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Friday, November 13, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Gender
KENYA: Farming Butterflies Puts Food on the Table
For 10 years, Roselyne Shikami, sold boiled eggs at the bus station just outside the densely wooded Kakamega Forest in western Kenya, near the border with Uganda. Now she is selling butterflies.
A Decade On, No Seats for Women at the Peace Table
It was a historic moment for the United Nations when, 10 years ago, the Security Council unanimously recognised "the intrinsic role of women in global peace and security" through Resolution 1325, said Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh at a panel at the U.N. Thursday on the continuing obstacles to its implementation.
VENEZUELA: Mixed Results for Gender Policies
After years of paltry wages as a piecework seamstress, Elisa Manrique finally has the chance to leave the informal sector and poverty behind. Thanks to a small business loan from the Venezuelan government, she and a group of other women - including some of her daughters and a daughter-in-law - have been able to set up their own sewing cooperative.
WATER-LESOTHO: Getting Community Consultation Right
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project will move into its second phase in 2010. The first phase has been praised as a shining example of transboundary water sharing in Africa, but community dissatisfaction may mean a rough ride for its extension.
JORDAN: Women Make Progress But Honour Killings Persist
Earlier this month, a 33-year-old man was charged with hammering his wife to death and dumping her body on the highway leading to the Queen Alia International Airport. The husband confessed to murdering her ''to defend his honour,’’ as she was meeting a male friend.History Beckons in Trinidad’s Snap Election
Kamla Persad-Bissessar may never want the year 2010 to end.NICARAGUA: Controversy Over Pregnancy-Related Death Toll
Non-governmental organisations in Nicaragua are questioning data on the maternal mortality rate released by the government, which is claiming a historic decline in the indicator, and they warn that the reduction target that the country has committed itself to by 2015 is still out of reach.RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: How the War Gave Tamil Women More Space
Whenever Sri Lankan rights activist Shereen Xavier attends a meeting related to her work in this war-battered northern capital, she makes sure to be dressed in a sari, a traditional gown worn by South Asian women.UGANDA: Fresh Concerns About Women in Captivity
The fate of thousands of women and girls held as sex slaves and child soldiers by Uganda’s Lords Resistance Army rebels hangs in the balance.
SUDAN: Election Results Expected Soon
Poor access to telephone networks and lack of roads in some areas of South Sudan is delaying the submission of voting results to the election commission.
PHILIPPINES: Women’s College Corrects Gender Miseducation
Flip open a typical textbook used in many Philippine schools and you will likely find images of women illustrating verbs such as ‘cook’ or ‘clean’, but hardly appearing anywhere much in economics and history textbooks.
Damaged, and Down and Out
Anna Mollah wept uncontrollably in her Glen Oaks, Queens home as she remembered how her husband used to beat her.
ARGENTINA: Invisible Rural Women
"I had never worked before, and now I produce kilos and kilos of dried fruit to sell. They taught me how to dry peaches, tomatoes, peppers and grapes, and I decided on my own to try it with melons and pears - and they were spectacular," Susana Robledo, a proud new entrepreneur from rural Argentina, told IPS.HEALTH: Maternal Deaths Drop, but Progress Still “Slow”
One day closer to an ever-approaching deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced a Joint Action Plan to improve reproductive, maternal and newborn health on Wednesday, flanked by international leaders and development experts.
CHINA: Thirty Years On, Debate Emerges Over One-child Policy
Adept at navigating through politically sensitive anniversaries, the Chinese government has one more socially volatile date marked in its calendar: this year’s 30th anniversary of its one-child policy.HEALTH: Empowering Women to Slash Mother and Child Deaths
In developed countries, child and maternal mortality is a health problem that has largely been solved.CHINA: Women Want to Hold Up the Half the Sky – in Style
For decades, women have been "holding up half the sky in China," as the late Chairman Mao Zedong had exhorted them to do. But in recent years, a growing number of Chinese women want to do so with loads of charm and more than a hint of the social graces.
Q&A: Equality for Women – “The Core of the Problem is Care”
"Women help to reduce poverty and raise family incomes, but they pay too high a price for it, because in every country their working days are longer than men's," said Sonia Montaño, head of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean's (ECLAC) Division for Gender Affairs.CHILE: Custody Decision Violated Lesbian Judge’s Rights
The attorneys representing Chilean Judge Karen Atala, a lesbian who brought her case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights claiming discrimination in the loss of custody of her three daughters, accused the Chilean state of sending out "unequivocal" signals of a lack of will to implement the regional body's recommendations.
ECONOMY: Brighter Business Prospects for Swazi Women
Business in Swaziland is perceived as a man’s playground, and Swazi women have long found themselves on the periphery. Not only are big industries dominated by men, they are also the ones who award tenders in government and other institutions.
RIGHTS-NEPAL: Laws Have Changed, Mindsets Haven’t
When Ranjit Thapa applied for citizenship by descent through his mother at the Kathmandu District Administration Office, little did he know that the road ahead was fraught with obstacles.« 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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