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5/21/2012 - Open Letter to Obama, Karzai Urges Women's Inclusion in Afghanistan Talks
Amnesty International issued an open letter to President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai at their "Shadow Summit" Saturday urging both leaders to safeguard women's rights.
Forty-six people signed the open letter, including Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal and Ms. magazine founder Gloria Steinem. Other signatories include former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor; Sima Samar, head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission; Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams and Shiriin Ebadi; former Defense Secretary William Cohen; former US Ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad; "The Kite Runner" author Khaled Hosseini; and actress Meryl Streep.
In part, the open letter (see PDF) states, "As champions of women's rights who are dedicated to protecting women's human rights, we are deeply concerned that the significant gains made by women and girls in Afghanistan may be threatened as U.S. and allied troops leave the country. We urge you to adopt a comprehensive action plan to guarantee that the clock is not turned back on a decade of strides in education, health, security and employment for women and girls. At stake is the future of Afghanistan, after billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives have been sacrificed. We believe if women's progress cannot be sustained, then Afghan society will fail."
The "Shadow Summit" in Chicago aimed to emphasize to NATO Summit leaders that Afghan women's and girls' needs must be front and center in all planning. "Adequate funding from NATO countries is essential for security and Afghan women's and girls' educational, health care, and economic programs. Afghan women's leaders must be represented in all the planning and decision-making," commented Eleanor Smeal, president of the FMF, which has led a US Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls for the past 15 years.
5/21/2012 - UN Report Shows Decline in Maternal Deaths
A UN report (PDF) released last week shows that worldwide maternal deaths declined by 47 percent from 1990 to 2010. In 1990, there were 543,000 maternal deaths and that number dropped to 287,000 in 2010. The report found that 99 percent of maternal deaths occurred in developing countries and one third of all maternal deaths occurred in India and Nigeria. It also states that most of maternal deaths were preventable.
Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the UN Population Fund said "I am very pleased to see that the number of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth continues to decline. This shows that the enhanced effort of countries, supported by UNFPA and other development partners, is paying off. But we can't stop there. Our work must continue to make every pregnancy wanted and every childbirth safe."
The report defines maternal death as death "occurring during pregnancy or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes." The study was conducted by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Population Fund, and the World Bank.
5/21/2012 - Shadow Afghan Summit Focuses on Women's Voices
The Shadow Summit hosted by Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) brought women's voices to the NATO Summit. Featured speakers, Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Ambassador at Large for Women's Global Melanne Verveer, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-D), and Afghan Women's Leaders, Afifa Azim, director and co-founder of the Afghan Women's Network, and Manizha Naderi, executive director, Women for Afghan Women, and Mahbouba Seraj, also of the AWN, all said women's participation and concerns must be included to ensure an enduring peace, women's rights and advancement, and progress for all Afghans.
"We have to ensure that our commitment to Afghan women does not end as our troops come home," said Congresswoman Schakowsky, reported the Christian Science Monitor. The open letter (see PDF) released by AIUSA and signed by 48 Afghan, US, and British women leaders urged Afghan women's leadership and participation be front and center in all the transition planning and execution and urged the adoption of a plan for protecting and advancing Afghan Women's Rights.
The eight step plan includes not only women's participation but also that all negotiation teams include at least 30% women in the "peace" talks; that any agreements with the Taliban include guarantees of women's rights, a creation of a trust fund set aside for women and administered by women to protect women's rights and support civil society, and the enforcement of anti-violence against women's and women's rights laws. The US/Afghan Strategic Partnership Agreement (see PDF) signed by Presidents Obama and Karzai on May 1 includes a guarantee of women's rights and advancement of women.
Manizha Naderi, who did not sign the open letter, issued a statement on behalf of Women for Afghan Women and the Feminist Majority Foundation. The two organizations warned that negotiating with the Taliban will not work and will produce disastrous results. Eleanor Smeal, president of the FMF, signed the joint statement and also signed the AIUSA open letter. "We do not believe the negotiations will work but if they take place (all talks have been suspended now) they must include women and the guarantee listed in the AIUSA statement," said Eleanor Smeal.
