News

26/9/2011

Saudi Arabia: 'Saudi Women Given Right to Vote and Stand for Election in Four Years'

Women in Saudi Arabia will be given the right to vote and to stand for election within four years, King Abdullah announced on Sunday, in a cultural shift that appears to mark a new era in the rigidly conservative Islamic kingdom.

The right to vote in council elections will not take effect until 2015, and women will still be banned from casting ballots in elections this Thursday.

However, the 87-year-old monarch has invited women to take part in the next shura council, a governing body that supervises legislation.

23/9/2011

Iran, Sudan, Libya, Egypt: Social Media Helps Give Women a Voice

A young woman is speaking to the camera, her face obscured to prevent her being identified.

22/9/2011

Lebanon: Girls Camp Focuses on Technology for Empowerment

Equipped with writing, filming and editing skills, “Geekettes” are ready to take back the tech and introduce audiences to an entirely new way of looking at the world: through the eyes of Lebanese girls ages 15-19.

During the weeklong Girl Geek Camp in July, girls from across Lebanon arrived in the city of Kfardebian to learn how to create blogs, use social networks, and film videos on cameras and mobile phones. Building on the camp’s success, the second class of Geekettes arrive this month.

22/9/2011

Colombia: 'Colombian Authorities Fail Survivors of Sexual Violence

The Colombian authorities have failed to tackle the lack of justice for women and girl survivors during the country's long-running armed conflict, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

"Women and girls in Colombia are often treated as trophies of war. They are raped and sexually abused by all the warring parties as a way to silence and punish them," said Susan Lee, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

20/9/2011

Iran: Dervishes and Lawyers Arrested in Iran

Over 60 individuals, mostly dervishes (members of a religious order), were arrested in the Iranian cities of Kavar, Tehran and Shiraz between 3 and 14 September. At least three lawyers who represent the group were also arrested on 4 September. All are currently held in Evin Prison in Tehran and are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

20/9/2011

France: 'France's burqa ban: women are "effectively under house arrest"'

Hind Ahmas walks into a brasserie in the north Paris suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois. Jaws drop, shoulders tighten and a look of disgust ripples across the faces of haggard men sipping coffee at the bar.

20/9/2011

Sri Lanka: 'Battles ahead for women'

ALLANKULAM, 8 September 2011 (IRIN) - More policies and programmes must address the needs of female-headed households in Sri Lanka's former conflict zone, experts say.

"Most programmes don't take into account the unique role of women here," Saroja Sivachandran, director of the Center for Women and Development (CWD), an advocacy body based in northern Jaffna, told IRIN.

"They may be providing for the families, but [women] still have to cook, look after children and do all household chores."

15/9/2011

Update: Iran: Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh's Jail Sentence is Reduced

An appeals court in Iran has reduced the prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh's jail sentence to six years, her husband said.

The 45-year-old lawyer, who has represented several political activists and protesters arrested in recent years, has been kept in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since last September. In Evin, she is spending time with some of the prisoners she defended in court.

14/9/2011

Guatemala: 'More Not Always Better for Women'

GUATEMALA CITY, Sept 9, 2011 (IPS) - "Women have more opportunities nowadays to participate in the economic, social and political development of the country, but this has still not improved the quality of their lives," said Laura Reyes, one of the three women candidates for vice president of Guatemala.

"Many women have done a good job, but others have taken advantage of power to serve their own personal interests," Reyes, a lawyer belonging to the Cakchiquel Maya indigenous group, told IPS ahead of Sunday's general elections.

14/9/2011

Iraq: 'Fight for Women's Rights Begins All Over Again'

BAGHDAD, Sep 13, 2011 (IPS) - When a middle-aged mother took a taxi alone from Baghdad to Nasiriyah, about 300 kilometres south earlier this year, her 20-year-old driver stopped on the way, pulled her to the side of the road and raped her. And that began a telling legal struggle.

"She is not a simple case," says Hanaa Edwar, head of the Iraqi rights-based Al-Amal Association, established in Baghdad after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.