Parity-the state or condition of being the same
in power, value, rank, equality.

South African Activist Helen Suzman Dies at 91 by: Clare Nullis, The Associated Press Thursday 01 January 2009 via truthout.org Cape Town, South Africa - South African anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman, who won international acclaim as one of the few white lawmakers to fight against the injustices of racist rule, died Thursday. She was 91. Suzman, who was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, fought a long and lonely battle in the South African parliament against government repression of the country's black majority and the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive Achmat Dangor said Suzman was a "great patriot and a fearless fighter against apartheid." Read more about South African Activist Helen Suzman Dies at 91 posted 1 January 2009

Women Farmers Toil to Expand Africa's Food Supply by: Megan Rowling, Reuters Thursday 25 December 2008 via truthout.org London - Like many African women, Mazoe Gondwe is her family's main food provider. Lately, she has struggled to farm her plot in Malawi due to unpredictable rains that are making her hard life even tougher. "Now we can't just depend on rain-fed agriculture, so we plant two crops - one watered with rain and one that needs irrigating," she explained. "But irrigation is back-breaking and can take four hours a day." Gondwe, flown by development agency ActionAid to U.N. climate change talks in Poland this month, said she wanted access to technology that would cut the time it takes to water her crops and till her farm garden. She would also be glad of help to improve storage facilities and seed varieties. "As a local farmer, I know what I need and I know what works. I grew up in the area and I know how the system is changing," Gondwe said. Read more on Women Farmers Toil to Expand Africa's Food Supply posted 30 December 2008

For Kurdish Girls, a Painful Ancient Ritual The Widespread Practice of Female Circumcision in Iraq's North Highlights The Plight of Women in a Region Often Seen as More Socially Progressive By Amit R. Paley Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, December 29, 2008 TUZ KHURMATU, Iraq Sheelan Anwar Omer, a shy 7-year-old Kurdish girl, bounded into her neighbor's house with an ear-to-ear smile, looking for the party her mother had promised. There was no celebration. Instead, a local woman quickly locked a rusty red door behind Sheelan, who looked bewildered when her mother ordered the girl to remove her underpants. Sheelan began to whimper, then tremble, while the women pushed apart her legs and a midwife raised a stainless-steel razor blade in the air. "I do this in the name of Allah!" she intoned. As the midwife sliced off part of Sheelan's genitals, the girl let out a high-pitched wail heard throughout the neighborhood. As she carried the sobbing child back home, Sheelan's mother smiled with pride. "This is the practice of the Kurdish people for as long as anyone can remember," said the mother, Aisha Hameed, 30, a housewife in this ethnically mixed town about 100 miles north of Baghdad. "We don't know why we do it, but we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it." Kurdistan is the only known part of Iraq --and one of the few places in the world--where female circumcision is widespread. Read more on For Kurdish Girls, a Painful Ancient Ritual posted 29 December 2008

In Togo, a 10-Year-Old's Muted Cry: 'I Couldn't Take Any More' As the Global Trade in Domestic Workers Surges, Millions of Young Girls Face Exploitation and Abuse By Kevin Sullivan Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, December 26, 2008 LOME, Togo -- Adiza ran scared and crying into the street. Ten years old and 4-foot-9, she fled the house where she had worked for more than a year, cleaning and sweeping from before dawn until late at night. She ran to a woman selling food in the street and told her that since the day she had arrived in this capital city from her village in the country, her employer had beaten her almost daily and kept her in slavelike conditions. "I couldn't take any more," recalled Adiza, a slight girl with close-cropped hair and almond-shaped eyes, who talked in a halting whisper as she described how her employer beat her with her hands and with cooking pots before the November day she ran away. Rarely making eye contact, Adiza spoke in a shelter here surrounded by other tiny girls who had suffered physical or sexual abuse in the growing global trade in domestic servants.   Read more about, In Togo, a 10-Year-Old's Muted Cry: 'I Couldn't Take Any More' posted 26 December 2008

