Voters go to the polls in Cape Verde on Sunday following electoral campaigns focused on the Covid-19 crisis and its effect on tourism in the Atlantic Ocean island country. Some 392,000 people are registered to vote and ballot boxes were expected to be open at 08:00 local time, with voting continuing until 19:00. Tourism is […]
The removal of Robert Mugabe in November 2017 through a military coup which ushered in the so-called “Second Republic” gave the Zimbabwean populace false hope on national transformation and a democratic developmental state. Mugabe was one of the most brutal and evil dictators in the history of dictatorship due to his massacre of thousands of […]
Herald Correspondent A 58-year-old Beatrice woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing her three minor sons. The woman sexually abused her sons — twins aged eight and a six-year-old. She will serve an effective 16 years after Chitungwiza Magistrate, Mr Noel Mupeyiwa, conditionally suspended four years of the sentence. The […]
Sierra Leone medical doctors on Tuesday started an indefinite strike over the alleged assault on a female member by a government minister. The association representing junior doctors is calling for the resignation of the country’s Deputy Minister of Health, alongside the Chief Medical Officer and the Permanent Secretary at the ministry, whom were alleged to […]
The court upheld a ruling that marriages under the old Black Administration Act be made in community of property by default The apartheid Black Administration Act combined with the more recent Matrimonial Property Act has effectively left many thousands of elderly black women married “out of community of property”. Pinetown housewife Agnes Sithole challenged this […]
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other humanitarian agencies have raised a red flag over the high cases of gender-based violence (GBV) in Tigray region of Ethiopia. The agencies, in a joint statement, noted that amid a worsening humanitarian situation in Tigray, reports of indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians, including rape and other forms […]
Internationally acclaimed writer, Tsitsi Dangarembga has blamed the perpetuation of sexual abuse on the country’s patriarchal system. Through her writings, the novelist has highlighted the plight of Zimbabwean women whose rights she has been advocating. Her famous work, the novel trilogy; Nervous Conditions (1988), The Book of Not (2006), This Mournable Body (2018) brings to […]
Three women are among the ten candidates on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interview list for the position of Chief Justice (CJ). The trio, Prof Patricia Mbote, Justice Martha Koome and Justice Alice Jepkoech Yano, have built their careers in their own rights in line with the legal profession. Patricia is a Professor of Law […]
Cameroon women’s team will miss the Olympic Games for the second time in a row, after a drab 0-0 draw against Chile in the CAF-CONMEBOL intercontinental playoff second leg on Tuesday in Antalya, Turkey. The Lionesses suffered a huge setback in the first leg, after falling to La Roja 2-1 courtesy of Camila Saez and […]
New York — Violations include rape, forced sterilization, virginity testing, female genital mutilation and more Nearly half of women in 57 developing countries are denied the right to decide whether to have sex with their partners, use contraception or seek health care, according to UNFPA’s 2021 flagship State of World Population report, released today. For […]
Former National Council member Steve Biko Booys, who is accused of raping his biological daughter, was denied bail yesterday. The 42-year-old Booys, who is also a former Okahandja constituency councillor, was remanded in custody and his case postponed to 14 July when he appeared in the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Magistrate Khaepriums Swartz dismissed Booys’ […]
For decades, African women have been trapped in poverty cycles due to several underlying factors including unequal access to education, factors of production, and trade facilities; inequitable labour saving technologies; underpaid or unpaid labour; harmful cultural practices; and limited legal protection from gender inequality practices entrenched in society. To break the cycle of poverty and […]
A number of women’s rights groups have filed a case against the government of Mali at the Ecowas regional court to try and force the authorities in Bamako to take action against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The initiative could set a legal precedent and have wider implications on the continent. The legal filing, confirmed by […]
The construction industry is widely considered to be one of the world’s largest industrial employers of labour, and is linked to all other sectors of countries’ economies. It presents a path to empower women economically but it tends to be dominated by men. In spite of past initiatives in many parts of the world to […]
Cairo — Ahmed Bassam Zaki, in his early 20s, was charged with the indecent assault and blackmail of at least three women, all under 18 at the time An Egyptian Instagram activist welcomed a court decision on Sunday to jail a former university student for eight years for sex crimes after her campaign against his […]
Juba — The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) during Easter reunited 58 abducted women and children with their families. The women and children were kidnapped during last year’s vicious inter-communal fighting in Jonglei State. UNMISS says the exchange of abducted women and children followed a community-led goodwill agreement between the Lou Nuer, Murle […]
ACTIVISTS have urged the government to step up the fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV), especially in the Lake Zone where the problem is now becoming serious. It is reported that some families in Lake Zone have come up with the malpractice of abandoning their female children in thick forests after becoming pregnant before undergoing […]
Until I witnessed a death from complications of an unsafe abortion, I never felt comfortable talking about abortion services. Joan (not her real name) was an intelligent and hardworking girl who lived in my village. One of her dreams was to attend university. When she discovered she was pregnant, Joan feared the pregnancy would bring […]