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Tuesday, February 09, 2010 19:56 GMT

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INDIA: Lay-offs from Recession-hit Gulf Lead to New Lives at Home
By K S Harikrishnan
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India - Domestic worker Beena Joy, 35, came back empty-handed after losing her job in recession-hit United Arab Emirates, but soon found that getting laid-off has given her a happier life back home here in this southern Indian city.
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COSTA RICA: Chinchilla to Join Club of Women Presidents
By Daniel Zueras
SAN JOSÉ - Laura Chinchilla of the governing National Liberation Party (PLN) will be the first female president of Costa Rica and the ninth in the history of Latin America.
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PAKISTAN: Community Midwives Gain Recognition But Concerns Remain
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI - As Kanwal Gul, 25, lay on the delivery table a year ago, preparing to give birth to her first child, she made sure the traditional birth attendant (TBA) assisting her knew exactly what to do. Put on the gloves, she instructed her.
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PERU: Women Combine Invention, Tradition to Improve Rural Diets
By Milagros Salazar
PAUCARÁ, Peru - Although Huancavelica is the poorest region of Peru, it has more than just poverty, malnutrition and unmet needs. There are also women using their creativity, efforts and traditional indigenous knowledge to improve the diets of their families and communities.
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CUBA: Women Knitting for Change
By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA - A neighbour started calling Andrea del Sol "Perseverance," and the name stuck. Since 1998, she and a small group of women from Alamar, on the outskirts of the Cuban capital, have been throwing their combined energies behind a common purpose: "changing things."
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U.S.: Bill Pledges a Billion Dollars to Fight Gender Violence
By Charles Fromm
WASHINGTON - The U.S. House and Senate introduced new legislation Thursday that addresses the plight of women around the world who are victims of violence.
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RIGHTS: EU Faults U.N. for Slowdown in Gender Empowerment
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - Against the backdrop of continued widespread gender discrimination worldwide, the European Union (EU) has urged Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to "urgently" speed up the creation of the proposed new U.N. agency for women.
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UGANDA: Early Diagnosis of HIV Still Elusive
By Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi
KAMPALA - HIV-positive Justine Kirumira* is a mother torn between doing what is right for her daughters and her own fear of HIV/AIDS. She suspects that her eight and 12-year-old daughters may also have the virus. But she may never know the truth of their status because she refuses have them tested.
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MEXICO: Women - Casualties in Army's Counternarcotics War
By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY - Human rights organisations in Mexico and the United States sounded the alarm about abuses against women by the Mexican armed forces in the context of the government's all-out offensive against drug trafficking in the border state of Chihuahua.
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HAITI: Displaced Women Face Double Jeopardy
By Marguerite A. Suozzi
UNITED NATIONS - Women's rights and development activists working in Haiti say that greater attention must be paid to the immediate needs of women and girls, as well as their role in the long-term reconstruction of the devastated country.
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RIGHTS: New U.N. Envoy to Crack Down on Sexual Violence
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - When the Security Council adopted resolution 1325 back in October 2000, it was a historic event: for the first time the U.N.'s most powerful political body dealt with a gender-related issue, explicitly linking women to peace and security.
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KENYA: Victory for Anti-Abortion Lobby
By Susan Anyangu-Amu
NAIROBI - The threat by influential Christian leaders to mobilise a vote against Kenya's draft constitution if it does not explicitly prevent any expansion of abortion rights appears to have succeeded.
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PAKISTAN: Mental Illness among Women: Gender-Driven?
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI - No sooner does a visitor step into the facility than a surreal scene unfolds: The sound of laughter, the sight of ready smiles and vigorous, pumping handshakes mix with the acrid odor of an unwashed human body and the unbearable stench of neglect that in turn combines with the heavy smell of medicine.
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BURMA: Ethnic Women Expose Opium Fields in Junta Strongholds
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - A report exposing the spreading opium fields in the north-eastern corner of the military-ruled Burma has brought to light an equally revealing story. It was produced by a team of ethnic women who risked their lives to document the heroin-filled world they inhabit.
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WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: "Machista" but Valued by Feminists Nonetheless
By Mario Osava *