Businesses See Opportunity in Empowering Women By ELIZABETH OLSON Published: December 25, 2008 nytimes.com Finding time away from building a new business is never easy, but Ngozi Okoli-Owube gladly set aside her daily schedule earlier this year to go back to school to learn marketing, accounting and managerial skills she had never had the time to master. For five months, Ms. Okoli-Owube, 31, alternated her work establishing a preschool for learning-disabled children in Lagos, Nigeria, with weeklong stints at the Lagos Business School, joining a class of two dozen women to earn a certificate in entrepreneurial management. “I have a university degree, but I did not have the training in how to run a business,” said Ms. Okoli-Owube, who had been struggling to get enough students to enroll at her “Start Right” school. “I have to learn to keep the books, how to market and to get advice from women who’ve come out the other side.” When she saw a local newspaper advertisement last spring for 10,000 Women, a global entrepreneurship program run by Goldman Sachs, she and about 100 other women jumped at the chance to apply. Read more on how Businesses See Opportunity in Empowering Women posted 26 December 2008

Recommitting to Eleanor Roosevelt’s Challenge to the World by Mary Robinson December 10, 2008 Women's Media Center This week the world marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration affirms the inherent dignity and equal rights of each and every person. It calls for human rights to be respected by all nations, individuals and organs of society. It was drafted by a remarkable group of individuals and led by a particularly remarkable woman—Eleanor Roosevelt. I have just returned from Paris, where the declaration was adopted by the United Nations, and where individuals and organizations from every region came to commemorate it and to bring its message to new generations. As we begin the seventh decade of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I hope more effort will be dedicated to marshalling the force of women’s leadership in the ongoing work to protect human rights. When women put their minds to achieving something collectively, we get it done. Read more about recommitting to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights posted 12 December 2008

Australia Lifting Gag Rule on Foreign Aid for Abortion? Ramona Vijeyarasa on December 10, 2008 - 8:00am Published under: Global PerspectiveContraception RH Reality Check The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) is considering lifting a 12-year-old ban on foreign aid funding for abortion services, a proposal which has sparked significant divisive debate across the entire Australian political spectrum. The current policy prevents Australian aid funds from being used for "activities that involve abortion training or services, or research trials or activities, which directly involve abortion drugs." In practice, this has prohibited aid recipients from providing women access to abortion services, even when an abortion would be necessary to save her life, as well as information and education about safe and unsafe abortions. The parallels to the US global gag rule are obvious. The Australian policy was instigated by pro-life independent Senator Brian Harradine. Despite the fact that Senator Harradine retired in 2005, the aid restrictions have remained. Senator Harradine also secured a ban on emergency contraception, which was overturned in 2002, and RU-486 (Mifepristone), which was overturned in February 2006 after a conscience vote in Federal Parliament. Read more about Australia's lifting of Gag rule posted 12 December 2008

Twenty years of promoting women’s rights in Africa: What next? Norah Matovu-Winyi (2008-12-08) Pambazuka News http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/52567 As President- Elect Barrack Obama was announced the next President of the United States of America, African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) was approaching the climax of celebrating its yearlong 20th anniversary. FEMNET was set up in 1988 by a group of women who had the conviction about the strength of numbers in any transformation or change process. We are very lucky to witness the historical moment of President – Elect Obama’s election victory. There was a lot of crying, jubilation, hugging among people from different communities here in Kenya after the world listened to his inaugural speech. This election is not only significant in the lives of Americans it is for all people in the world. We want to see things change for the better – to have a more peaceful world where the main providers of development aid and humanitarian assistance are not the main producers and distributors of military arms especially small arms that have caused a lot of havoc in all regions in Africa. Read more about women's rights in Africa posted 12 December 2008

Mothers Linked World Wide by Rebekah Spicuglia December 8, 2008 Women's Media Center Beginning December 1, 2008, mothers around the world have had access to the first global consortium of motherhood organizations. Marking ten years after the Association for Research on Mothering (ARM) was founded, mothers’ organizations in North America and around the world came together in October for the ARM annual Toronto conference on motherhood and emerged as an International Motherhood Network (IMN). The website is live and inviting members to join, but IMN does not officially launch until May 8, 2009 (International Woman’s Day). At the Toronto conference, the founding organizations agreed to hold off the launch in order to include as many mothers’ organizations around the world as possible on the big day. With 35 founding organizations already linked and committed to publicize events in the month of May, and a conference planned for 2011, IMN plans to influence public discussion for a more mother-centered world. Read more of the plans of International Motherhood Network Visit the International Motherhood web site posted 11 December 2008

