When Will Land Rights for South Asian Women Become a Reality?

In Meghalaya, India’s northeastern biodiversity hotspot, all three major tribes are matrilineal. Children take the mother’s family name, while daughters inherit the family lands.

Because women own land and have always decided what is grown on it and what is conserved, the state not only has a strong climate-resistant food system but also some of the rarest edible and medicinal plants, researchers said. The importance of protecting the full spectrum of women’s property rights becomes even more urgent as the number of women-led households in rural areas around the world continues to grow.

While their ancient culture empowers Meghalaya’s indigenous women with land ownership that vastly improves their resilience to the food shocks climate change springs on them, for an overwhelming majority of women in developing countries, culture does not allow them even a voice in family or community land management. Nor do national laws support their rights to own the very land they sow and harvest to feed their families.

read more here @ The Wire

‘Daughters of the Forest’

The Mbaracayú forest is located at a remote spot in Paraguay, formed by the upper basin of the Jejuí river and the Mbaracayú Forest Nature Reserve. The place is a sanctuary for a number of endangered species and a hotspot of biodiversity.

But for people living around the area, daily life can be a challenge. Going to school, for instance, is not easy, not only because children have to make their way there by cutting through the thick vegetation that takes over the roads, but also because of a lack of resources for education as well as the prejudices society has against women.

In 2008, Moises Bertoni Foundation, the body that manages the natural reserve, established the Mbaracayú Educational Center as an initiative to offer quality education for teenage girls living in and around the reserve. It offers high school technical degrees in environmental sciences.

This is the focus of the 2015 film “Daughters of the Forest,” directed by San Francisco, California-based Samantha Grant. The documentary will be shown at the 10th Annual Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, to be held in March 23-27.

Read More Here @ Global Voices

See Also: 

• Daughters of the Forest
• The Daughters of the Forest

Three Female Conservationalists

From High Country News:

In the beginning, there was only water as far as the eye could see, according to the Chemehuevi Indians, who once traversed the rocky peaks and steep slopes of what is now Joshua Tree National Park. Ocean Woman, afloat on a woven boat with wolf, mountain lion and coyote, created the land by rubbing dead skin from her body and sprinkling it over the primeval sea.

In this ancient story, a woman creates the desert land that is protected by Joshua Tree National Park from her own body. In contemporary times, three women worked tirelessly to understand and protect what is now Joshua Tree National Park. This year, Joshua Tree National Park will celebrate its 75th Anniversary. I'd like to commemorate that history by honoring the contributions of three women who are key to its preservation.

Kate Baillieu

From the Australian:
"Thirty years after the launch of 60 Minutes it's now emerged the original team of three reporters was actually a team of four.

Kate Baillieu, 63, was a Melbourne reporter for A Current Affair in the mid-1970s when she was offered an on-air role on what has become Australia's longest-running public affairs program.

Four years before Jana Wendt became 60 Minutes' first female reporter, Baillieu was filming stories for the program. But they never went to air.

"Kate was there because she was a good reporter -- she wasn't there as a sort of token female, and when she left, the feeling was 'let's just go with the three'."

Baillieu is now a member of the Victorian Government's Pt Nepean advisory committee and hopes the final piece of former Defence Department land will soon be included in the park."

The Weaker Sex?

From the Belfast Telegraph:

'The male gender is in danger, with incalculable consequences for both humans and wildlife, startling scientific research from around the world reveals.

The research – to be detailed tomorrow in the most comprehensive report yet published – shows that a host of common chemicals is feminising males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people. "

Women & Education

Two women have been honoured in the field of Education.

In Nigeria, Dr. Ijeoma Patience Obuh of the University of Benin has been awarded as having the best PH.D thesis in science - this was out of all Nigeria's universities - and for the year 2005.

According to an article first published in This Day then republished online at allafrica, the National Universities Commission [NUC] presented the award "at the 2008 Nigerian Doctoral Thesis Award Scheme [NUDTAS] held at the Usman Dan-Fodio University, Sokoto."

Dr. Obuh's thesis 'Fishes of Jamieson River, Delta State: Gonadal Development and Fecundity', "examined some aspects of the water quality and the reproductive biology of four fish species from the river."

A great achievement for not only both women and science, but for the environment as well.


In Canada, a story from CNW Group, reports that prominent lawyer and author Maureen McTeer was recently "awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Sheffield at its Convocation on July 22nd.

The honour is offered for her work in international law, public policy, and ethics, and is the first honourary doctorate which the University of Sheffield has conferred upon a Canadian woman."


Kudos to both women for their achievements.