July 2011
Guatemala: Women-only buses against sexual harassment
GUATEMALA CITY, Jun 24, 2011 (IPS) - "We are all safer here; it's great because this way there are no men groping you," Jaqueline Escobar, a sales executive, told IPS on a bus that is exclusively for women, a service against sexual harassment that is being tried out in the Guatemalan capital.
Guatemala City's mass transit system, Transurbano, launched a pilot programme on Jun. 14 with dozens of buses identified with signs reading "For Women Only" and pink ribbons, which run between the city centre and neighbourhoods to the north and south.
Yanar Mohammed: Iraqi Women’s Vigilant Champion
The democratic spirit of the Arab Spring uprisings is alive and well in the determination of women protesters in Iraq, who are seeing their rights slip away under the current administration.
Although the focus of many media reports has been on Egypt’s Tahrir Square, there is another Tahrir Square that demands our attention—the one in Baghdad. On June 10, members of the (OWFI) were attacked and sexually molested as they gathered there to make demands.
Fiji: Police Shut down Fiji Women's Rights Movement birthday retreat
Police closed down the Fiji’s Women’s Rights Movement’s (FWRM) retreat and planning at the Pearl resort in Pacific harbor this morning. At around 9.30am, a police officer, known as Tomu, from the Central Investigation Department asked the hotel event coordinator whether FWRM had a permit. The information was relayed to the FWRM Executive Director, Virisila Buadromo, who informed him that the event was an internal FWRM planning.
Liberia: Tackling sexual violence head on
Rape continues to be the most frequently reported serious crime in Liberia. A new multipronged approach is underway to reduce sexual and gender-based violence.
MONROVIA, Liberia (WOMENSENEWS)-- Korlu, a young mother of two, lives on the outskirts of Monrovia, the capital here. A high school dropout, Korlu, who declined to give her last name for safety reasons, says when she was a teen, she became pregnant. "My parents put me out of their house because they couldn't bear the shame of me getting pregnant," she says.
Sri Lanka: Police investigate attack on teenage girls
Sri Lankan police are investigating an alleged assault on two girls accused of watching pornography in the east of the country last week. A group of men allegedly beat up the 17-year-olds after they came out of an internet cafe in the mostly Muslim town of Kattankudi, near Batticaloa.The father of one of the girls says they were accused of watching pornography - a charge the girls deny.
Death in the West Bank: the story of an 'honour' killing
The brutal murder of a young Palestinian woman shocked a nation and helped change the law over so-called 'honour' killings.
Kenya: I was told that I deserved to die – for being a female journalist
It's not always easy being a female investigative journalist, even in the west. But imagine going to do an interview and not being able to shake hands with the interviewee or indeed even being able to sit in front of him to ask questions.
In Somali culture – I grew up in a Somali family in – it is wrong to speak and raise an opinion in front of men or even to shake hands with a man of no relation to you. Even travelling for work unaccompanied by a relative is not permitted.
Somewhere on the Kenyan-Somali border, a Somali woman was chosen to be a town chief, but she fled from the town because of violent opposition from the elders. As a journalist, I tried to get comments from the Somali elders, but they then turned on me and threatened to punish me also.
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