Iraqi Women, Fighting for a Voice Activists Confront Dual Powers of Religion, Tribalism By Sudarsan Raghavan Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, December 7, 2008; A01 IRBIL, Iraq -- Hawjin Hama Rashid, a feisty journalist in bluejeans and a frilly blouse, had come to the morgue in this Kurdish city to research tribal killings of women. "A week doesn't pass without at least 10," the morgue director said, showing Rashid pictures of corpses on his computer screen. ...From the southern port city of Basra to bustling Irbil in northern Iraq, Iraqi activists are trying to counter the rising influence of religious fundamentalists and tribal chieftains who have insisted that women wear the veil, prevented girls from receiving education and sanctioned killings of women accused of besmirching their family's honor. In their quest for stability in Iraq, U.S. officials have empowered tribal and religious leaders, Sunni and Shiite, who reject the secularism that Saddam Hussein once largely maintained. These leaders have imposed strict interpretations of Islam and enforced tribal codes that female activists say limit their freedom and encourage violence against them. "Women are being strangled by religion and tribalism," said Muna Saud, a 52-year-old activist in Basra. Read more about Iraqi Women and their fight posted 8 December 2008

Afghan Women Leaders Face Growing Taliban Threats Thursday 04 December 2008 by: Heidi Vogt, The Associated Press truthout.org Kabul, Afghanistan - The women gave a news conference but requested that no one take pictures of their faces. The office of one of them asked reporters not to publish her name. It was a lot of secrecy for a media event, but it is a dangerous time to be a powerful woman in Afghanistan. Police Maj. Colonel Sediqa Rasekh and a number of high-profile women spoke Thursday at the event to highlight the continuing threat of violence against females in Afghanistan eight years after the hardline Taliban regime was ousted. Taliban assassins gunned down a senior policewoman in southern Afghanistan in September, and female government officials regularly report receiving threats from the hard-line Islamists. Read more about the Taliban Tjreats to women posted 6 Decembert 2008

The Arab world’s dirty secret: Racism By Mona Eltahawy Wed, 2008-12-03 From Qatar’s Al Arab I was on my way home on the Cairo Metro, lost in thought as I listened to music when I noticed a young Egyptian taunting a Sudanese girl. She reached out and tried to grab the girl’s nose and mouth and laughed when the girl tried to brush her hand away. The Sudanese girl looked to be Dinka, from southern Sudan and not the northern Sudanese who “look like us”. She looked black African and was obviously in distress. I removed my headphones and asked the Egyptian woman “Why are you treating her like that?” She exploded into a tornado of yelling, demanding to know why it was my business. I told her it was my business because as an Egyptian and as a Muslim who was riding the Metro, her behaviour was wrong and I would not stay silent about it. I knew she was Muslim because she wore a scarf. Read more about racism in the Arab world posted 5 December 2008

'Modesty Squad' Faces Legal Scrutiny in Israel Run Date: 12/01/08 By Brenda Gazzar WeNews correspondent JERUSALEM (WOMENSENEWS)-- State prosecutors filed charges in August against a 28-year-old man accused of being paid $2,000 by a vigilante organization or "modesty squad" active in the religious Jerusalem neighborhoods of Mea Shearim and Geula for helping perpetrate the attack. Prosecutors say the goal of the group, dubbed the "Haredi modesty patrol," is to enforce community norms and conventions regarding modest attire and comportment in ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, neighborhoods. "Among other things, the organization acts to fulfill its goals by using threats, violence and other offenses," the charge sheet said. Read more about the "Modesty Squad" in Israel posted 4 December 2008

Decentralization, a Double-Edged Sword for Women Monday 24 November 2008 by: Diego Cevallos, Inter Press Service truthout.org Mexico City - Decentralised governments have often been presented as a formula for strengthening democracy and citizen participation, and giving women greater access to power. But experiences like that of Eufrosina Cruz, who was denied the right to run for mayor of her Oaxaca village, on the argument of "uses and customs" of her indigenous community, show that this is not always true. There are similar stories from other countries as well. Even when decentralisation policies have given rise to gender quota laws that require a certain percentage of candidates for local governments to be women, they often are only the figurehead in posts that are actually under the direct control of male relatives. Read more about the reality of decentralization posted 26 November 2008

