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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Gender
DEVELOPMENT: Chinese Step In, Efficiently
For Jany Chen from Shanghai, concern often-raised in Europe and North America about the Chinese invasion of Africa is a lot of wasteful talk that deserves to be flushed down the toilet. Efficiently.
SOUTH AFRICA : Women’s Issues Missing from Election Manifestos
Come rain or shine, single mother of five, Sylvia Mathebula,* can be found selling fruit and cigarettes at the roadside because it is the only way her family can survive. "Since the government is not helping us with jobs, rather than work as a maid for a white person I decided to start this little business by myself," she says lamenting the lack of opportunities for unskilled women.
Q&A: “Clergy Sexual Abuse of Women Is a Violent Abuse of Power”
Ninety to 95 percent of victims of clergy sexual exploitation are women, according to recent estimates by the Columbia Theological Seminary's Rev. Pamela Cooper White, and yet very few studies have been conducted on this issue.SIERRA LEONE: Promise of More Space for Women in Decision-making
In Sierra Leone’s highly patriarchal society, where institutionalised gender inequalities are exacerbated by discriminatory customs, one group is singing its way towards changing this.
DEVELOPMENT: Market Forces Rise Above Declarations
Upstairs in halls where the conference of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is being held, all the right things were being said about the misery of poverty and the virtue of opportunity and development. Several floors below, what are called ‘market forces’ were at work.
NAMIBIA: Feature Film Explores Realities of Safer Sex
A new film explores the real complexities of relationships for young people in Namibia, and the effects of gender inequality and culture on the choices people make about their sexual lives.BENIN: Skills Upgrade for Midwives Saves Lives
Training of midwives in the active management of the third stage of labour targets one of the most common causes of maternal deaths: bleeding after delivery.SRI LANKA: For Women, War for Survival Continues in Peacetime
The civil war ended two years ago this month, but for war-affected women—widows, mothers, daughters, and former rebels— the struggle to survive rages on.INDIA: Unnecessary C-Sections Violate Women’s Rights
It was smooth sailing for 30-year-old Susan George throughout her pregnancy, until the day she went to give birth at the government hospital. Doctors told her they had to do a caesarean section because they could not wait for a normal delivery.
DEVELOPMENT: Women Demand Access to Water and Energy
"Women in LDCs bear the brunt of economic and social hardships," said Wubitu Hailu, managing director of an Ethiopian NGO, the Kulich Youth Reproductive Health and Development Organisation. The failure to provide access to basic services like clean water and electricity is a major factor preventing women from realising their full potential.
SOUTH AFRICA: Do More Women Politicians Mean Better Politics?
The Democratic Alliance (DA) election posters, which feature party leader Helen Zille, Cape Town mayoral candidate Patricia de Lille and party spokeswoman Lindiwe Mazibuko, do not necessarily mean that a vote for the party is a vote for women, analysts say.PAKISTAN: Osama’s Women: Who Are They, What Do They Know?
Pakistan authorities announced they would let the United States interrogate the widows of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, provided their countries of origin grant permission to do so.NEPAL: Women Race to the Top: Mt. Everest
The temperature is 10 degrees below freezing and the wind is like a hurricane, threatening to sweep away the unwary from the treacherously slippery mountain slope that has been home to Suzanne Al Houby and 39 other iron-willed women for almost a fortnight.
PHILIPPINES: Women Clamour for Contraceptives
In a small women's clinic in the congested community of San Andres Bukid in the Philippine capital, a mother of 11 is availing herself of family planning services for the first time in her life.
Indigenous Craftswomen Take on Mexican Fashion World
Reina Pérez, an Otomi indigenous craftswoman in the central Mexican state of Querétaro, skilfully embroiders "grecas" or traditional design motifs in threads of many colours, on fabrics that will be used to make dresses, skirts and blouses.
AFRICA: More Skilled Attendants Needed to Reduce Maternal Mortality
Sub-Saharan African countries have claimed nine of the ten bottom places in a ranking of maternal health around the world. "The Mothers' Index", a new survey of motherhood by Save the Children, analyses health, education and economic conditions for women and children in 164 countries.
INDIA: Smuggling Everything From Cough Syrup to Sex
Sakina Bibi is a sex worker in the red light area of Kalabagan in Murshidabad, a border district in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal where everything from cattle to electronic goods, from rice and sugar to cough syrup, and women, are being smuggled.ARGENTINA: Targeting Teens in Prevention of Gender Violence
"If I had only known that when I was young," or "if they had only told me" are just some of the statements made by many women who seek assistance at the centre for victims of gender violence set up by the local government in a town on the outskirts of the Argentine capital.Can Microcredit Reclaim Its Visionary Mission?
As controversy mounts over the efficacy of microfinance as a global poverty-alleviation effort, the 15th Global Microcredit Summit, scheduled to kick off on Nov. 14 in Valladolid, Spain, will be forced to answer critical questions about poverty, resources and tactics.
Somali Women Entrepreneurs Carve a Niche in Boston
Deeqo Jibril is always on the go. Whether she is tending to her four children or teaching breast cancer awareness classes to women in her community, the Somali-born community organiser is always up for a new challenge.CANADA: An Electorate Divided
It was a highly disciplined campaign focused on the core base of Canadians, especially in greater Toronto, where a large number of citizens of recent immigrant origins helped to boost the Conservatives Monday to a comfortable parliamentary majority status of 167 seats out of a total 308.« 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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