* Grace, tenacity and eloquence: The struggle for women’s rights in Africa

The traditional perception of African women is that they face grinding poverty and harsh cultural, traditional and social prejudices. Yet while it is true that African women are not equal to men, this is only one part of the story.

For in Africa, women are fighting for their rights. And they are fighting with grace, tenacity and eloquence. The contributors describe how African women won a cross-continental campaign for a protocol to protect their rights. In a rich variety of articles, they consider topics such as: women and conflict, the impact of current US policies on women’s health in Africa, women’s rights in Islam, and the implications of the Jacob Zuma trial for women in South Africa.

The articles first appeared in the prize-winning weekly electronic newsletter, Pambazuka News. They provide an easy-to-read introduction to the struggle for women’s rights in Africa.

* African perspectives on China in Africa

China’s involvement in Africa has provoked much debate and discussion. Is China simply the latest imperial power out to exploit Africa’s natural resources, putting its own economic interests above environmental and human rights concerns? Or is China’s engagement an extension of ‘South–South solidarity’, enabling African countries to free themselves from the multiple tyrannies of Western debt, aid conditionality, unfair trading rules and political interference?

Much existing commentary on China focuses on the vested interests of the West. Lost in the cacophony have been the voices of independent African analysts and activists. Here, they present social, cross-continental perspectives on Chinese involvement in Africa in a unique collection of essays. The articles demonstrate that although there is no single ‘African view’ about China in Africa at a continental level, the authors are united in the belief that Africans must organise their side of the story, together, in their own interests, and in the interest of social justice for all.

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Women, especially in the developing world, who continue to bear the burden of the negative impact of globalization, must fight for their rights. "We are not powerless; women are standing together in spite of the burden to dispossess us," Wahu Kaara, an activist and one of the organizers of the WSF, said at the United Nations offices in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Feminist Media Studies, a trans-disciplinary, transnational forum for scholars, professionals and activists pursuing feminist approaches to the field of media and communication studies, is inviting contributions to a special issue entitled "Feminist Contributions to Cultural Policy." To find out more, e-mail Alison Beale, Guest Editor at [email][email protected]

While conflict inflicts suffering on everyone, women are particularly affected by its short- and long-term effects. Sexual assault and exploitation are frequently employed as tools of war; victimization leads to isolation, alienation, prolonged emotional trauma, and unwanted pregnancies that often result in abandoned children. USAID has published a guide to developing programming for women in conflict.

As part of our special reports from the World Social Forum, Fadzai Muparutsu from GALZ speaks to Sokari Ekine from Pambazuka News about LGBT rights in Zimbabwe. Music in this podcast is brought to you by Freddy Macha.

The Rural Womens Movement is based in Kwa Zula Natal. The organization began in 1998 but was not officially launched until 2000. The RWM grew out of the need to address gender inequalities in the rural areas in post Apartheid South Africa.

RWM works to enable women to access, own, control, use, and manage land and natural resources in their own right. They work mainly with indigenous, poor and landless women and at present there are some 500 community based organizations with a membership of some 15,000 women. of whom 50 percent live below the poverty line.

Yesterday I spoke with Olivia Nomzamo who is a young agricultural activist with the Rural Women’s Movement and who lives in a small village in Kwa Zulu Natal called Underburg. She left school in 1994 and worked in a garage for one year but then decided she wanted to learn about farming as a way of supporting herself so she went to work on a farm. In 1999 Olivia joined the RWM and began to talk to other women in her village about the possibility of acquiring some land and using it to set up a collective farm project and cultivate the land which would bring some income for the women and enable them to feed themselves.

They approached the Traditional Authority in their area which is managed by local chiefs many of whom had been imposed on the community by the Apartheid government. The land is actually held on behalf of the people but the Chiefs act as if they own the land and in many instances people have to pay bribes of 3000 rand plus gifts of beer and vodka in order to receive an allocation of land.

The women of Underburg were given 10 acres for their farm project by the Chiefs and with the help of other local farmers who taught them how to cultivate the land and also lent them equipment they were able to begin the project. The women are divided into 5 groups each with between 20 and 25 members. They all contribute to the purchasing of seeds, one group manages the seedlings and the other 4 groups manage the transplanted seedlings on the main farm where they grow potatoes, beans and vegetables. They have still not been able to purchase any of their own equipment and totally rely on borrowing from male farmers in the area. Most of the food is sold to local markets and a small amount is divided up between the women and used to feed their families. The money they make has enabled them to improve their lives generally including sending their children to school. There is a local clinic in the area which has recently had a change of staff and who are providing a much better service.

Many of the women in the farming project are AIDS widows and some 90 percent of the women are HIV positive so access to decent health care is a huge priority for the village. There is also a large number of orphaned children some who live with relatives but quite a few who live on their own as street kids with no support and have to fend for themselves.

The women of the rural communities in regions like Kwa Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape have benefited the least from the New South Africa. Many of the women in these areas who were ANC activists or part of families who were ANC activists were hounded, beaten and killed by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The regions have the largest numbers of illiteracy due to the poor educational provision during apartied and not much has changed for them since then. In fact many are suffering and starving due to lack of unemployment and HIV/ AIDS. Women are particularly vulnerable as men blame them for the spread of HIV. Women have been evicted from their homes by their husbands or dead husbands male relatives when they have revealed their HIV status as it is the women that go to get tested whilst the men refuse to do so.

