South Africa's first significant female-led political party was launched in South Africa by Patricia de Lille, a former trade unionist and leader of the Pan Africanist Congress. De Lille, one of the country's top ten most popular politicians, is taking the ruling African National Congress head-on with her Independent Democrats. Several surveys show that De Lille is a nationally recognizable politician with strong support across the racial and physical geographies of the country.

One of the most disturbing impacts of the HIV/ Aids pandemic is that, as more women die, the ratio of men to women has changed, Alan Whiteside, director of the University of Natal's Health Economics and HIV/Aids Research Division says. "The natural gender balance was that there were slightly fewer adult men than women. Now there is a ratio of 120 males to 100 females. This is social engineering like we have never seen before and it is a critical question no one has addressed."

The World Social Forum (WSF), initiated in 2000, is a historic development welcomed by progressive women and men world-wide. However, despite the presence of large numbers of women and significant feminist networks, feminism as both discourse and global movement remains marginal to the culture and politics of the WSF. The Forum needs feminism and feminists need initiatives like the WSF to make another world possible, argues this article on the website www.rabble.ca.

Early warning systems are playing an increasingly important role in identifying areas at risk of violent conflict. But do they include gender issues? How could gender-sensitive indicators form a part of information collection at the grassroots level? How can we ensure that political and humanitarian responses to crises better address the vulnerabilities specific to women and men?

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) launched a campaign on Tuesday to get more girls into primary school in West and Central Africa. "Hopes of improving education in this part of Africa have been shattered by a devastating set of social and economic ills, coupled with internal conflicts in several countries," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy.

The Executive Director of Africa Leadership Forum (ALF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Mr. Ayodele Aderinwale, said in Abuja this week that 58 per cent of HIV positive adults in Africa are women. Aderinwale made the remark at the beginning of a three-day regional conference on "Leadership Challenges for African Women" as part of a campaign mounted by ALF against HIV/AIDS.

The Ethiopian government has blasted the "pathetic" attitude towards women's rights in the country which it says is fuelling the AIDS epidemic. It warned that social and cultural factors such as polygamy and sexual violence were exacerbating the vulnerability of the nation's women.

Akina Mama wa Afrika will be holding the Eastern Africa sub regional African Women's Leadership Institute (AWLI) from September 22nd to 2nd October 2003, in Uganda. The AWLI aims to strengthen the personal and organisational capacities of young African women to influence policy and decision-making through training and networking. It serves as a networking, training and information dissemination forum for young women aged between 25-40 working on gender issues.

A website on women, children and HIV has been launched by The Francois-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Centre at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and the University of California San Francisco's Centre for HIV Information. "Women, Children, and HIV" contains a comprehensive, Internet-based library of practically applicable materials on mother and child HIV infection including preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT), infant feeding, clinical care of women and children living with HIV infection, and the support of orphans. With the launch of this site, crucial information about these rapidly changing and complex fields is now available in one site.

Somali women have been longing for a government that will guarantee them security and a sense of belonging. But their hopes were thwarted this week, when it emerged that Somali peace negotiators in neighbouring Kenya have failed to reach a consensus on a new government.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Women’s Assembly has called on the silent partners of Africa’s leaders to be quiet no more and to speak out against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Lucia Matibenga, chairperson of the MDC Women’s Assembly, said: “We call on Africa’s first ladies to speak to their husbands, and ask why are they watching the Zimbabwean crisis.”

One of Africa’s first ever national women’s coalitions aimed at combating HIV/AIDS has been formed. The coalition, made up of tens of thousands of women countrywide, is headed by some of the leading female figures in Ethiopian society.

Four percent to 29 percent of women in developing countries experience domestic violence during pregnancy, according to research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers report that violence during pregnancy is a major public health concern, because of the high rate of pregnancy in the developing world, and they call for more research to implement preventive policies.

It's been more than a year since Nigerian mother Amina Lawal was sentenced to death by stoning. The repeated postponement of her appeal has exacted its own toll, writes the author of this article, Festus Eriye, from Katsina, Nigeria.

Calling it a condition too unpleasant to discuss, a United Nations agency urged African nations on Wednesday to end the silence and confront one of the world's worst pregnancy-related disabilities. Girls and women suffering from obstetric fistula, a condition resulting from obstructed labour, endure an uncontrollable leakage of urine or feces that often means being shunned by their family.

Girls in Africa still face an uphill battle to go to and stay in school, while some struggle to be taken seriously and others face sexual harassment by male teachers. That is the conclusion of Professor Penina Mlama, the executive director of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), herself a former Dean of Students at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Eight women from Nuba Indigenous Ruya Association were on June 3 harassed and detained in questionable circumstances by government security organs here. According to a press release issued by Nairobi-based Nuba Relief, Rehabilitation and Development Organisation (NRRDO) on June 6, the women were among a delegation attending an All Nuba Women Conference in the Nuba Mountains (June 5-9), organised by Ruya Association (Kadugli), and NRRDO in Kauda.

They contribute over 70% of Africa's wealth from agriculture. But women still comprise 70% of the poorest in the world remaining the most vulnerable. Delegates from Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Eritrea and Uganda converged in Uganda from May 27 - 28 to deliberate the way forward in resolving the plight of African woman, focusing on gender responsive budgeting.

The IRC seeks a Sexual & Gender Based Violence Program Coordinator for its Guinea program. The Coordinator will prepare proposals, narrative reports and other written documentation, including budget information and monitoring; Assist in identifying and developing continuing education activities and supervision of existing staff; interviewing, hiring, training and supervision of new personnel; Develop and implement training materials for SGBV staff, and other target groups of the SGBV program ranging from community representatives to Guinean legal & judicial representatives.

Disturbed by the stereotype of a typical Swazi male as a misogynist and polygamist, Swazi men are determined to show the positive side of African male culture and are reconsidering their roles as husbands, fathers and family providers. "I don't think we knew how bad we were until we started reading news reports about the chauvinistic Swazi man," laughed labour union organiser Charles Mdluli, a member of the Swaziland Alliance of Men. "We are out to prove that Swazi culture provides for strong men who are still sensitive to others."