4/30/2012 - US and Afghan Strategic Partnership Agreement Reached
The United States and Afghanistan announced last week that the two countries have agreed on a draft of a strategic partnership which establishes US support in Afghanistan for a decade after the removal of combat troops. Combat troops are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014. Under the agreement, which must still be approved by Congress and the White House, the US will continue to provide social and economic assistance as the country builds up its infrastructure and security.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, "NATO and its partners cannot and will not abandon Afghanistan after 2014. Our ongoing support will be essential to preserving and building on the gains we've made thus far."
The announcement comes shortly after acts of violence against schools in Afghanistan. Last week, the Taliban closed or partially closed approximately 50 schools in southeast Afghanistan, many of which were girls' schools. On April 17th, 150 Afghan girls were poisoned in an attack on their school's water supply.
4/30/2012 - Suu Kyi will take Myanmar Oath of Office
Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a seat in Myanmar's (previously Burma) parliamentary election in the beginning of April as a member of the opposition National League for Democracy party, will take the country's oath of office. The oath ends the opposition party's boycott of the parliament. The decision is seen as a step towards compromise and reconciliation in the country.
Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, said on a visit to Myanmar that the end of the boycott is a positive step and is "in the interest of greater democracy." Suu Kyi said that she would "take an oath for the country and for the people" and that "politics is an issue of give and take. We are not giving up; we are just yielding to the aspirations of the people."
Suu Kyi's victory in the election opens the possibility that the National League for Democracy party, which won 40 of the 45 contested seats, could take control of Myanmar's government in the next election in 2015. Nevertheless, the military, which holds a majority of the 664 parliamentary seats, continues to exert great influence over Myanmar's government. The National League for Democracy party has not won an election since 1990, although the results were then annulled by the army-junta that was in power at the time.
4/25/2012 - Afghan Girls' School Defies Threats
A school in Afghanistan continues to educate girls despite violent threats, reports the Washington Post. Started by two brothers in Spina, the school provides local girls with an education that they cannot receive from the US-funded school that is only for boys.
The school opened in 2007 after the US-funded girls' school was destroyed. The two brothers and a few other literate men began educating small groups of girls between the ages of 5 and 12 in the brothers' home. Today, the school has grown with morning classes for the younger students and afternoon classes for teenage girls. The school has been denied local funding and the brothers often receive threats of violence from Taliban insurgents. The school remains open though, and one of the brothers says "the girls just kept coming. They were so eager, like they were starving."
School enrollment in Afghanistan has increased from 5,000 girls under Taliban rule to 2.5 million girls. Still, 2 million Afghan girls are denied an education. Violence against girls' schools also continues. Last week, approximately 150 Afghan girls drank poisoned water at a school in the northern Takhar province. Afghan officials said that conservative radicals who oppose girls' education are to blame for the poisoning, though they would not name a specific group.
4/23/2012 - Man who Hacked British Abortion Provider Pleads Guilty
A man who hacked into Britain's largest abortion provider's computer system and stole information on 10,000 women has pleaded guilty to the charges. James Jeffery was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for stealing the information from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). He said he was prompted to steal the information because he disagreed with two women he knew who decided to have abortions. Jeffery intended to publish the women's information online.
BPAS has said that since Jeffery's arrest, there have been 2,500 additional attempts to hack their system. None of these attempts have been successful and no medical records are kept on the site. Many of the attempts originated in North America and BBC reports that half of the IP addresses were American. However, due to the nature of the attacks, it is unclear if these attempts came from the US.
4/17/2012 - Afghan Schoolgirls Poisoned
Approximately 150 Afghan girls drank poisoned water on Tuesday at a school in the northern Takhar province. Afghan officials said that conservative radicals who oppose girls' education are to blame for the poisoning, though they would not name a specific group.
A spokesman for the education department of Takhar, Jan Mohammad Nabizada, said, "We are 100 percent sure that the water they drank inside their classes was poisoned. This is either the work of those who are against girls' education or irresponsible armed individuals."
The public health department said the tank that held the contaminated water was not affected, providing evidence that the poisoned water could not be explained by natural causes. Some of the affected girls suffered from headaches and vomiting and they are listed in critical condition. Others were treated and released.
