed Nasheed recognises many problems and is willing to tackle them, but there’s limited ability to do so [...]
A confidante of the Burmese opposition leader has made a simple but passionate appeal to those in the West to use their freedom to help his country achieve the same. In a hand-written letter smuggled out of Burma and passed to The Independent, U Win Tin writes: “I want to repeat and echo her own [...]
Even if Julia Gillard never gets to move into The Lodge, Australia’s first female prime minister will have a profound effect on the standing, expectations and limitations that have long held and often shackled women. Gillard announced on Thursday, after taking over the Labor leadership, that she would not move into the PM’s official residence [...]
As Zimbabwe embarks on writing a new constitution with the countrywide collection of public submissions starting on Jun. 23, not all women are upbeat about the process. While some gender activists see this public comment phase as an opportunity for their voices to be heard, ordinary women remain in the dark about the proposed new [...]
The worst part of the whole ordeal was the place where her kidnappers had chosen to imprison her. That they abducted her was terrifying. That they raped her, repeatedly, was too horrendous to absorb just yet. But making her crawl on her stomach beneath a collapsed slab into a destroyed house where they hid her [...]
Girls’ safety hinges on families’ willingness to speak out about sexual violence, researchers in Senegal’s southern Casamance region said at the release of a study that reveals widespread violence against girls aged 10 to 13. The study, by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the University of Ziguinchor, found that in Kolda, Sédhiou and Ziguinchor, [...]
Women in Russia’s volatile Muslim Chechnya region said on Friday that police had targeted them with paintball pellets for not wearing headscarves, outraging rights activists. The attacks highlight tension over efforts by Chechnya’s firebrand Moscow-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, to enforce Muslim-inspired rules that in some cases violate Russia’s constitution. “A car carrying men in military [...]
The rising number of honour killings in the capital reflects the “Talibanisation” of society, say women’s rights groups, adding that the central government should enact a law to put down the pernicious practice. “This is absolutely inhuman treatment for any society. This is not honour killing…it is caste killing. Moreover, whose honour are they talking [...]
Kurdistan Regional Government Should Outlaw the Practice A significant number of girls and women in Iraqi Kurdistan suffer female genital mutilation (FGM) and its destructive after-effects, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. The Kurdistan Regional Government should take immediate action to end FGM and develop a long term plan for its eradication, [...]
Much to the frustration of gender activists, Swaziland’s Supreme Court has reversed a February 2010 High Court ruling that allowed a married woman to register property in their own name. After centuries of being classified and treated as minors, the new Swazi Constitution granted women equal status in 2005. Activist Mary-Joyce Doo Aphane wished to [...]
Domestic workers fighting for rights and recognition through binding international standards won a crucial first round victory at the this year’s International Labour Conference at the ILO in Geneva. On June 4, 61 governments voted in favour of a Convention supplemented by a Recommendation, against 14 voting for a Recommendation only. This first victory for [...]
* Egypt, Qatar, Sudan among those opposing the group * Britain, U.S. advocate accrediting gay-lesbian NGO A United Nations committee that decides which nongovernmental organizations can be accredited to the world body moved on Thursday to keep out the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The group, which had applied for “consultative status” at [...]
The US justice department has confirmed that federal laws giving protection against domestic violence also apply to gays and lesbians. A memo posted yesterday by the department said prosecutors should enforce criminal provisions in the Violence Against Women Act in cases involving gay and lesbian relationships. These provisions include those related to domestic violence, stalking [...]
We the concerned citizens of Africa reiterate that Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the world’s shared development agenda to reduce major aspects of human poverty. We recall that in September 2000, world leaders met at the United Nations Millennium Summit and committed that by 2015, extreme poverty and hunger will be cut by half; gender [...]
World Parliamentarians have pledged to mobilize support for legislative actions to ensure the health, dignity and rights of women and girls through access to reproductive and sexual health in the shortest possible time. “We are convinced that implementing the commitment made by our governments in the major United Nations conferences and summits, will end the [...]
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
Statement of Anne Slater, National Organizer of Radical Women, on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court
27 June 2010 in Government, Legal Police, North America, Opinion Comment, Women's Group
Anne Slater, National Organizer of Radical Women, issued the following statement on President Obama’s nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. “Radical Women opposes the potential seating of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kagan has shown herself to be a calculating seeker of power and no ally of the [...]