International Day of the Girl Child - 11 October

International Day of the Girl Child, 11 October

The world’s 1.1 billion girls are part of a large and vibrant global generation poised to take on the future. Yet the ambition for gender equality in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlights the preponderance of disadvantage and discrimination borne by girls everywhere on a daily basis. Only through explicit focus on collecting and analyzing girl-focused, girl-relevant and sex-disaggregated data, and using these data to inform key policy and program decisions, can we adequately measure and understand the opportunities and challenges girls face, and identify and track progress towards solutions to their most pressing problems.

With this in mind, the theme for this year's International Day of the Girl (11 October) is Girls' Progress = Goals' Progress: What Counts for Girls. While we can applaud the ambition and potential of the SDGs for girls, and recognize how girls’ progress is good not only for girls, but also for families, communities and society at large, we must also take this opportunity to consider how existing gaps in data on girls and young women, lack of systematic analysis, and limited use of existing data significantly limit our ability to monitor and communicate the wellbeing and progress of half of humanity.

Much more can and needs to be done to harness the data required to ensure programs, policies and services effectively respond to the specific needs of girls. When we invest in girls’ health, safety, education and rights - in times of peace and crisis - we empower them to reach for their dreams and build better lives for themselves and their communities. Only when investments in programs for girls on issues that particularly affect them - due to both their age and gender - are complemented with corresponding investments in data on girls, can we make real progress towards greater accountability in domains of critical importance to them.

Read More Here @ UN dot Org

Suffrage March of 1913

From the Smithsonian:

In the spring of 1913, women in six states had the right to vote in all elections: Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Washington and California. Despite these successes, though, the momentum of the 65-year-old suffrage movement was slowing. It was like a car running on fumes.

Alice Paul decided to give it some gas. Having recently returned to the States from England, where she cut her teeth as a suffragist, the 28-year-old New Jersey native pitched an idea to the National American Woman Suffrage Association. She would organize a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., strategically timed with the influx of crowds arriving for President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration, to drum up support for the cause. NAWSA appointed Paul the chair of its Congressional committee and approved her plan, but made it clear that she would have to come up with the money for the parade on her own. 

Links:

Womens' Suffrage Parade of 4th March 1913

Womens' Suffrage March - wikipedia

Repeal of French Trouser Law

Further to my blog post from May 2012 - France: Paris' Trouser Law - comes this update from BBC News:

The French government has overturned a 200-year-old ban on women wearing trousers.

The Minister of Women's Rights, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, said that the ban was incompatible with modern French values and laws.

She said the law, imposed on November 17, 1800, had in effect already been rescinded because of incompatibility.

The move to formally repeal the law followed a parliamentary question asked last year.

According to the law, women needed to have the permission of local police if they wanted to "dress like a man" and wear trousers.

Though it has been ignored for decades, formally it remained on the statute books.

Ms Vallaud-Belkacem said the original law had been intended to prevent women doing certain jobs.

Yeman: Women's Struggle Continues

From the Vancouver Sun:

When Sara Ahmed joined a protest in November to demand the resignation of Yemen’s president, she and the other women marched at the very front of the crowd. But no sooner had they set off through the capital than they were shepherded towards the back.

“On that day, I realized we had two fights,” said Ahmed, a 24-year-old sociology student and women’s rights advocate, who took part in some of the first protests in Yemen last year that helped oust President Ali Abdullah Saleh from office.

“A battle against the regime, but also another struggle — a fight within the fight — against those elements inside the revolution who oppose us and our rights as women.”

One of the poorest countries in the world and the worst for gender equality, according to a UN study based on literacy and other factors, Yemeni women defied deep-rooted traditions by even participating in the campaign against Saleh, then became pivotal players in it.

Now with Saleh deposed and a political transition underway, female activists fear the country is moving forward without them, and that men who were keen to have them on the streets crying freedom do not now want them in parliament, universities or the workplace.

Bat Mitzvah Turns 90

From Philly dot com:

It was a simple walk from her seat to the front of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, a New York City synagogue. But when 12-year-old Judith Kaplan was summoned by her rabbi father to read from her Bible and recite some blessings, the act was revolutionary.

