Women World Wide

• "Famine Marriages" Just One Byproduct of Climate Change – March 11, 2010
  The negative fallout from climate change is having a devastatingly lopsided impact on women compared to men, from higher death rates during natural disasters to heavier household and care burdens.
• Patrilineal Inheritance Prevents Women’s Access to Land – March 11, 2010
  In Malawi, tradition dictates that only a man has the right to own land. Women who live in patrilineal communities in the northern parts of the country can only access customary land through their husbands and brothers-in-law.
• Indian upper house passes women's quota bill – BBC – March 9, 2010
  The upper house of India's parliament has approved a bill to reserve a third of all seats in the national parliament and state legislatures for women.
• Firms 'missing out on female talent', WEF report says – BBC – March 8, 2010
  The world's leading companies are failing to make the most of the talents of their female workforce, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has said. Women are still failing to break into senior management or onto the board, the Corporate Gender Gap report said.
• Girls Gone Anti-Feminist — In These Times – March 7, 2010
  Even in 2010, feminism's work is far from done. Susan Douglas' latest book explains why, and backs up her thesis with statistics.
• More women choosing to work, but gender equality remains a long way off – ILO – March 6, 2010
  Despite signs of progress in gender equality over the past 15 years, there is still a significant gap between women and men in terms of job opportunities and quality of employment, according to a new report by the International Labour Office (ILO).
• More Single Mothers – by choice – March 4, 2010
  Looking at how parenting patterns have changed over the last 20 years, the research found that the proportion of lone mothers had risen from 10% to 25%. No great revelation there. But the research also found a significant change in the characteristics of lone motherhood over that period. In 1986, the report says, a lone mother had typically separated from a partner after some years of marriage or cohabitation, with just 15% describing themselves as never having lived with the father or fathers of their child or children. But by 2006, the proportion had shot up to 57%. Geoff Dench, who presented the report, concluded that "it seems that lone motherhood is less a result of relationship breakdown, more a lifestyle choice".
• UN warns HIV/Aids leading cause of death in women – BBC – March 3, 2010
  HIV has become the leading cause of death and disease among women of reproductive age worldwide, the UN programme on HIV/Aids says. At the start of a 10-day conference in New York, UNAids launched a five-year action plan addressing the gender issues which put women at risk.
• 'Women & Girls' Religious Pamphlet Claims 'Ungodly' Dressed Women Provoke Rape – March 3, 2010
  A particularly disturbing religious pamphlet titled 'Women & Girls' has surfaced in Bristol, Virginia. 'Women & Girls,' — signed "anonymous" — makes the argument that female victims of rape are responsible for the crime perpetrated on them because of the way they dress. "Even though nothing is showing, you're being ungodly," one recipient of the pamphlet was told. "You make men want to be sinful."
• Women More Educated, Not More Equal – March 2, 2010
  When it comes to female education rates, progress has been made around the world, and in many countries girls and young women have outnumbered and outperformed boys and men at all levels of schooling for decades. Nevertheless, these advances have yet to translate into greater equity in employment, politics and social relations.
• Indian women peacekeepers hailed in Liberia – CNN.com – March 2, 2010
  They are trained in sophisticated combat tactics and weaponry, crowd and mob control, counter-insurgency. They patrol the streets of the Liberian capital, expected to keep the peace after years of war. The Indian women were pioneers, the unit's experience in Liberia an experiment of sorts for the United Nations.
• JORDAN: Where Iraqi Women Are Also Fathers – February 28, 2010
  The founder of the Bushra Institute for Research on Women, Jehan Nourjan, says that the Iraq war and its aftermath resulted in an over representation of households led by single mothers. This change in family structure has strongly affected women who now find themselves either the primary or the sole heads of their households.
  
  The increased breadwinning responsibility that Iraqi women have had to shoulder in exile has impacted traditional gender roles and has become a source of conflict within families.
• Feminism: The Revolution Won’t Be Demonized – February 27, 2010
  "There has been a long campaign against 'feminism' as a word and as a human rights movement," she wrote. "I would say the introduction of the word 'feminazi' by Rush Limbaugh was the low point and beginning of the worst." But the rest of her answer surprised me; "Every feminist issue has majority support in public opinion polls, and the word 'feminist,' even with no definition, causes at least as many women to identify with it as with the word "Republican"—about a third in both cases. With its dictionary definition, more than 60% of women identify with 'feminist' and, when they are measured, more than half of men … So some people may support the content and be afraid of the word, at least until they know who's asking them and why." And finally she reminded me that the proof is in legislation like the Fair Pay Act last year, and it doesn't matter what people like Limbaugh or Beck think. "This is a revolution," my hero reassured me, "not a public relations movement."
• Violent French husbands 'may be tagged' – BBC – February 25, 2010
  Men seen as likely to be violent towards their wives could be forced to wear an electronic tag under a law being debated by the French parliament. The tag would have to be worn by men who have received a court order to stay away from their partner.
• The Next Anti-Choice Target: Miscarriage – Utah miscarriage bill – Jezebel – February 25, 2010
  A new law being proposed in the US state of Utah could charge women with homicide if they miscarry, making women's rights advocates concerned that women will be brought up on murder charges for drinking, failing to wear a seatbelt, or falling down the stairs.

 
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