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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Gender
SOMALIA: Rape – The Hidden Side of the Famine Crisis
When Aisha Diis* and her five children fled their home in Somalia seeking aid from the famine devastating the region, she could not have known the dangers of the journey, or even fathom that she would be raped along the way.Non-Traditional Teaching Promoted for Girls
Making some simple, basic changes in education policy can result in many more girls attending school, experts said at a meeting here this week on Gender Equality in Education.
Zambia needs to do more on gender equality
Zambia has signed numerous international treaties to help promote gender equality, among them the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on equal pay for work of equal value. But, as Brian Moonga reports, some gender activists feel much more needs to be done to reach gender parity.
Afghan Women’s Rights ‘Under Threat’
Women's rights in Afghanistan are once again under threat after 10 years of progress, two leading British aid agencies have said.
CAMEROON: Protect Your Daughters, Iron Their Breasts
"Please God, make my breasts disappear." Joyce Forghab used to pray the same line every night during the month she was suffering from breast ironing. The shocking practice, carried out by a quarter of mothers in Cameroon, is meant to reverse female sexual development.
MEXICO: Women Left Out of U.N. Forest Plan
Despite the growing participation of women in forestry projects in Mexico, the national strategy for the United Nations-led REDD+ forest plan in this country lacks a gender focus.
AFRICA: More Dangerous to Be a Woman than a Soldier
African women who bear the brunt of the continent’s conflicts now demand to play a defining role in peacekeeping.
Salvadoran Campesinas Go Organic
The guavas grown by Mariana Rosales are big and bright green, and the best thing about them, she says proudly, is that she does not spend a single cent on fertilisers to produce them – something extremely rare in a country like El Salvador.
PAKISTAN: Guns Aimed Increasingly at Women
Guns available in new abundance in the troubled north of Pakistan are increasingly being used on women in ‘honour’ killings and domestic disputes, according to local reports.
Re-Greening Africa in the Footsteps of Wangari Maathai
Africa needs to remain focused and continue following the late Professor Wangari Maathai’s initiatives for environmental sustainability in order to address climate change across the continent, environmentalists say.
PERU: Councilwomen Fight Climate Change in Land of Melting Glaciers
Some symbolic acts are powerful reflections of a broader struggle. In March some 300 women planted trees in the Santa River basin in northwest Peru to demonstrate their determination to preserve the environment and help adapt to climate change.
INDIA: Facing Climate Change With Flower Power
Gazalla Amin’s office on the outskirts of this city, capital of Jammu & Kashmir state, is redolent with the fragrance of lavender wafting up from heaps of the dried flowers in a corner bowl.JAMAICA: Wanted: Light-Skinned Only, Please
Revelations that proprietors are requesting light-skinned workers from a government training institution is putting a new spin on Jamaica's so-called obsession with skin bleaching.DR CONGO: Hard to Save All Women Suffering from Fistula
"Every quarter, more than a hundred women with fistulas - including many younger than 20 years old - are admitted for surgery in Maniema province," says nurse Julie Mawazo. "The number of affected women who don't have the means or awareness to come in must be far greater."
OP-ED: Wangari Maathai: A ‘Mighty Woman’ Who Spoke Truth to Power
Last night, Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died. Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. In reality, her environmental activism was part of a holistic approach to empowering women, advocating for democracy, and protecting the earth.Rwanda Wins Gold for Forest Conservation Blueprint
Government policies are seldom lauded, yet Rwanda's forest policy has resulted in a 37-percent increase in forest cover on a continent better known for deforestation and desertification.Give Women the Seeds and They Can Feed the World
If women farmers were given more tools and resources, the number of hungry people in the world could be slashed by 100 to 150 million.
SRI LANKA: Single Women Begin to Rebuild
For Magei Kasai the battle against hardships did not end when the guns fell silent two years ago in the Sri Lankan civil war. New battles began for survival, for herself and for what was left of her family.Grassroots Women Urge Rights-Based Development Path
The streets around the headquarters of the world's leading financial institutions – the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – have been transformed into a canvas over the last three days.
ZAMBIA: New President, New Governance Yardstick
The election of Michael Chilufya Sata as Zambia's new president shows that Zambians are more interested in issues of accountability and transparency than mere service delivery, say analysts.
Tapping Boys in the Struggle for Girls’ Equal Rights
Brothers, husbands, boyfriends and fathers are key actors in the creation of a world where girls enjoy the same rights as boys, and will themselves benefit from greater gender equality, stresses a new report from Plan International released Thursday.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Women make up half the world's population, but don't nearly share half of the world's wealth, well-being and opportunity. Two-thirds of the world poor are women, disproportionally exposing women to precarious living conditions, disease and unmitigated natural disasters. The media, meanwhile, remains a male-dominated sector in much of the world, contributing to women's voices lacking a crucial amplifier to put their concerns on political agendas and unleash the development potential of their ingenuity. Rather than then stereotypical victims of local and global forces, women are also organizer, innovators, conservators and community builders. These are some of their stories.
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