05/14/2008 A photoessay including award-winning photographs depicts the lives of girls in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Nepal who marry as children.

05/14/2008 A documentary film titled My Daughter the Terrorist chronicles the lives of two female Tamil Tigers, taking a close look at war and its tragic consequences. The film has been acclaimed globally but the Sri Lankan government is upset saying it glorifies the act.

05/13/2008 Across Bangladesh, poor rural women are building up their country's fragile democracy by methodically and discreetly eliminating the small inequities of their daily lives.
From: Ms. Magazine

05/12/2008 Fatima Ahmed from Sudan, Yanar Mohammed from Iraq, and Robitalia Moreno Díaz and María del Rosario Moreno Díaz from Colombia all link their experience of motherhood to their drive to work for social justice.

05/09/2008 In Nepal, many women and children live with HIV/AIDS passed on to them by their husbands and fathers. UNICEF is helping them by taking care of their treatment and arranging for education of their children.

05/08/2008 More than 500 women representing over 40 countries began last week a 12-day bicycle tour of the Middle East to campaign for peace.

05/08/2008 Unwanted childbearing contributes more to population growth than the desire for large families, writes Robert Engelman in his new book More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want.

05/07/2008 Durgabai Deshmukh Award winner Daud Sharifa Khanam from southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu provided Muslim women a platform to challenge the oppressive patriarchal system. For this, she has had to face the ire of Muslim clerics. She was hated, abused and threatened but she never gave up the fight.

05/07/2008 Erive Community Radio is bringing a change in the lives of young girls in Maganja da Costa. The UNICEF-supported station has led to a rise in enrollment in primary schools through its programmes promoting girls’ education. The station is run in partnership with Mozambique’s Social Communication Institute.

05/07/2008 NEW YORK, May 6 (OneWorld) - Women's rights advocates in the United States have launched a novel global initiative aiming to help millions of women across the world who face violence at the hands of men.

05/06/2008 Indian government has decided to table the contentious Women’s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha on May 6. Earlier in an interview with OWSA, Dr Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research spoke on the whole gamut of issues concerning the need for women in governance.

05/06/2008 Initially introduced in 1996 and subsequently in lapse; snatched and torn up in 1999, the contentious Women’s Reservation Bill is finally set to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on May 6. The Bill seeks to provide 33% reservation for women in state assemblies and the parliament.

05/06/2008 Indian government has decided to table the contentious Women’s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha on May 6. Earlier in an interview with OWSA, Dr Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research spoke on the whole gamut of issues concerning the need for women in governance.

05/02/2008 In a major victory to get their profession legally recognised, sex workers in eastern India have been granted a life cover by the country’s largest insurance company. The move is being hailed as a significant breakthrough in efforts to help them fight poverty and discrimination.

05/01/2008 For N.Nandadevi, a dedicated health activist in Manipur in north-eastern India, mere counseling on HIV/AIDS is not enough to tackle the fatal disease. A believer in pragmatic solutions, she distributes disposable syringes among drug users to prevent transmission through shared needles.

04/30/2008 BANGKOK, Apr 29 (IPS) - As if the burdens they shoulder are not enough, Asia's women are being compelled to bear the additional weight of rising food prices, say women's rights activists from across the region.

04/29/2008 Women are the worst hit by the ongoing food crisis in Asia. According to Committee for Asian Women (CAW), female workers are compelled to take additional jobs in the informal sector, where there are no steady wages or social benefits.

04/29/2008 In a country where millions of girls are deprived of learning opportunities, UNICEF along with Afghanistan Girls’ Education Initiative (AGEI) has roped in young people to advocate the cause of female education. Called the ‘Young Champions’, these men and women interact with communities to promote gender equality in schooling.

04/23/2008 UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report: Education for All by 2015? Will we make it? provides a mid-term assessment of where the world stands on its commitment to provide basic education for all. The report stresses on the need to make education more inclusive through adequately financed and targeted measures.

