50.50

A global debate without the female half of humanity is neither global nor democratic. With this in mind, openDemocracy is running 50.50: a series of editorial projects designed to make openDemocracy a current affairs forum which is written, read and used equally by women and men. We believe there will not be a fairer or more peaceful world without gender equality. Women's exclusion from the global debate affects both the content of the debate and the way the dialogue is conducted.
Thursday 26th January

Are Bosnian and Herzegovinian victims of wartime rape finally being given constructive attention?

Aleksandra Nedzi, 26 January 2012
Unlike perpetrators, victims of wartime rape and sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not receive much attention in the media, not only due to social ostracism but also lack of a coherent strategy and resources to address their needs.
Monday 16th January

The politics of belonging in Britain

Jenny Allsopp, 16 January 2012
'There is no opposite to belonging’: Nira Yuval-Davis in conversation with Jenny Allsopp on religion, migration and the politics of belonging. So is it time to open up the debate and ask what it means to belong 'in' - rather than 'to' - contemporary Britain?
Friday 13th January

How the British justice system makes criminals of children

Shauneen Lambe, 13 January 2012
It is time to reconsider how we deal with child offenders. Just for Kids Law director Shauneen Lambe examines new research showing that the brains of young people are still maturing
Thursday 12th January

Why migrant mothers die in childbirth in the UK

Ramya Ramaswami, 12 January 2012
Maternal mortality among black African women in the UK is up to seven times higher than it is among white women. Doctors’ surgeries are misunderstanding their obligations to migrant patients, says Dr Ramya Ramaswami
Tuesday 10th January

The Saudi response to the ‘Arab spring’: containment and co-option

Madawi Al-Rasheed, 10 January 2012
Saudi Arabia’s response to the ‘Arab spring’ has been an attempt to co-opt movements for change in a bid to maintain the status quo. Madawi Al-Rasheed talks to Deniz Kandiyoti about the contradictions of a ruling elite that promotes a conservative Islam, that threatens women’s existing rights abroad – as in Tunisia and Egypt – while it poses as the emancipator of women at home
Wednesday 4th January

Has neoliberalism knocked feminism sideways?

Rahila Gupta, 4 January 2012
Feminism needs to recapture the state from the neoliberal project to which it is in hock in order to make it deliver for women. It must guard against atomisation and recover its transformative aspirations to shape the new social order that is hovering on the horizon, says Rahila Gupta
Monday 2nd January

Russian provincial life: to be or not to be…single

Elena Strelnikova, 2 January 2012
It’s an age-old adage that things always look greener on the other side of the fence and this is particularly true of married women looking at single women’s life and vice versa. Elena Strelnikova gives a wry account of the problems encountered by single women in the Orenburg Region, where she lives
Friday 23rd December

Women in the new Libya: challenges ahead

Kathryn Spellman-Poots, 23 December 2011
Will the rights of the women, who participated in the struggles leading to fall of Gaddafi, be put under pressure in the new Libya? Kathryn Spellman-Poots assesses women’s status under Gadaffi and points to the perils ahead.
Thursday 22nd December

Migration in Britain: the truth behind the headlines

Ruth Grove-White, 22 December 2011
By restricting entry, settlement and family reunification in the UK now, the UK risks putting off those that it will be seeking to attract in the future, as well as making the process of migration more precarious for all, says Ruth Grove White

Egyptian storytelling: a vessel for power

Zainab Magdy, 22 December 2011
Writing has come to mean place and presence, and presence gives us power to force those who don't acknowledge our existence to admit that they can hear the sound of our breath, says the young Egyptian writer Zainab Magdy
Wednesday 21st December

The English riots: restoring hopes and dreams in Tottenham

Andreas Koumi, 21 December 2011
The voices of responsible, ambitious and conscientious young people in Haringey deserve to be heard, says Andreas Koumi
Monday 19th December

Senegal: the land belongs to those who work it

Fatou Guèye, 19 December 2011
After a quarter century of armed conflict, and a socio-economic fabric reduced to shreds, women in Casamance, Senegal, are winning the right to access land and rebuild peace, says Fatou Guèye
Monday 12th December

Scrooge employers are Britain's real welfare cheats

Barbara Gunnell, 12 December 2011
A new report reveals pockets of extreme poverty among young working-age adults, including those who have jobs. Barbara Gunnell on how a low-wage economy punishes us all.

Occupy: you can’t evict an idea

Ruth Rosen, 12 December 2011
The Occupy movement has changed the national conversation in America, and challenged the rightward tilt of the political landscape with its clear message that wealth inequality is incompatible with democracy, says Ruth Rosen
Wednesday 23rd November

Mad Women on the March

Ray Filar, 23 November 2011
The Fawcett Society believes that the UK coalition government has broken the law in not assessing the impact of budget cuts on women. Ray Filar marched with them last weekend to hear their reasons for protesting
Wednesday 9th November

The "Turkish model" : for whom?

Pinar Ilkkaracan, 9 November 2011
In the aftermath of the Arab spring the “Turkish model” is being held out as an optimistic scenario for democratisation with an Islamic framework. In conversation with Deniz Kandiyoti, women’s rights and gender activist Pinar Ilkkaracan puts Turkey’s record under scrutiny - and finds it wanting
Tuesday 27th September

An African future: beyond the culture of dependency

Wangari Maathai, 27 September 2011
The experience of poor farmers in Kenya is a lesson in the need for an anti-corruption revolution. (This article is republished in tribute to the pioneering environmentalist Wangari Maathai, who died on 25 September 2011)
Monday 1st August

The punitive regulation of poverty in the neoliberal age

Loïc Wacquant, 1 August 2011
The increasing penalization of poverty is a response to social insecurity; a result of public policy that weds the "invisible hand" of the market to the "iron fist" of the penal state, says Loïc Wacquant
Monday 14th March

Yemen: Saleh’s final dance

Sarah El-Richani and Samia Al-Aghbary, 14 March 2011
There are many different strands to the protest under way in Yemen, including old and new grievances, and signs that some of them are coming together.
Friday 5th March

The table around which we didn't sit

zohra moosa, 5 March 2010
CSW has attracted 1000s of women to its proceedings this year, but there is a danger that we are just talking to ourselves. Two sessions on the financial crisis point to the change that is needed.
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