· December, 2011

Stories about Women & Gender from December, 2011

Kuwait: Online Advocacy for the Stateless Bidoun

  22 December 2011

Since hundreds of Kuwait's 100,000 strong Bidoun were attacked by police for protesting in support of others detained earlier in the year, a number of bloggers and international organizations have been stepping up their support for the stateless people in the hope of drawing attention to their plight.

Egypt: Women Rally for Dignity

  20 December 2011

Thousands of Egyptian women took to the streets of Cairo today to protest for their dignity, after women were beaten up by soldiers during running battles between the army and protesters in and around Tahrir Square since December 16.

Africa: Women4Africa Awards

  19 December 2011

Women for Africa Awards celebrates and encourages African women: “‘Women for Africa’ was birthed from a 20 year desire and passion to see women honoured and appreciated in a celebratory way. Everywhere you go in life you see women.”

Egypt: Women Against SCAF – Who Wins?

  18 December 2011

The world woke up today to see that Egypt had made the headlines again with a photograph of military officers ferociously beating a veiled girl and stripping her off her clothes. Nermeen Edrees charts netizen reactions to the way the Supreme Council for Armed Forces is treating women in Egypt.

India: Girls and Their Right To A Career

  17 December 2011

In India, at this modern age, some parents arbitrarily decide the future of their adult children. Fire Crystal writes about a girl, who was denied of her rights by her father to study and pursue a career of her choice.

Cuba: In Defense of Human Rights

  15 December 2011

Pedazos de La Isla highlights the testimony of one of the Ladies in White who relates her experience as a victim of the “vigilance operations, brutal beatings, arbitrary arrests, deportations, and other forms of violence against those who publicly demonstrated on the streets of the island in defense of human...

Barbados: Courts Send Message that Women are Nothing

  15 December 2011

“Men again learned that no matter how badly you beat women, they can always be pressured to drop the charges. Police learned that it is useless to treat an assault on a woman seriously. The judge learned that assault charges are a waste of time when a West Indies cricketer...

Guyana: Rape Allegations against Police Chief

  15 December 2011

Save Guyana reports on rape allegations being brought against the police commissioner, explaining: “The Alliance For Change…has called for [his] dismissal or at least interdiction from duty…and is viewing the matter as the first real test of the Donald Ramotar administration.”

Cuba: Defining “Vulgarity”

  14 December 2011

Without Evasion continues to share her thoughts about the outcry over the “vulgarity” of a popular reggaeton song, saying: “The confusion lies, then, in properly ascertaining the limits of vulgarity and limiting at the same time in what spheres of social life vulgarity will be allowed without it constituting a...

South Korea: Former Comfort Women Held 1000th Protest

  14 December 2011

South Korean former ‘comfort women’ who were forced into Japan's wartime military brothels held their 1,000th weekly protest and placed a statue of a sex slave outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul. South Korea's citizen media, Wiki Tree consolidated twitter photos of the rally.

Afghanistan: Being Disable Is Not An Unability

  13 December 2011

yahweh writes how situation with the rights of women and disabled persons has developed in Afghanistan since 2001, when the Afghan government and its international allies pledged to advance gender issues following the military intervention to oust the Taliban.

Peru: Congress Approves Law Criminalizing Femicide

  12 December 2011

The Peruvian Congress has approved the text of a law that recognizes femicide as a crime punishable by up to 25 years of incarceration. Under the existing law, the murder of a women can result in release from jail in about two years.