04/22/2008 To counter human trafficking, Indian government with support from UN agency on drugs and crime has released a manual for Delhi Police. The manual guides policemen to deal strictly with the crime and also talks of bringing about an attitudinal change so as not to subject the victims to further indignities.

04/22/2008 Women’s contribution to the economy and society remains largely unrecognised, underpaid and unpaid in most cases. The need for women to secure land and property is even more critical now, writes Dr Vibhuti Patel of SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, India.

04/22/2008 Kristine Pearson, chief executive of Freeplay Foundation, is the creator of the wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radio, the first such initiative in the humanitarian sector. She emphasises the use of renewable and clean energy solutions to improve access to communication for the poor.

04/18/2008 Indian NGO Jagori, a women’s training and resource centre is organising a two week training programme at Kangra, Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The course aims to equip rural youth with skills to build a just and gender-sensitive society.

04/18/2008 BBC World is showing seven-part investigative series: Women on the Frontline, focusing on gender violence. The films have been made with the support of several UN agencies. One in three women worldwide suffer from brutalities often at the hands of their own family members and threaten them more than cancer, malaria or war.

04/17/2008 A new platform for information, knowledge and networking on gender and climate change is launched.

04/16/2008 They may be washing others' dirty linen now, but the women do not mind it. Swift Wash, a laundry project started by local NGO Arz in Goa brings dignity and hope to rehabilitated sex workers in this western state of India.

04/15/2008 NEW YORK, Apr 15 (OneWorld) - A new coalition of U.S.-based rights groups says it plans to spend over $1 billion on projects to help women fight poverty in many parts of the world.

04/14/2008 In India's business capital, an NGO Sanmitra helps HIV positive women ensure a life of independence and dignity by making them re-enter the mainstream workforce. The organisation’s thrust is on HIV prevention, care and support to the affected and infected people.

04/11/2008 Climate change can cause rise in malaria and diarrhea, the global killers of children. Fall in crop productivity and water availability will also severely impact the lives of women and children, warned UNICEF on the occasion of World Health Day 2008.

04/10/2008 ASUNCION, Apr 10 (IPS) - For the first time in Paraguayan history, a woman is running for president in the elections on Apr. 20, as the candidate of the Colorado Party, which has governed this country continuously for 61 years.

04/07/2008 What often goes unreported in the mainstream media, finds a place in Khabar Lahariya, a truly people’s newspaper run by Dalit women in Chitrakoot in northern India. Despite their lack of education, these women journalists cover politics, development and a range of issues read by all sections of society.

04/03/2008 Thanks to the support of the DMK federation of Dalit land rights and Action Aid, the women of Kattiupaiyur, Tamil Nadu, India have reclaimed what once belonged to the oppressed community. Eight years of struggle have made them proud owners of land that they now dream of passing on to their daughters.

04/03/2008 Determined to improve its gender development index, Bangladesh government has devised a policy for all round development of its women. The policy envisions their empowerment in the political, social, administrative and economic spheres. Muslim clerics are but peeved that this might violate Sharia law.

04/01/2008 ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ is an old adage. Three stories of incredible courage and resilience in the face of adversity are just illustrations of numerous other women in rural India who are putting up a brave fight against poverty, diseases, societal attitudes, bureaucratic apathies, physical attacks and so on.

03/31/2008 A state level tribal women leader’s summit was organised by Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD) at Bhubanewar, Orissa in eastern India. Several women tribal leaders and stakeholders representing government and civil society emphasised the need to empower tribal women with decision-making and elevate their social status.

03/31/2008 A young village girl from Rajasthan has become a role model for her community by protesting against her own marriage as a child, a tradition generally accepted as norm in rural India. For her act of heroic defiance, Congress Kanwar was given the National Bravery Award on the Indian Republic Day on January 26.

