UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson shines spotlight on need to end child marriages New York/Lilongwe—On the eve of International Day of the Girl Child, UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson today visited Malawi to shine a global spotlight on the need to end child marriage. She met with traditional chiefs and girls who have returned to school after having marriages annulled. In 2015, Malawi passed the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, raising the minimum age of marriage … [Read more...]
The World’s Most Powerful Black Women 2013 with 30% from Africa!
A couple of weeks ago, FORBES published its 2013 annual list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Of the 100 women featured, 11 are black, of whom 3 are Africans. They include political leaders, corporate executives, heads of non-governmental organizations, top government functionaries and a first lady. These are the 11 black women who matter the most: Ertharin Cousin Executive Director, World Food Programme, United Nations, U.S.A The World's Most Powerful Black Women 2013 Three of them … [Read more...]
ILO: Greater gender equality in politics is good news for the world of work
ILO’s gender policy specialist welcomes recent achievements on gender equality in politics but says more needs to be done including in the world of work. "We take another step towards globalizing social progress when we champion gender equality as a matter of rights and social justice, as well as efficiency and good business sense"Juan Somavía, ILO Director-General GENEVA (ILO News) – The Director of the ILO Bureau of Gender Equality says that progress that has been made lately in … [Read more...]
Ethiopia by Task-Shifting Procedures, Saving Women’s Lives
Finding ways to deliver for women where doctors are in short supply TIGRAY REGION, Ethiopia — “We are all looking to you to be a window of hope to reduce the unnecessary death of mothers and newborns during pregnancy and delivery in rural Ethiopia,” said Dr.Tedros Adhanom, the Minister of Health, as he handed over degrees to the first graduates at Ayder Hospital of his country’s programme in Integrated Emergency Surgery and Obstetrics. The first graduating class of the new … [Read more...]
Worldwide 215 million children engaged in child labour, Take Action!
Preventing hazardous child labour in agriculture Worldwide 215 million children are engaged in child labour, and of these 115 million are involved in what is considered to be hazardous work. Agriculture is the sector where the largest share of child labourers is found - a staggering 60 percent of boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 17. Today, much of our food and drink, as well as the raw material we use to make other products, are produced by child labour. Child labour in … [Read more...]
UN Women Awards Nearly $1.5 million in Small Grants
UN Women Awards Nearly $1.5 million in Small Grants towards Realizing Women’s Property and Inheritance Rights in the Context of HIV/AIDS United Nations, New York — UN Women, under the Fund for Women’s Property and Inheritance Rights in the Context of HIV/AIDS, today announced approximately US$1.5 million in small grants to twenty grassroots and community-based organizations in sub-Saharan Africa to strengthen women’s property and inheritance rights as a critical strategy for … [Read more...]
Avaaz – STOP `Corrective Rape`: TAKE ACTION!
‘Corrective rape’, the vicious practice of raping lesbians to ‘cure’ their sexuality, is becoming a crisis in South Africa. But brave activists are calling on the world to help stop these heinous Hate Crimes -- and finally the government is beginning to respond. Let's support them. Sign the petition and send it to friends! Millicent Gaika was bound, strangled, tortured and raped for five hours by a man who crowed that he was ‘curing’ her of her lesbianism. She barely survived, but she is … [Read more...]