Our 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
West Africa: Husbands Worse Threat to Women Than Gunmen
IRIN News
In conflict-hit West African countries, husbands often pose a greater threat to women's lives than an armed assailant, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a recent report, but even in more stable countries, violence against women is hard to eradicate.
Egyptian women worry about rights under new Islamist president
Los Angeles Times, United States
While thousands celebrated in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Egypt’s revolution, women were intimidated and rhetoric intensified that President Mohamed Morsi’s victory would herald an increase in piousness and hijabs: “Tomorrow, Morsi will cover you all up, your days are over.”
Campaign against veiling young girls launched in Morocco
Al Arabiya
A Moroccan rights organization launched an awareness campaign against the veiling of young girls, describing it as a major form of child absuse. Under the slogan “So that girls won’t live in eternal darkness,” the Center for Woman’s Equality launched a campaign that aims to counter the phenomenon of forcing girls between the ages of three and 10 to wear the headscarf.
AMERICAS
Mississippi abortion clinic remains open as legal fight moves through court
The Guardian, UK
The governor of Mississippi has expressed disappointment in a judge's ruling that temporarily blocked the state from closing its last remaining abortion clinic—and becoming the only state without an abortion clinic - as the legal battle to keep it open continued.
Poll shows wide support for abortion rights, gay marriage
Canada.com, Canada
Canadians generally support a woman`s right to have an abortion but many believe the medical procedure should only be allowed in ``certain circumstances,'' a new poll has found.
Statistics on Violence against Women Increase in Honduras
Prensa Latina
The statistics on violence against women continue to increase today in Honduras, where last year there were 17,000 reports of incidents of this nature.
ASIA
Afghan aid conference must assist displaced, women - rights groups
AlertNet, UK
Aid funding due to be pledged for Afghanistan at a donor conference in Tokyo on Sunday must help half a million people displaced by years of conflict and living in miserable conditions, a rights group said on Wednesday.
Drought drives rural Indian women into city sex trade
AlertNet, India
Sex worker Aruna Raju, 45, moved to Hyderabad 11 years ago after drought and repeated crop failures led to the deaths of four of her family members. “I have seen people shedding tears of blood,” she says.
MIDDLE EAST
Will Saudis be "skunks at Olympic garden party"?
TrustLaw, UK
It's history in the making, or is it? Though Saudi Arabia has stated its intention to send women athletes to the Olympics for the first time, with three weeks until the opening ceremony, the signs aren't promising.
Saudi Arabia’s small step toward women’s rights
Globe and Mail, Canada
Saudi Arabia’s 11th-hour decision to allow women to compete at this summer’s Olympic Games in London is an important step toward ending that country’s reprehensible gender apartheid. But for the change to have real meaning, the International Olympic Committee will need to keep up the pressure on the Gulf Kingdom.
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