On a March Saturday in 1922, two years after women in America got the right to vote, Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan broke tradition. He had, in essence, held a coming-of-age ceremony for his daughter, what boys at 13 had celebrated for centuries.

Of course, what Judith performed was not, in fact, identical. She didn’t read directly from the Torah, nor would the ceremony afford her the same synagogue privileges as males. But it did mark a giant step toward religious equality. Ninety years ago this month, it was the first American bat mitzvah.

Women on Wall Street

From Bloomberg:

Siebert wasn't the first woman to rise above gender discrimination in the world of finance. One of the earliest documented female investors in the U.S. was Abigail Adams, who ignored her husband John's instructions to invest in land while he was stationed overseas, and instead made a much larger return investing in U.S. government bonds. Contemporary accounts describe Abigail's foray into the investing world as the one source of contention in the couple's otherwise happy marriage, despite her success.

There are also abundant examples of women who went out of their way to de-emphasize or even hide their gender to foster their careers in finance. Among them were the first women to own a Wall Street brokerage, sisters Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin, who had custom-made business dresses designed to hide their femininity and blend in with their male colleagues. Even so, the New York Times headline that announced the firm's opening in 1870 read "Wall Street Aroused," and the story's reporter concluded that "A short, speedy winding up of the firm of Woodhull, Claflin & Co. is predicted."

Yocheved Horowitz - Israel's Rosa Parks

From Haaretz.com:

On a sunny afternoon early this week, an ultra-Orthodox woman boarded a bus in the enclave of the Gur Hasidic community in Ashdod and took a seat in the second row. The bus, Egged line 451, was headed for Jerusalem. It quickly became clear that this simple, everyday act - choosing a seat to her liking - was enough to transform her presence in the bus into a palpable challenge to the rest of the passengers. I sat down across from the woman, fearing the worst.

Not only did the woman, whose name is Yocheved Horowitz, blatantly ignore the tacit agreement among the bus' riders to adhere to the most stringent religious practices - in this case, an unwritten rule that men sit in the front and women in the back. And not only did she not conform to the seating arrangements dictated by men - that is, those in authority. This was also a woman who, judging by her appearance, seemed to come from within the community.

Now Horowitz turned around and said loudly and clearly: "What do you mean by 'men's area'? A geographical area?" she wondered. "What is mehadrin? Are you talking about an etrog, a lulav?" she queried, referring to two of the principal symbols used during the festival of Sukkot. "Nowhere in rabbinical law does it say that it is forbidden to sit behind a woman, not in the Shulchan Arukh and not in the Yoreh De'ah [two classical compilations of Jewish law]. What is written in the Torah and in rabbinical law is that it is forbidden to humiliate sons and daughters of Israel."

Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill

From The News:

The civil society has lauded the passage of the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill by the National Assembly, hoping that it will help protect women’s rights once it sails through the Senate.

 Hilda Syed, a senior member of the Women Action Forum, told The News that it was a wonderful piece of news, adding, however, that the task now was to pass the bill from the Senate as well.

 “The domestic violence bill stayed in the Senate for three months after which it lapsed but we are adamant to pass it through. Similarly, as soon as the amendments are made to this bill, it should come into force so that its efficacy is not compromised,” she said.

Zohra Yusuf of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that the unanimous acceptance of the bill by the NA was a positive sign for sure as it made certain “evil practices” illegal. But given the history of such laws being interpreted wrongly or not implemented at all, awareness of the law enforcement authorities is also needed.

 She said that the bill was focusing on the punishment aspect at the moment, and it should also take into account the problems women faced while reporting inheritance issues.

 “Recently, Bangladesh announced equal property rights for women on International Women Day which did not go down well with the clerics (there). But at least it is a step in the right direction. We need to focus on that as well.”

Nigeria: Women Seek Relevance

From The Tribune:

The journey so far marks 51 years of Nigeria's independence. Looking at the prospects available to the society, men glaringly appear to be privileged and advantaged. And the women? Their song has been that of marginalisation in all spheres.

As Nigeria celebrates its 51st Independence Day, the cry of women, most especially professionals, is that of equal opportunities with men. 'We want not only to be seen, but to be heard,' they sing.

Saudi Women Welcome Suffrage

From Voice of America:

Saudi women are hailing King Abdullah's promise of expanded political rights, with the hope it is another step toward equality in the ultraconservative kingdom.