Kenya Farmers Reap Profits Sown by Joined Hands Run Date: 11/23/08 By Zoe Alsop WeNews correspondent BUTERE, Kenya (WOMENSENEWS)--Patting the cup of her bra with a broad weathered hand, Kenyan farmer Hannah Wamaitha indicates one place she's hidden cash from her husband to pay for seeds, food and school fees for four children and two grandchildren. She's tried stashing it in mattresses and cupboards but keeping it on her person seems to be the best bet. "It is as if my husband smells where money is hidden," said Wamaitha, who, at 63, has tended animals and tilled her tiny plot in Kenya's lush central highlands for her entire life. "Husbands have the attitude that women are like slaves." . . . Though women produce 80 percent of food in Africa, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says, traditional farm support winds up in the hands of men. Banks distribute low-interest agriculture loans to men, who have title deeds for collateral. Government training to optimize output is provided to men. Farm tools that are too heavy or too long for women lie unused in fallow fields. Read more about women farmers in Kenya posted 25 November 2008

Palestinian security gets a feminine touch By Ilene R. Prusher | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the November 21, 2008 edition Hebron, West Bank - Palestinian police surround the house of suspected militants and knock, demanding to be let in. Normally, they'd kick in the door if it didn't open immediately, but today they have the thing that every home is said to need: a woman's touch. As part of a new Palestinian Authority (PA) security initiative, this unit, like every Hebron unit that searches houses, has two female officers to bring a gentler side to long-stigmatized house raids. Using female police officers in the field is part of the latest PA effort to help President Mahmoud Abbas better control the West Bank and Hamas. Although there's also been an overall expansion of the police force, security officials see women as key to a new, hearts-and-minds strategy. Read more about the female police offciers in Palestian security posted 24 November 2008

Saudi women find refuge from domestic violence By Asma Alsharif Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:48pm GMT Reuters UK JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Shattered, burned and bruised, Azza went to the police four times before the authorities allowed her to leave her abusive husband and move into a shelter. In their 12 years together, her Saudi husband had beaten her with metal rods, chained her up and poured boiling water on her. But police usually sent her back home after her husband signed a pledge to stop mistreating his wife, standard practice in a country where women need consent for anything from getting a job to renting an apartment. ...The deeply conservative country, ruled by an austere version of Islamic law, has opened up since the September 11 attacks of 2001, where 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudis. Partly as a result of pressure from Western governments, an official human rights body was set up in 2004 to deal with the country's poor reputation for respecting human rights. Read more about domestic violence in Saudi Arabia posted 23 November 2008

The Granny Peace Brigade Campaigns to Close All US Military Bases - in Latin America and Around the World by Nancy Van Ness November 21, 2008 thewip.net Their hats adorned with artificial flowers identify them at many of the protests in which I participate. The Grannies also show up on New York City's Union Square to sing their signature anti-war lyrics to well known tunes. ...Earlier this month I joined these valiant women and their colleagues of all ages, races, and both sexes at their teach-in about US global militarization in Manhattan. "This series of teach-ins began," explained Nydia Leaf, the Granny who introduced the program, "when some of our members attended the Women's International Democratic Federation in Caracas. They were surprised when delegates from Japan said that something must be done to close the US military bases there." When delegates from Germany, Italy and Korea expressed the same desire, the New York Grannies realized that they needed to go home and begin raising awareness of the level of resentment of US military presence abroad. Read more about the Granny Peace Brigade Campaigns posted 23 November 2008

Africa: Gender Budgeting Still Finding Its Feet Monday 17 November 2008 by: Joyce Mulama, Inter Press Service truthout.com Nairobi - With the world slightly past the halfway mark to the Millennium Development Goal deadline of 2015, pressure is mounting to promote gender equality. Goal Three is to promote gender equality and empower women - but in fact, every goal relates directly to women's rights. This calls for specific measures to bridge the gap between men and women, one of them being financing for gender equality. The approach varies from region to region, particularly in Africa, where gender inequality is still widespread. ...Joyce Mulama interviews Meryem Aslan, East and Horn of Africa programme director for UNIFEM,...shares her thoughts about gender financing in the region. Read more about gender budgeting in Africa posted 21 November 2008