4/16/2012 - Woman Declares Intention to Run For Afghan Presidency
Fawzia Koofi is the first person to announce an intention to run for the presidency in Afghanistan. Koofi, a women's rights advocate, was elected to parliament in 2005 and was reelected in 2010. Earlier this year, she received acclaim for her memoir, "The Favoured Daughter," in which she details how she was left outside to die immediately following her birth because she was a girl and how she became the first woman in her family to receive an education.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai must step down in 2014 due to term limits. Some western officials and women members of parliament have expressed concern that Karzai is trying to broker a power-sharing compromise with the Taliban to bring an end to the war. Koofi told Reuters, "He has lost the trust of this part of society - women, the civil movements, the activists, the Afghan youth and the intellectuals. That is why he is trying to now rely on conservative forces."
Koofi is outspoken against the Taliban and has decried Taliban rule. In an article for the Daily Beast, Koofi wrote, "can anyone really believe the Taliban will share power and be willing to sit in a democratic Parliament alongside a woman? I do not believe it."
4/13/2012 - BBC Report Uncovers Uzbekistan's Secret Sterilization Policy
An investigative report by BBC Journalist Natalia Antelava has revealed a government policy in Uzbekistan to sterilize women, mostly without their knowledge. Antelava gathered evidence that the government ran the sterilization program before she was deported from the country at the end of February.
The BBC reports that many women were forcibly sterilized after giving birth and were not told about the procedure. According to the report, many only discovered that they had been sterilized after seeking medical advice when they tried to become pregnant again. A gynecologist from the capital city, Tashkent, told Antelava that "every year we are presented with a plan. Every doctor is told how many women we are expected to give contraception to; how many women are to be sterilized."
The Expert Working Group, one of the only NGOs in Uzbekistan, estimated that the number of women who were forcibly sterilized is in the tens of thousands. Antelava also quotes a source at the Ministry of Health who says the program is intended to curb the country's growing population. The Uzbek government denies the claims and said the report was "slanderous and bore no relation to reality."
4/2/2012 - Aung San Suu Kyi Wins Parliamentary Seat in Myanmar
Aung San Suu Kyi, of the National League for Democracy party, won a seat in Myanmar's (previously Burma) parliamentary election last weekend. Her victory opens the possibility that the National League for Democracy party, which won 40 of the 45 contested seats, could take control of Myanmar's government in the next election in 2015. Nevertheless, the military, which holds a majority of the 664 parliamentary seats, continues to exert great influence over Myanmar's government.
Suu Kyi stated following the election, "We hope this will be the beginning of a new era...[the win] was not so much our triumph, as a triumph of the people."
The White House issued a statement today, which said "This election is an important step in Burma's democratic transformation, and we hope it is an indication that the government of Burma intends to continue along the path of greater openness, transparency, and reform."
The National League for Democracy party has not won an election since 1990, although the results were then annulled by the army-junta that was in power at the time.
4/2/2012 - Link Between Education and Access to Maternal Healthcare in India
"Multiple Deprivations and Maternal Care in India," a study conducted by Sanjay Mohanty and published in the March issue of International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, found that in India, impoverished women who lack education face significant barriers in their access to maternal healthcare, including antenatal and post natal care, as well as medical services at the time of their delivery. Low education was more strongly correlated with women's lack of access to reproductive health care than poverty or lack of adequate nutrition.
According to the study, "Only 25% of women with a combination of low education, poverty and who were underweight received the recommended number of antenatal visits, compared with 71% of women who did not have any of these characteristics; just 17% of these women gave birth with medical assistance, compared with 69% of other women; and 20% received appropriate postnatal care, compared with 61% of other women."
The authors of the study recommend that local healthcare workers, as well as mass media, be used as tools to inform women with less education about maternal health care services.
3/30/2012 - First-Ever Abortion Study in Rwanda
The first-ever nationwide study of abortion in Rwanda, conducted by the National University of Rwanda's School of Public Health and the Guttmacher Institute, indicated that 60,000 women obtain abortions annually in the country, amounting to 25 abortions for every 1,000 women who are of reproductive age. Moreover, in 2009, one in 40 women of reproductive age (between 15 and 44) had an abortion.
The researchers found that most of the abortions in Rwanda were performed in secret and were considered to be medically unsafe. According to the study, "25,000 women - more than 40% of women who had an abortion - suffered complications that required medical treatment. However, 30% of these women did not receive the medical care they required, indicating a greater need for postabortion care than is currently being provided."
Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Rwanda's Minister of Health stated, "Reducing maternal mortality and ill-health is a priority for Rwanda. These important findings will help us better address the issue and improve the health and well-being of Rwandan women and their families. The fact that so many women are suffering complications from unsafe abortion and that so many are not receiving the care they need is very concerning. It is clearly an issue we must address."