The king's announcement that women may run for office and cast votes in the next round of municipal elections, set for 2015, is the latest in a string of reforms -- modest compared to most countries but domestically radical and long opposed by members of the Saudi elite.

The monarch's promises also include their appointment to the largely ceremonial Shura council, an advisory body. Women will not be allowed to take part in municipal elections this Thursday, however, and some Saudi women are continuing to push for other basic freedoms such as the right to drive a car or leave the country without a male relative's permission.

The initiative comes as leaders across the Arab world struggle to meet the demands of their people, or risk going the way of the ex-leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Already this year, King Abdullah announced a $130 billion program to boost salaries, build housing and fund other popular measures.

But Basmah Omair, director of the al Sayeda Khadija bin Khawlid Center at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce, says it would be a mistake to think the latest move is a result of only the Arab Spring.

"In recent years, you have seen women take leadership positions like the deputy of the ministry of education and vice mayor of Jeddah," he said. "So it's not something [new], but maybe the media is concentrating [on these events] now and that is why they are just thinking of the recent events of 2011."

10 Stories of Inspiration

From Asian Scientist:

Women across the world have made remarkable contributions in the year 2011.

In politics, Yingluck Shinawatra of Thailand and Julia Gillard of Australia have made history as the first female prime ministers of their countries.

Christine Lagarde of France will take the helm at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as its new chairwoman, while Tu Youyou of China has won the 2011 Lasker Award for her discovery of the anti-malarial drug artemisinin.

The World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development and the World Bank’s Think Equal campaign launched in the past week has charted the progress – and lack thereof – toward gender equality.

Women are all too aware of these issues, which is why the Women: Inspiration & Enterprise 2011 Symposium (WIE2011) felt like an oasis in the desert, a place where women could find hope, inspiration, and opportunity.

Gwyneth Bebb

From the Guardian:

Among the people added to the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is Gwyneth Bebb (1889-1921), who gave her name to the case that challenged the exclusion of women from the legal profession: Bebb v the Law Society. Law was the last profession in England, apart from the church, to hold out against women's entry. Women had been trying to gain admission for 40 years. Their lack of success led campaigners to try a legal challenge, and Bebb was selected as the test case in 1913.

A brilliant student, she had studied law at Oxford when women could take the examinations – she got a first – but were not awarded degrees. She lost the case, the judges holding that women were disqualified from carrying out a public function and would remain so until parliament changed the law.

For the most part, the press was sympathetic and the publicity helped to mobilise a campaign. After repeated bills in parliament, the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 finally admitted women to the legal profession.

Yemeni Women Protest

From CNN:

Thousands of Yemeni women marched toward the attorney general's office in the capital Saturday demanding legal action for what they called the president's attacks on their morality.

Similar demonstrations took place in other cities as well fueled by President Ali Abdullah Saleh's comments the day before.

In a short speech Friday, Saleh said women who were protesting against his regime were violating Yemeni cultural norms that prohibit mixing with men who are not direct relatives. He called it forbidden behavior in Islam and advised women to stay home.

Angry female activists said Saleh was trying to degrade them in public.

Prominent activist Tawakkol Karman said Saleh was shocked to see women leading Yemen's revolt.

"Saleh has finally shown the world his real face and his hatred against women," said Karman, a leading member of Islah, the largest opposition party in Yemen.

"Women have ruled Yemen on numerous occasions throughout Yemen's history," she said. "That is why he has tried to oppress women for the 33 years he has been in power."

Bachelet Heads Up UN Women's Agency

From the New York Times:

Michelle Bachelet, famous for breaking gender barriers by becoming the first woman elected president of Chile, will head the new global United Nations agency created to advance women’s rights, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Tuesday.

Mr. Ban said he chose Ms. Bachelet, 58, from 26 candidates for her political skills and ability to create consensus. She had been a front-runner from the start.

It took four years of wrangling among member states to create the agency, which consolidates four smaller agencies whose work on women’s issues often overlapped. It has been given the rather unwieldy title of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, but in diplomatic shorthand it is often called the “Gender Entity.”

