More than one-fifth of all violent crimes in Namibia occurs in the context of domestic relationships. Due to this finding, which forms part of the Legal Assistance Centre, research on the implementation of the Combating of Rape Act and the Combating of Domestic Violence Act that is still underway, the LAC feels that if domestic violence is eliminated from society, women will be significantly safer from this crime.

Swazi gender rights groups have welcomed the appointment of a woman to the post of deputy prime minister in a country that only this year granted women equal rights under the constitution. "I think it is about time we had capable women in that position," said Lomcebo Dlamini, director of the Swaziland branch of the non-governmental organisation, Women in Law in Southern Africa.

The maternity wing at Harare Central Hospital has been hit by a critical shortage of midwives, seriously compromising service delivery. Out of the required 158, only 41 are at work and are overwhelmed by work so much that they are finding it difficult to cope.

A recent draft health assessment of women's health in three regions of Namibia where the HIV prevalence rate is high has identified six diseases including HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and cancers as priority health issues affecting women. The Community Assessment of Women's Health care in Namibia, carried out in Khomas, Caprivi and Kavango was done on women who are HIV-positive and negative, untested women, community leaders and service providers during which it found that HIV, STIs various cancers, high blood pressure and tuberculosis are the most pressing of health issues that the women face.

In the period since the beginning of the 1990s, CODESRIA has been at the forefront of the quest to harness the efforts of African scholars in both extending the frontiers of knowledge production around issues of gender, and doing so in a manner that ensures that for as many scholars as are active in its networks and at other African sites of scholarly work, gender is integrated into their frames of analyses.

Freedom House released the first ever comparative assessment of women's rights in the Middle East and North Africa. The study offers a unique and critical analysis of the status of women in one of the most complex and important regions of the world.

The Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) has expelled 18 pregnant students. The university coordinator, Hajji Abbas Samaali, said the students, many of them in their first year, were expelled after an impromptu medical examination.

Country-specific, historical dictionaries abound in the field of African studies; yet reviewers of even recent editions of these dictionaries have highlighted the paucity of entries on women (see, for example, Gardinier 2001 and Reynolds 2001). To fill this void, Scarecrow Press has recently launched a new series on women in the world.

Liberia’s chief justice on Thursday (19 October 2006) rejected calls for the establishment of a special court to try rape cases following a United Nations report criticising the country’s high incidence of sexual violence and its weak judicial system. "There is no need for such a court right now as our court systems can handle those cases," Chief Justice Johnnie Lewis told reporters.

Botswana's indigenous minorities have expressed concern over President Festus Mogae's recent call to avoid joining organised ethnic cultural groups. In an address marking the country's 40 years of independence, Mogae said he was worried about the growing trend by some citizen groups, who claimed that their languages and cultures were being marginalised, to organise themselves into ethnic cultural groups.

In 2004 the United Nation’s World Health Organisation estimated there were 25,000 survivors of sexual violence in South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern province, but those working to rebuild shattered lives consider this a fraction of the real number. "I have no doubt that over 100,000 women have been raped in this province," said Christine Schuler-Deschryver.

At the Third Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July 2004, the Heads of State and Government adopted the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA) . The Declaration is an important African instrument for promoting gender equality and women's empowerment as it strengthens African ownership of the gender equality agenda and keeps the issues alive at the highest political level in Africa. To date only seven Member States have submitted their reports, namely: Algeria, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

Dr.Wanjiru Kihoro’s brave battle from the coma which she has been fighting since January, 24 2003 came to an end at 10pm on Thursday October 12 at Kenyatta National Hospital. Dr. Kihoro went into a coma following the Busia plane crash in which three people were killed. A distinguished economist, Dr. Wanjiru Kihoro graduated from Columbia University and went on to earn an MA in Development Studies and a PhD at Leeds University. Over the years she gained the respect and admiration of many for her dedication to matters of gender, equality, justice and democracy.

More women and girls than men continue to contract HIV, the virus that causes Aids due to among other things gender inequality, ministry of Women and Child Development has said. The ministry has since asked organizations in the HIV/Aids fight to mainstream gender issues as one way of reducing the further spread of the pandemic amongst women and girls.

The government has conceded that the law on adultery is discriminatory and unconstitutional. Principle State Attorney Patricia Mutesi representing the Attorney General in a petition filed against the government challenging various provisions of the law regarding adulterous acts, told a panel of five Constitutional Court Judges led by Justice George Engwau that section 154 of the Penal Code Act regarding adultery is unconstitutional.

The women of Somalia have a critical role to play in laying the foundation for sustainable peace in their war-torn nation by acting as a bridge between rival political movements and clans, says Asha Elmi, a member of Parliament of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

The Namibian Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Marlene Mungunda, has expressed concern over the slow pace of development of women in the country. She said women have a prolonged life of being disadvantaged especially when it comes to developmental issues.

Nearly 60 percent of women in Ethiopia is subject to sexual violence by a partner, a new UN report revealed yesterday. The report said violence against women persists at high rates around the world, and governments are not doing enough to prevent it.

Moslem women have been charged to exude effective 'Dawah' (calling towards the truth) in the ongoing month of Ramandan by exhibiting the characteristics of good deeds and dealings as mothers. This was in a day's seminar organized by the Federation of Moslem Women Associations in Ghana (FOMWAG) on the theme 'Effective Dawah in the month of Ramadan; the role of the Moslem woman".

Women's organisations are outraged by an opposition parliamentarian who urged the national assembly not to pass a bill aimed at stamping out domestic violence, because women were inferior to men. During debate on the Domestic Violence Bill, Timothy Mubhawu, member of parliament (MP) for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told parliament: "I stand here representing God the Almighty. Women are not equal to men."