Norway tops the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index Samantha Tonkin, Senior Media Manager Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday 12 November • Nordic countries close over 80% of equality gaps between men and women • World makes progress on economic, political and education gaps; loses ground on health gaps • The financial crisis underscores need for gender equality • The Report contains detailed profiles of 130 global economies Norway (1) leads the world in closing the gender gap between men and women, according to the overall ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2008 released today. Three other Nordic countries – Finland (2), Sweden (3) and Iceland (4) – also top the Report’s Gender Gap Index. Previously higher ranking countries such as Germany (11), United Kingdom (13) and Spain (17) slipped down the Index but stayed in the top 20, while Netherlands (9), Latvia (10), Sri Lanka (12) and France (15) made significant gains. The United States (27) made progress this year and closed gender gaps in estimated earned income and perceived income gaps for similar work. The United States also made strides in political empowerment, driven by increased participation of women in political decision-making positions. Read more about the WEF's Gender Gap Index Download the full report posted 14 November 2008

On Being a Bumble Bee By MONA ELTAHAWY Column from Issue 15, November 10, 2008 of The Jerusalem Report. I became a feminist in Saudi Arabia, a liberal, secular Muslim in Israel and soon after a bumble bee. Let me explain. I was born in Egypt just after the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict but I'm a foolish optimist and so I like to think I've moved on. At the age of 7 I got my first lesson in being a minority, the foreigner, the outsider, when my parents moved our family to London. The next jolt came at the age of 15, when they moved us to Saudi Arabia. My world turned upside down. Read more about Mona Elatahawy posted 29 October 2008

Women Run the Show In a Recovering Rwanda By Stephanie McCrummen Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, October 27, 2008; A01 KIGALI, Rwanda -- On a continent that has been dominated by the rule of men, this tiny East African nation is trying something new. Here, women are not only driving the economy -- working on construction sites, in factories and as truck and taxi drivers -- they are also filling the ranks of government. Women hold a third of all cabinet positions, including foreign minister, education minister, Supreme Court chief and police commissioner general. And Rwanda's parliament last month became the first in the world where women claim the majority -- 56 percent, including the speaker's chair. One result is that Rwanda has banished archaic patriarchal laws that are still enforced in many African societies, such as those that prevent women from inheriting land. The legislature has passed bills aimed at ending domestic violence and child abuse, while a committee is now combing through the legal code to purge it of discriminatory laws. Read more about the Women in Rwanda posted 28 October 2008

In Affluent Germany, Women Still Confront Traditional Bias By Mary Jordan Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, October 26, 2008; A20 HAMBURG...The global struggle for women's equality often focuses on the developing world, where women still lack some of the most basic of rights, including education and protection from rape. But in many affluent countries, women's rights advocates say, gender bias endures. It is just harder to see. German law requires that men and women be treated equally; labor contracts that once specified that women be paid 80 percent of the male rate are long gone. The government is headed by a woman, Chancellor Angela Merkel. Yet many Germans, male and female, continue to hold to the traditional German notion that a woman's focus should be "Kinder, Kueche, Kirche" -- children, kitchen, church. Women who do work often find stubborn barriers. German government statistics show that men typically earn 24 percent more per hour than women, among the widest gender pay gaps in Europe. A recent study comparing men and women in the same jobs at the same firms concluded that women earned 88 percent of what men did. Read more about the stuggle for women's equality in Germany posted 27 October 2008

ARGENTINA: Non-Sexist Language for Reporters By Sebastián Lacunza BUENOS AIRES, Oct 21 (IPS) An organisation of over 100 journalists in Argentina has drawn up ten "commandments" for news coverage of gender-based crimes, which include avoiding expressions like "crime of passion" and incorporating terms like "femicide." The document, by the Argentine Network of Journalists for Non-Sexist Communication (PAR), has already been debated in forums and delivered to social and cultural associations and editorial offices. It will be publicly launched on Nov. 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Its aim is to combat "invisible discrimination, which is often unintentional, but occurs because it has become natural in daily life," Liliana Hendel, a psychologist and journalist for the subscription television news channel Todo Noticias, and one of the authors of the ten commandments, or decalogue, told IPS. "We will uproot from our work the term 'crime of passion' to refer to murders of women who are victims of gender violence. Crimes of passion do not exist," says item three of the document, for example. According to Hendel, "to call a murder a crime of passion is to presuppose that it is a consequence of love, because 'he loved her too much,' which distances it from the concept of crime." Read more about the journalists' "10 Commandments" in Argentina posted 23 October 2008

