Tree Plantations Are Not Forests, Women Activists Say

By Marcela Valente

Brazilian women rally against deforestation. Credit:Courtesy of WRM Uruguay

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 1 (IPS) – Touted as “harvested forests,” single-crop tree plantations are fast encroaching on the native forests and grasslands of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, affecting the environment and the lives of local communities, rural women say.

My Name Is Not “Those People”

By Julia Dinsmore
My name is not “Those People.”
I am a loving woman, a mother in pain, giving birth to the future, where my babies have the same chance to thrive as anyone.
My name is not “Inadequate.”
I did not make my husband leave – he chose to,
and chooses not to pay child support.
Truth is though, there [...]

ZIMBABWE: Gender Activists Want Equality in Constitution Reform

HARARE, September 4, 2009 (CISA) -Women’s rights activists are worried that the Zimbabwe’s latest constitutional reform process will again address the concerns of women because only 9 of the 25 members of the Select Committee, tasked in mid-July with drafting the constitution, are women.

Poll: Women Immigrants Keeping Families Together

One World
WASHINGTON, May 14 (New America Media) – The story of migration is no longer a man’s story. It is increasingly becoming a woman’s tale, according to “Women Immigrants: Stewards of the 21st Century,” a new poll by New America Media. Immigrant women are taking charge in keeping their families together. At a time when [...]

A Year Later, Iowa Raid Still Marks a Flashpoint

Common Dreams
by Mike McGraw
POSTVILLE, Iowa – If there is an epicenter in the shifting, emotionally charged debate over U.S. immigration policy, it is here, amid some of the richest soil on Earth.
That alluvial black dirt nurtures corn, beef cattle, chickens and turkeys, which require massive slaughterhouses. And that in turn nurtures a lively trade in [...]

IOM Rome, UISG Continue Cooperation in Fight against Human Trafficking

International Organization for Migration
Posted on Tuesday, 07-04-2009
Italy – The IOM Mission in Rome and the International Union of Superiors General (UISG by its Italian acronym) are this week starting a new phase of their joint programme: “Counter-Trafficking Training for Religious Personnel”.

DR Congo doctor is ‘top African’

BBC
A doctor from the Democratic Republic of Congo who treats women raped by combatants in the war-torn country has been named “African of the Year”.
Denis Mukwege, 53, who runs a clinic in Bukavu, has said all sides have “declared women their common enemy”.

Vatican: ‘washing machine has liberated women’

Independent Catholic News
The washing machine has had a greater liberating role for women than the contraceptive pill, according to a L’Osservatore Romano commentary on International Women’s Day on Sunday.
“The washing machine and the emancipation of women: put in the powder, close the lid and relax,” said the headline.

Zimbabwe: Hoping for a miracle

Pambazuka News
Mary Ndlovu (2009-03-12)
Human rights activist Mary Ndlovu considers the possible outcomes of a four-week-old ‘unholy alliance between Zimbabwe’s former ruling party Zanu PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) and the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) into a ‘Government of National Unity’ (GNU). Already the GNU has survived the arrest and incarceration of [...]

DR Congo doctor is ‘top African’

BBC
A doctor from the Democratic Republic of Congo who treats women raped by combatants in the war-torn country has been named “African of the Year”.
Denis Mukwege, 53, who runs a clinic in Bukavu, has said all sides have “declared women their common enemy”.
He says his award from the Nigerian Daily Trust paper of $20,000 (£13,700) [...]