03/28/2008 A handbook released by SANHITA, a women’s group in eastern India, tries to address the dynamics of sexual harassment at work, an issue that is often hidden and yet present in all kinds of organisations. The book, through its testimonies of women’s experiences, is a somber attempt to integrate a human rights perspective within the workplace.

03/25/2008 A recent all-India survey reveals that self-help groups have instilled confidence and given women necessary exposure to first contest panchayat elections and then take up more challenging assignments. These female members are no longer dependent upon their husbands to take key decisions.

03/21/2008 In an era when women are still struggling to find an equal footing, the Kotha tribe in Tamil Nadu in southern India is an exemplary model of gender equality and a progressive social system. The tribe’s matrilineal ethos ensures property rights and dowry free marriages for women.

03/20/2008 Researchers from India and UK have developed an inexpensive way to measure maternal mortality by using traditional birth attendants to record all live births, stillbirths and deaths of women in two Indian states. Making proper identifications as against estimating have helped avoid missing maternal deaths.

03/19/2008 Women's rights advocates shed light on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo -- in some villages as many as 90 percent of women have been raped -- and explain how local women leaders are fighting back.

03/17/2008 Participation of Indian women in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is an important intervention towards their empowerment. A recent survey of the scheme in western India reveals that single women have been denied its benefits due to conventional definition of male-headed households that treat them as dependents, says journalist Kiran Bhatty.

03/17/2008 Tired of living in a world governed by marriage laws formulated and implemented by men, Muslim women in India have come out with their own Nikahnama. It recognises their right to seek divorce and other entitlements so that they are the masters of their own destiny.

03/14/2008 Dalit women in Andhra Pradesh in southern India are gearing up to fight for their land rights. To turn a recent government order into reality, the campaign backed by ActionAid India and Dalit Samakhya has filed over 25,000 applications to put unused land into productive use.

03/13/2008 WASHINGTON, Mar 13 (OneWorld) - Activists working to improve lives and livelihoods around the world gathered in the United States capital Wednesday to launch a new initiative to bring water and sanitation facilities to schools that currently lack them.

03/11/2008 As a staunch communist and the first woman journalist from West Bengal in eastern India, Vidya Munsi has been at the forefront of activism for over 65 years. The 89-year old crusader was the guest of honour at a recent poster exhibition on the Indian women’s movement.

03/11/2008 To mark the International Women's Day, Indian anti-poverty network Wada Na Todo Abhiyan has released a report highlighting the recommendations of the Women's Tribunal Against Poverty held in October last year. The charter against poverty reinforces the demand for women's access to power, resources and services.

03/11/2008 Mumbai’s Sangini Women's Co-operative Bank is a beacon of hope for the sex workers of Kamathipura. By providing a monetary buffer to its red-light district clients, this small Indian bank seeks to change the lives of these women for the better by making them less vulnerable to debts.

03/11/2008 It was not easy to convince a Muslim dominant district in underdeveloped Bihar to allow teenage girls to attend classes on reproductive and sexual healthcare at the local madarsa. Azad India Foundation (AIF)’s efforts have however earned support even from the local clerics.

03/10/2008 Gender equality is of major importance, say a majority of people from both Muslim and western nations. A survey released in Washington on the eve of International Women's Day revealed this opinion across 16 nations. Barring India, there was also a global consensus that it is the responsibility of governments to promote women's rights.

03/08/2008 A new study by International Labour Organisation says that the number of employed women has grown by almost 200 million over the last decade reaching the figure of 1.2 billion. Decent and productive employment is crucial in the process of creating greater equality between men and women, says the report.

03/07/2008 Illiteracy among women will only worsen the already serious problem of digital divide, says Women’s Literacy and Information and Communication Technologies: Lessons that Experience has Taught Us, a book by Commonwealth of Learning. The study highlights policy as well as implementation strategies in the use of ICTs for women’s literacy.

