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Friday, November 13, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Gender
Q&A: “Women Are the First to Cook and the Last to Eat”
Three hundred women from more than 30 countries converged in Canada last weekend for the Montreal International Women's Conference 2010 (MIWC), with the aim of building a global militant women's movement in the 21st century.
Burkinabe Women’s Economic Empowerment Key to Girls’ Education
An initiative to keep girls in school by supporting income-generating activities for their mothers is bearing fruit in Burkina Faso, where poverty and cultural values still deprive many girls of an education.
Q&A: “Feminism Doesn’t Bite”
After more than a century of existence, feminism is still around in Latin America and the world, but the history of this ideology that seeks equality for women is like a succession of breaking waves, with peaks and troughs.POLITICS-INDIA: In Kashmir, Tensions Put Life on Hold
The doctors at the hospital that Khalida Begum’s husband brought her to in the frontier district of Kupwara knew she was in a dangerous state. They thus recommended that she be transferred soonest to the maternity hospital here in Srinagar, where she was sure to receive far better care.
PERU: Woman Candidate Breathes New Life into Left
The campaign for the October municipal elections in Peru has brought new hope to the badly weakened left, in the form of Susana Villarán, who has shot up from the "other candidates" category to third in the polls in the race for the mayor's office in Lima.
AFRICA: Bearing Witness and Celebrating the Everyday
"I had a lump in my breast for a few years that I ignored [mainly because] it didn’t hurt. It’s so easy to try to deny illness," says Tracey Derrick. When she finally went to see a doctor for a biopsy, she got a big shock. The result came back positive: breast cancer.
Q&A: “We Must Move from a Masculine to a Feminine Economy”
It is necessary to move from a "masculine" economy based on competition and a win-lose mentality to a "feminine" win-win economy based on the concept of collaboration, says writer Rose Marie Muraro, one of the pioneers of Brazil's feminist movement.RIGHTS-JAPAN: Not All Working Women Are Equal
Fifty-one year old Miharu juggles two part-time jobs at a law firm and at a design company, but is barely able to make ends meet in one of the world’s richest economies.KENYA: Poor Women Beset On All Sides By Violence
"My daughter had repeatedly tried to describe to me what her step-father would do to her when I was not home," says Wanza*, a 28-year-old mother resident of Nairobi's Mathare slum. "On this particular night I pretended to be asleep and watched as he left our bed and went for my eight-year-old daughter."RIGHTS-INDIA: Despite Laws and Campaigns, Child Marriages Persist
Soon after she had her second child, Rathna fell into a frenzied state and had to be brought to a hospital here in the southern Indian village of Dharmapuri. After a month-long series of tests, doctors issued their diagnosis: Rathna, they said, was suffering from a psychiatric aberration that seems to occur often among adolescent mothers.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Women Traders “Blocked” From the “Big Business”
"Africans do not believe women can do big business," fumes Zambian trader Angelica Rumsey.DEVELOPMENT-NIGER: Selling Sand to Survive
It's a trade that requires no capital, only courage and endurance. A group of 200 women are making ends meet - sometimes even a bit more - by selling sand.KENYA: Medical Smart Card Extended to Maternal Care
Kenyans can now save towards the cost of childbirth at the country's largest maternal hospital thanks to a medical smart card system.
HEALTH-INDIA: Infant Units Go A Long Way in Saving Babies
Banita’s heart sank when she first saw her prematurely born twin girls. One weighed 500 grammes and the other 700 grammes, both way below the 2.5-kilogramme benchmark for low-birthweight newborns. But their clenched, coin-sized fists seemed to show they were clinging to life. "There is hope," said the local doctor.AFRICA: Shortage of Skills for Reproductive Health
Dr Geoffrey Kasembeli says he worked almost seven years without a day off: that's how severe the shortage of obstetricians and gynaecologists in Kenya is. A similar situation prevails across the continent, a symptom of the weakness of reproductive health care in Africa.
PAKISTAN: Controversial Drug Welcomed by Some, Worries Others
With its latest hotline a surefire hit, the non-government group Aware Girls could not be any happier.
COSTA RICA: Gays Unite Against Referendum on Civil Unions
Human rights organisations and the gay community in Costa Rica have joined forces to try to block a referendum on a law for civil unions between partners of the same sex.
POLITICS-RWANDA: “Climate of Repression” as Voting Concludes
As voting concluded in Rwanda’s presidential elections, with incumbent President Paul Kagame expected to win by a landslide, fears remain that not all citizens will accept the results amidst claims the elections were neither free nor fair.KENYA: New Constitution a Winner With Women
A day after Kenyans voted to accept a new constitution, women across the country speak about their hopes and expectations. The case of Elizabeth Chazima could stand for the story of millions of women in Kenya who have been robbed of their financial contributions to matrimonial assets.LEBANON: Racism Legitimised by Law
Lebanon has a reputation for openness because of the relative freedom enjoyed by women in comparison to other Middle Eastern countries. But many women face rampant discrimination.CHINA: A Parade Less, A Step Forward
Understanding that sex workers have rights too may still be some way off in China, but the government’s decision to stop police from parading them in public to humiliate them appears to reflect changing public attitudes toward those in the sex trade.« 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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