According to the World Health Organization, 17 percent of all maternal deaths in Eastern Africa are caused by unsafe abortions. Dr. Fidel Ngabo, Director of the Maternal and Child Health Unit at the Ministry of Health in Rwanda, noted, "Unintended pregnancy is the root cause of the vast majority of abortions. Addressing the unmet need for modern contraception is critical in order to reduce unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortions in Rwanda."
3/8/2012 - International Women's Day
Events will take place around the world in honor of International Women's Day today, both documenting progress made for women's rights and noting the remaining challenges to women's equality worldwide.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated, "As we commemorate Internationals Women's Day, 8 March 2012, gender equality and the empowerment of women are gaining ground worldwide. There are more women heads of state or government than ever, and the highest proportion of women serving as government ministers. Women are exercising ever greater influence in business. More girls are going to school, and are growing up healthier and better equipped to realise their potential. Despite this momentum, there is a long way to go before women and girls can be said to enjoy the fundamental rights, freedom and dignity that are their birthright and that will guarantee their well-being."
In Washington DC, the World Bank, the Nordic Trust Fund, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, and the United Nations Foundation are holding events throughout the week on the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In addition, First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are hosting the annual International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony today.
2/28/2012 - Girls Learn International Delegates at UN Commission on Status of Women
A delegation of 20 high school and middle school student leaders of Girls Learn International chapters from across the country, together with 25 parents, teachers, GLI Board members and staff are participating in six full days of workshops, panels and presentations in and around the U.N. during the 56th annual session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW56).
On the opening day of CSW 56, delegates heard from Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Women and former president of Chile, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee of Liberia. Both Bachelet and Gbowee emphasized the imperative to increase the representation of women at decision-making tables worldwide in order to solve some of the world's most pressing problems, including widespread poverty, health crises like AIDS, and war and conflict. Along with other speakers throughout the day-long session, they also emphasized the critical need to address women's and girls' reproductive health and rights, including access to contraception and maternal health care.
During the week, GLI students will lead a Girl-Boy Dialogue on how gender inequality affects their everyday lives, their economic self-sufficiency, and the ways they can support and promote gender equality in the global economy. The students will also participate in sessions dealing with ending early and forced marriage, violence against women and militarism, elimination of violence against girls, and engaging young women and men in advancing gender equality. GLI delegates are also the leaders of an all-student committee to draft and debate a Girls Statement for presentation to the CSW on education, violence, and trafficking of women and girls. The statement will be read on the floor of the UN during the second week of the CSW meetings.
GLI will also partner with the US Mission to the UN in a session exploring strategies to increase girls' political representation, activism and leadership in the US and globally.
GLI student delegations have come from Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. Girls Learn International is a program of Feminist Majority Foundation. Students active in GLI clubs at their schools learn about issues dealing with human rights and girls' education and develop critical thinking and advocacy skills essential to effective leadership. Every year, GLI organizes an official delegation of students to attend the CSW. GLI co-chairs the Task Force on Girls' Participation for the UN-affiliated Working Group on Girls with the Girl Scouts of the USA.
2/27/2012 - 56th Commission on the Status of Women
This week, government officials, representatives from the United Nations, private sector officials, and rural women will convene at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW56). The focus of this year's session will be on improving the situation of rural women and the elimination of hunger and poverty, as well as current challenges to development.
UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet stated, "Rural women and girls comprise one in four people worldwide and they constitute a large share of the agricultural workforce. Listening to and supporting rural women is fundamental to ending poverty and hunger and achieving peace and development that is sustainable...Research shows that empowering women is not just good for women. It is good for all of us - for peace, the growth of our economies, for food security, for human security - in short, for the well-being of current and future generations."
Rural women face significant discrimination in terms of their access to public services, social protections, local and national markets, and employment opportunities. For instance, UN Women reports that women in rural sub-Saharan Africa have access to less than 10 percent of available credit. In addition, women make up the majority of the unpaid labor force.
CSW56 calls on policy makers and national governments to make greater investments in initiatives and community-based schemes to benefit rural women. According to UN Women, "If rural women had equal access to productive resources, agricultural yields would rise and there would be 100 million to 150 million fewer hungry people."