03/07/2008 Gender inequality and the lack of sanitation and drinking water are woven into a vicious trap. As women and their daughters spend hours collecting water, they cannot go to school, work and earn; while poor sanitation lead to ill health and loss of privacy. WaterAid is working to make women’s voices heard in the politics of water.

03/04/2008 British author Valerie Mason-John’s new book Broken Voices has series of interviews with dalit women, recounting their horrific experiences of caste-based injustice and discrimination. During her five-month stay Valerie lived, ate and worked together with these women to get the feel of what it is like to be an untouchable in India.

02/26/2008 In a southern state of India, Belaku Trust offers employment alternatives to hundreds of poor women who otherwise have very little choices in their lives. Started as a health research project more than a decade ago, the trust now is involved in several sectors from education to vocational training to counselling.

02/25/2008 The International Women’s Media Foundation is seeking nominations from around the world for this year’s Courage in Journalism Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award. The foundation recognises three women journalists every year for their extraordinary strength of character in pursuing their profession under difficult circumstances.

02/22/2008 The Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF) invites nominations for the fifteenth Annual Prize for Women's Creativity in Rural Life. The annual award is a recognition of creative endeavours of women in transforming lives of rural communities.

02/21/2008 Three firebrand Indian young reporters of Appan Samachar armed with mikes and handy cams, go around Bihar villages scouting for stories primarily on women’s lives and their concerns. These news capsules are then shown to a targeted audience once a month to create social awareness on gender and other issues.

02/20/2008 Put your questions to Molly Melching and the women of Senegal, OneWorld's People of the Year.

02/20/2008 New knowledge about the mechanics of HIV transmission is already shaping new approaches to stopping the virus, says an anti-AIDS advocate reflecting on the news that a cream that was hoped to revolutionize how women protect themselves from AIDS had failed in clinical trials.
From: Global Campaign for Microbicides

02/19/2008 Being a widow in a socially backward and less developed country is hard. Subjected to ostracism, exploitation and harassment, they are forced to live in poverty and deprivation. President of UK-based Loomba Trust, Cherie Blair says that the UN needs to increase its focus on emancipation of widows.

02/18/2008 A young tribal has helped the women in his village become successful entrepreneurs by realising the true potential of traditional medicines. Haribol is an all-women self-help group in Chhattisgarh in central India that profits from the state’s abundance of herbs and medicinal plants.

02/18/2008 Thirteen spirited Nepali women will make the bold journey to Mount Everest this spring. Backed by the United Nations, these women will draw attention to the impact of climate change on the Himalayas, and hope that their effort will inspire other women across Nepal to follow their dreams.

02/15/2008 An international seminar by UNCTAD will focus on gender concerns in trade in India and other developing countries from 25-27 February at New Delhi. The forum aims to sensitise trade experts, policy makers and stakeholders, and seek ways to integrate women into the international trade system.

02/12/2008 Dayamani Barla reports on the concerns of rural people in Jharkhand. She feels that dominance of journalists with middle class background in Indian media industry makes it difficult for them to relate to the issues of the poor.

02/11/2008 Young women need to be part of an organisation to understand the 'collective consciousness', says Ruth Manorama, whose efforts have helped make a space for Dalit women in the mainstream feminist movement in India. In a close conversation, she looks back at her three decades of struggles and many victories.

02/10/2008 UNITED NATIONS, Feb 9 (OneWorld) - Efforts to restore peace in Kenya will be doomed to failure if women are not invited to the negotiating table, civil society activists warned international mediators this week.

02/05/2008 A documentary filled with the message of hope and courage, follows a young South African HIV/AIDS activist as she crosses linguistic and cultural barriers to reach HIV positive women living in the city of Mumbai in India. The documentary is due to be shown on Indian television this year.

02/05/2008 When it comes to investing in girls, actions must speak louder than words. A new report Why Girls Count says governments and multilateral agencies in developing countries must invest in the welfare of girls for better social and economic outcomes; countries that do not do so risk perpetuating poverty.

