RIGHTS-LAOS: How Women Cope With Disability - Part 1

Posted by admin on November 20, 2009

Chanhpheng Sivila who walks with the help of a caliper believes "education for women is the key". Credit:Melody Kemp/IPS

By Melody Kemp

VIENTIANE, Nov 20 (IPS) - Before 2002, Chanhpheng Sivila held training workshops for the many Lao disabled women and men at her own house.

Now she presides over the sprawling Lao Disabled Women’s Development Centre fronting the Mekong, 20 km from Vientiane. Traffic thunders over the nearby Friendship Bridge on its way to Thailand, the noise carried away on the afternoon breeze.

I was greeted by a myriad smiles from the women; each one herself disabled. One with skeletal deformity that shortened her stature, another with a foot that refuses to behave. Sivila herself had polio when young and walks with the use of a heavy and squeaky caliper. More »

Muslim Women: Building Institutions, Creating Change

Posted by admin on May 28, 2009

Hundreds of Muslim women activists, academics, scholars, lawyers and community leaders from around the globe will meet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between July 16 and 20, 2009 to build the infrastructure and network for Muslim women to join together, challenge the distorted interpretations of Islam and to increase the socio-economic self-determination of Muslim women in society.
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IPS Joins Celebrations for CEDAW’s 30th Birthday

Posted by sabina on May 5, 2009

To celebrate its 30th birthday the Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is gathering stories, testimonies and reflections about how its work has helped the respect of women’s rights and the prevention of discrimination against them. More »

RIGHTS: Engaging Men in Gender Equality Efforts

Posted by admin on April 2, 2009

By Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 2 (IPS) How many men work in day care centres,
looking after children? How much paternity leave are men entitled to?
How many government programmes to combat domestic violence include
violent men themselves as part of the treatment?

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DR-CONGO: Electronics Firms Urged to Boycott ”Blood Minerals” Marina Litvinsky

Posted by admin on April 1, 2009

WASHINGTON, Apr 1 (IPS) - The world’s mass consumption of cell phones, laptops and other electronics fuels widespread sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a new study released Wednesday by the non-profit Enough Project that echoes what many human rights activists and humanitarian workers have been saying for years.
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