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.
The seminar, held on 3-4 November in Managua, analysed the implementation of the 3rd Development Goal in the country, with a focus on the issue of gender equality in the employment sector.
The opening session was animated by Isabel Green, director of the Nicaraguan Womens institute; Pablo Mandeville, UNDP representative in Nicaragua and UN coordinator in the country; Silvia Porras of the Dutch Embassy; Irela Solórzano, director of “Puntos de Encuentro”, an IPS NGO partner in the MDG3 programme; and Joaquin Costanzo, Director of IPS Latin America.
Journalists attending the MDG3 seminar in Managua. Credit:IPS
Some 30 journalists from Managua and other cities and several local NGOs attended the seminar and the two-days work which ended with a field visit to the project Quincho Barrilete, realised by the women of Puntos de Encuentro.
The seminar was part of the IPS programme of work ‘Communicating for Change: Voice, Visibility and Impact for Gender Equality financed by the Dutch MDG3 Fund.
Mekong journalists and media experts gather in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from Dec. 9-12, 2009, to take part in the Mekong Media Forum.
Forget ‘Gender’
By Tess Bacalla
CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Dec 12 – ‘Gender’ may not exist in all of Asia’s lexicons, but the concept is not necessarily alien to the region.
“We don’t quite have the local term, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have concepts of gender,” Filipino anthropologist Michael Tan told the Mekong Media Forum.
Talk about the standards or social constructs by which society labels certain segments of society — for instance, gay men, lesbians, metrosexuals, single or unwed mothers — and Asians societies have a notion, however hazy, of ‘gender’.
But precisely because gender has no exact translation in many of the Asian languages, the term has come to be associated with “women’s issues,” says Tan, or in some cases “lesbians or gay men”. “Not a bad thing,” he says, acknowledging the important role of activism in a society that tolerates diversity and basic human rights. More »
First day of "Women at Work, Women as Leaders" seminar. Credit:Luis Gamero/IPS
By Ángel Páez
LIMA, Nov 30 (IPS) – “The press will change when they cease to report exclusively from a masculine point of view,” Peru’s deputy Minister for Women, Norma Añaños, told participants at an international seminar for journalists on “Women at Work, Women as Leaders”, held in the Peruvian capital.
Añaños’ reproach referred especially to the way the media reported the 116 femicides (gender-based murders of women) perpetrated by the victims’ partners in Peru between January and October, mostly within the home setting.
“Nearly all the murders were reported in the crime sections, which is in itself a form of discrimination,” said Añaños. “It gives the impression that, for the press, women are only important and make the front page when they are killed. This must change,” she insisted.
MDG3 -- What is the role (and responsibility) of the media?
During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (25 November – 10 December) an Inter Press Service (IPS) seminar will give voice to journalists and gender experts from around the world debating how information and communication can contribute to stop violence.
Representatives of the Association for Progressive Communication (APC) and the Global Media Monitoring Project will introduce innovative ways of getting messages across. Prominent journalists Laila Al Shaikhli anchorwoman of Al Jazeera, Najiba Ayubi, Director of the Killid Group (the most important Afghan news agency) and Francesca Caferri reporter of La Repubblica of Italy will be present as respondents. More »
IPS América Latina will hold its first seminar about the Third Millennium Development Goal, on November 26-28 in Lima, Peru. The seminar is about “Equidad de género, objetivo esencial del milenio – igualdad laboral y participación política, dos de sus prioridades” (Gender Equality, a key goal of the Millennium – Job equality and political participation, two priorities).
The world must start holding their governments accountable if women are to ever have equal rights.
Participants at the public forum addressing the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of gender equality recognised that if the goals were to be realised before 2015, there was an urgent need world governments to be accountable to their people. More »
Peter Mollema, Deputy Amb.Royal Embassy of the Netherlands, Ferial Haffajee, Editor City Press newspaper, Govin Reddy, IPS Africa Board Member and Dr Kerrin Myres, WITS Business School.
Gender equality was critical to improving progress on delivery of the Millennium Development Goals, deputy ambassador of the Royal Embassy of Netherlands, Peter Mollema told participants at an Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa public forum to mark Africa Day.
The May 25, 2009 event also marked the launch of the IPS Gender Wire which is one of the organisation’s MDG3 “Communicating for Change: Voice, Visibility and impact for Gender Equality” project funded by the Dutch Government’s MDG3 fund. More »
The head of SADCs gender unit, Magdeline Mathiba-Madibela, says climate change affects women in Southern Africa and their plight must be discussed at COP 17 in Durban later this month. Zukiswa Zimela interviews Mathiba-Madibela in Gaborone and asked her what is needed to protect women against climate change.
This page includes independent IPS news coverage financed through the Dutch Government's MDG3 Fund: Investing in Equality, and through the United
Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women,UN WOMEN.
Isabel Green, Director of Nicaraguan Women Institute. Credit:IPS
Journalists attending the MDG3 seminar in Managua. Credit:IPS
MEDIA
Ferial Haffajee’s speech
