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Thursday, November 12, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Gender
MIDEAST: Hamas Guards Women’s Health – for the Wrong Reasons
When the Hamas government of Gaza imposed restrictions on shisha (water pipe) smoking several months ago, it wasn’t for health reasons – even though the habit is pervasive in the densely populated strip of land. Rather, the ban targeted only women – and it is being widely ignored despite the firm grip of the conservative Islamic government.
Should U.N. Chief’s Public Pronouncements Be Copyrighted?
When the secretary-general of the United Nations issues a key policy statement, holds a news conference or simply makes off- the-cuff remarks to the press corps, they traditionally remain in the public domain.
Q&A: “In Mexico, We Have Let the Violent Ones Do the Talking”
"In Mexico, we have let the violent ones do the talking," says journalist Marcela Turati, author of "Fuego Cruzado" (Crossfire), a new book that tells the stories of victims of President Felipe Calderón's war on drugs, which has left an official death toll of 30,000 in four years.
Set on Fire – New Form of Sexist Violence in Argentina
"I knew he beat her but I never imagined that she would end up like this," Elsa Jerez told IPS, talking about her 24-year-old daughter Fátima Catán, a victim of domestic violence in Argentina who died of severe burns to her body.EAST EUROPE: Midwives Struggle to Deliver Home Births
Women’s rights in Eastern Europe have been put into the spotlight as a Hungarian midwife faces five years in prison for assisting with home births.
INDIA: Alcoholism Grips Progressive Kerala
The scene outside a temple in Kannur district in Kerala recently was something unusual in modern India. Sitting on one side of a balance scale hanging in front of the Kannadipara Muthappan Temple was a woman, and on the other side, a bucket of coconut wine.
Malawi Missing Its Local Government
An hour and fifteen minutes each day: Melina Kalunga has plenty of time to measure how long it takes to resolve a legal battle over Malawi's Electoral Commission.
PAKISTAN: Militancy Takes On a Female Face
On December 25, a female suicide bomber, not more than 18 years of age, blew herself up killing at least 47 people and injuring 105 others.MALAYSIA: Muslim Gay Faces Govt Wrath
Muslim engineer Azman Ismail has sparked a huge storm of criticism, invited official censure and even death threats by going on YouTube.com and confessing that he is a gay.U.N. to Host Slew of Talkfests Through 2011
Living up to its reputation - or notoriety - as one of the world's quintessential talking shops, the United Nations has scheduled a slew of high-level meetings and international conferences through December this year.RIGHTS-DR CONGO: Soldiers Accused of Rape Arrested
The reported arrests of ten Congolese soldiers accused of looting stores and raping at least a dozen women in the Fizi District earlier in January is not enough to reassure local civil society.
SOUTH SUDAN: Women Dream of Independence
John Garang, the revered late leader of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, once said that women are the "the poorest of the poor and the marginalised of the marginalised". As the reality of an independent South Sudan approaches, the region's women have vowed they will not remain second class citizens.Women’s Coalition Denounces Exclusion by Security Council
In October 2001, the United Nations Security Council endorsed a resolution recognising that women's participation is essential to sustain efforts for peace in the world. But did the international body ever ask world's women leaders to take part in the decision-making process?
BRAZIL: New President’s First Steps Fuel Optimism of Women’s Movement
The initial steps taken by Brazil's first woman president, Dilma Rousseff, have confirmed that a stronger female presence will indeed be a hallmark of her administration.
Women’s Initiation in Zambia: Dancing in Bed
Staying in Chawama, a compound outside Zambia's capital Lusaka, I spent many an evening chatting to the local women as they sat outside and cooked on their charcoal braziers. It intrigued me how a lot of the gossip would come back to one topic: the importance of 'chinamwali', the traditional initiation training most Zambian women go through before they get married.
ELECTION-WATCH: Stakes High in What Might be Africa’s 55th State
South Sudan is memorable for unbearably high heat, persistent noise from the generators that help cool the temperatures and glaring poor infrastructure.HAITI: Women Wonder if They’ll Ever Feel Safe Again
Up a rubble-strewn street, turn right past a crumbled house, and 60 men and women are in the yard and parlor of the offices of the Commission of Women Victim-to-Victim (Komisyon Fanm Viktim pou Viktim, KOFAVIV) association.
KENYA: No Easy Path for Disabled Women with Political Dreams
"People living with disability face all sorts of discrimination. We are discriminated against at job interviews in schools. Everyday is a battle to remain positive in the face of a world that is too bent on dismissing those among us that do not meet the standard of what is normal", explains Mishi Juma, a disabled community leader from the Coast region.
PHILIPPINES: Catholics Risk Excommunication Over Reproductive Rights
Support for reproductive health legislation, popularly known as the RH Bill here, has snowballed on social websites and among peer networks, yet passage and funding of the bill remain uncertain. Catholic bishops have long used the threat of excommunication in the raging debates over use of modern contraceptive methods - such as pills, IUDs and condoms - in the Southeast-Asian nation of over 92 million, 85 percent of whom are Catholic.
ELECTION-WATCH: Countdown Begins to Southern Sudan Referendum
"We want an independent country of our own that is Southern Sudan, and we want a new country". Calm and with a passion in his voice, the secondary school teacher, John Kiri, a native from Juba explained the excitement he is feeling for Sunday’ referendum.U.N. Chief Leaves Women out of Year-End Summing Up
When Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote a year-end op-ed piece for an Australian newspaper last week, he talked about the future of a world body facing a new generation of threats: climate change, poverty, nuclear disarmament and human rights.« 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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