Stories about Women & Gender from August, 2012
India: Dowry And The Boys
Nitisha Pandey at Youth Ki Awaaz discusses the current market rates for grooms in India and asks:
Does a boy’s parents’ give him good education only to get a handsome dowry?
Pakistan: Conflicting Reports in #SaveRimsha Blasphemy Case
The blasphemy law in Pakistan has been the focus of a heated debate yet again, after a minor christian girl named Rimsha was accused of blasphemy and was sent to jail. There have been a few conflicting reports about the case, and the most significant one being a picture of a girl being used, that has now become the face of the #SaveRimsha campaign.
Macedonia: Demanding Triumphal Welcome for Paralympics Champion
Macedonian social media users are calling [mk] for a state-sponsored celebration for Olivera Nakovska-Bikova, who won a gold medal in shooting at the Paralympic Games finals in London, after setting a world record during the qualifications.
Chinese Style Romance
Jing Gao from Ministry of Tofu has translated a Chinese video that explains the material conditions of love relation in China.
Guinea-Bissau: Women, Citizenship and “Mandjuandades”
Informal voluntary associations predominantly made up of women and sustained through solidarity and the sharing of individual and collective interests, may play an important role in strengthening participative democracy in Guinea Bissau: meet "mandjuandades".
Togo: Sex Strike to Push for Reforms
Icilome.com writes [fr] about the ongoing protests in Lomé, Togo : The lawyer Isabelle Améganvi of the ANC [National Alliance for Change] in Togo has officially stated that “the Togolese women had decided to observe a sex strike from Monday on to compel men to push for changes in Togo. “
St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Bahamas: Reproductive Rights
Two female Caribbean bloggers, in light of the recent debacle about U.S. congressman Todd Akin's controversial comments about women and rape, are discussing the issue of “the war on women and their reproductive rights”.
Russia: Diva Politics Over Pussy Riot
The Pussy Riot trial has caused no small amount of debate among Russia's public figures, including an amusing row between two of the country's best known celebrities.
Belgium: Police Violence
Here is a video showing police in Brussels arresting a drunk man who was beating a woman, before they then start to beat him. A person in the neighborhood filmed the incident.
Macedonia: Crowdsourcing Against Gender-Based Violence
Ushahidi blog's current “Deployment of the Week” selection [en, mk] is React! Be Safe! (“Реагираj!”), an online platform against gender-based violence in public spaces [en, mk, sq], launched by the think-tank Reactor, initially covering the Skopje municipalities of Centar and Čair.
Pakistan: 11-Year-Old Christian Girl Detained for Blasphemy
'We can't repeal blasphemy law. A) mobs would go on vigilante sprees with no qualms & b) cops couldn't stop open shia killing, how this?' - Tweet from a Pakistani Christian blogger.
Bermuda: Learning from London
Respice Finem says that there are valuable lessons to be learned from the London Olympics.
Bolivian Women Lead TIPNIS Struggle
Their protagonism has sparked controversy in a society where patriarchal traditions and attitudes still run deep
Russia: Government Bans Serbian Film for Underage Sex and Drugs
On August 17, Sam Klebanov announced that Russia's Ministry of Culture has banned the release of a Serbian film called "Clip." Klebanov's company owns the Russian distribution rights to the movie, which was honored with a Hivos Tiger Award at the forty-first International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands earlier this year.
Egypt: Women on TV in Ramadan
Now that Ramadan is over, I can get it out of my mind and scream hard on how women were portrayed in the Egyptian TV throughout the whole month Eman Hashim writes in her blog.
Peru's Feminist Activist-Artist: María María Acha-Kutscher
Peruvian feminist, activist and visual artist María María Acha-Kutscher is using the Internet to share her work. From Mexico's Frida Kahlo to Spain's "indignadas" (outraged) and Russia's Pussy Riot, Acha-Kutscher's drawings reflect the life and struggles of female artists and activists from all over the world.
Egypt: Disgust with Eid Harassment Photos
Blogging Egypt shares her views on what she thinks of the Eid harassment photographs: it DISGUSTS me that whoever caught these images on camera – of women being harassed, boys grabbing women's behinds, etc – did not bother to blur the victims’ faces before spreading the images across the internet.
Egypt: Sexual Harassment over Eid
Zeinobia, from Egyptian Chronicles, reports on sexual harassment this Eid in Egypt. Check out her report, which includes photographs and videos, here.
Costa Rica: “Was it My Fault I Was Raped, Because I Went Out at Night?”
With strength and courage, blogger SophiadelSol has written about her recent carjacking, abduction and rape as she was out at night with her boyfriend. In a society that blames victims for exposing themselves to danger, she has bravely stood up for victims and places the blame on the society that allows these things to happen.
Russia: Pussy Riot and the Orthodox Reformation
Retired priest speaks out for Pussy Riot, breaking with the Patriarch and renouncing his holy orders, but his letter is mostly plagiarized. What does this mean for Russia's religious Reformation?
Guyana: Social Media Plays Role in Linden Solidarity Protests
The protests in Linden have spawned other protests in solidarity, both in Guyana and overseas - and social media, in the form of blogs, online videos and Facebook - have been helping to spread the message.
