Women Empowering Women
by prize winning feminist researcher Wendy Harcourt
Why has ‘gender’ emerged as a key area of development funding in these days of reduced funds for development? How has the MDG3 Fund helped catalyze progress towards achievement of the 2015 MDG3 on gender equality and women’s empowerment? How are women overcoming violence against women, gaining economic independence, fighting for land rights and becoming more involved in decision making?
10 inside stories on ten projects reveal how the MDG3 Fund has helped women to help end social discrimination and rights injustices and to catalyze transformative changes in women’s and communities lives worldwide.
22
Nov
2011
OWFI women demonstrate in Baghdad raising slogans of change, right to work, and equality.
Whereas the world in 2011 has heard of the Arab Spring and the thousands who gathered in Cairo, very few have heard of the Feb. 25, 2011 Day of Anger in the other Tahrir Square – in Baghdad.
Nor do people follow this weekly Friday gathering of Iraqi women and men who demand their basic rights to work, water and electricity – along with the establishment of true democracy and an end to corruption and the occupation.
The Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) has been among those demonstrating at high risk to their own security. On Jun. 10 of this year, 100 days after the government promised to meet pro-democracy demands, activists who gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square were brutally attacked by plainclothes forces. Women meeting under the OWFI banner were sexually assaulted.
More »
14
Nov
2011
11 days away!
If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow this list of organisations that are planning events around the world for this year’s campaign and use #16days2011 to share what your group is doing!
(Click to access list)
Are we missing anyone from the list? Let us know in the comments below, on Twitter at @thegenderwire, on our Facebook page or shoot us an e-mail at mdg3 [at] ips.org.
11
Nov
2011
14 days away!
Here’s a great resource for online activism specifically for women’s organisations from the Association for Progressive Communication Women’s Networking Support Programme and Violence is not our Culture.
Their guide, below, offers tips for online campaigning, harnessing social networks and minimising security risks.
What is your group planning – online or off? Tell us in the comments below, on Twitter at @thegenderwire or on our new Facebook page.
Click to download.
05
Sep
2011
Isis-WICCE activities in the community livelihood projects in Soroti and Pader.
By Wendy Harcourt*
It is hard to recall that just a couple of decades ago rape as a weapon of war was an unspeakable subject. The appalling violations of women and children during wartime were hidden from view. Millions of women bore the brutality, humiliation, pain debilitating physical and psychological scars with no support and too often complete rejection of their community. 
Unfortunately rape in war continues but it is no longer silenced. It is upfront as one of the gravest rights abuses now punishable by criminal courts. In 2008 the UN Resolution 1820 (2008), stated that “rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide”. The resolution calls not only for monitoring and prosecution of warring factions but also for a crackdown on peacekeepers who exploit women and children during times of conflict. More »
19
Aug
2011
Photo Essay by Aline Cunico
(IPS/Aline Cunico)
Considered one of the biggest slums in the world, Kibera is Nairobi’s–and East Africa’s–largest urban settlement. Over one million people struggle daily to meet basic needs such as access to water, nutrition and sanitation. In this community lacking education and opportunities, women and girls are most affected by poverty.
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23
Feb
2011
TODAY – Despite commendable progress in developing education systems and addressing gender disparities in line with MDG and EFA goals, structured discriminations continue to affect women’s and girl’s chances for a fair deal along the continuum from the classroom to the decent workplace.
On the occasion of the UN CSW and together with Public Services International (PSI) and Education International (EI), The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) will organise an interactive dialogue on key strategies to address these obstacles and achieve real gender equality.
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16
Aug
2010
Por Diana Cariboni
Mi pregunta fue por qué en algunos países se llama femicidio y en otros feminicidio al asesinato de mujeres por razón de su sexo. Las feministas reunidas en San Salvador, en un taller organizado por el Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer (Cladem), me mostraron que no era cuestión de una palabra u otra, sino una polémica no zanjada.
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11
May
2010
Photo Credit: IPS
May 10, 2010 – In this podcast:
* A winning vote for women in Sudan’s controversial multiparty elections;
* Zambian women’s struggle for constitutional reforms;
* Domestic worker rights legislated but not protected in South Africa.
10
May
2010
Kudzai Makombe
With the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 coming up in October, the UN is under a lot of pressure to implement the resolution. More »
