This study, published in Demographic Research, examines the extent to which women have control over their sexuality within marriage in Lagos, Nigeria, and its implications for the spread of HIV. Findings from the study show that women have some control over their sexuality, such as during menstruation, breastfeeding, pregnancy and sickness. However, only a few women could negotiate with their husbands to insist on safe sexual practices. Other findings demonstrate that improved socio-economic status increases the likelihood of a woman asserting her reproductive rights; and 18 per cent of those interviewed reported multiple sexual partners.

This report assesses the UNHCR age and gender mainstreaming pilot project launched in 2004. It provides a strategic overview of the pilot project experience, drawing out findings, good practice, lessons learnt and recommendations for the future. In particular it documents specific learning in terms of the MFTs (Multi-Functional Team), partnership working, methodology, leadership in the field and at headquarters, ownership and accountability. The age and gender mainstreaming pilot involves a massive organisational change exercise.

Latin American, African and Asian countries have vowed to act to improve the lives of women in the Third World. Members of the Non-Aligned Movement of nations ended their first ever summit on women's rights in Kuala Lumpur by signing a new protocol. The Putrajaya Declaration pledges to do more to protect women from violence, improve their health and education and give them a greater political voice.

Women Organisations For Representative National Conference (WORNACO), an umbrella organisation founded with a mission to dismantle all structures and barriers that promote discrimination against women in Nigeria, recently held a one-day strategic meeting to discuss their engagement with the Confab and to also set agenda for the proposed Women's Summit slated for June 2005. The Convener of WARNACO, Professor Jadesola Akande, Executive Director Women, Law and Development Centre Lagos (WLDCN), chaired the meeting held at the Women Development Centre Lagos, which brought together forty-five participants representing organisations from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.

The National Women's Coalition will be hosting an important conference on June 16th and 17th to discuss, among other issues:
- Deliberate on our successes
- Review our challenges in the last three years including funding and the NGO Bill
- Identify opportunities in the operating environment
- Design strategies to manage our diversity
- Work towards the creation of a mass movement of women
- Design strategies for working with donors to encourage fairer funding practices
- Designed strategies to make ourselves more effective and stronger
- Selection of an Steering Committee for the Women’s Coalition
- Brainstorm a broad agenda for the women’s movement in the next three years
If you'd like to attend and get involved please write to Netsai Mushonga at [email protected] for more information. (SOURCE: www.kubatana.net)

This paper from ActionAid International states that while UK supermarket giant Tesco has commitments to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and an Ethical Trading Initiative baseline code, workers on South African farms supplying the company are paid below the minimum wage, are exposed to pesticides, suffer from food insecurity and are trapped in dismal housing. Action Aid calls for the adoption of new standards at the UN (the UN Human Rights Norms for Business) to establish legal obligations for companies to respect and secure the human rights of all workers within a company's sphere of influence.

UNDP and UNIFEM have begun working together in Rwanda to open up access to ICTs for women and girls, and to empower them through the use of ICTs, to improve their social and economic rights and build a more secure economic
future for themselves and their families. As the first pilot project of the Digital Diaspora initiative, the Rwanda project is using the technical and market knowledge of Africans in the Diaspora to build the capacity of women’s business-oriented organisations to use ICTs to promote business linkages and influence policy-making, in order to situate women’s issues and concerns at the centre of efforts to reduce poverty.

Enda-Pronat together with the National Network of Rural Women of Senegal organised this three-day workshop entitled 'Women, Rural Radios and New Information and Communication Technologies' with the support of the Dimitra Project and the Rural Radios Service and WAICENT Capacity Building and Outreach Branch from FAO. The workshop is one of the follow-up actions mentioned in the recommendations of the Thies 2003 workshop to help build the information and communication capacities of the National Network of Rural Women of Senegal and it enabled the creation of synergies and strengthening of links with community radios.

Although the recent appointment of a female vice-president is seen as a positive step, gender lobbyists in Zimbabwe continue to agitate for more women in public office. Since the legislative elections in March 2005, women now represent just 16 percent in parliament, up from 10.6 percent. However, the figure falls far short of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) declaration in 1997, which agreed to a 30 percent target for female representation in national political bodies by 2005. Gender rights groups said the ruling ZANU-PF party had reneged on a campaign promise to have a third of its seats in parliament filled by women.

Refugee women are particularly at risk from HIV/AIDS, but relief organisations often see gender and HIV/AIDS as development issues that are not their responsibility. If they do run HIV/AIDS prevention programmes, they may be secondary to shelter and feeding programmes. The gender inequality fuelling the pandemic remains unchallenged.

