Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

A call for women’s rights at Bonn Conference on Afghan security

Posted:

Alexandra Szydlowska WVoN co-editor UN Women has applauded Afghan women’s rights groups for their determined efforts to ensure gender equality remains on the agenda of Afghanistan’s transition process. Afghan women joined more than 1,000 delegates from 100 countries in attending a conference on Monday (December 5) to discuss putting responsibility over national security back into [...]

Pakistan’s Swat Valley women suffering

Posted:

Summary of story from IRIN Asia December 6, 2011 Women in Pakistan’s Swat Valley are experiencing severe hardship. Although happy to be free of the burqas since the Taliban reign ended in 2009, women are working harder than ever to keep their households running in the aftermath of the floods. The devastating floods in 2010 [...]

Zambia sees high prevalence of HIV among women

Posted:

Summary of story from Womens eNews, December 5, 2011 Zambia has one of the world’s worst cases of HIV, with health activists warning that harmful cultural practices must be targeted by prevention programmes. According to Zambia’s most recent demographic and health survey, the overall HIV prevalence rate is 14 per cent, with women at the [...]

Ads of women return to non-Orthodox Jerusalem areas

Posted:

Summary of story from Haaretz.com, December 6, 2011 Advertisements of women are beginning to appear on billboards in parts of Jerusalem, where the absence of female images had prompted a public outcry earlier this year (see WVoN story). In the last few days, the TV show “Hatzuya” has put up ads that include women, though [...]

South Africa’s LGBT rights in question

Posted:

Summary of story from Human Rights Watch December 5, 2011 A recent report conducted by Human Rights Watch found lesbians and transgender men in South Africa face extensive discrimination and violence in their daily lives. The report “Well Show You’re a Woman: Violence and Discrimination Against Black Lesbians and Transgender Men“ is based on more than [...]

Fundraiser launched for animated documentary on world’s first female pilot

Posted:

Alexandra Szydlowska WVoN co-editor An online fundraising campaign has been launched to help bring the story of the first professional female pilot to life. ‘The Fantastic Flight of Sophie Blanchard’ is a feature-length documentary following the adventures of France’s Official Aeronaut during the Napoleonic Empire. It’s a daredevil story seldom remembered by modern audiences. Mixing [...]

Pakistan Actress Veena Malik sues FHM India over nude photos

Posted:

Comment including summary from BBC, December 5, 2011 and The Guardian, December 6, 2011 Pakistani film actress Veena Malik, who landed in hot water over a nude photoshoot for FHM India, is now suing the magazine for $2 million in damages. The actress claims she is a victim of  photo doctoring. FHM India refutes the [...]

Britain’s austerity measures and its impact on women

Posted:

Summary of story from The Independent, December 2, 2011 New research indicates UK women will bear the brunt of the squeeze on pay, tax and benefits, losing almost three times as much as men as following last week’s Autumn statement of chancellor George Osborne. The House of Commons Research Library says women will foot the [...]

Hillary Clinton to meet Syrian opposition in Geneva

Posted:

Summary of story from Yahoo News, December 6, 2011 The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is due to meet members of Syria’s opposition in Geneva today. The talks are seen as a show of support following President Bashar al Assad’s brutal eight month crackdown. More than 4,000 people have died since protests broke out [...]

Saudi women and the religious driving ban

Posted:

Summary of story from The Washington Post, December 2, 2011 Saudi Arabia's highest religious council have issued a new warning. They say relaxing a ban on women driving will lead to a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce. To further the point they’ve added that if the ban is lifted, the country would have [...]

Premature births linked to behavioural problems

Posted:

 Summary of story from The Independent, December 6, 2011 The worldwide explosion in premature births is fueling a rise in emotional and behavioural problems, researchers say. Premature births have risen 30 per cent in the past 30 years, thought to be the result of older mothers and rising obesity. The study was conducted among 1,500 children born [...]

Morning-after pill free over Christmas

Posted:

Summary of story from The Independent, December 6, 2011 The morning-after pill is being offered free to women in Britain in an attempt to reduce unwanted  pregnancies over the Christmas party season. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) said it hoped women would order one of the pills to keep at home in case they had [...]

UK women are main earners in the home

Posted:

Summary of story from The Guardian, December 5, 2011 According to a report, women in the UK have been the main driver of the rise in living standards over the last 40 years. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that between 1968 and 2009, over a quarter of all growth in household wealth came from women working, [...]

Rags-to-riches for Chinese entrepreneur

Posted:

Summary of story from China Daily, December 2, 2011 Gong Haiyan, founder and CEO of the most popular dating platform in China is now worth at least $70 million – a far cry from when she once worked on a factory production line. Haiyan has a remarkable rags-to-riches story; a child of poor farmers, she [...]

Ecuadorean women farm together

Posted:

Summary of story from BBC News, November 28, 2011 Women in the north of Quito, Ecuador are speaking out against the sexism in their community. In 2003 there were just 38 women in the tiny community organisation pushing for female emancipation. Now, two hundred women are involved and the organisation is recognised for its pioneering [...]

Sweeta Noori: strong civil society is Afghanistan’s main chance for success

Posted:

Ivana Davidovic WVoN co-editor The international community and the representatives of the Afghan government gathered in Bonn on Monday at a one-day conference to discuss the future of Afghanistan, 10 years after the nightmare of the Taliban rule ended. High-profile participants, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary [...]

UK needs women doctors – and male schoolteachers

Posted:

Summary of story from The Evening Standard, December 1, 2011 In her comment piece in the London Evening Standard, Rosmund Urwin rejects the argument that growing numbers of female doctors will diminish the UK’s medical profession. According to the British Medical Journal female doctors are six years away from outnumbering their male colleagues. Urwin takes [...]

Dutch MEP campaigns to stop the digital weapons trade

Posted:

Summary of story from Radio Free Europe, December 2, 2011 Marietje Schaake, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is known as Europe’s most digitally tuned politician. She has also led a long-term campaign to make technology businesses more transparent and ethical about who they do business with, particularly companies selling surveillance technology to repressive [...]