· January, 2009

Stories about Women & Gender from January, 2009

Azerbaijan: Civil Society, Opposition Groups Unite as Referendum Approaches

  16 January 2009

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

  13 January 2009

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.

Bangladesh: Women In Power

  8 January 2009

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

  7 January 2009

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?”

China: Parents chocked their daughter to give room for boys

  7 January 2009

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?

  6 January 2009

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”.