With its emphasis on gender equality, the South African constitution is regarded as a great example for many other developing countries. Yet, despite laws intended to protect the rights of women like the Sexual Abuse Act and the Domestic Violence Act, women in the country still suffer indignities at the hands of police and in court. Lisa Vetten, a policy analyst at the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, an organisation that protects the rights of women, has been fighting for the rights of women for most of her life.

Girls living in Moroccan towns are five times more likely to remain in school as their rural peers. The national attendance rate is around 60%, but is only 16.5% for girls in isolated areas. Given that the distance between rural girls' homes and schools is the primary reason for the disparity, an innovative residential programme may be the solution to keeping girls in school for more than just six years of primary education, organisers recently told a Rabat forum.

Moroccan authorities want to strictly confront all practices and suppress all brochures, books and publications that seek to undermine the country's religious and ethical values. A statement issued by the Ministry of Interior on March 21st revealed the full scope of the government's agenda: to "preserve citizens' ethics and defend our society against all irresponsible actions that mar our identity and culture".

Girl Child Network (GCN) turns 10 years on 21 March 2009, and in this regard, girls, GCN staff, stakeholders and friends in Zimbabwe are all looking back and reflecting on this noble path travelled. All of us are busy preparing for the official commemoration of GCN’s 10th Anniversary scheduled for 28 March 2009. A summarised informative document regarding GCN’s work and the commemoration will be issued soon by GCN’s Communications and Development Office, which will also include the program of the day.

In 2003, the Muslim Marriages Bill (Bill) was submitted by the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development (Minister of Justice). Since then, to our knowledge, the Minister of Justice has not done anything to move forward with the Bill in the parliamentary process (even though the SALRC undertook four years of extensive consultations from 1999 to 2003 within the Muslim communities and broader civil society when it drafted the Bill and obtained a general consensus within the Muslim communities for the Bill).

Society's expectations and presentation of women make them more vulnerable to catching sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) and HIV, participants at Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAFAids) workshop heard last week. One of the facilitators, Lillian Chikara from SAFAids said there was need for women and girls to be empowered for them to make informed decisions when negotiating safe sex.

While shelters are bursting at the seams with children in need of care, bureaucracy, by children’s institutions, is hindering many homosexual parents from giving love to those who need it most. The present economic climate has, according to child adoption agencies, also seen a drop in the number of applicants wanting to adopt, as people are uncertain about the future.

It is often said: “If you do not take care of politics, it will take care of you anyway”. Politics is in the public sphere because it is supposed to take care of defining, guiding and deciding the course of everyone’s life. Whereas women contribute to society, their input is not recognized. They cannot be in charge of their own destiny because gender is artificially relegated to the private domain. Assuring domestic labor, raising children and feeding everyone is done by women all over the world, but this essential contribution is taken for granted.

The Democratic Republic of Congo government registered its ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa on 9 February 2009, bringing the [pdf: 68kb].

Access to mobiles phones has transformed the lives of rural women farmers boosting income and expanding knowledge, a pilot study in Lesotho has found. Three years ago, Evodia Matobo, then 62, a small-scale poultry farmer in Lesotho's rural lowlands, was stacking plastic containers to feed her chickens. Now she talks about "feeders, agricultural shows, workshops, experts."

The Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Reverend Peter Akinola has lauded the Same Gender Marriage Prohibition Bill which aims to do away with homosexuality in Nigeria. In a paper, recently submitted to the Nigerian Parliamentary Committee, stating the Church’s position, Akinola demonstrated his support for this controversial bill which seeks to punish whoever enters into a same gender union in Nigeria.

This collection provides a sampling of available Online Learning Tools with subject matter related to violence against women prevention and intervention. Materials included in this collection have four key components: they are 1) free, 2) available online, 3) interactive, and 4) self-guided. The resources listed here can be used for the purposes of staff development (by individuals), or as tools for trainers (in groups)

Women’s groups in Sierra Leone have signed a statement condemning the use of violence against women during a political clash which took place in Freetown on 16 March. The statement calls for the police to ensure that those responsible for the violence be brought to justice and for government and political party leaders to publicly condemn violence against women, including in a political context.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has resolved to represent the case against John Qwelane in the Equality Court. This is subsequent to Qwelane’s July 2008 column which infuriated many gay rights groups where he expressed his sheer hatred of homosexuals saying, among other things, that they are a degradation of values and traditions.

The Moroccan government has pledged to increase women's political representation at local levels. Following a reform of the Commune Charter that set a minimum quota of 12% for female representation, the government now intends to get the message out to the public. A national awareness campaign entitled "Women in communes: a driving-force for local governance" was launched on Saturday (March 7th).

Gangs of South African men are raping lesbians in the belief it will "cure" the women's sexual orientation, an aid agency said on Friday. NGO ActionAid said in a report titled "Hate Crimes: the rise of corrective rape in South Africa" lesbians were increasingly at risk of rape, particularly in South African townships where homosexuality is largely taboo.

Child protection Alliance in collaboration with United Nations Children Fund are making final arrangements towards the setting up of an Adolescent Neighborhood Watch Groups in five communities in the Greater Banjul Area, Gambia in a reinvigorated drive to tackle the immoral acts of sex tourists in the country.

Attempts to make sure affirmative action becomes law in a country that prided itself as having hosted the third UN Conference of women in Africa has been marred with sideshows and arguments that have seen the Bill either thrown out of Parliament or excuses given as to why Parliament cannot pass it. In some countries, however, Affirmative Action has been embraced.

Serious gender-based crimes were committed against women and girls during Sierra Leone's decade-long armed conflict. This article examines how the Special Court for Sierra Leone has addressed - and, in some cases, has failed to address - these crimes in its first four judgments. The June 20, 2007 trial judgment in the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council case assists international criminal law's heretofore limited understanding of the crime against humanity of forced marriage, especially through the separate concurring opinion of Justice Sebutinde and the partially dissenting opinion of Justice Doherty.

In his latest gesture on women's issues, President Obama signed an executive order this afternoon creating a White House Council on Women and Girls. “The purpose of this council is to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy,” Obama said in a statement. “My administration has already made important progress toward that goal. I am proud that the first bill I signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act.