The beginning of each year is usually a time of reflection. As 2012 begins, it is a good time to for us all to rethink women’s political, economic and social standing as a development issue.
Aberash Hailay’s ex husband Fisseha Tadesse who was convicted for gouging her eyes with a knife and sentenced to fourteen years in prison. His crime caused a great deal of commotion from the media and women’s rights activists for the last few months.
Vigilante gangs of ultra-conservative Salafi men have been harassing shop owners and female customers in rural towns around Egypt for “indecent behavior,” according to reports in the Egyptian news media. But when they burst into a beauty salon in the Nile delta town of Benha this week and ordered the women inside to stop what they were doing or face physical punishment, the women struck back, whipping them with their own canes before kicking them out to the street in front of an astonished crowd of onlookers.
The past century has seen an appealing transformation in women’s legal rights, with countries all over the world expanding scope of women’s legal entitlements.
Despite an increasing feeling of empowerment experienced by many Egyptian women during and after the revolution, they continue to be sexually harassed and abused by men in public on a daily basis, as recent coverage of events in Cairo—from “virginity tests” conducted by the military to male assaults on female protesters—illustrated.
At first Samira Ibrahim was afraid to tell her father that Egyptian soldiers had detained her in Tahrir Square in Cairo, stripped off her clothes, and watched as she was forcibly subjected to a “virginity test.”
Before we finally close the chapter on 2011, flipping a fresh page for a new beginning in 2012, let’s not forget that the unresolved issues of 2011 and other past years are still in need of solutions.
Women in Libya, like their counterparts in Arab nations that witnessed uprisings, have been discovering the impact of the Arab Spring.
Women around the world are acting with dignity and determination to overcome the abuses that they frequently face. That’s according to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who has been discussing the challenges the world body faces in 2012.
It was a busy, successful year for UNFPA, UN Population Fund, as it continued to work in 2011 with partners to address universal access to reproductive health, including maternal health, treatment for obstetric fistula and family planning, and to improve the lives of women and young people around the world.
Source: Sunday World
ON the 20th anniversary of the global 16 Days of Activism campaign on gender violence, Shuvai Nyoni Kagoro of Gender Links asks whether "the millions of dollars spent in cash and human time" have significantly reduced the violence women and other marginalised groups face "because of their gender".
Source: Amnesty International
Have people's human rights improved throughout 2011 as a result of the uprisings in MENA?
There is no doubt that many people across the region in 2011 suffered gross human rights violations on an extreme scale. For those in - for example - Syria, Yemen, Egypt and Bahrain, the protection of human rights may still seem a distant prospect.
Source: The Herald
Every government budget is a statement about the government's real values and priorities.
A government can have many national plans, gender plans, gender policy statements, a State Plan of Action on Gender, etc but these often exist as shelf papers if no resources are allocated for their implementation.
Source: Daily Nation
Up to about five years ago, it was a crime to insult the modesty of any woman under the Penal Code introduced in 1930, and even under the Indian Penal Code which it replaced.
Source: Womens Enews
"Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai" is broadcast tonight on PBS. Here, Lisa Merton looks back on making the film in Kenya and struggling to capture the sense of divinity and hope projected by the recently deceased Nobel laureate.
It was a photograph that shocked the world - an Egyptian military policeman beating a protester in a hijab with sticks and dragging her along the street so that her clothes were torn open. It seemed to symbolise the vulnerability of women in a society that has changed little since last year's revolution.
Source: Voice of America
“A growing body of evidence ... shows how women around the world contribute to making and keeping peace."The Administration of President Barack Obama believes that women are crucial to ending conflict and building lasting security. “A growing body of evidence ... shows how women around the world contribute to making and keeping peace, and that these contributions lead to better outcomes for entire societies,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
"We have enough anecdotal evidence and research that demonstrates women in peacekeeping is both the right thing to do and the smart thing, as well. It’s right, because, after all, women are affected by conflict; they deserve to participate in the decisions that shape their own lives. And it’s the smart thing because we have seen again and again that women participating in these processes builds more durable peace.”
Hundreds of peace treaties have been signed in the past 20 or so years, but a sampling of those treaties shows only three percent of the signatories were women. So President Obama recently launched the first-ever U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security which will accelerate and institutionalize efforts across the United States Government to advance women’s participation in making and keeping peace.
Studies suggest that countries where women are safe and valued by society are more likely to be peaceful. So the United States will invest in early warning systems that incorporate gender analysis and monitor increases in violence and discrimination against women. We will also invest in women and girls’ health, education and economic opportunities to create conditions for stable societies and lasting peace.
We will use diplomatic pressure to push for new laws, policies, and practices that promote and strengthen women’s rights and effective leadership and substantive participation. We will also ensure that relief and recovery efforts address the distinct needs of women and girls so they can help stabilize their conflict-scarred countries.
In order to better enable women’s participation, we believe they should be safe and protected from harm, exploitation, discrimination, and abuse. So we will work with partners to crack down on rape as a tactic of war, hold perpetrators of violence accountable, support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
“Whether it’s ending conflict, managing a transition, or rebuilding a country, the world cannot afford to continue ignoring half the population,” said Secretary Clinton. “Not only can we do better; we have to do better, and now we have a path forward as to how we will do better.”
Source: The Saudite Gazette
The rights of women in general and wives are specifically stated clearly in the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), which makes it crystal clear that women’s rights in Islam are well documented and protected.
There have been jillions of atrocities against women all over the world, many much worse than what happened to the young Egyptian woman who was beaten, stomped on and nearly stripped by the military during a recent demon-stration. Aside from the sheer brutality, what stood out was that she was wearing this gorgeous, sexy, bright blue bra. Under her abaya.
Source: Nairobi Star
GENDER parity in the education sector was better realised last year in Nyanza.