Gender

In India, Ending FGM Demands Truth and Transparency

By Masooma Ranalvi
“My daughter is eight years old. In May 2017, I had her ‘Khatna,’ her circumcision, done. I had taken her to a traditional cutter. Once back home I made her sleep on the bed. After some time, around 4:00 p.m. I took her to the bathroom, she was bleeding as if she had started her menses. It seemed like she was urinating blood. By 6:00 p.m. my daughter had been bleeding so heavily, the blood had soaked three bed sheets and I was very worried.  And my daughter was quiet and she also kept asking me if she will be fine.” Excerpt from:  How I got her from the hands of death: WeSpeakOut study 2018

Punches & Insults: Why Zimbabwe’s Women Candidates Want to Change the Political Playing Field

By Ignatius Banda
“I have long given up on active politics,” Gertrude Sidambe, a 36-year-old member of one of Zimbabwe’s opposition parties, tells IPS. When female members of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front complained last month about political violence as male members chose brawn over brains to solicit for positions, the party’s National Secretary for Women’s Affairs Mabel Chinomona advised that they enter the punch-and-insult battlefield and “fight” like everyone else. 

Women in War-Ravaged Afghanistan Fight Back for Their Rights

By Zarqa Yaftali
Bullets, bombs, tyranny and torture. Children crying for food, civilians struggling to survive, women unable to walk out of their homes freely. When we are not under siege from bombs and landmines, ordinary Afghans suffer from hunger, natural hazards and poverty.

Forced Child Marriage & Conversion: Public Discussion & Legal Reforms Called for in Pakistan

By Zofeen Ebrahim
October 13 began like any other day at the Lal house as Raja Lal and his wife Rita Raja left for work at 7:30 am. "I made the usual breakfast of anda paratha (egg and flat bread) and told my eldest to lock the door from inside," Raja, who works as an ayah in a school, told IPS. Their 13-year old daughter, the youngest of their four children, did not go to school that day as her school shoes no longer fit and her parents hadn’t bought her a new pair yet. Little did they know that that day was the beginning of a nightmare for the Lal household. Their daughter would then allegedly be "abducted, forcefully converted and married in just one day”, Lal, a Christian, told IPS.

The Rape of India’s Dalit Women: It’s All about Gender & Class Subordination

By Stella Paul
Shabnam*, a young woman from Northern India’s Haryana state, is two years away from becoming a law graduate. She sees parallels between her own rape and that of the 19-year-old Maha Dalit woman whose brutal rape and torture by a group of men from a “dominant” or “higher” caste in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh triggered nationwide protests.

Q&A: COVID-19 has Pushed Women Peacebuilders from Key Leadership Roles

By Samira Sadeque
Women need to be given roles as negotiators, not just offered representation through advisory groups, Agnieszka Fal-Dutra Santos from the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) told IPS.

20th Anniversary of UNSCR 1325: Much Remains to Be Done

By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury
In 2010, at the opening session of the civil society forum observing the tenth anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on “Women and Peace and Security”, I had the honor to declare 1325 as “the common heritage of humanity” indicating the wide-ranging nature of the potential benefits which will flow from the landmark resolution’s full and effective implementation by all at all levels.

Nepal Needs to Bridge the Gap Between Legal Provisions Against Child Marriage and Social Norms

By Karuna Onta
Mohan and Sarita (name changed) studied together in the same school from Grade 6 onwards. They were friends initially, but fell in love and wished to be together, though underage.

The United Nations, 75 Years Young: Engaging Youth Social Entrepreneurs to Accelerate the SDGs

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
This year, the United Nations is marking its 75th anniversary – a milestone of extraordinary economic and social progress in Asia and the Pacific. While the Organization enjoys a lifespan almost equal to the world’s improved average life expectancy, the future lies with those who have recently embarked on theirs: our young people.

Reaching Remote Women Through Inclusive Technology

By Fairuz Ahmed
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the way people value working from home, career building, and their overall approach to utilising downtime. It has blurred out the lines between hobby, casual reading, and how time is spent away from work.

Rising above the Hate Online – Indian Muslim Women Speak Out

By Mariya Salim
When a minority woman with an opinion doesn’t comply with stereotypes, she is targeted with online hate, says award-winning journalist and senior editor at The Wire, Arfa Khanum Sherwani in an exclusive interview with Inter Press Service.

Mahatma’s Non-Violence: Essence of Culture of Peace for New Humanity

By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury
I will begin by presenting to you excerpts from the message from UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the International Day of Non-Violence.

The Plight of Domestic Workers in Brazil

By Waldeli Melleiro and Christoph Heuser
The inclusivity of Brazilian society is put to the test as the coronavirus pandemic highlights a labour sector ripe with historical and structural inequality: domestic work.

Human Trafficking Survivor Harold D’Souza: “The Perpetrators are More Aggressive Than Ever”

By Anna Shen
The fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic continues: as more people around the world lose their livelihoods, human trafficking is on the rise. Support services for survivors have been shut, and past gains to combat it have been reversed. Funding has dried up.

Education: Act Now, Don’t Wait for the Bill

By Stefania Giannini
School reopening doesn’t mean that education is back on course. For a start, schools remain closed in over 50 countries, affecting more than 800 million students. The poorest ones may never make it back to school, driven by poverty into child labour or early marriage. Distance learning has been out of reach for one third of the 1.6 billion students affected worldwide by school closures. They may disengage altogether if school closures continue.

Low-cost Technology can Have Life-changing Impacts for Rural Women

By Samira Sadeque
Access to technology which is relatively inexpensive to deploy can have a life-changing impact for rural women, social scientist Valentina Rotondi told IPS.

Changing the Lives of Bangladesh’s Rural Girls by Giving them a Tertiary Education

By Farid Ahmed
Nila Kispotta, a 19-year-old rural girl from the Oraon ethnic community, has become a figure of exceptional achievement to the small, poverty-stricken village in Thakurgaon in northwest Bangladesh that she grew up in. Born into a family of daily wage earners, Kispotta dreamt of a different life. So when she enrolled in tertiary education to pursue a diploma in Nursing Science and Midwifery — she achieved something her family and community hadn’t even dreamed was possible.

Q&A: Women in Mali Play Critical Role in Preventing and Resolving Conflicts

By Samira Sadeque

The coronavirus pandemic has affected the safety and sense of community for many women in Mali given the travel restrictions and lockdowns in place, Bassirou Gaye, an assistant researcher for a 2019 report on the role of Mali women in peacekeeping, told IPS this weekend.

Gendering Agriculture so Women Take the Lead in Feeding Africa

By Rhoda Tumusiime and Steven Cole
Africa’s hopes of feeding a population projected to double by 2050 amidst a worsening climate crisis rest on huge investments in agriculture, including creating the conditions so that women can empower themselves and lead efforts to transform the continent’s farming landscape.

Building Back Better: Education Cannot Wait

The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 declaring October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

What Does Building Back Better Look Like for African Women Engaged in Smallholder Agriculture and Food Businesses?

By Jemimah Njuki
“We need to build back better.”  This has been the rallying call on the COVID-19 response by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to leaders and communities around the world. It has been echoed in conference rooms and in the numerous Zoom meetings organized to discuss the pandemic. It will be especially important to apply the idea to women working in the agriculture and food sector. 
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