International Women's Day - March 8 / IPS Inter Press Service

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Monday, March 22, 2010 13:54 GMT

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LATIN AMERICA: Still a Long Way to Go for Black Women
By Patricia Grogg*
HAVANA - At the age of 17, Meybelin Bernárdez is clear about the future: "When I finish my studies, I'll return to help my community get on its feet," the young Garifuna woman from Honduras, who is studying medicine in Cuba, says without hesitation.
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ECONOMY-SENEGAL: 'Only The Rich Get Loans'
By Koffigan E. Adigbli
DAKAR - Despite the financial sector boom in Senegal, small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), which represent over 90 percent of the industrial fabric of the country, struggle to access funding for their development, their representatives claim.
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HEALTH-US: Maternal Deaths on the Rise
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - Despite the fact that the United States spends more on maternal health than any other country in the world, deaths in childbirth among U.S. women are on the rise and already surpass the morbidity rates in most developed countries.
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CLIMATE CHANGE: The U.N.'s Boys' Club
By Selina Rust
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's decision to appoint a 19-member, all-male high-level advisory group on Climate Change Financing (CCF) has triggered strong protests from women's groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) outraged by the composition of the panel.
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Q&A: Tapping Women's Enterprise to Topple Rural Poverty
Paul Virgo interviews YUKIKO OMURA, new vice president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development
ROME - Employees at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) may have cause to fear for their jobs after Yukiko Omura was appointed vice president of the United Nations' rural poverty agency in February.
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POLITICS-RWANDA: Woman Vies for Top Job
By Stanley Kwenda
KIGALI - On average women constitute 18.8 percent of representatives in parliaments across the world according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). This gender imbalance has been subject to much feminist criticism and many campaigns for change have been staged to address the status quo. The situation is however different in Rwanda.
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PAKISTAN: In More Ways Than One, Bollywood Dancing Creates Waves
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Pakistan - Saleha Firdaus, a mother of two teenage children, has been moving to the Bollywood beat at a dance studio for over a year now and "loves every moment" of this personal time. For her part, 22-year-old Maheen Jafri was a "bedroom dancer" until she discovered a Bollywood and hip-hop dance studio and "shed my inhibitions totally."
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JAMAICA: The Other Side of Paradise
By Kathy Barrett
NEGRIL - It's just before midnight, and the music pulsates through the massive speakers perched under the ceiling, scantily clad girls in their five-inch heels moving closer to the iron poles.
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RIGHTS-BAHRAIN: Weak Laws Let Rapists Off the Hook
By Suad Hamada
MANAMA - Cunning rapists in Bahrain can avoid victimising virgins so they could escape the maximum penalty provided by law, and those who force themselves on young girls can evade punishment by promising to marry their victims.
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DEVELOPMENT-KENYA: Rapid Population Growth Threatens Development
By Susan Anyangu-Amu
NAIROBI - Margaret Atieno, a 38-year-old mother of six, says she wanted to avoid her last pregnancy. But consistent stock-outs of contraceptive devices at her health care centre in rural Siaya, western Kenya, gave her no choice but to fall pregnant once again, albeit the fact that she did not want another child.
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RIGHTS: Gender Confab Marked by Political Uncertainties
By Thalif Deen and Anna Shen*
UNITED NATIONS - When a two-week meeting on gender empowerment concluded at U.N. headquarters Friday, there were several lingering questions crying out for answers.
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POLITICS-NIGERIA: In the Shadows of Men: Women’s Political Marginalisation
By Mustapha Muhammad
KANO - Ten years after Nigeria returned to civil rule women still play second fiddle in the male-dominated politics of Africa’s most populous nation, women politicians and activists say.
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DEVELOPMENT-CAMEROON: Are Women the Magic Bullet for "Electoral Apathy"?
By Mohamadou Houmfa
YAOUNDE - A support network for women's political participation, is challenging head-on what it calls "electoral apathy", after noting a growing trend in electoral abstention.
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PHILIPPINES: Reproductive Health Tests Candidates’ Political Guts
By Kara Santos
MANILA - Filipino voters who have yet to make up their minds about their choice for their next president are being advised: look at each aspirant’s stance on reproductive health to help them gauge the candidate’s leadership mettle and political guts.
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IRAQ: Women Miss Saddam
By Abdu Rahman and Dahr Jamail*
BAGHDAD - Under Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year's maternity leave; that is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since Jul. 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had most of the rights that Western women do.
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In today's globalised world, women are united -- despite cultural, language, ethnic, political, economic or religious differences -- in their efforts to achieve equality, peace and development. March 8 commemorates the great strides women have made, but also reminds us that everyone must continue in their endeavours to reach those elusive goals.