LONDON (TrustLaw) – Here is our selection of this week’s stories on women's rights from TrustLaw and other media.
AFRICA
Supermodel Alek Wek’s bittersweet return home - to a free South Sudan
The Daily Beast, United States
"When I was 10 years old, I fled my homeland amid the bomb blasts of civil war in Sudan," supermodel Alek Wek writes. "Last month, when I visited my homeland, I rejoiced in its freedom, but I was reminded of my brutal youth."
Recognizing the African woman farmer
IRIN, South Africa
Boys learning new ideas of masculinity around campfires in rural Africa, and “sisterhoods” formed to provide women with a common voice, are starting to change attitudes about African women farmers, say the authors of a forthcoming book about gender and agriculture.
IRIN, Madagascar
About one in seven residents of Madagascar’s main port city of Toamasina are sex workers. In fewer than 20 years, the number of registered sex workers in the city of about 200,000 residents has climbed from 17,000 in 1993 to 29,000 in 2012.
The Daily Nation, Kenya
Presidential aspirant Martha Karua has urged women to take up leadership positions without fear. Speaking at a dinner for women leaders from different parts of the country, the Gichugu MP urged women to support each other in leadership positions as well as compete in a peaceful manner.
AMERICAS
Fathers’ club addresses violence against women in Haiti
TrustLaw, Haiti
On top of a hill west of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, with views of sugar cane fields and banana trees, 25 men meet every week to discuss why they shouldn’t hit their wives and partners and force them to have sex.
Why Pentagon's progress against sexual assault is so slow
The Christian Science Monitor, United States
The U.S. Pentagon's annual report on sexual assault has estimated that only 14 percent of the 19,000 service members estimated to have experienced assault during the course of one year actually came forward.
Colombian army officer convicted in landmark rape, murder case
AlertNet, Colombia
A Colombian army officer has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder and rape of a girl, a conviction hailed by rights groups as a rare victory in the fight to get justice for sexual crimes committed during the country’s decades-old conflict.
ASIA
Afghan woman MP shares dreams for new nation
Women News Network, Afghanistan
Thirty-seven-year-old Fawzia Koofi, Afghanistan’s first female parliamentary speaker, is currently a leading candidate for the country’s 2014 presidential elections. Death has been her omnipresent companion since birth, and her incredible story is captured in her book “The Favored Daughter”, which is both a political memoir and a story about relationships between women, mothers, daughters.
How a vaginal cream ad has prompted debate about sexuality in India
The Guardian, UK
What do you think of when you hear the words "female empowerment"? Equal pay, the pill, the vote… Or, according to Indian pharmaceutical company, Ultratech, a tighter vagina.
EUROPE
Multiple abortions "increase chance of premature or underweight births"
The Guardian, UK
Women who have had several abortions are more likely to have a premature or low-weight baby when they subsequently have a child, according to a study from Finland.
MIDDLE EAST
Iraqi Kurdistan govt failing to enforce FGM law - HRW
TrustLaw, UK
Women and girls in Iraq’s Kurdistan region continue to undergo female genital mutilation because the local government is failing to enforce a law banning the practice, Human Rights Watch said.
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