Ikhaya (Home) is a part of the Photo XP community project supported by Greatmore studios, co-facilitated by Zanele Muholi and Lindeka Qampi. All featured participants are members of Freegender. It is a collection of 60 hours of photographic memories that were taken in different areas of Khayelitsha. The photographs were taken by seven women. Six of them were unemployed and one a part-time worker. All of them are black lesbians between 21 and 31 years of age, from various places within and outside of Khayelitsha.

The Malawi government will not arrest two lesbians who got engaged recently in Blantyre because the law on homosexuality is currently under review, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Ralph Kasambara has said. 'Right now the two women will not be arrested or prosecuted, the reason is that the law under which they could have been arrested and consequently prosecuted is under review,' said Kasambara.

The Swaziland writer at the centre of a gay hate speech storm has been suspended by his newspaper. The Times of Swaziland acted against Qalakaliboli Dlamini when an ‘unprecedented’ number of readers complained at his article last week attacking homosexuals. Times Sunday editor Innocent Maphalala told his readers, ‘As Editor, I also take full responsibility for publication of the said article and unreservedly apologise to all our readers who found it in bad taste.’

President Joyce Banda has said she wants to repeal Malawi's laws against homosexual acts, going against a trend in Africa in which gays are being increasingly singled out for prosecution. Banda, who assumed the presidency in April when her predecessor died, made the announcement in her first state of the nation address. 'Indecency and unnatural acts laws shall be repealed,' she said. But repealing a law requires a parliamentary vote, and it is unclear how much political support Banda would have for sweeping changes in this impoverished and conservative nation in southern Africa.

Algeria's legislative election saw women take almost a third of the seats, making the national assembly the most gender-balanced in the region but activists say the battle is far from won. According to official results made public Wednesday, 143 of the enlarged national assembly's 462 seats will be occupied by women, up from a representation of only seven per cent in the outgoing house.

On 17 May 2012, Trans Support Initiative Uganda (TSI-U), a Transgender and Intersex Organization in Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. 'We take this day to remember all the injustice, violence, discrimination and murders that have already occurred to colleagues, relatives and friends. It has not been long since we lost our very own David Kato because of homophobia, Aunt Victoria from Tanzania because of transphobia, the denial to access of medical services more especially HIV/Aids drugs to people like Beyonce and the closure of human rights workshops denying already marginalized people access to information.'

UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet has announced the members of her Global Civil Society Advisory Group that will facilitate regular consultations and dialogue between civil society and UN Women. The establishment of UN Women Civil Society Advisory Groups at the global, regional and national levels was announced earlier this year at the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

The twelfth volume of Gender, Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African Countries is published by the Statistics Department of the African Development Bank Group. The publication also provides some information on the broad development trends relating to gender, poverty and environmental issues in the 53 African countries.

‘I’ve dedicated my entire life to documenting queer lives. I wanted to make sure I document (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) lives. All my major projects are gone.’ -Zanele Muholi, Cape Town

Are you a Kenyan based community women’s rights activist aspiring to strengthen and develop new knowledge and skills in movement building? Then the forthcoming Women’s Rights Movement Building Boot Camp organised by Fahamu is for you. This one-week learning camp will develop knowledge and praxis on community organizing strategies, theories of change and much more. Follow this link for more details about the application process

Female protesters continue to participate in pro-democracy demonstrations that remain deadly more than a year after President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown. Primary school teacher Reham El Hakim, for instance, was on the front lines on 5 May when the 12th person was killed during demonstrations against the military government in Abbasaiya. It's now commonplace, however, to hear people say that the military government and Islamic politicians, who did not at first approve of the anti-Mubarak demonstrations, have 'hijacked' the revolution, reports

On 7 May, police authorities in the Ugandan city of Gulu – a city located approximately 320km north of Kampala by road with 150,000 inhabitants – ‘dropped by’ a sex worker drop-in centre. They raided the small office and arrested two staff and three members of the Women’s Organization Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA), a duly-registered group that runs the centre. 'We find this to be an attack on WONETHA and sex workers’ freedom of association, assembly, speech and expression, and we strongly protest against this,' says a release by Macklean Kyomya, WONETHA’s Executive director.

When it comes to inheritance in Africa, patriarchal systems often receive criticism from women and women’s rights advocates. But members of Cameroon’s Balue tribe say that their matrilineal inheritance system is actually worse. Not only can women not inherit property, but it also passes land and belongings out of the immediate family and into the extended family, reports Global Press Institute.

The Talking Box is an initiative for girls in Nairobi’s Kibera slum that invites students to write down concerns that they are afraid to discuss with their teachers or parents. According to this article from Global Press Institute, educators say it’s reducing school dropouts and improving academic performances.

Women’s rights in Morocco have come under the spotlight recently after a young woman was assaulted in a Rabat market by people she called 'Salafists', or ultra-conservative Islamists. She said she was accosted by the men because of the short dress she was wearing. Other witnesses were reported by the Magharebia news portal as saying the girl was attacked with stones and beaten after the assailants said the dress was 'too revealing'.

Egypt’s liberal leaning Free Egyptians Party declared its support for the calls and demands by women’s rights organizations and NGOs in the country, which have called for woman’s rights. The party also said it stands against 'the phenomenon of sexual harassment' and called for the passing of a law criminalizing the act. The party condemned in a statement on Sunday the 'shameful stance of the female parliament members of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), who stand against a woman’s right to defend herself and refuse to condemn the man who assaulted the woman and only blame the society and the woman, who is the victim.'

At the recent Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) international forum on economic rights, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights advocates from around the world highlighted the urgent need to link economic justice and LGBT rights. As one representative of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission noted, the United States LGBT rights movement has focused largely on civil and political issues, including hate crime legislation, partnership benefits, gay marriage, and repeal of the shameful military policy 'Don't Ask/Don't Tell'. The link between economic justice and LGBT rights, however, in both the United States and abroad, has received considerably less attention.

Egypt’s New Women Foundation said they are suing Islamist Parliament member Azza al-Garf over her pro-female genitals mutilation (FGM) statements. The women’s rights foundation sent a letter to the speaker of parliament Saad al-Katatny, informing him of legally going after Garf and asking for his permission to be allowed to take the MP to court. The parliament needs to lift immunity for an MP in order for them to be held accountable in a court of law.

South Africa’s LGBTI community has reacted strongly against a statement made by ANC MP and Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA (Contralesa) president Patekile Holomisa on the rights of gays and lesbians. Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW) questioned whether the National House of Traditional Leaders knew that their comments constitute hate speech. In a press release FEW added, 'As the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community we are enraged that traditional leaders are making such careless statements. It is such a betrayal when a body that is supposed to protect the rights of people turns around and proposes an amendment of those very rights to exclude people from the constitution. We have a constitution to protect the rights of everyone, not just those of the majority.'

Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy has sparked controversy and debate over an article she wrote contending that women have not yet benefitted from the revolution and the women’s revolution won’t begin 'until the rage shifts from the oppressors in our presidential palaces to the oppressors on our streets and in our homes'. Critics have argued that while oppression does exist, her analysis is simplistic and irresponsible as it uses 'Orientalist' arguments to defame Arabic culture and serves a neo-colonial agenda of the 'white man'. In a blogpost, journalist and activist Mona Kareem called on Western media to highlight the voices of other Arab women for an accurate picture of 'Arab feminism'.