The aim of this Conference is to raise awareness on ICT amongst women in the Horn of Africa region and to explore opportunities for harnessing the technology to work as a tool for their development. The conference will provide an opportunity to hear what is happening on the ground for the purposes of learning and replication.

In this article, Riley analyzes the effectiveness of the United Nations system in defending women’s economic concerns. Her main focus is on the Outcomes Document resulting from the Beijing +5 meeting in 2000 which, she argues, does not adequately the concerns of women’s organizations who participate in these meetings. Thus, she advocates that women formulate a new economic agenda, one which accurately represents their concerns and which defines these concerns in terms of economic rights for all.

The Department of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda is organizing the Womens Worlds 2002, 8th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, making Uganda the first African country to host the congress. The congress will be held between the 21st - 26th July, 2002 at Makerere University Campus in Kampala, Uganda. The Women's Worlds 2002 Congress is inviting abstracts on the theme: Gendering Pleasure Possible topics include: The Pleasures and significance of reading poetry, novels etc; The pleasure and significance of closeness/touch/the body/sex; The pleasure of motherhood/parenting; Other pleasures from a historical/sociological/anthropological, religious or literary persepective.

The African Centre for Women, Information & Communications Technology

On 16 September 2001, the Swaziland government announced a five-year sex ban for young women in an attempt to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. This means that during the five-year period, young women will have to observe a five-year prohibition on sex which includes no shaking of hands with males, no wearing of pants and in addition, young women will have to wear woolen tassels (symbolizing their untouchability) wherever they go for the next five years. The age group targeted has not been clearly stated, but women who are in relationships and older than 19 years will be expected to wear red and black tassels, and those still virgins will wear blue with yellow. This new intervention will be policed by traditional chiefs who still rule over much of Swazi society. Anyone who fails to observe the rules would be fined 1,300 Emalangeni (about $152) or one cow.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) is looking to appoint a Gender Trainer and Co-ordinator and an Intern for its International Affairs Department to be based at its Head Office in Johannesburg.

A subregional conference on the protection of women and children in armed conflict in central Africa will be held from 14 to 16 Nov. in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa has announced.

The majority of African countries have had the political will to address gender issues and enhance the status of women in their societies, yet widespread poverty and inequality of women's access to assets remain particular problems to be addressed, K.Y. Amoako, the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), said in his opening address to a key meeting on women and development in Africa on 8 November.

Have you ever wondered why, despite the official denouncements and bans on female genital mutilation, the practice still persists?Where, for instance, do the perpetrators derive the confidence to violate the body, soul and mind of defenceless and innocent girls and women? And where does the buck stop? Is it at the doorstep of the parent who engineers and sanctions the act or the leaders who, for fear of losing the people's goodwill, turn a blind eye to it.

On Wednesday, November 7, Professor Paula Escarameia of Portugal and Ms. Xue Hanqin of China became the first women ever elected by the United Nations General Assembly to serve on the 55-year-old International Law Commission.

Critical voices about participatory initiatives have focused largely on mis-matches between overambitious aims and poor practice. Despite the aims of participatory development to involve people in development that affects them directly, surprisingly little attention is paid to understanding who wants to 'participate', what makes their participation possible, and what's in it for them. Often, participatory processes have left women on the sidelines, along with the gender issues that shape their lives. Combining gender awareness and participatory approaches can be used to unlock men and women's voices for gender redistributive change and gender-sensitive programme and policy development.

Domestic violence is the most common form of violence experienced by women worldwide. How does domestic violence affect women and children emotionally, psychologically and socially? Far from being a private, family affair, suggests a Save the Children report, domestic violence has wider repercussions for the whole community.

Have YOU experience of working on issues of gender violence or abuse within a school or community context? Do you know of an organisation, community or individual who has carried out innovative work or research on supporting boys, girls, men and women in ensuring that schools are safe and supportive environments where all children have an equal opportunity to learn? If you do, then we would like to support you by sharing your knowledge in the next Gender Violence newsletter. We are particularly keen to learn about initiatives from across the globe. Please contact Caroline Nicolson.

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's work on gender inequality is of seminal importance. His work on the theory of the household represents the household not as an undifferentiated unit, but as a unit of cooperation as well as of inequality and internal discrimination. Along with his academic collaborator Jean Drze, Professor Sen proposed and popularised the concept of "missing women" - estimated to exceed 100 million round the world - which has given us a new way of understanding and mapping the problem.

Gender training is central to gender and development (GAD) work in East Africa and Kenya. How vital are gender trainers in transforming the attitudes of men resistant to gender quality?

More and more Senegalese women are using the New Information and Communication Technologies to fight for equal rights and gender equality.

Angela King is the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. In an interview with IRIN, King discussed the role of women in conflict, peace and security. While acknowledging that women are frequently the victims of conflict, King argued that women are playing an increasingly important
part in its resolution in their roles as peace negotiators and peacekeepers.