Announcing the Second International Support Women Artists Now Day! You are cordially invited to celebrate the second International Support Women Artists Now Day (SWAN Day for short) on Saturday, March 28, 2009 and the surrounding weeks. Have fun and express your solidarity with women artists around the world by creating SWAN Day events in your community. Your event can be a party, performance, exhibit, rally, parade, auction, or any other activity that draws attention to women artists and/or raises money for women artists. One of the most ambitious SWAN Day 2008 celebrations was held in Tamale, Ghana. The Rural Women and Children's Development Organization put together a month of activities under the theme "Empowering Women Artists As a Basic Element of Poverty Eradication." They did a month of radio programs about women artists and held many community meetings to find out the concerns of women artists in their region. The month culminated in a large regional SWAN Day celebration on March 29, 2008, and an impassioned plea to their government for more funding. If you are interested in hosting a SWAN Day event this year, please send an email to info@WomenArts.org with the words "SWAN Day Event" in the subject line, and we will send you information about posting your event or finding collaborators. Read more about SWAN day 2009 posted 19 October 2008

HEALTH-AFRICA: Time for Joint Action on HIV/AIDS and Violence By Joyce Mulama NAIROBI, Oct 15 (IPS) The war against HIV/AIDS, it is emerging, will not be won unless sexual and gender-based violence is tackled. Participants at a recent regional meeting looking at linkages between violence against women and girls and HIV/AIDS described the two as dual pandemics that needed to be addressed concurrently for the HIV/AIDS fight to be successful. "We have continued to treat these two issues separately, yet they go hand in hand. The complexity of HIV/AIDS calls upon us to join together and seriously address sexual violence," noted Ludfine Anyango of the United Nations Development Programme. Held in Nairobi, the conference on Strengthening Linkages between Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Services, gathered donors, civil society and government officers working in the health sector in 13 countries in East, Central and Southern Africa. Read more about the intersection of HIV/AIDS and Violence posted 17 October 2008

Stamp of approval: Six women honoured Maev Kennedy The Guardian, Tuesday October 14 2008 Six formidable women, from a pioneering campaigner for women's votes to Labour's "Red Queen", the late Barbara Castle, will be honoured today in a set of special stamps from Royal Mail. Read about the women honored posted 15 October 2008

Inside Rwanda's Gender Revolution by: Erin Baines, Stephen Brown and Susan Thomson, The Guardian UK Monday 13 October 2008 Women now outnumber men in Rwanda's parliament. But with a government anxious to suppress dissent, all is not as it seems. Last month, Rwanda achieved something no other country had ever done before: produce a legislature in which women outnumber men. The results of last month's parliamentary elections gave women 45 out of the 80 seats in the chamber of deputies, or 56%. This surpasses Rwandan women's near parity in the outgoing parliament, already the highest proportion in the world. Rwandan President Paul Kagame praised the election results, saying that a female majority in parliament "emphasises the fact that the country's future is being shaped by women". Read more about Rwanda's Gender Revolution posted 14 October 2008

Iran Women Say No to Polygamy ELAHE AMANI - Women News Network - WNN - 23 Sept, 2008 "The Iranian "Family Protection Bill," which is anything but protective of families, has brought together one of the largest coalitions to oppose a bill since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In response to the efforts of this coalition, the Iranian parliament (known in Iran as the Majlis) has removed the two most contested articles of this bill, Articles 23 and 25, postponing the bill's floor discussion indefinitely. In addition, Iran's parliament will send the bill back to the Parliamentary Judicial Committee for further revisions. This rare and temporary victory has energized young women activists in Iran. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, has called the Family Protection Bill a sign of the Iranian government's regression to many centuries ago. In an interview with the editor of the website Change4Equality, Ebadi said she and her colleagues would stage a sit-in at the Parliament (Majlis) Building should the bill be discussed on the Majlis floor." Read more about activists and the Family Protection Bill Scroll down to watcha a video about women's conditions in Iran posted 4 October 2008