Womens Equality Day - 26th August

From the Capital Flyer:

This year is the 90th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in the United States. At the first women’s rights convention in 1848 the call for women’s right to vote was heard. That call was answered on Aug. 26, 1920, when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was officially approved.  At a time when women were intended to be seen and not heard, American suffragists braved reprimand and hardship by speaking out on behalf of all women.

For 72 years the non-violent movement continued. Extraordinary women arose in each state and became part of history themselves when they successfully secured civil rights and political independence for American women. This 90th Anniversary offers a unique opportunity to pay tribute to their bravery, determination, and tenacity and to their lasting achievement.

The League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia invites all women and men to join them on Thursday at Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Women of the Wall: Kotel Services

From the Jerusalem Post:

Despite the raucous and sometimes violent uproar that has at times accompanied their previous gatherings inside the women’s section at the Western Wall, Women of the Wall, a group that promotes, “the right, as women, to wear prayer shawls, pray and read from the Torah at the Western Wall,” will hold their monthly Rosh Hodesh service at the holy site on Wednesday morning.

“On Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 7:00 a.m., Women of the Wall will return to the Western Wall (Kotel), with over one hundred women in attendance, for their regular monthly Rosh Hodesh services, to celebrate the beginning of the Jewish month of Elul 5770,” a statement released by the group on Tuesday read.

Africa Woman's Day

From VOA News:

2010 to 2020 has been adopted by the African Union as the African Women's Decade. On Saturday, women from around the world met in London to celebrate African Women's Day.

About 100 women from Britain and Africa came together to pay tribute to the progress made for women's rights in Africa during recent years.

Marie-Claire Faray-Kele is from the Women's International League for Peace, which organized the event in London. She says the African Union declaration that 2010-2020 is the African Women's Decade means African states need to take action regarding women's rights.

She says her group wanted to use Africa Women's Day to highlight an important piece of African Union legislation, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women. It is better known as the Maputo Protocol and came into force in 2005.

The Protocol requires states to eliminate sexual violence, discrimination and other harmful practices against women, including female genital mutilation. It also gives women control of their own reproductive health and the right to inherit property.

India: Army Grants Commissions To Women

From the Indian Express:

The Army on Monday agreed to grant permanent commission to serving women officers in two branches, Judge Advocate General and Army Education Corps, following which the Supreme Court stayed “contempt proceedings” against the Army chief.

Fighting a lonely battle against non-grant of permanent commission to women officers after the Air Force complied with the Delhi High Court judgment of March 12, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, who represented the Army, assured the court that women officers in the Short Service Commission (SSC) would be absorbed on a permanent basis in the next two months after the necessary screening and training procedures.

There are 2,200 serving women officers — 1,200 in Army, 750 in Air Force and 250 in the Navy — as per Ministry of Defence figures.

Major Leena Gurav, a serving JAG officer who had pioneered the litigation for permanent commission back in 2003, would be one of the first to be considered for permanent commission.

Ethiopian Women

From All Africa:

Birtukan Midekssa, Ethiopia's foremost political prisoner and first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history, enjoyed talking about an allegorical 'future country of Ethiopia' that would become an African oasis of democracy and a bastion of human rights and the rule of law in the continent.

In Birtukan's 'future Ethiopia' women and men would live not only as equals under the law, but also work together to create a progressive and compassionate society in which women are free from domestic violence and sexual exploitation, have access to adequate health and maternal care and are provided education to free them from culturally-enforced ignorance, submissiveness and subjugation. But if the situation of women in the 'present country of Ethiopia' is any indication, Birtukan's 'future country' is in deep, deep trouble.

Women Fined Over Cremation

From NDTV:

A panchayat in Jharkhand has fined four women Rs 9,000 each for cremating their mother-in-law, saying they intruded into a male domain.

The four women cremated 78-year-old Patia Kuwar of Gareriadih village in Palamau district who died after falling into a ditch on Friday.

As none of her sons were in the village, the daughters-in-law Sharda, Prabha, Malti and Nirmala carried the woman home and requested the villagers to carry her body to the cremation ground.

But everyone refused as the body was stinking.

The four women then carried the dead mother-in-law on their shoulders and performed the last rites on Saturday.

But the village elders, all males, were not impressed. The panchayat directed the villagers not to attend the post-death ceremonies and fined the women who had no choice but to pay up.