Moroccan officials announced last week that work is in progress on a draft bill outlawing domestic violence. The ministries of Social Development, Education and Islamic Affairs will also partner on a campaign aimed at fostering a culture of gender equality.

Only a quarter of HIV-positive pregnant women in poorer countries receive antiretroviral therapy to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, according to a UN report issued on April 3rd. Nevertheless, the report found that increasing numbers of HIV-positive children and expectant mothers are receiving anti-HIV drugs.

A United Nations report shows progress in treating children with AIDS and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, but urges greater efforts to stem the tide of the global epidemic. According to Children and AIDS, there were some 2.1 million children under 15 living with HIV in 2007, most of whom were infected before birth, during delivery or while breastfeeding. And young people aged 15-24 still account for about 40 per cent of the new HIV infections among all people over 15 in 2007.

Salma Mlidi uses the 20th year anniversary Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) to reflect on African women's activism

On March 29, 2008 the Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) began a week long commemoration of 20 years of advocacy for women’s human rights. Among activities earmarked to mark the occasion include the opening of a self sponsored office building; the launch of a Fundraising Campaign for a Women’s Media and Documentation Centre; and a book launch of TAMWA’s story in pioneering social transformation in Tanzania as experienced by members, supporters and friends.

TAMWA was officially launched and registered in 1987 by 10 women pioneers working in the media with two major aims: to agitate for a positive portrayal of women in the media; and to raise the academic and professional standards of female journalist to enable them to assume positions of influence in the media with the expectation that they will have a voice with regard media content and output in so far as its portrayal of women.

Twenty years later TAMWA has much to celebrate about. Arguably TAMWA is the foremost advocacy organization for women’s right in Tanzania. TAMWA’s command of the local media is unparralled and stems from years of capacity building and advocacy of media heads in various media institutions. Nevertheless, in Tanzania, TAMWA is best known for her work in gender based violence. Soon after her formation TAMWA made it her business to expose crimes against women that were otherwise considered taboo e.g. domestic violence and notably wife beating, incest, and family neglect; and sexual harassment in the workplace.

TAMWA also addressed the larger phenomena of sexual abuse against women and children in Tanzania contributing to the impetus of increased local responses to address the phenomena e.g. by the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association. Undeniably, Gender Based Violence (GBV) is the mother of activist struggles in Tanzania thanks to a large part to TAMWA’s relentless advocacy on the subject. Other than the ongoing Campaign on breast cancer by the Tanzania Medical Women’s Association (MEWATA) which is mainly service oriented no other advocacy campaigned has been as successful as the Campaign to Stop GBV launched by TAMWA in the mid 90’s.

Through innovative strategies like media advocacy, action research and campaigns TAMWA made sure that her advocacy agenda was current news and popular, not just with legislators and bureaucrats but with the local populace. It is not unheard of that activists visiting any village in Tanzania would be approached by concerned villagers about human rights violations against women and children in the belief that the activist who cared enough to visit them represents TAMWA. While Tanzania now has a number of women’s rights organizations TAMWA remains the most recognized and coined by men and women alike.

TAMWA’s advocacy ensured that GBV was not only named but was also unpacked and demystified. Certainly fifteen years ago many Tanzanians did not know about the prevalence of FGM in the country. Personally, I learnt about the practice in France after watching a documentary prepared by Sudanese women on alternative forms of cutting. However, building on her research work on crimes committed against women undertaken with journalist in various regions of Tanzania, TAMWA exposed FGM and made it a national agenda. Consequently, Tanzania was among the first countries to outlaw FGM and to have an active anti-FGM network at regional and national levels.

Another less publicized issue was the deaths of old women accused of witchcraft in west and north western Tanzania. TAMWA made the link between the deaths of old women to economic insecurity experienced in most poor rural communities. Access to landed resources increasingly endangered the lives of old women occupying land that younger relatives wanted to access and control. Other than changing the dominant perspective about the issue i.e. about witchcraft beliefs, TAMWA was able to lend impetus to and influence the content of the Land Campaign in the late 1990’s to address the question of women’s access and control of landed resources.

