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Saturday, November 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Gender
KENYA: Clash Over Abortion Rights in New Constitution
A harmonised draft constitution has now been handed over to Kenya's Parliamentary Select Committee. Influential Christian leaders are warning that the question of abortion could derail the constitutional review process.
ZAMBIA: Police Breaking the Law to Prevent Crime
Juniper Mwale was attending a funeral in another town when her husband jumped bail and fled the country. Despite not being aware of her husband's escape, police tracked her down and detained her illegally in an effort to force her spouse home.
MIDEAST: Will You Marry Poor Me
"If we had money we'd get married right away," says Samir*, 23. He has found his bride, but not the money to hold the wedding.LIBERIA: Paper Rights Flimsy Protection
Just a few metres outside the front door of a large white-washed courthouse in north central Liberia, Tete Garwo sells small plastic bags of cold water and passes time by pleading her case to thirsty customers. The 40-year old woman describes how she was forced out of her house by an abusive husband, then deprived of her half of the property.Q&A: Bolivian Women’s Right to Land Thwarted by Patriarchal Traditions
Bolivian legislation on land ownership is highly favourable to women, but a lack of awareness makes it difficult to enforce these laws and ensure that women are able to obtain - and maintain - control of the land they farm.
SPECIAL OP-ED: Why Women’s Reproductive Freedom Ensures Our Survival
Fifteen years ago in Beijing, then first lady, Hillary Clinton, stated firmly, "Women's rights are human rights." Today, after eight years of non-existent U.S. support for women's reproductive rights, Secretary of State Clinton is reviving women's hopes around the globe by affirming the Obama Administration's support for the International Conference on Population and Development Action Plan.
SOUTH SUDAN: Women’s Eyes on the Political Prize
January marks the fifth anniversary of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended a bitter north-south civil war in Sudan. With important elections scheduled for April, women are debating and fighting for an expanded role in the new institutions of government.
TANZANIA: Addressing Energy Crisis Through Alternatives and Efficiency at Household Level
Tanzania's electricity grid is fed by a mixture of natural gas, diesel and hydropower; however, over the past few years the country has experienced severe blackouts and power rationing in urban areas due to drought and subsequent low-water levels.
COLOMBIA: Women Empowered by Restoring Desertified Land
Indigenous and rural women from southern Tolima, a province located in the heart of Colombia, are lending a hand to the bleak land around them, with the aim of simultaneously recovering the ecosystem and regaining their own dignity, in a community effort that is changing their environment and their lives.COTE D’IVOIRE: Independent Candidate Pledges Reconciliation
Presidential elections in Côte d'Ivoire, scheduled for Nov. 29, were postponed until February or March 2010. Among the candidates who will try to take advantage of some additional time to campaign will be the sole independent candidate, Jacqueline Oble.PAKISTAN: ‘Eye for an Eye’ Judgment Hailed, Denounced
For Fazeelat Bibi, 21, the last few days of 2009 have brought her some retribution, if not cheer. "Justice has been delivered," said the young woman, her voice void of any feelings.
Q&A: Law and Order May Not Improve in 2010
For women in Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), 2009 has been particularly hard.GENDER/LANGUAGE: Rejecting the Derogatory ‘Feminine’
What happens to language and the way women are addressed when they start to occupy positions of responsibility? Well, it depends on the language.
SOUTH SUDAN: A More Gender Representative Leadership
As the general elections scheduled for April 2010 draw nearer in Africa’s largest country ravaged by a long drawn war, the scramble for political positions is rife as women struggle to make their presence felt.
Q&A: Healing the Wounds of War Through Yoga
A group of Rwandan women enjoy a night of unbroken sleep for the first time in 15 years, and see their depression and physical pains fade after having taken part in yoga classes.
NEPAL: Witch Tag Only on Dalits, Minorities
Just 40 kms away from the capital Kathmandu, in Thasingtole, Lalitpur District, Kalli Kumari B.K., 46, a local Dalit woman, was mercilessly beaten up. She was accused of being a 'witch', imprisoned in a shed and forced to eat her own excretaRIGHTS-JAPAN: Privacy Invaded in Sex Crime Trial
Japan's first sex crime trial under the new lay judge system finished in September amid large-scale media attention that troubled the female victims.CAMBODIA: Financial Crisis Forces More Teenage Girls into Labour
Until the global financial crisis hit, a journey out of poverty for women in rural Cambodia was assured by the vibrant garment sector that had taken root in the country’s capital. Tens of thousands of women in their twenties poured into Phnom Penh to secure jobs in the hundreds of export-oriented factories.RIGHTS: Gender Empowerment at U.N. Still Cloudy
When the United Nations commemorated the 30th anniversary of a major international treaty on women's rights last week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon boasted about the increasing number of women he has appointed to senior positions in the world body since he took office in January 2007.
EGYPT: Cheap Bread Frees Women to Work
At a small bakery in Cairo's Boulaq district, dozens of hands thrust through a barred window waving coins and small banknotes. The clerk inside deftly takes the money and deals loaves of round flatbread into plastic bags.
DEVELOPMENT: Women Chiefs Change Indian Villages
The villages of Ranmala, Nandagane, Shirgaon and Mengdewadi, in Pune, Sangli and Satara districts, western India, have one thing in common.« 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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