Gender

Poor Paths Lead to Madrassas

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Mustafa Khan, who sells cigarettes by the roadside in a Pakistani village, has a simple reason for sending two of his sons to a madrassa, an Islamic seminary, and not to a proper school. “We cannot afford it,” he says.

Driving Home the Link Between Gender and Climate Change

By Silvia Giannelli
Tuesday was Gender Day at the COP19 climate summit in Warsaw, and many of the events that took place in the National Stadium focused on the topic of gender and its relation with climate change, and tried to shed a light on problems that require action from policy-makers.

Bank Crash Hits Women Harder

By Lowana Veal
Women in Iceland have been more badly affected by the economic collapse in 2008 than their male counterparts, both in terms of physical and mental health, studies show.

Cairo Women Bring Men Back on the Rails

By Annabell Van den Berghe
Nihal Saad Zaghloul is an Egyptian woman in her late twenties. Like other young women, she faces the daily risk of sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo. But Egypt’s revolution made her realise that people can unite and that she can make a difference.

Idyllic Island Confronts Bloody Past

By Catherine Wilson
Anguish over the whereabouts of loved ones who went missing during a five-year civil conflict that ended a decade ago continues for countless families in the Solomon Islands. Searching for the remains of those who disappeared is vital to enduring peace in this culturally diverse south-west Pacific island nation of 550,000.

Middle East Women Mean Business

By Rachel Williamson
Evidence is mounting to suggest women entrepreneurs are more common in the Middle East than in startup capital Silicon Valley, and some even say it’s a more supportive place for them to start a business.

A Shortage of ARVs and a Surplus of Stigma in Côte d’Ivoire

By Fulgence Zamblé
At the Cocody-Anono community health centre, south-east of the Ivorian economic capital of Abidjan, Bertine Bahi* regularly attends awareness sessions on Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) for women living with HIV.

Breaking New Ground for Trans Children

By Inés Benítez
Gabi was born six years ago biologically male, but dressed up as a princess and wore necklaces and long hair so that everyone saw a little girl instead.

OP-ED: Act Now, Act Big to End Sexual Violence in DRC

By Babatunde Osotimehin and Zainab Bangura
Imagine an orphanage where over 300 children born out of rape have been abandoned because of the shame and stigma associated with sexual violence. Imagine a town where, in the last year, 11 infants between the ages of six months and one year, and 59 small children from one to three years old, have been raped.

‘I Sold My Sister for 300 Dollars’

By Annabell Van den Berghe
Amani has just turned 22. Two months ago she fled from the civil war in Syria and left her house in capital Damascus. After a dangerous nightlong trip she arrived at Zaatari, the refugee camp just over the border in Jordan, where her parents and two sisters had already lived for over a year.

U.N. Urged to Practice What It Preaches on Gender

By Thalif Deen
Amidst a rise in sexual violence in the world’s war zones, the United Nations has begun appointing women to head some of the key political and peacekeeping missions in conflict areas - and also created Gender Advisers as a second line of defence.

Women Find a Green Midas Touch

By Naimul Haq
On a hot and humid day in northwestern Bangladesh, Anisa Begum sits with a group of 25 homemakers, explaining how to use natural fertilisers to increase grain yield.

HIV ‘Wave’ Feared in Central Asia

By Pavol Stracansky
Healthcare systems in Eastern Europe and Central Asia remain woefully unable to cope with HIV/AIDS as the region’s raging epidemic – the fastest growing in the world – takes on a new dimension, a senior UN official has told IPS.

For Kurdish Women, It’s a Double Revolution

By Karlos Zurutuza
"I got married when I was 14 and I already had four children at 20," recalls Nafia Brahim. In her fifties now, she is working hard so that no other woman loses control of her life.

OP-ED: How Women’s Rights Are Linked to U.S.-Iran Negotiations

By Fariba Parsa
While U.S. and Iranian negotiators prepare for another round of nuclear talks in Geneva next month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has been silent about another matter that could be even more indicative of his willingness to take on hardline conservatives.

Thai Women Don Monks’ Robes

By Simba Shani Kamaria Russeau
Thai women were among the first women in Asia granted voting rights, in 1932. However, when it comes to religion, women in Thailand continue to struggle for equality and social acceptance.

Taiwan Lawmakers Push `Marriage Equality` Bill

By Dennis Engbarth
Taiwan could become the first Asian state to legalise same-sex and other ``pluralistic`` forms of marriage if a wide-ranging package of changes to the civil code are approved by the national legislature.

Saudi Arabia, Sans Human Rights, Seeks Council Seat

By Thalif Deen
When Saudi Arabia permitted women to vote but not drive, a newspaper cartoon last year captured the double standard with dark irony.

Bangladesh Workers Short of Compensation

By Robert Stefanicki
Six months after the worst man-made disaster in Bangladesh’s history, safety conditions in garment factories have a chance to improve. But not the lives of survivors or the victims' next of kin.

Teen Pregnancy Rooted in Powerlessness

By Joan Erakit
Before we begin, perhaps we can set aside the stereotypes: no, she didn’t "mess herself up by following boys around", and no, it is not in fact her fault that she became pregnant.

Too Many Indians Find It’s Better to Die

By K. S. Harikrishnan
When Sarath, 29, a security staffer with a private firm in Kattakada town in India’s southern Kerala state hanged himself at his office premises, his death became a grim reminder of what statistics in the country have been showing for some time now: more and more young Indian men are succumbing to socio-economic pressures and are committing suicide.
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