A regional women's network based in Nairobi, Kenya is seeking to employ a Financial Administrator for a two year period. A three month probation period shall apply.

“I am a woman from Zimbabwe trying to confront my past and future, as my country sinks into chronic crises. I will introduce myself as Deborah Sibate, which is not my real name. I was born in the Western region of Zimbabwe, Mathebele land. I am 48-year-old mother, who urges for an impediment to be placed over the abuse of women rights in the land of my origin.”

The paper, produced by BRIDGE, argues that women, especially poor women, have been marginalised within the decision-making process of PRSPs at government and civil society level, and gender equality issues have been sidelined. One of the recommendations of the paper is to include the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data in order to enhance the development of gender-sensitive poverty reduction strategies. This should include strengthening the link between gender research and policy interventions.
Related Link:
* Do PRSPS address Gender? A gender audit of 2002 PRSPS
http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000306/P306_PRSP_Gender.pdf

Women could play a key role in peace-building and reconciliation, but this will not be possible without new imaginative interventions in areas such as justice and psycho-social health, and without a shift in gender power relations in many areas, says this paper from the Development Studies Institute.

In areas of war-affected southern Sudan, maternal death rates are as high as 865 per 100,000 births, compared to 550 per 100,000 in the rest of the country, according to a UNICEF-sponsored study. The study documents how underdevelopment, more than 20 years of war and inequalities in traditional power structures have left women in southern Sudan suffering some of the world's poorest quality of life indicators.

Exhilda Natogma (Not real name) is a nurse at a mission hospital of one of the popular Pentecostal churches in Madina a suburb of Accra, the capital city of Ghana. Exhilda fell in love with one of her church elders who was studying at a professional Institute in Accra. After six months of a hot romance, Exhilda discovered that she was pregnant and the Elder quickly suggested an abortion.

In the early hours of a cold morning, the streets of Lusaka are thronging with people rushing to work. I pass through a coffee shop on my way to the office and as I sip the hot brew my attention is drawn to two elderly women who work as sweepers for the Lusaka City Council (LCC). Eavesdropping in on their conversation, I soon discover that they are talking about the challenges that women continue to face in their pursuit of equality.

In South Africa, post-secondary education is a privilege, and many students currently enrolled in universities are the first in their families to reach for it. Degrees are also one of only a few tickets to upward mobility, and students endure enormous economic and personal pressures to graduate. "Campus cultures are places in which the stakes are high," says Dr Jane Bennett, gender researcher and director of the African Gender Institute, based at the University of Cape Town.

A new amendment to the 1998 Land Act in Uganda takes a small step toward women obtaining land rights. The issue is expected to remain on the national agenda, however, as candidates for president position themselves to gain the women's vote.

On 11 July 2003, the African Union adopted the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, a supplementary protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which was adopted in 1981. Advancing the human rights of African women through creative, substantive and detailed language, the new Protocol covers a broad range of human rights issues. For the first time in international law, it explicitly sets forth the reproductive right of women to medical abortion when pregnancy results from rape or incest or when the continuation of pregnancy endangers the health or life of the mother. In another first, the Protocol explicitly calls for the legal prohibition of female genital mutilation.

In other equality advances for women, the Protocol calls for an end to all forms of violence against women including unwanted or forced sex, whether it takes place in private or in public, and a recognition of protection from sexual and verbal violence as inherent in the right to dignity. It endorses affirmative action to promote the equal participation of women, including the equal representation of women in elected office, and calls for the equal representation of women in the judiciary and law enforcement agencies as an integral part of equal protection and benefit of the law. Articulating a right to peace, the Protocol also recognizes the right of women to participate in the promotion and maintenance of peace.

The broad range of economic and social welfare rights for women set forth in the Protocol includes the right to equal pay for equal work and the right to adequate and paid maternity leave in both private and public sectors. It also calls on states to take effective measures to prevent the exploitation and abuse of women in advertising and pornography. The rights of particularly vulnerable groups of women, including widows, elderly women, disabled women and "women in distress," which includes poor women, women from marginalized population groups, and pregnant or nursing women in detention, are specifically recognized.

Equality Now, an international human rights organisation, convened a meeting in January 2003 of African women's rights activists to facilitate a collective review of the draft and coordinated advocacy for the adoption of a text that would truly advance the rights of African women in international law. Subsequent concerted lobbying of African governments by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and networks all over Africa on a consensus text resulted in significant gains to the original draft. The Africa Office of Equality Now, based in Nairobi, acted as a liaison with the African Union to push for expert discussion of the Protocol as well as strong NGO representation in the process.

The final Protocol is indicative of the achievements that can be made when governments and civil society use their collective resources to advance the cause of human rights. "The adoption of this Protocol marks a significant step forward in promoting the rights of women within Africa and we hope lays the groundwork for further gains for all women around the world," said Faiza Jama Mohamed, Equality Now's Africa Regional Director.

Women unionists from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) met from 14 to 18 July in Maputo, Mozambique, to analyse gender policies in their countries. According to an Angolan official, because the Southern Africa Trade Unions (SATUC) does not have a gender policy as yet, discussion was based on the rate of accomplishment of the commitment of SADC's heads of State and Government to gender representation.

Are budgets and revenue systems as gender neutral as they may appear to be? Can gender be incorporated into economic governance? How can women and civil society organisations be more involved in preparing budgets, scrutinising expenditure and collecting and analysing macroeconomic data that is disaggregated by sex?

Gifti Abasiya is the State Minister for Women’s Affairs – one of the smallest ministries in Ethiopia. In this interview with IRIN, she says that discrimination is a result of undemocratic systems, and that widespread and deeply entrenched poverty is the key factor in fuelling arcane attitudes towards women.

The African Union's (AU) adoption of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa is a significant step in the efforts to promote and ensure respect for the rights of African women, says Amnesty International. Adopted on 11 July 2003, at the second summit of the African Union in Maputo, Mozambique, the Protocol, among others, requires African governments to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women in Africa and to promote equality between women and men.

This report looks at the gendered impact of HIV/Aids in Swaziland, and advocates the promotion of shared responsibilities for the prevention and care and to address the power relations and inequalities between men and women.

The Head of the Gender and Economic Reform in Africa (GERA) section of the Third World Network (TWN) Zo Randrianamaro has said women have a larger stake in the upcoming 5th ministrial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Cancun Mexico in September. This is because most WTO rules have had a greater negative impact on women than on men. Randrianamaro said the majority of people in Ghana and Africa at large who have been excluded from benefiting from the proceeds of WTO rules are women.

Women in northern Uganda live under fear of rape. The women and girls are victims of the long-running war between government troops and Mr Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army rebels. A new human rights report jointly released in Uganda and Canada appeals to the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to appoint a special envoy on the conflict. The report cites rape as a major concern amongst the women.

In the past, Somali women have not had a significant role in politics, but there are now signs that the trend is slowly changing. Although they only make up a small minority at the peace talks currently underway in Kenya - with 35 women out of 362 official delegates - this tiny step is seen as progress.

Tanzania still has a long way to go in achieving gender equality and cultures in some communities continue to force women to “marry” another woman in order to bear a son for inheritance purposes. This culture exists among the Kurya tribe in the country's North Western region of Mara bordering Kenya.

What are the links between women's access to water and to transport? How can transport services be reshaped to better meet women's needs? In societies with deeply-rooted gender roles, how can women be helped to participate more actively in decision-making processes affecting water and transport?