Women's Struggles

Yokohama red-light district: sex work cubicles

I collect images of the sex industry, as part of a project to educate myself and others about the diversity actually involved, rather than staying with an oversimplified, unilluminating idea about prostitution. A lot of my picture collection can be seen here. The silent video below from Satoshi shows streets in a Yokohama red-light district with rows of small shops or cubicles used for sex work. Similar arrangements of sheds or ‘cribs’ were called chon-no-ma, and, until fairly recently, were open and staffed by non-Japanese women. Chon-no-ma were the target of anti-trafficking drives from about five years ago.

A few things strike me about this display. First, the silent, steady, slow movement of the camera. Second, the similarity of the windows and doors we’re taken past, like suburban shopping strips developers impose a style on. Third, the absence of humans, who would ordinarily be the object of our attention (perhaps the video was made in the early dawn). The result is mesmerising.

Costa Rica: 60 Years of the Female Vote

Global Voices (Gender) - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 12:53

By Silvia Viñas

Harolds Blog mentions [es] that 60 years ago, on July 30, 1950, women in Costa Rica were allowed to vote for the first time. Today, Costa Rica has a female president, Laura Chinchilla.

Categories: Women's Struggles

Vietnam: Pale skin and beauty

Global Voices (Gender) - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:49

By Mong Palatino

Reacting to the uproar in India over a Facebook app which allows users to lighten their skin color, Andy Engelson observes that the idea of equating pale skin with beauty is also strong in Vietnam.

Categories: Women's Struggles

Africa: African Women’s Leadership Institute

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
AMwA will be holding a West African Sub Regional African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI) on the theme, “Building African Women’s Leadership to Address Long-Term Forced Migration”, that is scheduled to take place from 19th – 25th September 2010 in...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Zimbabwe: ICC must prosecute Mugabe youths' rape campaign

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
The International Criminal Court must probe alleged crimes against humanity after Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s youth militia launched a campaign of rape during 2008 elections, a campaign group says. Witness statements by rape victims, vetted by...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Africa: Uganda Ratifies the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) coalition joins Women First (the Ugandan Women’s Rights Coalition to welcome and congratulate the Republic of Uganda for depositing its instrument of ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Zambia: Call for 50% female candidates in poll

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
With women having achieved little in terms of representation in decision-making positions in Zambia, a national women’s lobby group is hoping to change this in the 2011 general elections. While Zambia's electoral process may have built-in obstacles t...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Ghana: Ignorance on abortion law means death

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
Unsafe abortions account for more than one in 10 women who die in pregnancy in Ghana, according to new research by the US-based Guttmacher Institute, with ignorance of the law and inadequate facilities partly to blame, say health authorities. Aborti...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Kenya: Focus on fistula

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
It is both preventable and treatable, but obstetric fistula plagues the lives of thousands of women in Kenya every year, leaving them incontinent and ostracized. Here are some reasons why: Information deficit ...
Categories: Women's Struggles

DRC: Getting away with rape

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
When nine-year-old Jeanne* from North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was raped by a neighbour, her parents were determined he would not get away with it. With the help of an international organization that provides legal serv...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Mozambique: New sex workers’ alliance formed

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
Parliamentarians in Mozambique are currently facing a challenge by an advocacy group new to the country's political scene, on an issue most people are unwilling to even talk about - sex work. The newly formed Mozambique chapter of the Pan African Sex...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Zimbabwe: Southern African Young Women’s Festival (SAYWF)

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YETT), in collaboration with young women’s networks and formations in Southern Africa, are hosting a Southern African Young Women’s Festival (...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Zambia: Women welcome equality commission

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
The Zambian National Constitution Conference (NCC) concluded its business recently with the adoption of a clause for the creation of a Gender Equality Commission. This is exciting news for gender activists who did not think the NCC would accept the c...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Kenya: Living death for poor women sufferers

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
With about 3,000 Kenyan women and girls developing obstetric fistula each year, you might think the government would have a plan to prevent and treat it. Think again. Obstetric fistula is a childbirth injury which results in constant leaking of urine...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Ghana: Progress on women’s empowerment lauded

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
United Nations development chief Helen Clark has lauded the progress made by Ghana towards women’s empowerment and gender equality, one of the eight social and economic objectives known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that world leaders ha...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Indian Ocean Islands: Women join forces for political equality

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
"Instead of moaning all the time, why don’t you create your own (political) party?" some men asked Brigitte Rabemanantsoa Rasamoelina, a female politician from Madagascar. She accepted the challenge and in February formed Ampela Mano Politika, a poli...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Egypt: The problem of female circumcision

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
Despite the important achievements so far in the field of women rights and the continuous efforts from both the state and the civil society to protect and promote these rights. Yet some traditional practices that seriously violate women rights still ...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Egypt: Early marriage

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
Early marriage is a form of violence against women. The young female takes a responsibility with number of consequences based on a sexual relation that she did not choose to have. Moreover, the marriage takes place at an age when the young girl is n...
Categories: Women's Struggles

East Africa: Caravan on Maternal Health

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
The East African Caravan on Maternal Health was launched on July 3rd, 2010 at the Kibera D.O Open Grounds, Kibera, Nairobi. It will travel from Kenya, through Tanzania and Rwanda, before culminating in Uganda just prior to the African Union Summit wh...
Categories: Women's Struggles

Africa: “Extraordinary Lives: the story of amazing women”

Pambazuka: Feminst news feed - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 08:25
The Urgent Action Fund – Africa (UAF-Africa)invites all to be a part of an historic project to immortalize the amazing stories of amazing women in you life. We are publishing the stories of women loved, honoured and celebrated by the people whose li...
Categories: Women's Struggles

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