A Welcome to Diana Francis’ reflections: Conflict Transformed

Paula Green 18 December 2009

This new generation missed out on the US civil rights movement, where nonviolent direct action was employed brilliantly and strategically in the service of change. Now it’s time for all of us to respond to the ultimate challenge of how warfare dominates our discourse

Last but not least: CEDAW and family law

Cassandra Balchin 18 December 2009
When injustice in marriage and the family is such a pervasive experience for women and girls, why is family law largely invisible as a global policy issue? What are the prospects for last to no longer remain least?

What will it take to realise our vision of a just and equal world?

Emily Esplen 18 December 2009
After thirty years of CEDAW, gender equality is at a vital juncture. How can we progress towards a just and equal world through such tumultuous times? Emily Esplen calls for a radical democratisation of political spaces, and the fashioning of new, inclusive alliances for justice

Making human rights for women a reality

Lee Waldorf 18 December 2009
There has been a critical shift from CEDAW being an aspirational international document, to its gender equality standards becoming entrenched in national constitutions, laws and policies around the world. Lee Waldorf reflects on how and why this has happened.

NVDA lessons: for Copenhagen from Seattle

Katharine Ainger 15 December 2009
Seattle was a turning point for the developing nations, an exemplar of how major concessions can be won.
 But to bring the spirit of Seattle to Copenhagen, polar bear ice sculptures alone won’t cut it.

The wedding dress with attitude

Cassandra Balchin 10 December 2009
Malians do a good line in combining fashion and public relations for the causes they care about. Fatoumata and Moussa didn’t just decide to get married under Mali’s new family code, they got married in it – literally

The quest for gender-just peace: from impunity to accountability

Yakin Erturk 10 December 2009

Yakin Erturk reflects on the six years she spent working as the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, and argues that in order to build a gender- just peace, dis-empowering patriarchy and engaging with the feminist agenda of empowering women must be the guiding principle for all peace initiatives.

The human cost of war

Diana Francis 10 December 2009
Diana Francis finds in an exhibition of quilts and arpilleras made by women from Ireland to Chile, a rallying call to say no to violence, public and private, on any scale; to work for the abolition of war and to transform the culture of violence in which women are objectified and subjugated.

Domestic violence is not a private family matter

Carolina Gottardo 9 December 2009
In the pioneering ruling Opuz v Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights recognized for the first time that domestic violence is a form of discrimination against women, and that states are required to eliminate and remedy it. The case also recognized that domestic violence is not a “private family matter” but that it is in the public interest to ensure state protection from it.

An unfortunate accident: violence in Ahmadinejad’s Iran

Anonymous 7 December 2009
In the wake of the contested Iranian election, Ahmadinejad's regime is seeking to silence political dissent through coercion and arbitrary imprisonment - where men as well as women are vulnerable to rape and torture. Women's organizations have actively campaigned against such violence, but analysis of post-election violence must not look at abuse of women in isolation. Instead, it must highlight the way that difference – whether it be political opinion, religion, sexuality, or gender – is being persecuted in Ahmadinejad's Iran.

The power of storytelling

Zainab Magdy 6 December 2009
Zainab Magdy describes her journey as a young feminist writer in a storytelling workshop in Cairo. “Many people ask me about these storytelling evenings and I tell them very seriously about "patriarchal society" which is killing the person inside each and every man and woman slowly. They don’t usually appreciate it. A few sentences can never tell the story of the woman who remains in a marriage because her husband threatens to keep her children as far away from her as possible. But maybe a story will.

Jack in a Box

Zainab Magdy 6 December 2009
He liked playing with the Jack in a Box more than any other toy. It had been his favourite since childhood, and he continued to have the same passion towards it until he approached his thirties.

Owner of a Heart

Zainab Magdy 5 December 2009
Once upon a time, in a place far far away and a time that was neither happy nor glorious in a small town, there was a man who knew the secrets of the earth and plants and who used to heal the hearts of young girls...

Meeri Piribis: carrying the torch of hope

Jameen Kaur 3 December 2009
“No more will we let the army decide, the insurgents decide, or the patriarchal structures of our societies that control our lives and our movements. We will act and lead on our needs and our priorities, not theirs”. Jameen Kaur talks to Binalakshmi Nepram Mentschel about her work to end decades of violence in Manipur

When things fall apart

Alice Welbourn 1 December 2009

Alice Welbourn charts her own personal experiences of what she learnt about HIV, about herself and about others during her early years of living with her diagnosis. She reflects on how traumatic experiences can also be ones of growth and self-knowledge – and how HIV has much to teach us all.

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