TrustLaw Women in brief, August 16, 2012: a weekly news digest on women's rights

LONDON (TrustLaw) – Here is our selection of this week’s stories on women's rights from TrustLaw and other media. 

AFRICA

Zimbabwe: women urged to be more active

allAfrica.com/The Herald

Vice President Joice Mujuru has called on women to be more active and claim their stake in the socio-economic landscape.

Rwandan govt takes critical step in recognizing women's rights

allAfrica.com

Affirming the importance of women's access to safe and legal abortion, the Rwandan government has lifted its reservation to Article 14(2)(c) of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights of Women in Africa (also known as the Maputo Protocol). Under the protocol, the Rwandan government is now required to "protect the reproductive rights of women by authorizing medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the fetus."

Moroccan women build land rights movement

Global Post

When Rkia Bellot’s family sold their communal land in 2004, each of her eight brothers received a share of the proceeds. But Bellot, a single woman, got nothing. That’s because Bellot’s family land was part of the 37 million acres in Morocco governed by the orf, or tribal law. When this type of family land is sold, the unmarried or widowed women in the family, collectively called the Soulaliyate, often become destitute.

AMERICAS

US State Dept. trained 450 imams on the ‘compatibility of women’s rights and Islam’

cnsnews.com, United States

As part of its effort to combat “gender-based violence”, the U.S. State Department has trained 450 Muslim leaders (imams), using a curriculum focusing on the “compatibility of women’s rights and Islam”, according to a report released on Friday.

Q&A: Microcredit bank "incorporates women in the benefits of development"

Inter Press Service, Venezuela

“Our raison d’etre is incorporating women in development, and especially in the benefits of development,” says Nora Castaneda, an economist who has headed the Banmujer bank in Venezuela since it was founded in 2001.

ASIA

Stress-related disorders lead to infertility in Kashmir

Global Press Institute, Kashmir, India

Doctors say that decades of conflict and political uncertainty in the Kashmir Valley have affected the reproductive health of women. Doctors say that ongoing conflict means a perpetual cycle of post-traumatic stress disorder, hormone imbalances and the heavily stigmatised possibility of infertility.

The women of Afghanistan

The New York Times, United States

Afghanistan can be a hard and cruel land, especially for women and girls. Many fear they will be even more vulnerable to harsh tribal customs and the men who impose them after American troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

MIDDLE EAST

Saudi Arabia not building women-only industrial development

Huffington Post, United States

Al Arabiya English reported that Saudi Arabia is not building a women-only industrial city, contrary to earlier reports by the Guardian newspaper, ABC and the Russian news agency RT. According to Al Arabiya, it appears that the confusion arose after the title of the press release by MODON, the Saudi Industrial Property Authority, was misinterpreted.