08
Mar
2011
Women parliamentarians of the Afghan Lower House arrive at their inauguration ceremony in Kabul in January. Credit:UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein
On International Women’s Day, IPS News Agency reports about the struggles of women for equal opportunities around the world.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, eleven soldiers found culpable in the rape of more than 50 women in January, have begun serving lengthy sentences in the provincial capital of Bukavu. Their speedy trial and sentencing by a mobile court is a welcome sign of a new commitment to ending impunity for sexual violence on Congolese women.
Iranian Nobel Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi asks the world not to forget lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who’s been defending “many of us human rights defenders in Iran when our own government harassed us or put one of us, or a family member, in jail.” Nasrin has been arrested, “punished- for speaking up for the rights of others”. More »
28
Feb
2011
How many times have you received a forwarded message that contains photographs or a video of someone being violated or humiliated? What do you do with it? Do you pass it on? Or do you stop its spread? Do you forward? Or do you delete? More »
21
Feb
2011
The fifty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women opens tomorrow (22 February) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Government representatives and more than 1,500 women’s activists from around the world will discuss the participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of full and decent employment for women.
Six panels will take place during the Commission (22 Feb – 2 March):
- Key policy initiatives on gender equality, science and technology
- Key policy initiatives on gender equality, education and training
- Progress on eliminating discrimination and violence against girls
- Gender equality and sustainable development
- Elimination of preventable maternal deaths
- Rural women as drivers of poverty and hunger eradication
See the complete list of side events organised by Member States and UN entities
Check the list of some 250 side events hosted by non-governmental organisations
As usual, IPS will be covering the CSW and its priority themes with features and interviews. The IPS Gender Wire will of course look at UN Women plans and prospects but it will also report about the work of women’s organisations and particularly MDG3 fellow grantees in New York during the two-week session.
If you are attending the meeting or organising/attending parallel sessions, please send any relevant information/press release/opinion piece to mdg3@ips.org. We’ll be happy to report about your work, either through news stories or daily news posted on this website.
14
Feb
2011
Women in the forefront of protests in Tahrir Square. Credit:Mohammed Omer
Across the Arab world, women have stepped into the forefront of dangerous anti-regime protests.
They have visibly been in the forefront in demonstrations at Tahrir Square, Cairo – in a society where women traditionally have taken a back seat.
In Tunisia, human rights leader and blogger Lina Ben Mehenni was among the first to get word out about the Tunisian protests early in December through her tweets and blogs – despite police threats.
In Yemen, another country that has seen major anti-government protests, young woman activist Tawakul Abdel-Salam Karman was leading the charge.
Women protest in Rome. Credit:Sabina Zaccaro
At little geographical distance, a pro-democracy and anti-corruption national movement was simultaneously born in Italy, where the one million women march filled the streets on 13 February.
Read IPS reports:
Arab Women Lead the Charge
It’s a Lot Worse Than Sex Parties
14
Feb
2011
Marching in the streets of Dakar. Credit: Abdullah Vawda/IPS
Read, listen and look at what happened during a week of debate and exchange at the World Social Forum (WSF) in Senegal at the IPS TerraViva multi-media, multi-lingual news site. A team of African reporters contributed daily news from Dakar, made available to readers in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili.
IPS TerraViva covered the agenda for women’s rights and empowerment at WSF through news reports and interviews.
In an interview with TerraViva, Norah Matovu-Winyi, Executive Director of African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), explains the most pressing issues for women in Africa and how important is for them to share experiences and ideas at WSF, “it is the greatest solidarity mechanism for women,” she says. More »
09
Feb
2011
The fifty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 22 February to 4 March 2011. Representatives from Member States, UN entities and NGOs from all regions of the world will attend the session.
As usual, IPS will be covering the CSW and its priority themes with features and interviews on gender, education, science and technology and employment.
No doubt the plans and prospects of the new organisation, UN WOMEN, led by Michele Bachelet, will be much discussed around the meeting. But the IPS Gender Wire will also report about the work of women’s organisations and particularly MDG3 fellow grantees in New York during the two-week session.
If you are planning to attend the meeting or organising/attending parallel sessions, please share any relevant information/press release/opinion piece. We’ll be happy to report about your work, either through news stories or daily news posted on the IPS Gender Portal.
The IPS MDG3 Team
03
Feb
2011
IPS partners with the French magazine ÉGALITÉ to give voice to women in information. ÉGALITÉ is an independent association of journalists, academics and gender experts which gives priority to including gender perspective and women’s voices in their reporting. We are happy to announce that since December 2010, ÉGALITÉ is selecting and offering IPS gender stories from the Gender Wire to its French readers.
http://www.egalite-infos.fr/category/media-partenaire/inter-press-service/
To subscribe to Gender Wire in English click here.
25
Jan
2011
2010 was an eventful year for women’s rights. Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) presents a slideshow that captures key moments for women’s rights throughout the year and across the globe.
IPS featuring the key women’s events in 2010
Haitian Women Struggle to Keep Hope Alive
Chinchilla to Join Club of Women Presidents
POLITICS-TOGO – First Female Presidential Candidate
Special TerraViva Beijing +15
More »
15
Dec
2010
IPS Africa Director Paula Fray speaking on Women and Elections to Sudanese female politicians.
Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa hosted a delegation of members of the Sudanese Women Parliamentarians Caucus at the IPS headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The women representatives were on a UNIFEM-supported capacity building tour. IPS regional director Paula Fray outlined the organisation’s Women in Politics programme which seeks to build the voice and visibility of women politicians on the continent.
Apart from producing a range of training tools for women in politics, the UNIFEM-funded programme also trains gender trainers in the southern Africa region.
The training tools are available in English, French and Portuguese with a Reporting Elections Checklist also available in Arabic. For more information, visit the Africa From Polls to Polls site.
