Full Coverage: Gender

30.08.2006 The ultimate goal in gender equality is to ensure that women and men have equitable access to, and benefit from society's resources, opportunities and rewards. And, as part of this, women need to have equal participation in defining what is valued and how this can be achieved, women's groups told the Planning Commission.

25.08.2006 he past seven years have been a period of marked improvement in a number of health indicators in Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, according to the third National Family Health Survey

24.08.2006 On Friday, August 25, a Regional Conference of Women Studies Centres will start in Kotor, Montenegro. The Conference, gathering representatives of women studies centres from Croatia, B&H, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania will end on Sunday, August 25.

24.08.2006 Domestic violence against Afghan women appears endemic, and attacks against them usually take place with impunity, according to a disturbing new report by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

24.08.2006 IndiaÂ’s highest court issues notices to central and state authorities for stricter implementation of the law that ban sex-determination tests and sex-selective abortions. A public interest litigation has said that recognition of pre-birth sex-selection should be considered medical malpractice as it involves the misuse of medical technology

22.08.2006 In order to advance towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), gender equality cannot merely be limited to a number of specific objectives, but must be the lens through which all the targets are viewed, say experts and representatives of women's movements in Argentina.

18.08.2006

kids

The economics literature on gender bias and son preference was linked directly with the discussion of religion and fertility. This study argued that bringing together the notion of ‘son preference’ and the complementary concept of ‘daughter aversion’ provides insights: just as sons bring ‘benefits’ to their parents, daughters impose ‘costs’ and complementing a desire to have sons is a desire not to have daughters

17.08.2006 NEW YORK, Aug 16 (OneWorld) - Rights advocacy groups here are calling for the United Nations to support human rights defenders in Iran.

14.08.2006 Social attitudes towards adoption in Rajasthan reflect a medieval mentality. A vast majority of abandoned children are girls. In the past decade over 90 per cent of childless couples in Rajasthan wanted to adopt only baby boys.

14.08.2006 Couples villages of Punjab (India) clearly determining the sex of the foetus through illigal nexus of village midwives, agents, ultrasound clinics and nursing homes. The mid wives is prime means to get sex selection, who then get in touch with agents. These agents further guide women to nursing homes, which carry out female foeticide.

10.08.2006 Punjab health officials have unearthed disturbing incidents of female foeticide from Patiala district where a systematic racket was being operated by a doctor and a number of agents.

08.08.2006 August 3, 2006, Prishtina and Washington, DC: Thirteen women leaders from six European countries and Kosovo have called on the international community to hold elections in Kosovo and respect the result.

08.08.2006 Gender relations in Bangladesh have been undergoing a process of considerable transformation over the last two decades as a part of broader processes of economic transition and social change. Although progress has been considerable in many spheres, womenÂ’s changing roles have also given rise to a range of new challenges that require shifts in policy making and program implementation as well as the various social and cultural values which have informed and shaped implicit societal understandings of womenÂ’s roles and responsibilities.

07.08.2006 Negative publicity and attacks by Islamist groups on non- governmental organizations (NGOs) working with women have forced several to close their offices and move staff out of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

05.08.2006 Deepa Jain Singh took over as Secretary, Women and Child Development, in New Delhi, India on August 1, 2006.

04.08.2006 "Afghan women and girls face increasing insecurity, and itÂ’s more important for the government to address how to improve their access to public life rather than limit it further. Reinstatement of this controversial department risks moving the discussion away from the vital security and human rights problems now engulfing the country" - Zama Coursen-Neff, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch.

04.08.2006 Children who are exposed to domestic violence may suffer devastating effects later in childhood and into adult life even if they are not direct victims of abuse, a new global study has found. The study also states that by conservative estimates, about 275 million children worldwide are exposed to domestic violence.

04.08.2006 A strong demand was made in both Houses of Parliament for immediate introduction and passage of the long-pending Women's Reservation Bill with the Government assuring members that it would not go back on its commitment.

02.08.2006 The Pakistan government will propose a legislation amending the Hudood laws to remove the near impossible burden of proof placed on victims of rape and protect them from retaliatory adultery charges, a senior lawmaker said on Tuesday. “This will be a historic change and it will end decades of miseries for women,” said Ms Rafi, a lawmaker of the ruling PML.

01.08.2006 Nepalese government officials and Maoists rebels have failed to include women in peace talks, according to gender activists and politicians.