This paper from the Drylands Coordination Group in Norway looks at the links between gender and HIV/AIDS and food security. It aims to address the challenges that HIV/AIDS and gender inequality pose to development efforts in relation to food security in Ethiopia, in particular on the coping mechanisms related to food security among men and women suffering from HIV/AIDS.

The old Somali adage, "A mother's purpose is to be a cook, laundrywoman, nurturer and wife to her husband," describes to some degree the traditional role of the women in Somaliland. That role was radically altered by the Somali civil war of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Traditionally, Somali men were the providers of their families' basic needs. However, when the civil war erupted, thousands of them were killed, maimed or exiled. In the aftermath of the war, the task of caring for the thousands of families in Somaliland fell to the women, who had to take on the dual role of father and mother in their homes.

The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is sponsoring an action-research project that will explore and analyze key trends in funding for women's rights work over the last 10 years. We will explore the causes and impacts of these trends and use this information to answer a fundamental question: What strategies will mobilize more resources for women's rights in the years to come? A critical part of the research is a brief survey that will help us understand your experiences and the funding trends that have affected your organization. Please take a few minutes before May 13 to complete this survey by going to http://surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=324481014000

Shortly before President Olusegun Obasanjo inaugurated the National Political Reform Conference (NPRC), there were great expectations among women that the era of discrimination against them would soon be a thing of the past. This was particularly hinged on the fact that gender inequality limits the ability of women to assert their rights and be co-partners with men in the politics and governance of the nation. Two months into the conference, their agitation has gathered momentum. But how far can this agitation go? asks Ndubuisi Ugah, who was at a conference organised by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC).

Governments have attempted to mitigate the effects of high unemployment in various ways, particularly through targeted interventions such as public works programmes. The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) of the South African government aims to address unemployment by creating labour intensive jobs through government expenditure. This paper pays specific attention to a project of the Working for Water (WfW) programme - the Tsitsikama project. Both the EPWP and the WfW focus strongly on the employment of women, and given the reality of women's position within South Africa, this paper conducts a gender analysis of this WfW project.

Rape, incest and other forms of violence against women reign in Kambiti, a small shopping centre in the Central Province of Kenya. The background information the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) had before starting a project to create awareness on violence against women little prepared us for the lessons we have learnt in the last seven months. The AMWIK project sought to utilise information and communication technology to disseminate information on gender based violence to the Kambiti community and adjacent areas.

Domestic HIV/AIDS-related laws and policies in Southern African countries are not adequately addressing the rights of women and girls, according to HIV/AIDS advocates who attended an Oxfam America event last Thursday in Johannesburg, South Africa, Inter Press Service reports. Studies in Southern Africa have shown that regional and international human rights agreements have not been "adequately applied or incorporated" into domestic HIV/AIDS-related laws, especially those regarding the protection of young women, Jacqueline Bataringaya, an HIV/AIDS consultant for Oxfam in Southern Africa, said.

"I well realize that this is a conference on women’s global health, and everything I’m about to say will apply to that generic definition. But the more I thought of the subject matter, the more I want to use HIV/AIDS in Africa as a surrogate for every international issue of women’s health, partly because it’s what I know best; partly because it’s an accurate reflection of reality. I’ve been in the Envoy role for four years. Things are changing in an incremental, if painfully glacial way. It’s now possible to feel merely catastrophic rather than apocalyptic. Initiatives on treatment, resources, training, capacity, infrastructure and prevention are underway. But one factor is largely impervious to change: the situation of women. On the ground, where it counts, where the wily words confront reality, the lives of women are as mercilessly desperate as they have always been in the last twenty plus years of the pandemic."

It is estimated there are between 10,000 - 20,000 Nigerian prostitutes working in Italy today. Almost all come from Edo state in southern Nigeria. As yet, no research has been done into why so many come from this one state, but the route may have originally been established by Nigerian women who came over to southern Italy to harvest tomatoes during the 1980s. But it's often not until they arrive in Italy that they are told that they will have to prostitute themselves in order to pay off the debt.

Despite its noble intentions, the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) 2001-2003 policy strategies have not adequately addressed the constraints that women and other poor groups face, a report has revealed. The report titled: ‘Engendering Uganda's poverty Eradication initiatives’, dated May 2003 says that the taxation system is of a greater burden to women and other disadvantaged groups contrary to providing an enabling environment to escape from poverty. Taxes listed include graduated personal tax, fees, licenses and market charges among others.