In many ways TAMWA activist trajectory informed and continues to inform my own activist trajectory. I was introduced to TAMWA in the early 90’s when I was still doing my LLB helping out in what was then know as the Library and Documentation Unit. This was the beginning of my own official activist trajectory and as Fatma Alloo, the first TAMWA Chair, puts it, “Of channeling my anger against injustice towards more productive activist enterprise”. Other than having first hand access to feminist literature from different parts of the world, I got to meet many authors and or subjects of books in the centre satiating my growing zeal for alternative leadership figures and visions.

Just as the Tanzania African Nationalist Union (TANU) Women Wing and later Umoja wa Wanwake Tanzania (UWT) was a pioneer for women’s interests pre and post independence, TAMWA pioneered autonomous women rights organizations as well as autonomous advocacy agendas. Figures that led TAMWA also offered the first real taste of female leadership outside the dominant party structure. The growth of private media houses meant that TAMWA personalities were recognized nationally, oftentimes as readily as leading government figures.

The pedestal TAMWA has come to enjoy in the civil society sector means that the successes and struggles she achieves impact on the larger women’s movement in Tanzania. Thus when in the mid nineties TAMWA suffered an organizational crisis bought on by rapid organizational growth, burn out and rifts between the ranks that otherwise would be normal in an organizational context but that spiraled to become personal because of the absence of an awareness in how to manage the health of a dynamic, visible and politically charged organization, mushrooming advocacy organizations held their breath. They were conscious that TAMWA’s failure would reflect not just in the women’s movement but also in the larger civil society sector that was beginning to attract some level of sanction on account of its work.

Perhaps the crisis appeared bigger than it actually was because the emerging activist sector while commonly survives on camaraderie, trust and enthusiasm had not had to deal with the full force of what it means to be empowered individuals. Also the age old habit of selfless devotion and sacrifice ‘serving others’ most women succumb to may have been transferred to the activist space such that some members may have felt not adequately appreciated. Indeed in an activist space the actors are many, the roles more visible and the stakes are higher such that it is not uncommon for egos to become more sensitive to criticism or doubt. Nonetheless, TAMWA survived and emerged stronger. In fact the crisis introduced the notion of organizational health and anti burn out measurers to CSOs. Following an emotional OD intervention members were able to come to terms with their reality and create a healthier space to address existing and perceived weaknesses. TAMWA had to change and since she has learnt the value of reinventing herself and her agenda making it timeless.

TAMWA’s records successes not just institutionally but also with her membership which comprises of exceptional pioneers. Edda Sanga was Chief Comptroller and acting head of Radio Tanzania before her retirement while Joyce Mhaville manages the largest private radio and television network in the country. Fatma Alloo, Halima Sheriff and Rose Kalemera all among founder members have also worked in the civil society sector serving and serve in a number of prestigious boards. Pili Mtambalike and Rose Haji work for the Media Council of Tanzania and MISA Tanzania respectively. Young women journalists who interned at TAMWA are mostly employed as media consultants and directors in the private sector. Mahfoudha Alley Hamid a TAMWA veteran was a member of the first East Africa Legislative Assembly and currently serves as Deputy Chair for the Tanzania Human Rights Commission while others like Zainab Vulu serve as Parliamentarians and others like Halima Kihemba and Betty Mkwasa in local government administration.

As I danced and ululated in celebration with women I had known and grown with for 20 years, I could not help but feel a strong sense of achievement. Members I had not seen for a number of years trickle into the new headquarters to join in the momentous occasion. There was laughter and congratulations all round. By sheer will the vision of 10 women, who the whole world seemed to ridicule had lived on, thrived and triumphed! It inspired and gave birth to other smaller social justice movements at local and national levels.

