UNICEF and The Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) at the New School University would like to announce a call for papers for an International Conference that will promote Social Policies for Children, Women and Family. The three-day Conference will be held from April 28th – 30th, 2004 (see time-line below) at the New School University in New York. The papers at the Conference will present analytical and policy papers on the progressive realization of human rights and children's, women's, and family well-being issues based in the use of household data, especially Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).

The relationship between African women and feminism is a contentious one. Embedded in this connection is the question of whether sisterhood - a mantra assuming a common oppression of all women and signifying feminist international/cross-cultural relations - describes the symbolic and functional representation of African women. In this book, the contributors confront the issues raised by the (mis)representation of African women by both Black and White American feminists.

In her book, Aspects of Feminism and Gender in the Novels of Three West African Women Writers, Edith Kohrs-Amissah revisits the Third World or African feminist debate on feminist theoretical conceptualisation, naming, and identity. She does this by testing the theoretical contributions of leading scholars like ‘Molara Ogundipe-Leslie, Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi, and others against selected works of Ama Ata Aidoo, Buchi Emecheta and Amma Darko.

Women in parliament, civil society, and government have created crosssectoral initiatives and are beginning to play a significant role in post-conflict governance. Their participation is increasingly recognized as critical to the long-term security and stability of the country. Amid the complexity that characterizes Rwanda today, these are important developments, says the executive summary of a report by the Women Waging Peace Policy Commission.

Drawing on qualitative field-based research and quantitative survey data, “From Combat to Community: Women and Girls of Sierra Leone” produced by Women Waging Peace assesses how consideration of gender issues can improve Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) processes and documents the contributions of women in official and civil society-based reintegration programs.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing a number of problems in recent years. This is due to both man-made and natural causes leading to human suffering and at times death. The major problems can be traced back to the rejection of a government sponsored constitutional reform that was followed by “fast track” land reform as the government blamed commercial farmers for its demise.

Finger pointing, chaos, violence, and destabilization of the political and socio-economic environment followed this process. Civic society and the international community responded by putting pressure on the government to respect the rule of law, central to the Abuja agreement brokered by Nigeria and South Africa. To worsen matters, Zimbabwe experienced a serious drought in the 2001/02 agricultural season.

The combined effect of the above mentioned problems resulted in, predictably, serious problems of food shortages, unemployment of over 70 %, high inflation of over 525,8 %, increased poverty of over 80 % of the population living below the poverty line and lack of foreign currency.

The most affected by this crisis have been the poor, especially in rural communities. Their only means of livelihood is subsistence agriculture. Hence, the drought dealt a big blow to their welfare since they now have to rely on a very imperfect and unreliable market for supply of food and other basic commodities. Food inflation continues to rise despite the Government's efforts to arrest it with price controls and price freezes. This, obviously, has serious gender implications. Women, children, the disabled, terminally ill and the elderly have to bear the biggest burden. In rural Zimbabwe a lot of households are female headed as the husbands are employed in urban areas. This means the mothers have to fight a lone battle in providing for the family and the father is not available to fend for the day-to-day needs of the family.

Some traditions and customs in the Zimbabwean culture expose children, particularly girls, to abuses. For example, practices like kuzvarira, which literally means swapping the girl child for food to save a starving family, condemns the girl to perpetual suffering. She is forced to marry early and is therefore denied a chance to prepare for her future through attending school. The marriage is often to a very old husband – not of her choice – and it is mostly polygamous, making life a living hell for the young girl. Those who don't find themselves in this predicament may still suffer in different ways. Some are forced to drop out of school as resources run dry in the family. Child labour is rampant in the country and is actually rising due to food shortages.

Some women and girls walk into loveless, unplanned marriages due to desperation. Their aim is to escape starvation but, unfortunately, they expose themselves to abuses by their husbands who can take advantage of their desperation at will. Prostitution becomes another option for others who fail to make ends meet. Hunger knows neither limits nor dignity and induces reckless and dangerous behaviour.

The forced marriages and prostitution put women in danger of contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD), or worse still HIV/AIDS. This partly explains why HIV/AIDS cases have been on the increase in the country. In fact, the district hospital in Insiza district reported an increase in cases of STDs and HIV/AIDS related aliments amongst girls as young as 12 years old. More and more people are going to die due to food shortages as rational behaviour has been suspended. Desperation is now leading them to take dangerous or risky decisions.

Unscrupulous business people have been quick to take advantage of the suffering people, making matters even worse. The writers of this report witnessed a pathetic situation in rural Zimbabwe (Chiendambuya in Makoni district) where a miller approved to mill and sell maize meal at controlled prices by the Grain marketing Board was selling the product at nearly double the price. Not only was he overcharging, but was selling off his truck in the bush. The people - estimated to be 90 % women - had to wrestle for the scarce commodity and each time the driver thought the situation was getting out of hand he would drive away for a distance of about a kilometre.

The poor villagers - comprised of the elderly, the disabled, pregnant, sick and those carrying babies - would race each other to the truck where they would buy on a “first come first serve” basis. It was a sorry sight to see people undertake such a physically demanding exercise. This is a typical survival of the fittest scenario where vulnerable groups like women are obvious losers. The few who are young and energetic outrun the vulnerable, thus buying most of the food, since they were able to catch up with the lorry and join the queue more than once.