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - The World Social Forum (WSF) "changed our lives," although it continues to be "machista," with men significantly outnumbering women in its organisation and almost all discussion panels, commented Nalu Farias, coordinator in Brazil of the World March of Women.
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KENYA: Documenting Sexual Violence
By Susan Anyangu-Amu
NAIROBI - The testimonies of women who survived sexual violence during post-election conflict in 2008 should be heard, say advocates. The magnitude of the crimes committed against women because of their gender must be recorded and prosecuted to prevent such violence from occurring again.
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FRANCE: Burqa Ban Keeps Immigration Issue Alive
By A. D. McKenzie
PARIS - With the French regional elections coming up in March and a debate on national identity raging, the burqa polemic is keeping the immigration and "values" issue alive here.
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BOLIVIA: Unprecedented Gender Parity in Cabinet
By Franz Chávez
LA PAZ - Evo Morales began his second term as president of Bolivia by swearing in a cabinet made up of an equal number of women and men - unprecedented in this South American nation with a strong patriarchal tradition.
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ARGENTINA: Slow Progress in Cutting Maternal Deaths
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - Some 300 women a year die in Argentina of complications during pregnancy, childbirth or the postpartum period, from largely preventable causes. Many of the deaths result from unsafe abortions.
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ZIMBABWE: One Million Casualties of Land Reform
By Ann Hellman
JOHANNESBURG and CAPE TOWN - The seizure of large commercial farms - almost all white-owned - has continued despite the formation of a unity government in Zimbabwe. The country's farm workers say they are the biggest losers.
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DEVELOPMENT: Yemen to Lead South in U.N. Negotiations
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - The republic of Yemen, categorised by the United Nations as one of the world's "least developed countries" (LDCs), will lead the largest single coalition of developing nations this year: the 130-member Group of 77 (G77).
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Q&A: "U.S. Should Invest in New U.N. Women's Agency"
Christine Ahn interviews CHARLOTTE BUNCH, Founder of the Center for Global Women's Leadership
SAN FRANCISCO - One year after U.S. President Barack Obama's inauguration, how has his administration fared in terms of advancing an agenda for women's rights around the world?
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PAKISTAN: Home-Based Workers Struggle to Climb Out of Poverty
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI - Razia Khatoon, 36, crouches over a huge wooden frame, her eyes squinting in the dimly lit room inside a squatter settlement in Orangi town in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.
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Q&A: ‘With More Political Space, Women Can Do More as Peacemakers’
Ashfaq Yusufzai interviews ZAHIRA KHATTAK, a women’s rights advocate
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - As a political activist and president of the women’s wing of the Awami National Party (ANP), Zahira Khattak has been working relentlessly for the empowerment of women in the war-torn North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan. She believes that by empowering them, they can contribute more to the peace efforts in the region.
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MAURITIUS: These Women Chose the Sea
By Nasseem Ackburally
PORT-LOUIS - She cannot swim, but Marie-Claite Hector is not afraid of the ocean. The 53-year-old pushes her small boat with all her strength towards the blue lagoon, starts the engine, and sets out to sea.
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LAOS: Getting Women in the News Takes Much More than Policy
By Vannaphone Sitthirath
VIENTIANE - Women’s empowerment may be a key policy of the Lao government, but this is far from obvious in this South-east Asian country’s newspapers and publications, many of which usually give more space to government pronouncements by male officials and pass on questionable stereotypes of women in their reportage.
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BOLIVIA: More Women in Parliament, With Their Own Agenda
By Franz Chávez
LA PAZ - An unprecedented 28 percent of seats in Bolivia's new parliament will soon be occupied by women. Female lawmakers have already launched a battle for women to serve in half the posts in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.
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ZAMBIA: Scarcely Room for Women in Male-dominated Politics
By Zarina Geloo
LUSAKA - Charity Mwansa, a former minister and member of parliament, knows just exactly what being one of the very few female politicians in Zambia means. When she left politics it had nothing to with not being able to do the work and instead had everything to do with the mad world of male-dominated politics.
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Half the world's population, but not with half the share of wealth, wellbeing and opportunity. And certainly, women do not get half of media attention, or an equal voice in expression - only 22 percent of the voices you hear and read in the news today are women's. In this set of reports IPS gives women and their issues their fair share of voice; not by way of artificial allowance, but as arising naturally in the news of the day.

