A new study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Ministry of Planning and Reconstruction of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has shown that the condition of women and children in the country has not improved since the last such study was carried out in 1995.

This outstanding reference resource with 100 chapters brings together the latest information on theory, research, and social policy concerning the psychology of women and gender from leading experts in the social and behavioral sciences, and explore in-depth the cultural and political constructions of gender that influence the development and life experiences of women and men from diverse social, cultural, economic, and ethnic/racial groups.

Tanzania parliamentarian Ambassador Getrude Mongella has urged Kenyan women to fight it out with men in the political arena. The country still lacks a woman Cabinet Minister after 40 years of independence.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Cape Verdean government organised the 5th Conference of African female Ministers and Parliamentarians from October 15-18 2002 whose motto "Gender and HIV/AIDS: Reinforcement of National Response" aims to discuss the fight against HIV/AIDS, poverty and gender promotion.

A study report on Land, Gender and Poverty Eradication commissioned by the Ministry of Lands, Water and Environment revealed that unequal domestic land tenure relations contributed significantly to instability in families, thus customary protection for women has weakened contributing to large numbers of intra-familial disputes related to land.

The silence around HIV/AIDS has been surprising for the few HIV/AIDS activists present at the AWID (Association for Women's Rights in Development) 9th Conference in Mexico. Mainly voices of African women, and of those working in Africa, raised the issue of HIV/AIDS.

Actions that empower the poor, broaden their social and economic opportunities and reduce their vulnerability to disease, hunger, and disasters are the three key factors to eradicate poverty. This is also the primary focus of the Millennium Development Goals agreed by the international and national development communities.

Prostitution in South Africa should continue to be illegal, the country's Constitutional Court has ruled. A lower court had earlier declared that the Sexual Offences Act was unconstitutional because it discriminated against women and so should be scrapped.

Almost daily a steady stream of young girls queue at the check in of Addis Ababa international airport - destined for the Middle East. Smartly dressed, wearing makeup they laugh and joke with each other. All long for a new life abroad with promises of high wages and a good job. Yet for most that dream becomes a nightmare as they are forced into prostitution or a slave-like existence as housemaids working 20 hours a day without pay.

While the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) could be assumed to be making some headway in Africa, a unique case of the practice in Mauritania is of great concern. A study carried out recently on this female rite in that country reveals stunning facts about the communities' interpretation of the practice. Even more alarming is that the majority population, composed of four ethnic groups, undergo this practise.

The Strengthening Gender & Women's Studies for Africa's Transformation (GWS Africa) project web site is the first ever site, wholly dedicated to the promotion and development of Gender and Women's Studies on the African continent. The African Gender Institute has established www.gwsafrica.org in collaboration with the community of scholars currently engaged in gender studies all over the continent, and we invite ongoing dialogue and networking.

The Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre and Network looks at the challenges women face trying to access e-mail and Internet and innovative projects that provide ways for women to engage with and help develop ICT's and how they are used for development.

The Africa project is part of the IFP/SEED Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (WEDGE) unit. Participants in the Africa conferences will include ILO constituents, associations of women entrepreneurs, government departments, other support agencies and non governmental organizations.

The IRC seeks a Sexual & Gender Based Violence Program Coordinator for its Guinea program.

Rights groups in Swaziland are concerned that Swazi women who want to receive government scholarships must prove their loyalty to the Swazi way of life by showing that they subscribe to the maidens' chastity rules called "umcwasho".

They crossed the Atlantic Ocean, the gender gap and the digital divide on the way to success. Now a group of African women tech-entrepreneurs take on their next challenge: bringing it home.

Sociologists call it "cross-generational sex" -- older men choosing teenage girls as casual sex partners -- and it's become an astonishingly common practice in sub-Saharan Africa. These relationships are transactional in nature: The girls get clothes, school tuition, gifts -- sometimes it's just food or cheap plastic shoes -- in return for a sexual relationship. They also get AIDS.

The Johannesburg Implementation document that emerged from the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was not an action plan and contains few targets for implementation, many of which are reiterations of the Millennium Development Goals and other UN agreements. Nevertheless, progress was made on women's access to land, an issue of particular importance to women in Africa. For the first time in an official document, and due to concerted advocacy by the Women's Caucus, language is included that explicitly guarantees the right of women to inherit land, according to a report on the WSSD from the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO).

Women representing five regions in southern and central Somalia are holding a meeting in the town of Marka, 100 km south of the capital, Mogadishu. The three-day workshop, jointly sponsored by the UN Development Fund for Women and IIDA, a local women's NGO, opened on Monday.

National advocacy groups for the rights of handicapped women and children throughout the central Africa region have formed a federation that will be based in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo (ROC).