The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) has started a new Journal called The Africa Women’s journal. The Journal is bi-annual publication with current issues and statistics on women’s development issues in Africa. We invite contributors to send well researched and analytical articles on the theme: The African Women’s Decade (2010-2020): A Decade of Triumph for African Women. The article must have current statistics with clear referencing.

Have you ever walked past a car window and checked your reflection to make sure your hair looks just right? Perhaps spent an hour perfecting your make-up before you head out? Have you looked at Halle Berry's body and thought, "Ah, I wish I had that body?" I'm sure most women can relate to this constant quest to look good, but what is beauty -- just what does looking good mean today? Considering this is Women's Month in South Africa, I decided now was a good time to find out exactly what kind of woman I want to be.

A day after Kenyans voted to accept a new constitution, women across the country speak about their hopes and expectations.??The case of Elizabeth Chazima could stand for the story of millions of women in Kenya who have been robbed of their financial contributions to matrimonial assets. Speaking from her modest grocery store in Jericho Estate, Nairobi, Chazima recounts how in the early 1990s, her husband sold the house they had bought together without her knowledge.

‘Women should refuse to die or live in abject poverty or endure violence: They should be angry, mobilising and taking to the streets to demand concrete actions which will improve their lives and the wellbeing of their children.’ Marie-Claire Faray, vice president of UK WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) speaks to Pambazuka News about the African Women’s Decade and what women – and men – can do to help fulfil its promise to defend women's rights and reduce gender inequality.

This Women’s Day the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP) would like to commemorate not only the women's march to the Union Buildings on the 9th of August but also the consistent and varied struggles that women in this country have fought. Women in South Africa have asserted their independence and challenged racism and patriarchy in many ways that are often forgotten or ignored. For example it was black women, often single, who fought against imposed municipal beer halls and led struggles in the locations. Between 1920 and 1950 it was women who formed the core of the most successful unions and often served as their leadership. This history for survival and independence in addition to the protests around passes being extended to black women are only snippets of consistent and varied struggles.

The fight to stop violence against women in Africa must diverge from the dominant Western feminism that implants alien perspectives and methods into an African struggle, writes Jenn Jagire. Jagire urges Africa’s feminists to regain agency and ‘deEuropeanise’ African feminism, avoiding perpetuating neo-colonial mentalities and development models that see Africa's women as victims rather than the drivers of their own destiny.

Police in Bulawayo have arrested 15 girls from Evelyn High, a girls only public school here for engaging in homosexual activities. Homosexuality is illegal in Zimbabwe, and some individuals have been prosecuted and convicted for their sexual orientation, including former president Canaan Sodindo Banana.

Every 17 seconds a woman is raped in South Africa. According to the South African Police Services’ 2006 rape statistics, close to 55 000 women reported being raped that year. But how many more rapes go unreported, and why? Put yourself in a rape survivor’s shoes just for a minute. After experiencing an extremely traumatic ordeal, what would you do? Would you go to the police station, seek medical attention or do nothing and hope to forget about it? Often, these are some of the questions that linger in the mind of a rape survivor. Every 17 seconds a woman is raped in South Africa. It is also estimated that 1 in 9 adult women report being raped.

A recent decision by the UK Supreme Court found that a gay man would "face a well-founded fear of persecution" if he returned to Cameroon. The Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal's decision that this Cameroonian man could return and conceal his identity to avoid persecution. News outlets quoted Cameroon's communications minister, Issa Tchiroma, as saying, "No homosexual is persecuted in Cameroon." The cases below prove that the UK Supreme Court got it right and that the minister might be unaware of what is happening in his country.

Violence against women is a worldwide crisis, and a bill scheduled to come before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, the International Violence against Women Act, would improve the way US foreign assistance is provided to address such violence. The US Violence against Women Act and several reauthorizations created critical funding, strategies, and structures to prevent violence against women and girls and to support survivors.

Human rights activists in Egypt have expressed concern following allegations that a woman was raped by two police officers. She took the unusual step of appearing on television to give an interview about her ordeal. The woman claims that the rape took place on a deserted rural road in the Nile Delta, north of Cairo.

As we commemorate South Africa National Women's Day, Gender Links spoke to ordinary women about the challenges they face every day. In an accompanying story, Doreen Gaura writes that the link between many women's organisations and the realities of women's every day lived experience has become tenous. She spoke to women from informal settlements about the issues that matter to them. This photo essay documents their conversation.

We are now in August, that special month set aside to celebrate the achievements of women in South Africa. But I'm not so sure we should be pouring champagne just yet. It is also during this month that we commemorate the day on which 20,000 women marched on the Pretoria Union Buildings 54 years ago to protest the extension of passes restricting freedom of movement during the apartheid government.

AMwA will be holding a Sierra Leone National African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI) on the theme, “Reclaiming Our bodies: Women’s Leadership and Movement Building on Gender Based Violence and Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Conflict and Post Conflict Africa”, that is scheduled to take place from 3rd – 16th October, 2010 in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Unlike schools and offices in South Africa, the criminal gangs along the border between the World Cup hosts and Zimbabwe did not take a break because of a sports tournament. As thousands of foreign fans flocked to the football stadiums and hundreds of journalists arrived to cover the first African World Cup, along the border another influx of foreigners received a different sort of welcome. They were not met with bright green and yellow flags and vuvuzelas, instead, these foreigners faced armed attacks and a pattern of sexual violence employed systematically to traumatise already vulnerable people.

The Refugee Law Project seeks a Gender Researcher to lead in Gender Research component of the Beyond Juba Project. S/he should be able to demonstrate field research experience as well as group facilitation skills, and be conversant with concepts of gender, masculinities, sexual & gender based violence. A Masters degree in a related field is desirable.

In 70 days time, writes Brenda Kombo, the African Union will launch, in collaboration with the Kenya government and civil society organisations, the AU African Women's Decade 2010-2020. African governments will need to go beyond mere paper endorsements and deliver fully on their commitments to gender equality.

Various Civil Society Organisations have called on the South African government to withdraw a homophobic statement made by SA representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva 16 June 2010 ,calling it “insensitive” to the persecution of Lesbian Gays, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people and contrary to South Africa’s constitution which is opposes discrimination.

GALZ have welcomed the acquittal of one of their employee Ignatius Mhambi, on the charge of allegedly being in possession of “pornographic material” this just days, after Zimbabwe’s first Lady Grace Mugabe coined homosexuality as “taboo and satanic”. Chesterfield Samba, Director of GALZ said “the Judge on her finding said Magistrate Mupindu who presided over the matter said that there was no prima facie evidence to prove the essential element of the case which, are possession of the pornographic material in question.”

Celou Dalein Diallo gained a significant advantage over Alpha Condé, his main rival for the Guinean presidency, when a third candidate said he would back Diallo in a second round of voting in August. But what has become of women candidates for high political office in this West African country? Saran Daraba Kaba, the first and only woman candidate for president, finished a distant 22nd of the 24 candidates who took part in the first round of voting on Jun 27, garnering only 0.11 percent of the vote.