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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Gender
Push for Girls’ Education Ahead of G8
Amid a flurry of meetings in Europe, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will help to launch a "global partnership for girls' and women's education" here Thursday at the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).ZIMBABWE: Cross-Border Traders Don’t Trust Banks With Their Money
A newly available electronic banking service has received a lukewarm reception from cross-border traders in Zimbabwe’s second largest city Bulawayo, despite it alleviating the need to move around with large sums of cash.
SOUTH AFRICA : Women Candidates Struggle in Local Government Elections
Political parties should be forced, through changes in legislation, to bring more women into government.
POLITICS: First Woman Speaker of Parliament Changing Politics
Very soon wives in Uganda will legally have the right to a share in their husband’s property, that’s if the country’s new speaker of parliament has her way.Hotel Maids Say Sexual Harassment Is Part of the Job
With the arrest of the once powerful head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, following allegations that he tried to rape a maid in his 3,000-dollar- a-night penthouse suite at the Sofitel Hotel, a spotlight has been turned on the treatment of female cleaning staff, many of whom are immigrants who keep silent for fear of losing their jobs or being deported.
PERU: No Easy Choice for Women in Presidential Runoff
In other circumstances, many women in Peru would be celebrating the possibility of a female president for the first time in the history of their country, or the alternative: the triumph of a candidate who promises to improve things for the poor. But both candidates taking part in the Jun. 5 runoff draw heavy opposition or awaken serious doubts among women's groups.
NIGERIA: Women Giving Each Other a Hand Up
In an open space near her home in Makoko, a crowded suburb of the sprawling city of Lagos, Latifat Agboola sits in the midst of bags of charcoal, attending to her customers. Some of them call her "the charcoal woman with the dirty job, but she sees herself as a businesswoman on the rise.
CUBA: Sexual Diversity in a Sexist City
Known as the cradle of the revolution and of the conga, but also as one of the most machista places in Cuba, the city of Santiago in the east of the island was the scene of two days of activities demanding respect and freedom for different sexual orientations and gender identities.
Ethics and Politics Get Divorced in Guatemala
"She got a divorce because of her ambition and love of money," shopkeeper Dulce Álvarez told IPS, about Guatemalan former First Lady Sandra Torres' decision to end her marriage in order to sidestep the legal bar to the president's family members running for the presidency.
ZAMBIA: Making the Most of Limited Capital
Proponents of microfinance often portray it as the empowering extension of credit to vulnerable but diligently self-employed poor people - often women - who support each other to improve their livelihoods as well as repay their loans. The image is true, to some extent, but in many parts of Africa, microfinance institutions have somewhat sharper teeth.Parliamentarians Ask G8 to Focus on Women
Ahead of this month's G8 summit in France, parliamentarians from 35 countries have issued a strong call for leaders of the world's major economies to focus on the role of women and girls in development.
Spring Not New to Arab Women
Women have been taking leading roles in the Arab uprisings of Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Morocco and Bahrain - shattering many decades old Western myths that Arab women are powerless and enslaved.
Egypt Hunts Down the Right to Love
Abeer Fakhry, a young Christian woman, had only wanted to live with a man who would love and respect her, and not with her abusive husband. But within months of trying to escape her marriage, and her faith, Abeer finds herself chased by her family, by the Orthodox Christian Church, by the fundamentalist Islamic Salafi Group and, lately, by Egypt’s top army generals.
BRAZIL: Women Break Down Barriers in Heavy Construction
They represent just seven percent of the workers building the Santo Antonio hydroelectric dam on the Madeira River, which cuts across the Amazon jungle in northwest Brazil. But the women workers total 1,200, and many of them have had to break down barriers to jobs seen as the preserve of men.
SOUTH AFRICA: Woman Navigating a Tough Political System
Victoria Zanele KaMagwaza-Msibi admits she is no angel. But for 30 years she’s navigated through South Africa’s tough political landscape, mainly as a member of a male-dominated party, and now as the leader of her own political party.Yemen Faces Older Birth Pangs As Well
An estimated 2,555 women in Yemen die annually during childbirth because they do not have access to proper health facilities or experienced medical professionals.
BRAZIL: Despite Historic Victory, Gay Rights Struggle Far from Over
Although gay rights organisations in Brazil are celebrating a historic triumph, legal recognition of civil unions by the Supreme Court, they say the struggle is far from over.Homophobia in the Caribbean Varies Widely
While homosexuality is punishable by law in nine Caribbean island nations, gay activism is increasingly taking root in countries like Cuba.
INDIA: Women Hold Their Own in Provinces
Provincial elections in four major Indian states have produced two female chief ministers, proving women capable of holding their own in the rough and tumble of politics in this deeply patriarchal country.PAKISTAN: Rape Victims Left Feeling Hopeless
A recent verdict by Pakistan’s Supreme Court has left rape victims feeling dejected and helpless, as lawyers warned it could set a bad precedent for other such cases in the future.
DEVELOPMENT: Women Leading Bangladesh Away from the LDC Tag
Women entrepreneurs and workers will soon help Bangladesh shake off the Least Developed Country (LDC) label, business leaders say.« 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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