MADAME PRESIDENTS Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Speaking of women presidents, I get to spend time with three of them on Monday, September 22 as a moderator of the "Decent Work" forum organized by Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative. Its founder, Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former High Commissioner of Refugees at the UN will be joined by Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Finland's President Tarja Halonen and others to promote Decent Work policies around the world in an effort to end poverty. Read more about the conference posted 20 September 2008

The Terror of Motherhood in Somaliland and Women’s Rights to Safe Care by Edna Adan Ismail On the Issues: Fall 2008 ..." In 1945, diplomats representing the countries of the world at the end of the Second World War gathered in New York and proposed the formation of a global health organization. In April 1948, the constitution of the World Health Organization was passed, with its first article stating, “Health is a fundamental Human Right.” Sixty years later, that noble declaration seems to have had little effect on the maternal mortality rate of women in the developing countries. The women continue to die of causes that have been eliminated in countries where efficient, safe and adequate health care have been made available for their women." Read more about the lack of women's right to safe care posted 2 October 2008

Women's rights are everyone's rights! ..."In recent weeks, the ultra-orthodox brand of Jewish practice has been allowed to ride roughshod over the status of women in Israel, and over the way of life of the non-haredi majority. We've seen the women members of the Knesset choir banned from singing in public. We've seen Israeli women forced to the back of segregated public buses. And - in a scene straight out of the movie 'Footloose' - we've seen Jerusalem's city hall cover a secular girls' dance troupe literally from head to toe: Ultra-orthodox officials said their uncovered hair and run-of-the-mill costumes were too promiscuous for a municipal ceremony. Religious freedom is a cherished value that should not be infringed upon lightly. But religious coercion and gender discrimination are over the line." Read more about the loss of Women's Rights in Israel posted 27 September 2008

Israeli foreign minister wins election; could be country's first female leader in 34 years By AMY TEIBEL | Associated Press | Sep 18, 08 2:59 AM CDT in World Israel's foreign minister declared victory Thursday in a tight race to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as the head of the governing party, getting a chance to be the country's first female leader in 34 years. Tzipi Livni, 50, said she would immediately turn to the task of trying to cobble together a new government. Read more about Tzipi Livni

Europe Takes Aim at Sexual Stereotyping in Ads Tuesday 09 September 2008 by: Doreen Carvajal, The New York Times "Last year, the Spanish government demanded that Dolce & Gabbana pull its "fantasy rape" advertisement because it promoted violence against women. (Photo: ivillage) Paris - In Madison Avenue's mind's eye, women are still preternaturally obsessed with the cleanliness of their kitchen floors, while men ruminate constantly about which shaving products will render them more attractive to the opposite sex. The European Parliament has set out to change this. Last week, the legislature voted 504 to 110 to scold advertisers for "sexual stereotyping," adopting a nonbinding report that seeks to prod the industry to change the way it depicts men and women. " Read more about the vote on "sexual stereotyping" ads posted 12 September 2008

Keep Quiet? I Don't Think So Wednesday 03 September 2008 by: Cath Elliott, The Guardian UK "...We should all make a fuss about the women killed in Pakistan for the sake of "honor" and "tradition." It's amazing the excuses some people will come out with. Take Pakistani politician Israr Ullah Zehri for example, who last week in Pakistan's senate tried to justify the so-called honour killings of five women by Baluch tribesmen by saying that: "These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them." Zehri allegedly went on to tell the stunned parliament that they could spare him their outrage, and that "We will not let anyone interfere with this." His message to another politician who tried to raise the subject was to "keep quiet". Keep quiet when five women have been beaten, shot, and then buried alive in a ditch? I don't think so. Read more about the "honor" in Pakistan posted 11 September 2008

Court backs Mexico City's free abortion law Jo Tuckman guardian.co.uk, Thursday August 28 2008 09:39 BST "Mexico's supreme court will uphold trailblazing abortion laws in the capital by dismissing a challenge from the conservative federal government. Mexico City's law, in effect since April last year, requires city health services to provide a free abortion to any woman who seeks it up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy. " Read more about Mexico's supreme court decision

