Dalit and Muslim Indian Women Leading Change in South Sudan
Two Indian women, one Muslim and the other Dalit (former untouchables), separated by culture and geography, have found common ground in leading change in conflict-torn South Sudan. Rama Hansraj, a Dalit, grew up in a humble railway colony in Secunderabad. Huma Khan, a Muslim, born and raised in the controversial north Indian city of Faizabad, […]
Eleven Authors in Contention for $100,000 Nigeria Prize for Literature
The Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates yearly amongst four literary categories – prose fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature. The Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature has announced the shortlist of 11 drawn from 202 books in the running for the 2021 edition of the prize. The 11 books on the shortlist, in […]
Rural Girls Still Struggle to Get Sanitary Towels
About 72% of schoolgirls in rural areas do not use commercial sanitary wear, resorting to unhygienic means, while 62% miss school every month while menstruating, an official has said. Pepukai Chivore, Parliament’s budget office director, told stakeholders meeting on gender sensitivity in the education budget jointly organised by Education Coalition of Zimbabwe and Plan International, […]
Women Still Lag in Internet Usage
An estimated 112 million more women started using mobile Internet for the first time last year across low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), says the 2021 GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report. However, there are still 74 million unconnected women in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Women are also still less likely to own a mobile phone compared to […]
Are Digital Health Passports A Good Idea?
The European Union launched on Thursday a COVID-19 vaccine passport system to ease travel across the 27-nation bloc and kickstart tourism at the start of the summer season. As vaccination campaigns progress across the continent, governments have been exploring how documents, mostly digital, could help reopen borders by identifying people who are protected against the […]
Kagame Shares Rwanda’s Journey Towards Gender Equality
Achieving gender equality in technology and innovation is just one part of the wider struggle to guarantee equal rights and opportunities for women and girls, President Paul Kagame has said. Kagame was speaking at the virtual Generation Equality Forum, global feminist gathering convening governments, international organizations, civil society, the private sector and young people seeking […]
Salvadoran Woman, Freed After 10 Years In Prison On Abortion Charge, Seeks New Footing
Sara Rogel, a Salvadoran woman who spent 10 years in prison on charges of violating the South American country’s harsh abortion ban when she terminated her own pregnancy, is trying to get her life back after being released last week. Rogel, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison, was arrested in October 2012 after […]
Kenyatta Blames Covid-19 on Increase in Gender Violence
President Uhuru Kenyatta has decried the rising cases of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Africa. He spoke at a panel discussion during the opening session of the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) in France, saying the GBV situation had reached global emergency levels GEF is a global gender equality gathering convened by United Nations (UN) Women and […]
‘Safe Spaces’ Helping Women and Girls in West Darfur Tackle Trauma of Violence and Displacement
About 1,500 women and girls access five UN Population Fund (UNFPA) temporary safe spaces in El Geneina, capital of West Darfur, each month, to tackle the trauma of violence and displacement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says in its latest Sudan Situation Report. Sawakin, 35, fled armed clashes that erupted […]
‘Please show mercy’: Evicted By Cambodia, Ethnic Vietnamese stuck at Watery Border
Shunned by authorities on both sides of the border, Bach Bai has been relying on the generosity of strangers since his ethnic Vietnamese fishing community was evicted from Cambodia’s capital three weeks ago and cast off downstream on their floating homes. But few are willing to help hundreds of stateless families, who had earned a […]
Common Reproductive Issues Amongst Women
The exception on the woman who has successfully ticked the marriage box off is the birth of a baby. Bonus points for her if it’s a boy. When this does not happen at the set time; usually nine months after the wedding, an alarm is raised. Sadly, the culprit is usually the woman. That both […]
Mozambique Investigates Sexual Exploitation of Women Inmates
Expand Commission of Inquiry’s Mandate to Prisons Across the Country This week, Mozambique’s government-appointed members of a commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of sexual exploitation and other rights violations of female inmates by guards at the Ndlavela Women’s Prison in Maputo. Minister of Justice Helena Kida also announced the suspension of the prison’s entire […]
Young Brides’ Deaths Trigger Dowry Crackdown In Southern India
India’s Kerala state has launched a crackdown on the payment of dowry after the deaths of four young married women highlighted domestic abuse linked to the custom, which remains common despite being banned 60 years ago. Traditionally gold jewellery that parents hand over when their daughters wed, nowadays dowries can include a range of costly […]
First Tanzanian Woman to Summit Mt Everest Invited to Parliament
The first Tanzanian woman to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain – Everest, Rawan Dakik was invited to parliament as lawmakers continue with their 60th meeting of the third parliamentary session in Dodoma today on June 28, 2021. Rawan was the only Tanzanian in the list of those who made to the World’s […]
‘Stop Denying Racism, Start Dismantling It,’ U.N. Rights Chief Says
Nations should “start dismantling racism” and prosecute law enforcement officials for unlawful killings, the U.N. human rights chief said on Monday, denouncing systemic racism against people of African descent in many parts of the world. Michelle Bachelet, in a global report sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in […]