02/04/2008 In a region where education for girls meant only deen ki taleem or religious studies, Vinod Kumar Kanathia had to struggle to teach the girls jeene ka saleeka (way of life). Starting with 25 students and five teachers, he now runs 95 educational centres for Muslim girls in Mewat region in north India.

02/04/2008 There are over 20,000 indentured domestic workers in Nepal. Known in local parlance as Kamlari, the system originated half a century ago under which daughters were provided as domestic servants in exchange for cash. Some NGOs are now engaged in rescuing these girls from this appalling practice.

01/31/2008 Over 1.5 million young women have been widowed in Afghanistan owing to armed conflicts over the last two decades. Food, shelter and social protection are the most pressing needs for these women and their children with most of them lacking the economic means to earn a decent living.

01/28/2008 The latest issue of the Oxfam journal Gender & Development calls for vibrant and alternative media spaces to prevent stereotyping of women, while providing insight into development initiatives throughout the world. Recommended read for development practitioners, policymakers and academics.

01/25/2008 While the men folk of north India’s nomadic Bedia tribe live a parasitic life, women of their community remain unmarried and are pushed into sex trade in the name of tradition. The men have refused to mend their ways for the simple reason that it frees them of the burden of earning.

01/23/2008 A Dalit-centric policy framework can help the disadvantaged community to have a greater say in local and national programmes and their implementation, says a report released this month by the people’s campaign Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.

01/22/2008 The movement to end female genital cutting continues to spread across many parts of Africa. Molly Melching and the women of Senegal are leading the way with innovative, culturally sensitive programs to educate and relieve suffering.

In a telling OneWorld dialogue, Molly Melching discusses Tostan's uniquely successful approach to development and how it relates to traditions, values, human rights, and human nature.

01/22/2008 As women suffer the horrific consequences of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one Congolese and one American women are helping to stem the violence and support its victims.

01/22/2008 Betty Makoni drew on an unimaginable personal tragedy to build an unparalleled network of empowered young women.

01/22/2008 In another effort to empower women, the Ministry of Women and Child Development in India has prepared a handbook on gender-budgeting. It provides guidelines for all central ministries to ensure a greater say for women in the planning process to remove disparities in access and control over resources.

01/21/2008 A comprehensive data pool on gender issues was launched by the SAARC Secretary General at the inaugural of the recent Sixth South Asian Regional Ministerial Conference by UNIFEM at New Delhi. The Gender Database will provide records on violence against women and trafficking in the South Asia region, and on women’s health and HIV/AIDS.

01/21/2008 Weak law enforcement and a feudal mindset are some of the reasons for growing child abuse in Pakistan, says a report by Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA). The country is also a major hub for the trafficking of children from South Asia to the Middle East and Europe.

01/21/2008 Chitamma, an old and frail woman in eastern India’s coastal state of Orissa is the driving force behind Samudram, a state level federation of organisations of women fish workers. She has helped them become economically independent and has fought social evils such as alcoholism.

01/17/2008 In a recent report, Amnesty International India and Human Rights Watch have demanded an impartial enquiry into all acts of human rights violations that took place in the eastern India’s Nandigram area. Local farmers protesting state acquisition of land had clashed with ruling party supporters, leading to a spurt of violence since early 2007.

01/16/2008 Gender inequality and discrimination significantly affect the development of community as a whole. Gender mainstreaming project: the gender issue, a paper brought out by Government of Pakistan Planning and Development Division, talks of prevalence of gender disparity in the country and its relation to the Millennium Development Goals.

01/15/2008 A family-run newspaper in India gives marginalised women the opportunity to tell their own stories by making them reporters. Launched in 2003, Mahila Paksh was borne out of the need to focus on women’s concerns and help them get justice.

01/11/2008 In northern Indian state of Haryana, an all-women Muslim panchayat is making real improvements in their village by taking up developmental projects. More importantly they are challenging the conservative and patriarchal attitudes.