Ain't No Sisters on the Team By Mona Eltahawy Agenc Global, August 13, 2008 "NEW YORK -- Confession: I'm a total sucker for the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Not the pyrotechnics and razzle-dazzle, but the athletes' procession. When the Egyptian team walks into the stadium I choke up and wave at the screen as if they could hear my cheers. As an Egyptian, Muslim woman I was proud to see 26 women on my country's Olympic team. I was delighted to see a woman carrying the flag for the Bahraini team, and another for the team from UAE -- the first woman to ever represent her country at the Olympics. But in between B, E and U, in marched the Saudi team, and I had a Buggin' Out moment. I wanted to yell "Yo, Saudi Arabia, how come there ain't no sisters on the team?" Read more about Mona's article on Muslim women and sports

"The woes of the women!" Muhammad Hassan Ilwan, a regular columnist for Saudi Arabia's pro-government newspaper Al-Watan, wrote on July 17 that Saudi women were deprived of the chance to apply to 365,000 job opportunities in the city of Al-Jubayl. "Neither Saudi women nor foreign women are safe from the laws and regulations that prevent them from living their lives in a normal and legitimate fashion as productive and dignified individuals in a vital community," he wrote. Saudi Arabia, as a society, is passing though terrible crises heralded by a corrupt culture, Ilwan wrote. "Our beautiful and patient country is suffering under the weight of this legal and official appeasement of the conservative and extremist forces that control the life of women as if they were a subservient part of society and not partners in it," he added. "Our country has progressed a long way towards development but it forgot to recharge its cultural battery with energy that could help it deal with the developments and the new world."   Read more about Women in Saudi Arabia

After rape victim used cell phone to call for help, KBR bans use of personal phones in Iraq. Ali, August, 4, 2008 "This weekend, defense contracting giant KBR announced it would ban the use of personal cell phones by its employees in Iraq, citing no specific reason. Though KBR has not indicated the ban is related to the numerous allegations of rape by female KBR employees by their male coworkers, the ban could endanger future victims." Read about KBR's decision

A Lost World Made by Women By RICHARD B. WOODWARD Published: July 13, 2008, NY Times "IF feminism means a desire for independence from patriarchal authority, the beguines - a Roman Catholic laic order that began in the 13th century and branched across northwest Europe - represented, perhaps, the world's oldest women's movement. Unlike sisterhoods that required a life spent apart from society under vows of chastity, these Catholic women looked for holiness outside monastic norms. Although they lived and prayed together within an enclave, partly as a form of mutual protection -; some historians believe they banded together after losing their men to the Crusades, which left behind mainly criminals and louts &emdash; beguines were not confined to the cloister. Many ministered to the poor and sick outside their walls. Lifelong celibacy was not required either. They could leave the order and marry (but not return)." Read more about the Beguines and their world

PARITY IN RELIGION? Church of England Endorses Women as Bishops By JOHN F. BURNS July 8, 2008, NY Times LONDON - "The governing body of the Anglican Church in Britain voted on Monday to approve the appointment of women as bishops, a step that appeared to risk a schism in the church in its historic homeland as the Anglican church worldwide faces one of the most serious threats to its unity in its history, over the ordination of gay clergy members. After a debate late into the night in the city of York, the General Synod of the Church of England, an assembly that holds ultimate authority on church doctrine in Britain, voted by comfortable margins within each of the synod's three houses - bishops, clergy and laity - to approve the consecration of women as bishops in the face of bitter opposition from traditionalists. The vote came 16 years after the synod voted, after similarly fractious debate, to approve the ordination of women as ministers within the British church. But traditionalists unreconciled to the end of the male monopoly within the clergy revived the battle over the issue of approving women as bishops, warning that it could lead to a breakup of the church in Britain." Read more about the consecration of women as bishops vote

The Women's Movement Is in Opposition Nicaragua, Friday 27 June 2008 by: InterPress Service "Interview with Sofia Montenegro of the Nicaraguan Autonomous Women's Movement. Montevideo - The action taken on abortion by the governing Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in Nicaragua is "a betrayal" of women, who were "key allies" of the 1979 revolution. Therefore there has been a "radicalisation of the women's movement," which is declaring itself in opposition, activist Sofia Montenegro told IPS. In the past few months, members of Nicaraguan non-governmental organisations have accused the government of President Daniel Ortega of persecution and threats against them, including nine women’s rights activists who face criminal charges as accomplices in the abortion undergone by "Rosita," a nine-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather in 2003. Read more about the Women's Movement in Nicaragua