IPS's Women's Day: Women's Fight Continues for Equality, Peace, Development

On the occasion of International Women's Day 2006...
Keep Up The Good Fight !
George

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." (Gandhi)
"We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are." (Max Depree)

From: "IPS - Special: Int'l Women's Day" <newsletter@ipsnews.net>
Subject: Women's Fight Continues for Equality, Peace, Development
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2006 14:03:50 -0800

For nearly a century, women around the world have been united --
despite cultural, language, ethnic, political or economic differences
-- by an international day marking their efforts to achieve equality,
peace and development. March 8 commemorates the great strides women
have made, but also reminds us that women have a long way to go to
reach those elusive goals.

Click on the stories below, or visit IPS's Women's Day website:
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/womensday/index.asp
====================================================================

Bosnia Rape Victims Forgotten
Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE - "When I gave birth to her, I didn't want to see her...but
on the second day, when I took her to my breast, I realised that she
was the only beauty remaining in this world and so I kept her."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32406

***
Death Penalty Rare for Women, But On the Rise in Iran and China
Alison Langley
FRANKFURT - A 17-year-old Iranian girl known only as Nazanin fought
off two men trying to rape her, and is said to have fatally stabbed
one of them. In January, almost two years after the incident, a
Tehran court sentenced her to death.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32410

***
Groups Blast U.N. on Gender Parity
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - A coalition of international women's organisations
-- including more than 240 women from over 50 countries -- has
castigated both U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the 191 member
states for paying "lip service" to the cause of gender parity in the
world body.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32398

Handful of Nations Rejects Politics as Usual
Lisa Söderlindh - United Nations
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32390

***
Mexican Rape Victims Denied Right to Abortion
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY - A woman or girl is raped every four minutes on average
in Mexico. But if they get pregnant, there is no guarantee that their
right to an abortion as rape victims will be recognised, due to
administrative hurdles and outright obstruction by authorities, says
a new report released Tuesday.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32409

***
Conflict Only Makes It Worse
Fawzia Sheikh
JERUSALEM - The overriding obstacle that Arab women cite in their
fight for freedom and equal rights in the Palestinian territories is
the continuing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32405

Where Double Standards Can Be Lethal
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32388

***
Chilean Women Want Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Now!
María Cecilia Espinosa
SANTIAGO - The first annual report by the Chilean Observatory of
Gender Equity in Health calls for legislation on sexual and
reproductive rights for women, making therapeutic abortion legal once
again, and making emergency contraception available to all women.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32408

Women Activists in Chile Elated, But Won't Let Down Their Guard
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32387

***
Peace Activists Arrested at U.S. Mission to U.N.
Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS - New York police arrested four women activists
outside the United States mission to the United Nations Monday as
they tried to deliver a petition signed by 72,000 people calling for
immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32396

***
Shame and Pain Torment Fistula Sufferers
Mithre J. Sandrasagra
UNITED NATIONS - Obstetric fistula is a preventable and treatable
injury caused by several days of obstructed labour, without timely
medical intervention. But the consequences of the pervasive
disability are life shattering -- the baby usually dies, and the
woman is left with chronic incontinence.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32362

***
Young Argentine Women Lured into Trafficking by Job Ads
Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - The ads read: "presentable young ladies", "no
qualifications or experience required", "easy work," "good
conditions," and "hours by arrangement". They often offer salaries of
over 2,000 dollars.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32384

***
High Hopes - and Debts - Await Jamaica's First Female PM
Dionne Jackson Miller
KINGSTON - Although not a big personal supporter of Portia Simpson
Miller, who is destined to become Jamaica's first female prime
minister, 14-year-old Kelsie Clarke is still happy about the older
woman's political success.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32368

***
LATIN AMERICA: Many Women Seek New Life Across Borders
Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO - Seven years ago, Melania decided to leave her native Peru
to try her luck as a domestic employee in Chile, prompted by the
difficult economic situation in her home country. She was followed
soon after by her boyfriend and, later, her two sisters.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32366

***
JAPAN: Wives Stash Cash to Freedom
Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO - Masami, 57, is waiting for the day when she can divorce her
husband, a respected professor of medicine she married 32 years ago.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32359

***
ANGOLA: The Dangerous Profession of Motherhood
Karen Iley
LUANDA - Walking into the Angolan capital's main maternity hospital,
the first thing that hits any visitor is the stench: a nauseating
combination of blood and excrement. After a short while, the stomach
settles and the eyes adjust to the poor light in the Maternidade
Lucrecia Paim; then, the true wretchedness of the grey walls and
broken windows begins to sink in.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32323

***
CAMBODIA: Women Take Brunt of Poverty
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Paid sex may not be on the minds of the representatives
from international donor organisations when they gather in Cambodia,
this week, to discuss aid to that poverty-stricken country.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32322

***
SOUTH AFRICA: "Anything Can Happen to Us, Anytime"
Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG - As a community relations officer for the
Johannesburg-based Forum for the Empowerment of Women, a
non-governmental organisation, Zanele Muholi has become all too
familiar with the prejudice against lesbians that exists in South
Africa.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32271

***
PAKISTAN: Veiled but Women More Visible After Quake
Zofeen Ebrahim
ABBOTABAD - On a bitter cold afternoon in late January, about 600
women, quite a few with eyes barely showing through veils, trooped
into a huge marquee to make their feelings known about the poor
progress of rehabilitation after the devastating Oct. 8 earthquake.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32237

***
MEXICO: Activists Lash Out at Government Report on Juárez Killings
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY - Activists in Mexico are upset over a report by a
special prosecutor's office on the killings of hundreds of women in
Ciudad Juárez, which they say buries many of the key facts and
arguments relating to the murders.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32212

====================================================================
And much more global news at: http://www.ipsnews.net/
====================================================================
Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), the world's leading provider
of information on global issues, is backed by a network of
journalists in more than 100 countries. Its clients include more than
3,000 media organizations and tens of thousands of civil society
groups, academics, and other users.

IPS focuses its news coverage on the events and global processes
affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples
and nations.

====================================================================
Visit Inter Press Service at http://www.ipsnews.net

====================================================================

--
---

GEORGE LESSARD
Information & Media Specialist
6402135 Canada Inc.
60°00'N, 111°58' W
P.O. Box 456
Fort Smith, Northwest Territories
X0E 0P0, Canada
Voice 867 872-3455
http://www.Skype.com P2PNetPhone: themediamentor
Home e-mail media@web.net
Alternate e-mail: mediamentor@gmail.com
MSN: MediaMentor (video cam & audio capable)
ICQ: 8501081
iChat / AIM mediamentor123
Home Pages http://mediamentor.ca
Online Activities: http://www.web.ca/~media/index.html
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/george-lessard/sets/
The MediaMentor's Blogs
Photos http://mediamentor.blogspot.com/
Overseas http://mediamentor-overseas.blogspot.com/
Text Blog http://garpl.blogspot.com/
Member:
Canadian Association of Journalists http://www.caj.ca
Canadian Artists Representation / le Front des artistes canadiennes
http://www.carfac.ca/
Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective http://www.carcc.ca/
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Developing Nations license.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/devnations/2.0/
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." (Gandhi)
"We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are." (Max Depree)
"Try? There is not try. There is only do or not do." (Yoda)
"Life is fatal, but not serious" (Oscar Wilde)