International Women's Day - March 8 / IPS Inter Press Service

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Tuesday, February 09, 2010 22:57 GMT

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Q&A: Creating Momentum for Women's Participation
Paula Fray interviews ANNE-MARIE GOETZ, UNIFEM chief advisor for Governance, Peace and Security
NEW DELHI - Women's movements have played a critical role in creating political space for female participation in politics around the world. In fact, there are more women in government today than ever before.
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INDIA: Lay-offs from Recession-hit Gulf Lead to New Lives at Home
By K S Harikrishnan
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India - Domestic worker Beena Joy, 35, came back empty-handed after losing her job in recession-hit United Arab Emirates, but soon found that getting laid-off has given her a happier life back home here in this southern Indian city.
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COSTA RICA: Chinchilla to Join Club of Women Presidents
By Daniel Zueras
SAN JOSÉ - Laura Chinchilla of the governing National Liberation Party (PLN) will be the first female president of Costa Rica and the ninth in the history of Latin America.
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PAKISTAN: Community Midwives Gain Recognition But Concerns Remain
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI - As Kanwal Gul, 25, lay on the delivery table a year ago, preparing to give birth to her first child, she made sure the traditional birth attendant (TBA) assisting her knew exactly what to do. Put on the gloves, she instructed her.
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PERU: Women Combine Invention, Tradition to Improve Rural Diets
By Milagros Salazar
PAUCARÁ, Peru - Although Huancavelica is the poorest region of Peru, it has more than just poverty, malnutrition and unmet needs. There are also women using their creativity, efforts and traditional indigenous knowledge to improve the diets of their families and communities.
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CUBA: Women Knitting for Change
By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA - A neighbour started calling Andrea del Sol "Perseverance," and the name stuck. Since 1998, she and a small group of women from Alamar, on the outskirts of the Cuban capital, have been throwing their combined energies behind a common purpose: "changing things."
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U.S.: Bill Pledges a Billion Dollars to Fight Gender Violence
By Charles Fromm
WASHINGTON - The U.S. House and Senate introduced new legislation Thursday that addresses the plight of women around the world who are victims of violence.
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RIGHTS: EU Faults U.N. for Slowdown in Gender Empowerment
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - Against the backdrop of continued widespread gender discrimination worldwide, the European Union (EU) has urged Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to "urgently" speed up the creation of the proposed new U.N. agency for women.
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UGANDA: Early Diagnosis of HIV Still Elusive
By Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi
KAMPALA - HIV-positive Justine Kirumira* is a mother torn between doing what is right for her daughters and her own fear of HIV/AIDS. She suspects that her eight and 12-year-old daughters may also have the virus. But she may never know the truth of their status because she refuses have them tested.
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MEXICO: Women - Casualties in Army's Counternarcotics War
By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY - Human rights organisations in Mexico and the United States sounded the alarm about abuses against women by the Mexican armed forces in the context of the government's all-out offensive against drug trafficking in the border state of Chihuahua.
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HAITI: Displaced Women Face Double Jeopardy
By Marguerite A. Suozzi
UNITED NATIONS - Women's rights and development activists working in Haiti say that greater attention must be paid to the immediate needs of women and girls, as well as their role in the long-term reconstruction of the devastated country.
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RIGHTS: New U.N. Envoy to Crack Down on Sexual Violence
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - When the Security Council adopted resolution 1325 back in October 2000, it was a historic event: for the first time the U.N.'s most powerful political body dealt with a gender-related issue, explicitly linking women to peace and security.
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KENYA: Victory for Anti-Abortion Lobby
By Susan Anyangu-Amu
NAIROBI - The threat by influential Christian leaders to mobilise a vote against Kenya's draft constitution if it does not explicitly prevent any expansion of abortion rights appears to have succeeded.
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In today's globalised world, women are united -- despite cultural, language, ethnic, political, economic or religious differences -- in their efforts to achieve equality, peace and development. March 8 commemorates the great strides women have made, but also reminds us that everyone must continue in their endeavours to reach those elusive goals.