The Tanzanian First Lady, Mama Salma Kikwete graced the occasion. I was gripped by a strange disquiet as she posed a challenge to TAMWA for the next twenty years. As I looked around me, I wondered would I recognize my sisters (and brothers) in activism 20 years from now? Certainly, mostly TAMWA members and ‘official’ activists” attended the event. I would have loved to see greater participation of the population that TAMWA spent 20 years advocating for. Perhaps a public solidarity walk would have been more appropriate to facilitate a broad based commemoration. Also while there were a few men in attendance, many men representing media organizations stayed away. How could they then be seen to lend moral support to women’s human rights when such support is not felt in physical terms?

While TAMWA’s successes fill me with pride I can’t help but worry about the implications. I worry whether the agenda we have fought so hard to push is getting co-opted as more young women with activist potential are being lured by the private sector which sector is reverting to selling the sexualized image of young women. It is no secret that other than plastering images of young and supposedly successful women in marketing ads, many companies employ younger women because of the ‘sex appeal’ they offer. Another consideration is the lower wages they attract in contrast to male executives. This is not to say that young female media practitioners are not worth their salt. Rather there is a real concern around the original agenda of using the media to conscientize about and advocate for women’s human rights being compromised in the era of a liberal media and economy.

The detachment of young women from the struggles of past is palpable as most activists organizations and initiatives remain dominated by middle aged and retired women. Young professions have sold out to the liberal economy as most become preoccupied with becoming successful in the market and portraying an outer image of success through apolitical consumerism. Gender discrimination has mutated or gone underground such that young female professionals appear clueless about the struggles of past that brought about the even playing field they now enjoy. Mistakenly, and perhaps because they come armed with an education, they think this is how things were and will continue to be.

Indeed, TAMWA produced young professionals and executives who can compete with handsome pledges to her fundraiser providing much needed relief from over demanding and increasingly tightfisted funders. But I wonder if in so doing whether the women’s movement is not opening herself up to an elitist and consumerist culture that is unconcerned with the means through which she achieves her end? Or is it a matter of redefining our values?

*Salma Mlidi is a political activist.

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

By early evening the corridors of the Soldier Bar brothel in a busy commercial area of Accra were already filled with long queues of young girls and their clients, when heavily armed police stormed in, arresting all 160 of the girls. The targets of the raid, which took place in February, were the 60 girls among them who were aged under 16 who had been recruited according to brothel manager Matthew Abanga to service the brothel's teenage clients.

Five Cameroonians and a Nigerian accused last year of homosexuality in Cameroon have been released temporarily from the Bell prison in Douala where they spent more than six months behind bars. The six were arrested last August on charges of homosexuality. While awaiting judgement from Supreme Court, they stayed in custody for six months, and it could tripled if renewed pending investigation.

Good article by Roselyn Musa [http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/46518] but I think African advocates of women's rights have a really long way to go and must work more using a results based approach rather than the 'satisfy the donor' approach. While the former will help us sincerely adress our problems with a preparedness to make appropriate sacrifices capable of recording change, the latter tends to tie us down with the atittude of struggling to merely carry out an activity and reporting back to donor that the activity has been implemented. In this latter situation, we tend to 'sleep again until some other donor advances more money for another activity'. So we just keep going round and round in the real sense of it!

To what extent are African women's rights activists prepared to endure pains and stresses that necessarily come up in the sincere struggle for the realization of women's human rights? To what extent are members of the women's human rights community willing to lay aside differences and struggles for personal recognition & power which we so often exhibit at the expense of the overall interest of women's cause?

We need to address all of these issues to be able to move faster along the already tight rope to the realisation of women's rights. Experiences from being a part organizer of a just concluded 'Kaduna State Women's 2008 Peaceful Walk', in demand of respect for women's human rights organized in Kaduna State of northern Nigeria, convinced me that women need to go back to the drawing board in their vision, strategy and purpose in actvisism.

