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Thursday, November 12, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Gender
No Quiet Old Age for South Africa’s Grannies
Grannies are indispensable in South Africa. They may have been hoping for a restful old age, but the AIDS epidemic has seen them taking on motherhood for a second time, caring for grandchildren whose parents have died of the disease.BRAZIL: Women in “Pacified” Favelas Claim Their Rights
The peace imposed on the more than 200,000 people living in the Complexo do Alemão group of favelas in Rio de Janeiro by Brazil's military police is helping to pave the way for the recognition of basic human rights.
PAKISTAN: New Fears Over Malnutrition
"She was just skin and bones, even crying seemed a huge effort," Hajiani says of one-year-old Samreen Tauqir, when she saw her for the first time two months ago.MEXICO: Eco-Friendly Livelihoods for Women in the Sierra Madre
They live in a town with an apt name, Soledad (Solitude) de Guadalupe, of just 50 houses, most of which are inhabited by women on their own, in the Sierra Madre mountains in the small state of Querétaro in central Mexico.Q&A: ‘Doing Good and Doing Good Business Are Not Incompatible’
It is short sighted to dismiss the benefits or potential of engaging the private sector in human rights matters, says Sara Lulo, director of the Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School.Q&A: Ordinary Women Have Extraordinary Stories to Tell
Ordinary women's voices are too often ignored when it comes to solving their own problems, admonishes Loga Virahsawmy, Director of the Southern African NGO Gender Links, Mauritius and Francophone Office.Arab Uprising Bypasses Domestic Slaves
The uprisings sweeping the Arab world have been provoked by long injustice, low income, police brutality, and lack of social security. While the world looks at this, the suffering of up to three million maids across the Arab world remains wrapped in silence.OP-ED: Zambian TV Ads Threaten Women’s Gains
Five years since Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected president in Liberia, it appears there is a systematic campaign to remind African women that their place is still in the kitchen. And advertisers of detergent powders and other cleaning products appear to be the main culprits.Educate the Girl, Empower the Woman
Picture a mother, hunching over a field with a Medieval-style hoe in hand, spending day after day tilling the soil under a beating hot sun - only to retire home to care for her family without electricity or running water.Time to Drag Sextortion into the Light
In their 2010 book "Half the Sky", Pulitzer Prize-winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn write about a disturbing but not uncommon problem in Southern Africa - male teachers who trade good grades for sex with students.EGYPT: Women and Men, Shoulder to Shoulder
The momentous events of Tahrir Square, Egypt also signify a huge step forward for gender equality in the region, women's rights activists said Friday.
U.N. Task Force Pushes for Investment in Teen Girls
Risk of sexual violence, limited access to education, and health issues such as HIV/AIDS and forced female genital mutilation/cutting are just a few of the obstacles adolescent girls face in developing countries, yet these girls are the key to the future and the eradication of poverty, stress experts at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).Peace Before Women’s Rights, or Women’s Rights Before Peace?
1325. It's a combination of digits that might not mean much to the majority of the world's population, but these four numbers are a crucial tool in the global struggle for gender equality.ARGENTINA: Proposal to Go after Clients of Sex Trafficking Victims
An Argentine government proposal to crack down on clients benefiting from the trafficking of persons for the purposes of sexual exploitation has unleashed a heated debate between feminist organisations that support the idea and sex workers who are opposed to it.
TRADE: South African Imports Filling Zimbabwean Shop Shelves
When the government of national unity (GNU) was formed two years ago, Zimbabweans expected that the days of shop shelves being filled with imported consumer goods would soon be over.
Q&A: “Education Must Reach the Marginalised”
Although more girls are enrolling in school - notably in countries with the greatest gender gaps like Chad, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen - two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults are still women.
UN Women Celebrates Launch as Leading Player in Gender Equality
After years of planning, fundraising and consultations, U.N. Women was officially launched Thursday evening to much celebration.Patriarchy and Fundamentalism Two Sides of the Same Coin
While "fundamentalism" has become something of a buzzword in the past few years, particularly in the West in connection with Islam, it in fact exists in every region and religion, and has a set of common characteristics, say activists who have studied the question for years.
BANGLADESH: Women Find a Way Out of Poverty
Twenty-one years ago, Munni Akter and her husband Shafiuddin could hardly afford two meals a day.
DEVELOPMENT-UGANDA: Better Coffee Brings Better Living Conditions
Producing quality Arabica coffee beans on the slopes of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda is only viable once farmers are assured ready access to the global market. Fair trade has made this possible.Grassroots Women Agree: Our Biggest Problem Is Gender Violence
Nearly three-quarters of activists and grassroots organisers working globally to safeguard women's rights are convinced that ending violence against women must be the top priority of the newly formed U.N. Women, according to a report launched Wednesday by Oxfam and VSO UK at the annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York City.« 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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