Dedicated to the women who have graced the pages of history, from ancient to modern times.
Nigerian women protesters have besieged the site of a Chevron Corp. natural gas pipeline project in the Niger River delta, halting construction work for the second time in two months.
The women, who are demanding electricity for their community and action against environmental damage due to oil activities, turned up in the hundreds at the Chevron pipeline building site on the Escravos River yesterday, Isaac Botosan, a spokesman of the Ugborodo community, where the women come from, said today by phone from the southern city of Warri.
The protesters, who had occupied the same site for several days in July, are angry that the government and the oil company have yet to address their demands, he said.
“We immigrant women made great sacrifices to come here,” Jahangir says. “But we did not come here to be idle and beg. We did not come here to be baby machines. We came here to work, and we want to be part of building a nation.”
The group held its first public meeting in the fall of 2007. In early 2008, it became a registered non-profit organization. In its first year, with $750 in seed money from COSTI immigrant services and a small grant from the Freedonia Foundation, the group ran 40 workshops on settlement services, each attended by about 50 women.
By 2009, the women had raised about $60,000 from the United Way and several other foundations and began renting office space on the main floor of Jahangir’s apartment building. In the winter and spring of that year, they knocked on 1,200 doors and interviewed 400 women about their experience in Canada. They found that 80 per cent of the women had university degrees, and most were angry about the lack of child care.
They rented buses to protest at provincial poverty-reduction forums and federal standing committee hearings. And they wrote letters, signed petitions and met with area politicians to demand action.
Women have played a significant role in Egyptian society. The earliest appearance of woman in public life in Egypt goes back to the Pharaonic era, where she enjoyed an equal status with man and engaged in politics and government. Queen Hatshepsut reigned from 1479 to 1457 B.C. She played an effective historical role in enhancing State structure in the realms of religion, trade and domestic and foreign policy. The same course was pursued by Nefertiti, Cleopatra and Shajaret ad-Dorr in later eras. With the rise of the modern State under Mohammed Ali's reign a magnificent role for women emerged.
A NEW program to help women get involved and get the most out of volunteering in the Country Fire Authority was launched yesterday as part of bushfire action week.
The Women and Fire mentoring program is designed to develop the participation and leadership potential of women who volunteer with the Country Fire Authority.
Only 19 per cent of Victorian CFA volunteers are women and this new program is aimed at expanding involvement to better reflect community demographics.
The program has been developed by Community Connections' Sustaining Volunteerism Initiative in conjunction with CFA South West Area.
"Traditionally the emergency services has been a male dominated field but it's now becoming apparent with climate change and increasing in events and severity, we need to utilise all members of the community," she said.
The program is jointly funded by the Department of Planning and Community Development, the National Emergency Volunteer Support Fund, the Victorian Women's Trust, with in-kind support from the CFA and Community Connections.