Look out for a detailed report of this activity which happened on 11th March 2008: A lot to learn indeed!

Three years after Algeria's family code was revised, women are looking back with regret on their initial enthusiasm for the change. What appears to have been a well-intended effort to protect women and children's rights has inadvertently caused many of them to lose everything.

Rural women living with HIV in circumstances of poverty in South Africa face discrimination in relationships and in communities because of their gender, HIV status and economic marginalization. A new Amnesty International report based on interviews with rural women, the majority of them living with HIV, exposes the overwhelming challenges they face in the midst of the severe HIV epidemic affecting the country.

The Government of Namibia declared a state of emergency on 5 March 2008 in light of the current localised floods in North and North-East Namibia, particularly in the regions of Omusati, Oshikoto, Oshana, Ohangwena and Caprivi. The floods are due to the above average rainfall during January and February 2008 and the inflow of water from the Cuvelai river system in southern Angola.

Efforts to meet international development goals must focus on empowering women, Deputy UN Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said in a speech delivered at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "Empowering women is not just an end in itself; it is a prerequisite for reaching all of the Millennium Development Goals ­ our common vision to build a better world in the 21st century," she said of the targets, known as MDGs, that aim to slash a host of global ills by 2015.

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Venue: The Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya Dates: 2nd June - 5th June 2008

Sexual violence is a profound human rights violation and public health problem. Patriarchy, anti-woman attitudes and rape myths fuel this epidemic and the way in which survivors are treated by the health, justice and police services. Criminal justice and heath systems globally often are unable or unwilling to effectively respond to the legal and emotional needs of survivors.

A review commissioned by Sexual Violence Research Initiative on the uses and impacts of medico-legal evidence in cases of sexual assault of adolescents and adults found that survivors of sexual violence frequently choose not to report their assaults or are filtered out of criminal justice systems, resulting in low charge filing and conviction rates.

Download this review online at:

* All communication and online submission of required documentation should be done through Jessica Kizungu: [email][email protected]

In many parts of Uganda, especially rural areas, women's roles have not changed since the first Women's Day a hundred years ago. Women are still the primary caregivers, and they still don't get credit for it, according to Sylvia Tamale, the Dean of Makerere University's Law School, in the capital, Kampala.

When rumours of a "gay wedding" spread through the northern Moroccan town of Ksar el Kebir, the only evidence produced was a video on YouTube of a man dancing suggestively in women's clothes. Three months later, four people are in prison accused of homosexual acts, Islamists are decrying a decline in public morals and liberals are warning that the North African kingdom risks sleep-walking into extremism.

HIV positive status is still being associated with homosexuality in Egypt, hence punishable. This came in the wake of arrest of twelve men after one of them disclosed to police that he was living with Aids, and was instantly condemned for homosexuality.

Two Rwandan human rights activists were released on bail early this week and are subjected to report to a Kigali prosecutor every Thursday following their arrest two weeks ago.Nyirahabimana Salma and Umutoni Fatoumata were arrested at Kanombe International Airport in Kigali on their way to Maputo in Mozambique to attend a 3rd Leadership Institute conference organised by Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) two weeks ago.

Traditional female leaders in Ghana are beginning to open their communal gatherings to discussions of women's legal rights to abortion. The country has one of the most liberal abortion laws in the continent, but women are dying in ignorance of it.

Botswana’s Attorney General, the Governor of the Bank of Botswana and the CEO of De Beers Botswana were greeted outside Chatham House in London this week by protesters holding blown-up photographs of Bushman women who have died due to the eviction of the Bushmen from their land.

Minority and indigenous groups across the world are among the hardest hit by climate change and often disproportionately affected by climate-related disasters but their plight has yet to be recognised by the international community, a new report says.

More women are working than ever before, but they are also more likely than men to get low-productivity, low-paid and vulnerable jobs, with no social protection, basic rights nor voice at work according to a new report by the International Labour Office (ILO) issued for International Women’s Day.