Full Coverage: Gender

30.11.2007 The Central Park of the Indian capital was lit up by aspirations for peace in the region, as more than 20 organisations celebrated the South Asian Women's Day for peace, justice, human rights and democracy. This was also the spot where Anusheh Adil and her popular band BANGLA played a special piece for the day, as part of the SAARC Band Festival.

30.11.2007

29.11.2007 Hundreds of Muslim women from across India, along with academics, social experts and parliamentarians, addressed social, livelihood, legal and religious issues of the community at the first annual convention of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) in Delhi. The campaign also called for the implementation of the 2006 Justice Sachar Committee report for better education and employment facilities.

29.11.2007 Organizations and networks across 41 districts of Uttar Pradesh, IndiaÂ’s biggest northern state, have come together to campaign on the Domestic Violence Act, as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence.

28.11.2007 A new internet campaign has been launched by UNIFEM aiming at elimination of all forms of violence against women. Actress Nicole Kidman kicking off the campaign, urged all to put an end to this appalling human rights violation. Every third woman in the world suffers from violence and abuse in her lifetime.

27.11.2007 To promote efforts towards eradication of poverty, full employment and social integration, the United Nations General Assembly will observe 20 February annually as the World Day of Social Justice, beginning in 2009.

27.11.2007 A group of women is fighting social ills in Banda, one of the poorest, caste-ridden and chauvinistic societies in IndiaÂ’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Dressed in pink saris, these women fear not to wield sticks on the corrupt when need be.

27.11.2007 Tribal women across the world, often seen as backward and primitive, suffer violence and sexual exploitation at the hands of outsiders who invade their land. As most cases go unreported, such acts of hostility remain hidden from the public gaze.

26.11.2007 A Pakistan based helpline for women and children has released astounding figures of rapes, tortures, killings, honour killings, kidnappings, suicides, etc. It cites more than 4,500 reported cases of abuse against women this year in the country while the figure for the last seven years stands at 55,051.

26.11.2007 Parivartan – working in the area of participatory research, training and networking – is organising a training programme on gender responsive budgeting from December 20-22, 2007 in Indian capital New Delhi. The programme will help development practitioners and other functionaries to take into account gender concerns in policy making, programme development and project implementation.

26.11.2007 An international campaign - 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence kicked off on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The campaign will run till December 10, International Human Rights Day, to emphasize that all forms of violence against women are a violation of human rights.

26.11.2007 High levels of literacy and education have failed to change the patriarchal mindsets in the state of Kerala. Missionary-driven education has only reinforced the Victorian morality that teaches women to be subservient to men, says Aleyamma Vijayan of SAKHI resource centre for women.

26.11.2007 Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the United Nations has strongly condemned the violence perpetrated against women globally. Letting tormentors go scot-free and denial of socio-economic rights to women are the factors contributing to the continuance of this scourge.

21.11.2007 No scholarships or unemployment allowance to the disabled, no financial assistance to widows, no juvenile shelter homes, no primary school for the deaf, no home for mentally retarded, no leprosy complex and no disbursement of funds to old-age homes. Despite availability of funds, the social welfare schemes of the Delhi government are in a shambles.

20.11.2007 Women in Nepal – widows, the elderly and the very poor – are facing torture and abuse at the hands of their own families and communities, who accuse them of being witches. Human rights and gender activists say there is a need for stronger laws to protect such women and sensitise the public.

20.11.2007 No matter how well India is faring in terms of economic growth, its women continue to lag far behind. In South Asia, Indian women are marginally better off than that of Nepal and Pakistan, says the recently released Gender Gap Index brought out by the World Economic Forum.

15.11.2007 Thirty years after the Baader-Meinhof Group rocked West German democracy with a series of terrorist attacks, an ICA film season takes a look at the role of women in the revolutionary struggle, both politically and personally.

13.11.2007 Delhi based Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) in partnership with GKP will host the second i4d Film Festival at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on December 9-10, 2007, before the start of the third global knowledge event, GK3.

12.11.2007 The performance of the South Asian countries is offset by persisting gender inequality with the significant exception of Sri Lanka, reveals the recent Global Gender Gap Report 2007 released by the World Economic Forum. The report advocates a multi-stakeholder community approach to tackle its various challenges and opportunities while being a benchmark tool for policy makers to define national priorities.

05.11.2007 Editor Sumi Krishna provides a historical perspective on womenÂ’s citizenship and livelihood rights in her book WomenÂ’s Livelihood Rights: Recasting Citizenship for Development. The various articles capture stories of struggle and success from the field in the context of economic rights to natural resource based livelihoods even while celebrating the collective power of women. OneWorld South Asia speaks to her about the book.