Each day, mostly women and children are seen in queues as early as 4am at retail and wholesale outlets in anticipation of deliveries which usually do not come. Often they go back home empty handed, depressed and dejected, yet continue to hold hope that one day Zimbabwe will be back on track as the food basket for Southern Africa.

Zimbabweans can no longer afford to buy basic food stuffs in the shops as the rate of inflation has continued to escalate with the latest figure rising by 70,2% from 455,6% in September to 525,8 percent in October 2003. (The Herald of November 20 2003). To overcome these hardships, people are engaging in illegal activities. Some are selling gold on the black market and illegally exporting it to neighbouring countries. Others are doing fuel deals and some have joined the money lending business where the poor are being exploited with interest rates in the range of 30 – 80% per month. Also the banks have significantly increased their borrowing rates, which range from 129 to 169% per annum. Therefore this will mean that the rich will be the richest and the poor will be the poorest. It is the hope of every Zimbabwean that the National budget to be tabled in Parliament today – November 20 2003, will come up with favourable solutions to revive the economy.

* The author, who lives and works in Zimbabwe, did not want her real name used for political reasons.

* Please send comments on this editorial - and other events in Africa - to

African women still have a long way to go to break through the glass ceiling in the largely male-dominated worlds of business and politics, but in the field of conservation in Africa, women are making important breakthroughs. While women have been involved in African conservation for decades, traditionally the focus has been on species conservation. Today, women are getting involved in all aspects of African conservation from community involvement to policymaking and funding.

The decision of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) to end their relationship with their American counterpart in protest at the recent consecration of Canon Gene Robinson, a confessed homosexual, as bishop of New Hampshire, is irrevocable as it has received the official stamp of the House of Bishops.

Officers from a leading legal support network for women in Uganda have commended the government's recent approval of the controversial Domestic Relations Bill. Annette Tendo, advocacy officer for FIDA-Uganda, said the bill "addresses a range of issues we have been concerned about for a number of years".

The "16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women" Campaign has been an organizing strategy by individuals and groups from around the world to call for the elimination for all forms of violence against women. 16 Days of Activism is a specific time to focus on the issues of violence against women and children, but every day provides a new opportunity for communities to stop violence in the society. Visit the website for the full programme in Ghana.

Reports show that the human rights situation in Cameroon is extremely poor which is especially detrimental to the most vulnerable groups of society, such as women. An analysis of the legal and socio-economic and political status of women in Cameroon shows the link between the high levels of violence against women in Cameroon and their low status in all aspects of life. This is according to The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), which has expressed its concern regarding violence against women in Cameroon at the 31st Session of the UN Committee against Torture.

Have we neglected the gender dimensions of conflict over natural resources (NR)? Are women's capacities to analyse and resolve NR disputes sufficiently recognised? Can women's rights to participate in NR management be affirmed in a way that is not confrontational? How could women be integrated into peace-making and reconciliation initiatives?

Women now comprise 30 percent of Swaziland's legislature, following King Mswati's appointments of new MPs and Senators. For a traditional nation where women are still legal minors, this accomplishment is impressive. The only question asked by political observers is: Should credit not go to Swaziland's neighbours that comprise the 14 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)? “It is SADC protocol that all nations aligned in the organisation must have a 30-percent quota of women legislators,” Doo Aphane, national director for the Swaziland branch of Women in Law for Southern Africa, told IPS.

There are nearly as many women as men in Rwanda's two legislative chambers, making the central African country a world leader in gender balance in political representation and decision making. Women won 45 per cent of seats in the September elections, including 39 out of 80 seats in Parliament and six out of 20 seats in the Senate.

Until at least the early 1990s, most forms of violence directed specifically against women were met with silence not only by the state but also by much of the human rights community. In this edition of Human Rights Dialogue, downloadable for free, activists and practitioners from around the world discuss how women’s rights activists are using human rights instruments to combat violence against women and, in turn, how the human rights movement is being enlarged and enriched by their approach.

Chileshe Banda is an 18-year-old Zambian living in the capital Lusaka. According to research, her chances of becoming infected with the HIV virus are about five times greater than those of one of her male friends.

U.N. officials and activists recently marked the anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security by highlighting the contributions women are making to national reconciliation and the role Resolution 1325 plays in promoting that goal. The resolution, adopted by the Security Council in 2000, calls on the secretary general and states to enhance the role of women in conflict resolution, "incorporate a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations" and "put an end to impunity" for crimes against women.

The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is hosting a 4-week e-based discussion to find out what young women are currently thinking about reproductive technologies. We invite all interested young women to provide their perspectives and insights into this discussion, which will be co- hosted by AWID's Young Women and Leadership program and the Gender Equality and New Technologies program.

Meaza Ashenafi founded the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) in 1995, of which she is still the executive director. After returning to Ethiopia from the US, where she received the Hunger Project Award – known as the African Nobel Prize – for representing women in Ethiopia, she told IRIN about the difference her organisation has made in ensuring women’s rights, but also why Ethiopia is still an extremely difficult country to live in as a woman.

Nigerian police say its intelligence reports indicate that 6,000-15,000 children trafficked from Benin are being used as child labourers in Nigeria. The largest concentration is believed to be in the southwest states of Ogun, Lagos, Oyo, Ondo and Osun. Most of them work in cocoa farms.