IPS Communicating MDG3 - Giving voice to gender equiality

International Seminar - Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media

TERRAVIVA Doha:
Financing Gender Equality

The TerraViva Doha magazine features news stories, analyses, ground reports, high-level interviews and columns focusing on the possibility of a more equitable and sustainable development.

WOMEN'S HEALTH - A SMART INVESTMENT IN TROUBLED TIMES
By Thoraya Ahmed Obaid
The financial crisis that started in rich countries has deepened into a global economic crisis that threatens to reverse hard-won gains in education and health in developing countries, and women and children are among those hardest hit. That is why the theme of this year's World Population Day, 11 July, focuses on increased investments for girls and women to boost economic recovery and long-term equitable growth, writes Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

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WORLD MUST KEEP UP PRESSURE ON AFGHAN LAW AGAINST WOMEN
By Emma Bonino
The new Shi'ite Personal Status Law recently passed in Afghanistan legalises rape within marriage and officially relegates women to second class citizens; it is a barefaced denial of human rights that needs to be condemned loudly, unequivocally and universally, writes Emma Bonino, vice-president of the Italian Senate.

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GLOBAL CRISIS: WOMEN WORKERS WILL BE HIT HARDEST
By Supachai Panitchpakdi
As the global economic crisis continues to unfold, it is having severe effects on international trade. UNCTAD estimates that merchandise exports from developing countries could decline by 15.5% this year. At the regional level, we expect export growth to shrink by 16.8% in Asia, 12.5% in Africa, and 10% in Latin America, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

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RETIREMENT ITALIAN STYLE - WOMEN AND THE PENSION TABOO
By Emma Bonino
The difference in retirement age between men and women -65 and 60, respectively- in Italy lies at the intersection of two major national problems: pension reform and the unequal treatment of women in the labour market.

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HEALTH-SWAZILAND: 'Role Models in the Community'
Mantoe Phakathi interviews SYLVIA KHUZWAYO, expert client

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GLOBAL HEALTH SYSTEM IN STATE OF ALARM
By Margaret Chan
The current economic crisis poses an enormous challenge to global health but also offers opportunities to lay the foundations for more equitable and effective health systems in the future, and to rationalise and improve the way that international organisations work for the health of people throughout the world.

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Q&A: 'Women Are Not Equals in Our Society'
Mel Frykberg interviews MASHOOR BASISSY, director of the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA).

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Q&A: Women's Special Water Needs Find Voice
Hilmi Toros interviews JOKE MUYLWIJK, executive director of Gender and Water Alliance
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DEVELOPMENT FINANCING CONFERENCE: THE INEQUALITY-POVERTY NEXUS
By Cecilia Alemany and Anne Schoenstein

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A LIFE FREE OF VIOLENCE IS EVERY WOMAN'S RIGHT
By Nicole Kidman

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FINANCING GENDER EQUALITY: A CRITICAL DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE
by Ines Alberdi

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INDIA : PUSHING FOR CHANGE
Syeda Hameed

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UNIFEM
U.N. Instraw
30 YEARS - United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women - CEDAW
Equality Now
U.N. Women Watch
Earthscan
International Women’s Day
International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics
WEF Global Gender Gap 2009

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This page includes independent IPS news coverage financed through the Dutch Government's MDG3 Fund: Investing in Equality, and through the United Nations Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM.