A selection of this week's stories on women's rights from TrustLaw and other media
LONDON (TrustLaw) – Here is our selection of this week’s stories on women's rights from TrustLaw and other media.
AFRICA
Zimbabwe's women activists face filthy prisons, insults
TrustLaw, UK
For someone who has been arrested 43 times while protesting for social justice in Zimbabwe, the prospect of elections in her homeland evokes a special kind of fear in campaigner Jenni Williams. The 50-year-old is the executive director and a founding member of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), formed in 2003 to encourage Zimbabwean women to stand up for their rights.
Rwanda: Impact of Female Leaders On Women's Lives
allAfrica.com, Africa
Since the last parliamentary elections, Rwanda has been the first country in the world where women hold a majority in one of the chambers of parliament - with 56 percent in the chamber of deputies. There are also a good number of top female officials in the executive, whether as ministers or heads of institutions.
AMERICAS
Indigenous women lead land rights struggle in Ecuadorean Amazon
TrustLaw, UK
When Argentinian oil company CGC began seismic testing on their ancestral land - in one of the most remote and pristine areas of the Ecuadorean Amazon - it was the women of the Sarayaku community who decided to take a stand against Big Oil.
Feminist icon Gloria Steinem talks revolution
The Morning Call, United States
Gloria Steinem, the 78-year-old writer, activist and lecturer, is one of the most recognisable faces of feminism — founder of Ms. Magazine and the Women's Media Center, and undercover Playboy bunny— and remains one of the most influential women in America. When she delivers the keynote address on June 7 at the Lehigh Valley Women’s Summit in Pennsylvania , she'll talk about "The Longest Revolution" — one, she's quick to say, that is far from over.
Las Vegas Sun, United States
Senate Democrats are taking their Memorial Day break this week with a piece of aggravatingly unresolved business: how to respond to House Republicans’ objections to their Violence Against Women act, which passed with a healthy bipartisan majority weeks ago.The objections are procedural. But the source of frustration is political.
EUROPE
Europe must do better on gender and asylum - report
TrustLaw, UK
A new report, Gender-related asylum claims in Europe, compares asylum law, policy and practice in nine EU states - Belgium, Britain, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Romania, Spain and Sweden - to assess how asylum seekers fleeing gender-related persecution are treated.
Less than a third of UK top jobs filled by women -BBC
TrustLaw, UK
Fewer than one third of the UK's top jobs across key sectors such as business and politics are held by women, a BBC report said. Research by BBC News showed that women hold on average 30.9 percent of the most senior positions in the country.
Where are women's rights in plans to tackle rape in war zones?
The Guardian, UK
At an event in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on May 29, the foreign secretary offered a high-profile new initiative on tackling sexual violence in conflict.
The Independent, UK
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sparked a furious response from women's rights activists after comparing abortions to botched air strikes that last year killed of scores of Kurdish civilians.
Turkish law sanctions abortions within 10 weeks from conception. But Mr Erdogan has publicly voiced his opposition, comparing them to "murder".
Women's Rights Looking up in France
Voice of America, United States
France may remember 2012 as the year of women's rights. Newly elected President Francois Hollande has ushered in the country's first gender-balanced cabinet. His partner, twice-divorced journalist Valerie Trierweiler, is the country's first unmarried "first lady." And earlier this year, the government scrapped the honorific "Mademoiselle" from its official documents in favor of the more equalizing "Madame." But are these changes just symbolic?
MIDDLE EAST
Egypt election candidates pay lip service to women's rights
The National, United States
Women activists are worried politicians are merely paying lip service to improving women's rights and, in some cases, may even roll back some of the advances made in recent years
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