Currently "925 million people were chronically hungry, of whom 60 percent were women." Moreover, 884 million people in the world lack access to potable drinking water; 2.6 billion people do not have access to sufficient sanitation facilities; and 1 billion people to not have adequate access to roads and transportation systems.
2/7/2012 - Anti-Gay Bill Reintroduced in Uganda
David Bahati, a member of the Ugandan Parliament and one of the leaders of the Family or Fellowship of C Street fame (see Jeff Sharlet's latest book on C Street), reintroduced an anti-gay bill today. Bahati first introduced the bill in 2009. It called for the death penalty in cases of "aggravated homosexuality," for engaging in same sex relations with someone who is HIV positive, and life imprisonment for having sex with someone of the same sex.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill went before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee in May but was dropped from the Parliament's agenda following condemnation from the President, the Secretary of State, members of Congress, and human rights groups. Bahati has since indicated that he would be willing to drop the provision of the bill calling for the death penalty.
Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries with the exception of South Africa, which recognizes gay marriage, but even there, anti-gay practices such as "corrective rapes" of lesbians, are commonplace.
2/6/2012 - International Day of Zero Tolerance of FGM/C Day
For International Day of Zero Tolerance of FGM/C today, the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme for the Acceleration of the Abandonment of FGM/C released a new report, Key Results and Highlights 2011, which indicates that approximately 2,000 African communities have abandoned female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).
UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, stated, "These encouraging findings show that social norms and cultural practices are changing, and communities are uniting to protect the rights of girls and women. We call on the global community to join us in this critical effort. Together, we can end FGM/C in one generation and help millions of girls and women to live healthier, fuller lives, and reach their potential."
In 2011, the UNFPA reports that 18,000 community education sessions were held to discourage FGM/C. As a result, almost 2,000 communities renounced FGM/C practices that year alone in Burkina Faso, Dijbouti, Ethiopia, Gambia, Senegal, Kenya, and Somalia.
Internationally, an estimated 100 million to 140 million women and girls have undergone an FGM procedure, with the practice widely being regarded as a human rights violation. The procedure, which involves the partial or total removal of external genitalia, is designed to decrease women's sexual desire and is seen in many cultures as essential for a women's suitability for marriage. The practice is also known to both increase the risk of HIV transmission and infant and maternal mortality rates.
1/30/2012 - UN Secretary General Promotes Women's Rights, Gay Rights
In a speech to the African Union Summit in Ethiopia, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for the end to discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. General Ban Ki-moon encouraged renewed efforts to ensure women's greater representation in parliaments in African countries and stated the importance of ensuring that women are part of the peace process in Africa.
He remarked, "We must ensure that women are fully represented in in decision-making bodies, including in Egypt and Tunisia where they played a role" in the protests of the Arab Spring. He also described women as "champions of peace."
The Secretary General denounced discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which is criminalized in many African countries, saying, "This has prompted some governments to treat people as second-class citizens, or even criminals. Confronting discrimination is a challenge." Homosexuality is illegal in most African countries with the exception of South Africa, which recognizes gay marriage, but even there, anti-gay practices such as "corrective rapes" of lesbians, are commonplace.
1/24/2012 - Abortion Rate Stalls Worldwide
"Induced Abortion: Incidence and Trends Worldwide from 1995 to 2008," a study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization and published in the Lancet, indicates that since 2008, the decline in the worldwide rate of abortions has stalled. According to the study, "between 1995 and 2003, the overall number of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (14-44) dropped from 35 to 29." However since 2008, the rate as remained at 28 per 1,000.
Gilda Sedgh, the lead author for the study, stated, "The declining abortion trend we had seen globally has stalled, and we are also seeing a growing proportion of abortions occurring in developing countries, where the procedure is often clandestine and unsafe. This is cause for concern. This plateau coincides with a slowdown in contraceptive uptake. Without greater investment in quality family planning services, we can expect this trend to persist."
The researchers also noted that approximately 50 percent of abortions performed in the world are unsafe, and 13 percent of all maternal deaths could be attributed to unsafe abortions in 2008. The findings also indicate that restrictive abortion laws do not necessarily result in lower rates of abortion.
