Stories about Women & Gender from January, 2009
Afghanistan: First Female Mayor
Azar Balkhi writes that Ms. Ozrah Jafari has become a Mayor of the Daikondi province. She is the first woman occupying such a high-ranking position in the entire history of Afghanistan.
Azerbaijan: Civil Society, Opposition Groups Unite as Referendum Approaches
Better known for their bitter divisions and rivalries, civil society and opposition groups in Azerbaijan are slowly uniting as a national referendum aimed at removing the presidential two-term limit approaches. Perceived by many as a threat to democratization in the former Soviet republic and accompanied by a ban on foreign broadcasting in the country, blogs and social networking sites are being used to protest the impending vote.
Ecuador: The Women's Network of Loja
Voces Lojanas [es] describes the work of the Women's Network of Loja, which has been working for the past ten years with housewives to teach them skills, as well as how to manage their own economic resources.
Saudi Arabia: Saudi women and their drivers
American Bedu talks about one of the cultural contradictions in the Saudi society. She takes the relationship between Saudi women and their drivers as an example.
Bangladesh: Women In Power
Maskwaith Ahsan at Voice of Bangladeshi Bloggers writes on the new cabinet of Bangladesh which includes five women in key positions including the Prime Minister: “It's no longer a dream. Breaking centuries of silence, the women of Bangladesh have finally stood up to contribute to society alongside men.”
Jamaica: Dirty Dancing
A Jamaican judge and women's rights activist condemns popular dance moves as being a bad influence children, prompting Jamaica Salt to ask: “What practically can be done? It’s only a dance after all isn’t it?”
Bhutan: Violence Against Women
Freedom in Bhutan discusses the growing menace of sexual abuses against women in Bhutan and the laws in place for such abuses.
China: Parents chocked their daughter to give room for boys
Chinese blogger Yang-zhizhu (杨支柱) sighed for the tragedy that a pair of parents choked their daughter so that they can have a boy under the cap of birth control in China, railing against the policy as forcing people to abandon “excessive” girls. In Chinese tradition, boys are much weighed over...
South Africa: Is poligamy compatible with democracy?
Opalo's Weblog comments on Jacob Zuma‘s intention to take on a third wife: “We have seen (with deep embarrassment) the sorry affair that is the life of the King of Swaziland. Let not the same become of the leader of a democratic, and supposedly modern, republic like South Africa”.
Kenya: Top 10 most influential women
Kachwanya has made a list of the Top 10 most influential women in Kenya, led by Minister of Justice Martha Karua who is also running for President in 2012.