Gender

Fashion Backward: Cambodian Government Silences Garment Workers

By Michelle Tolson
“Cambodian garment workers have two handcuffs and one weapon [against them]. One handcuff is a short-term contract [10 hours a day, six days a week]. Even if they get sick, if they get pregnant they feel they have to get an abortion so they don’t lose their jobs.

Breast Is Best, But Not in Swaziland

By Mantoe Phakathi
Smiling as she breastfeeds her six-week-old baby boy, Lindiwe Dlamini, 38, is optimistic about his future.

Anti-Poaching Operation Spreads Terror in Tanzania

By Kizito Makoye
Ali Nyenge, a resident of Iputi ward in Tanzania's northern Ulanga District, woke up as anti-poaching security officers surrounded his home. He says they accused him of illegal hunting and in front of his 11-year-old son, made him take his clothes off, poured salt water on his body and whipped him with a cane.

Women Farmers in Chile to Teach the Region Agroecology

By Marianela Jarroud
An organisation that brings together some 10,000 peasant and indigenous women from Chile is launching an agroecology institute for women campesinos, or small farmers, in South America.

Hospitality, Agriculture Firms Vulnerable to Human Trafficking

By Carey L. Biron

Shareholders are calling on 15 U.S.-based multinational corporations to ensure that their global supply chains are not facilitating human rights abuses, particularly labour and sex trafficking.

Seedpods Worth More than Gold in Argentina’s Arid North

By Fabiana Frayssinet
Tired of the drought driving away their men and killing their livestock, the women of Guanaco Sombriana, a town in northern Argentina, have found a new source of income by using the seedpods of native trees that up to now merely provided shade in this arid landscape.

Democracy Gets an Electronic Boost

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Elections in Pakistan have long been marred by allegations of fraud, but now one of its provinces is hoping to give democracy a boost with the help of technology. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the north of the country has given a thumbs up to the biometric voting machine.

Every Eucalyptus Felled Equals Gallons of Water

By Ngala Killian Chimtom
Sabina Shey Nkabiy, a farmer in Cameroon's North West Region, moves around these days with a million-dollar smile on her face. The mother of six, who used to trek 10 kilometres a day to farm, now harvests food in her backyard.

Syrian Children Lose More Than Their Country

By Rebecca Murray
As refugees from Syria continue to pour into Lebanon, the majority of children are not going to school, spurring concern that they will become a ‘lost generation’.

Rebuilding Lives Skilfully

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Farhat Bibi, 43, was left to fend for her three young sons after her husband was killed in a bomb attack in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) three years ago. A few days later, she landed at a camp for people displaced by violence. “The camp proved to be a blessing in disguise,” she says.

Kashmiri Women Claim Their Rights

By Athar Parvaiz
Mehnaz Bano (not her real name), a 37-year-old woman in a hamlet in Indian Kashmir, is living a “satisfied and peaceful” life ever since she secured her daughter’s property rights before her remarriage – though not without a long and tedious struggle following her first husband’s death.

Towards a Change of Culture Leading to a Gender-Balanced Approach

By Emma Bonino
The past three years have been very important to scale up the movement to protect the rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and, particularly, to eliminate female genital mutilation worldwide.

Assisting Rather than Deporting Trafficking Victims in Spain

By Inés Benítez
María came to Spain from Paraguay to work as a housekeeper in a hotel. But it was a false job promise, and she ended up in a nightclub, where she was forced to work as a prostitute.

Women Advance in Distant Islands

By Catherine Wilson
Women’s political representation in the Pacific Islands region is globally the lowest at 3.65 percent, compared to the world average of 18 percent. Leadership is still widely perceived as ‘men’s business’ and voting is heavily influenced by nepotism and money politics. However, Rhoda Sikilabu, minister for community affairs in Isabel Province in the Solomon Islands is demonstrating that women leaders can drive development progress and win voter support.

Ethiopia Swamped by Tidal Wave of Returned Migrants

By Ed McKenna
The return of 120,000 young undocumented migrant workers from Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia has sparked fears that the influx will worsen the country’s high youth unemployment and put pressure on access to increasingly scarce land.

Q&A: “Libyan Women Were Handed Over as Spoils of War”

By Karlos Zurutuza
Unless immediate changes are enforced, Libya is heading towards an "Afghan" model regarding women´s rights, Aicha Almagrabi, a Libyan writer and senior women rights activist, told IPS from her residence in Tripoli.

U.N. Advice to Aid Worker: Write Last Will Before Leaving Home

By Thalif Deen
When Anoja Wijeyesekera, an aid worker with the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, received her new assignment in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan back in 1997, her appointment letter arrived with a "survival manual" and chilling instructions: write your last will before leaving home.

Domestic Violence Rising on Kazakhstan’s Political Agenda

By Joanna Lillis
When banker Darkhan Botabayev tried to book a flight on Kazakhstan’s national airline last September, what started as a routine transaction turned into an assault that shocked the nation: Botabayev lost his temper and punched the young female ticket clerk in the face.

Sexual Minorities Fight for Health Services In Uganda

By Wambi Michael
At an unremarkable office on Bukoto Street in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, health workers and civil society activists attend a regular meeting to offer information and advice on living with HIV and AIDS. What is unusual is that these information sessions cater to a group of around 50 transgender women.

Citizen Journalists Take the Lead on Gender Issues

By Stella Paul
Twenty-five-year-old Ragae Hammidi of Casa Blanca, Morocco wears two hats. Five days a week, she attends a business school. But on weekends, she is a journalist who goes out on the street with a small camera, shooting videos of people and issues that go untold by professional media outlets.

Indian Gays Prepare to Fight Again

By Ranjita Biswas
Human rights have taken a step back in India, activists say after the Supreme Court overturned a ruling of the High Court that had earlier lifted the ban on gay sex.
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