1/23/2012 - Women Win One Percent of Seats in Egyptian Elections
Final results of the first post-revolutionary parliament elections in Egypt confirm that women have won one percent of the parliamentary seats. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party won 47% of the seats and the conservative Salafist Nour Party won 25% of the seats, according to the Washington Post. Individuals won one third of the seats and the other two thirds were won by parties or coalitions. No women won seats as individuals.
The newly elected parliament will appoint a body to write the new constitution. The Freedom and Justice Party has promised that all of the political factions will be given a voice in the parliament. The elected members expect full legislative power but the ruling generals in the country have also expressed that they intend to influence the drafting of the constitution.
The head of the ruling military council used his executive power to appoint ten of the 508 members of the new parliament. Of these ten, three were women and five were Coptic Christians.
Women played a key role in the Egyptian revolution last year. As recently as December 2011, thousands of women gathered in Cairo as part of the "Million Women March" to protest police brutality towards female protestors in Egypt.
1/13/2012 - UN Agencies Address Maternal Health in Haiti
Two years since the earthquake in Haiti, UN Women and UNFPA Haiti, in collaboration with the Ministry for Women Conditions and Women's Rights (MCFDF), have worked work to improve conditions for women, who still face rapes and gender-based violence at an alarming rate. To help address this problem for the over 500,000 people still residing in camps, UNFPA Haiti installed 200 street lamps in 40 of the camps near showers, latrines, and water distribution areas last year.
UNFPA is also working to address maternal health and the growing pregnancy rate in the wake of the earthquake by building maternity clinics. The fourth clinic is currently being built, although Haiti still needs 84 more clinics to adequately address the health needs of pregnant women.
According to UNFPA, "In Haiti, only 25 percent of all deliveries occur in health institutions, and the maternal death rate is 630 mortalities per 100,000 live births, the highest in the Americas."
1/9/2012 - Condom Use Low Among Indian Youth
According to "Condom Use Before Marriage and Its Correlates: Evidence from India," a study published in International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, the majority of people in India having premarital sex between the ages of 15 and 24 did not use condoms. "Only 7% of young women and 27% of young men who had had premarital sex had ever used condoms." Moreover, of the 2,408 people surveyed, only 3 percent of women and 13 percent of men reported that they used a condom every time they had sex.
K.G. Santhya, Rajib Acharya and Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, who conducted the study, found that both men and women cited their discomfort with approaching a pharmacist or medical provider as their primary reason for not obtaining and using a condom. In addition, many of those surveyed did not believe they were at risk for becoming pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted infection: "Only 40% of the 106 women who discussed the risk of pregnancy reported having worried about becoming pregnant. Similarly, only eight of the 51 men who discussed pregnancy reported they had been worried about their partner becoming pregnant."
The authors of the study recommend that educational programs be established to encourage condom use among young people. They also advocated for the greater accessibility of condoms.
1/4/2012 - Indian Parliament Defeats Women's Reservation Bill
India's lower house of Parliament voted against the Women's Reservation Bill, which would have allocated one-third of Parliamentary seats for women. The bill would thus require that male members cede approximately 180 seats to women. The bill passed the upper house of India's Parliament in March 2010 with a nearly unanimous vote of 191 to one; however, it must be ratified by the lower house before it can become law.
When the bill passed the upper house, women's rights advocate Brinda Karat of the Communist Party of India, stated, "The bill will change the culture of the country because women today are still caught in a cultural prison. We have to fight stereotypes every day." Moreover, Esther Duflo and Raghabendra Chattopadhyay conclude in their 2003 study that women parliamentarians are more likely than men to prioritize public health and education, the New York Times reports.
Currently, women make up only 10 percent of both the upper and lower houses of Parliament. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the world average for female representation in national parliaments is 19.3 percent.
1/3/2012 - Virginity Tests Banned in Egypt
Last week, an administrative court in Egypt banned virginity tests for women who had been arrested. In May, a senior Egyptian general confirmed findings in an Amnesty International report that during the uprisings in Egypt, military officials conducted virginity checks on women who were arrested during the uprisings. The general stated that the virginity checks were conducted so that the women could not claim that they had been raped while in military custody.
Amnesty International indicated that over 18 women were tortured, beaten, and subjected to electric shocks while being held in military detention. Amnesty International strongly denounced the treatment of the women in its statement: "Women and girls must be able to express their views on the future of Egypt and protest against the government without being detained, tortured, or subjected to profoundly degrading and discriminatory treatment."