01/07/2008 UNITED NATIONS, Jan 7 (OneWorld) - Amid fears that ongoing violence could take many more human lives in Kenya, rights activists are calling for the government in Nairobi to allow an independent investigation of the presidential poll results.

01/03/2008 In Kyrgyzstan and many other Central Asian countries, social norms bar women drug users from self-help programs, such as needle exchange, and facilitate their exploitation by other members of society.

01/02/2008 UNICEF Germany’s ‘Photo of the Year’ of a 40 year old groom with a child bride in Afghanistan raises global concerns about child marriages, widely condemned for their sexual abuse and violation of human rights. The bride in the photograph has just turned 11.

12/28/2007 Patriarchal attitudes towards female literacy are hostile in many traditional societies, including that of Pakistan. Breaking the shackles of tradition, women are now seeking ways to educate themselves and their daughters.

12/27/2007 The story of Anuradha, a medical student, who fought her disability to pursue her dream caught the jury’s attention at Canada’s first international film festival on disability. Girl Stars, supported by UNICEF, is a series of films that document the stories of young women and girls in India who have changed their lives, and those of others, by going to school.

12/24/2007 The trend towards the increased number of women and agricultural production appears to be linked with a variety of factors, such as male rural out migration, the growing number of women-headed households and the development labour-intensive cash crops, says Govind Kelkar of UNIFEM, South Asia, in her paper presented at a seminar on “Enhancement of Women Farmers’ Role in the Development of Rural Asia” organized by Food and Fertilizer Technology Center in Korea in October 2007.

12/21/2007 Last Friday, Margaret Wanjiru -- a parliamentary candidate in Kenya's Dec. 27 general elections -- was reportedly attacked while campaigning in her Starehe constituency in the capital, Nairobi. While she escaped injury, her supporters are said to have been hurt and her campaign van extensively damaged by stoning…Still, those targeted in this incident were probably luckier than Martha Kibwana.

12/19/2007 In 2004, Bhopal gas tragedy victims, Rasheeda Bee and Champa Devi had received the Goldman Environmental Prize for their struggle for justice. Using the prize money, they set up a trust to recognise similar efforts of people. Mukta Jhodia from eastern Indian state of Orissa is the first woman to win the Chingari Award for Women Against Corporate Crime.

12/07/2007 Women Power Connect president Ranjana Kumari laments that political leadership in India has not taken seriously the recent incidents of violence against women in places like Nandigram and Guwahati. She has suggested a national commission to provide protection to women in conflict situations.

12/06/2007 Deep-rooted social attitudes, practices and stereotyping are hampering progress towards dealing with the spread of HIV/AIDS in Pakistan. A cultural tradition of exchanged marriages known as ‘watta satta’ makes it almost impossible for women to disclose their HIV status.

12/06/2007 The effort has to be made by men to understand not only the trap they set for themselves by defending power structures but also their own vulnerabilities and emotional inadequacies, which they hide under the armour of manhood, says Rahul Roy, filmmaker and author of a book on masculinities titled: A Little Book on Men.

12/04/2007 A series of cultural events and discussions on MASCULINITIES, organised and coordinated by Aakar, are being held from December 3-10 in Indian capital city of New Delhi. Art exhibition, international film festival, theatre performances, literary evening, music concert are some of the highlights of the programme.

12/04/2007 Women in Nepal villages who hitherto remained confined to the four walls of their houses are breaking the shackles and coming out to take up issues that affect them most. It is community radio, which is helping them in their endeavour to spread awareness about their rights.

11/30/2007 The Central Park of the Indian capital was lit up by aspirations for peace in the region, as more than 20 organisations celebrated the South Asian Women's Day for peace, justice, human rights and democracy. This was also the spot where Anusheh Adil and her popular band BANGLA played a special piece for the day, as part of the SAARC Band Festival.

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