Sizani Ngubane is the founder and director of the Rural Women’s Movement and you can listen to an interview with her on Pambazuka Broadcasts. She lives in Pietermaritzburg, is self-educated and has been an ANC and Women’s activist for most of her adult life. If you wish to contact the RWM you can do so at rwm at mail dot ngo dot za

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

The launching of the Charter of Feminists Principles for African Feminists at the 3rd International Feminist Dialogue marks a major contribution by the African Feminist Forum (AFF) and the larger feminist movement to the on-going world social forum. The AFF took place last year in Ghana and this space was created as an autonomous space in which African feminists from all walks of life and at different levels including local levels and the academia, could reflect on a collective basis and chart ways to strengthen and grow the feminists movement on the continent.

Mercy Siame an activist from Zambia sees the launch as a breakthrough in African feminism and encouraged other feminists to rally behind it and support it. “It may be difficult for the AFF to be accepted. We should spend more time and explain the ideologies to the people especially our leaders”. Director Coalition of African Lesbians, Fikile Vilakazi a first time participant to the International Feminist Dialogue is amazed that the space has rallied people from different background of fundamentalism. She says she has learned a lot on the situation of women in conflict situations and issues on gender based violence which she say is a different experience from her native South Africa.

The International Feminist Dialogue was held prior to the WSF from 17th to 19th January 2007 under the theme “Transforming Democracy: Feminist Visions and Strategies”. Over 250 women from different parts of the World attended to deepen the intensive dialogues on feminist perspectives and strategies in addressing fundamentalisms, militarism and neo-liberal globalisation. In organizing the third International Feminist Dialogues, the Coordinating Group (CG) created a vital space for critical minded feminist activists to re-examine, re-imagine and move forward the vital political project of feminist movement building and new forms of democratic processes.

The setting of the WSF in Africa in January 2007 offers a strategic space for feminists to come together in their broad diversity to explore the current moment, their differences and common ground, and their role in the larger social movements. Feminist Dialogues (FD) is a transnational meeting of feminist networks and organizations usually held before the WSF being one such space for this kind of strategic dialogue. The pre-WSF meeting is meant to promote effective intervention in the broader WSF process as feminists organizing for change, and to establish strategic and politically relevant links with other social movements. The first FD was held in Mumbai in January 2003, the second in Porto Alegre, Brazil and the third now in Nairobi, Kenya.

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

Civil rights activists are urging Liam Byrne, the British minister of state for nationality, citizenship, and immigration, to release Congolese women from detention and review their cases. Ambrose Musiyiwa of the World Press reports that the Home Office has failed to adequately address the current situation in Congo and continues to carry out removals.

Rising levels of reported rape and sexual exploitation of women and teenage girls in Liberia have sparked concern by both the government and women's rights groups. Despite a peace agreement in 2003 that ended the particularly brutal 14-year civil war, during which fighters sexually assaulted girls and women and sometimes used them as "sex slaves", these types of violent abuse were still common, according to Lois Bruthus, head of the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL), a leading advocacy group.

There has been resounding international awareness and recognition, accelerated by the Millennium Development Goals, that gender equality and women's rights are key to development. What has emerged on the sidelines however, is a growing debate on the value of including and encouraging the engagement of men. How can men be allies in the fight for gender equality and women's rights? This article canvasses the issues, the debate and ways that men can (and whether they should) join the battle.

Several civil society networks will convene in Addis Ababa under the aegis of the “Gender is my Agenda” campaign for a consultation on gender mainstreaming in the African Union. This 9th Pre-Summit Consultative meeting on gender mainstreaming in the African Union is scheduled for Addis Ababa between January 23-24, 2007.

What would the world be like if it was viewed through the eyes of African women? The Gender & Trade Network in Africa (GENTA) will pose this question to more than 65,000 social movements, people dwelling in slums, and world parliamentarians at the World Social Forum to be held in Nairobi Kenya January 20 – 25, 2007 in Kasarani.

A Pretoria woman is fighting for her life in hospital after she was allegedly assaulted by Sunnyside police officers, the Pretoria News reported on Wednesday (15 January 2007).

Founder and erstwhile president of the gender advocacy group 50-50, said Friday (12 January 2007) that the manifestos of political parties in Sierra Leone are not gender friendly.

Africa's premier air carrier, South African Airways (SAA), is fighting to regain its credibility by penalising its officials indicted in a sex scandal. With claims of a sex scandal among the carrier's top management, SAA is degenerating into a haven for sex pests such as rape and harassment, critics say.

Scores of women and children have been separated from their families or wounded in fighting between Somali government forces and remnants of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), sources said. A source in southern Somalia, close to the area where air strikes have hit suspected UIC bases, told IRIN on Friday (12 January 2007) that some civilians, including women and children, "have been killed and others wounded."

Rising levels of rape and sexual exploitation of women and teenage girls in Liberia have sparked concern by both the government and women's rights groups.

Agenda will publish a journal focussing on the topic of Women and ICTs in May 2007. This Agenda Journal will explore how women can take advantage of the ICT revolution and what women’s obstacles are to using ICTs.

Activists are calling on Kenyan men to become more involved in campaigns to end the widespread physical and sexual abuse of women and girls, a problem that is putting millions of women at greater risk of contracting HIV.

Members of the Forum of Rwanda Women Parliamentarians (FFRP) will February 22-23, host an international conference to share experiences with their counterparts from various countries around the world. The disclosure was made January 5 by the Forum president Judith Kanakuze, during a FFRP meeting held at the Novotel Hotel.