Human Rights & Security

Globalization—as a political, economic and cultural trend—continues to have a mixed impact on women. Although it is strengthening promotion of gender equality around the world, it is also in many cases widening the gulf between rich and poor, accelerating environmental degradation and increasing the workloads of women and girls. The expanding global marketplace is increasing women’s employment opportunities but also producing jobs that may be temporary, unsafe or exploitive. Furthermore, economic reform programs imposed on developing countries by international financial institutions have often eroded critical services, such as public health and education programs, thereby increasing the caregiving burdens of women and girls. While globalization has opened up new avenues for some women, it has also led to increased hardship for others.

The Saudi 'study' that finds all women drivers on the road to immorality

Teaser:

Critiques the methodology used by Professor Kamal al-Subhi, the American-educated retired professor in Saudi Arabia who took it upon himself to prepare a scientific study on the effects of women driving on society.

Editorial:

From the article:

Women driving has been a controversial issue in Saudi Arabia since 1990when 47 women got into 14 cars and drove on to a main street in Riyadh. They were stopped, suspended from work for two years and condemned for years in religious sermons and social circles. The last public assault was when Sheikh Mohammed Al Arefe in 2003 objected to the fact that these women were allowed to go back to teaching because he was worried that they would encourage their students to follow in their footsteps.

It took more than 15 years for another group of women to gather the courage to start a public movement against the ban on female driving. Since 2006, every few months there would be a study, petition, video or campaign but to no avail. This is no surprise, because there are just as many studies, videos, petitions and campaigns calling on the government to maintain the ban.

Professor Kamal al-Subhi has written the most recent of these studies. Subhi is an American-educated retired professor who took it upon himself to prepare a scientific study on the effects of women driving on society. The study is based on unstructured direct interviews methodology, in which he visited two unnamed Arabian Gulf countries and a third unnamed North African country to ask people about the effects of women driving.

...

Source:

The Guardian

URL:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/06/saudi-study-women-drivers?newsfeed=true

Date:

December 9, 2011

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Women, Peace, and Security - US Policy Should Support UNSC Resolution 1325

Submitted by vivhdem on Wed, 12/07/2011 - 3:36pm

By Shyama Venkateswar, Ph.D.*
The National Council for Research on Women participates in the US Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security. We are currently disseminating a statement and recommendations to encourage more robust US policies and programs to ensure that women's voices and organizations are fully represented throughout diplomacy, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction efforts. In publishing this statement, the Working Group aims to transform declaratory support into concrete action and engender effective outcomes that bring peace, security, and dignity to the lives of women, men, and chiildren in conflict and crisis settings. Please help us spread the word about this important initiative. Click here to read the statement.

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US Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security

Submitted by vivhdem on Wed, 12/07/2011 - 3:16pm

"We’ll Show You You’re a Woman": Violence and Discrimination against Black Lesbians and Transgender Men in South Africa

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 12/05/2011 - 11:50pm

This 93-page report is based on more than 120 interviews conducted in six provinces. Human Rights Watch found that lesbians and transgender men face extensive discrimination and violence in their daily lives, both from private individuals and government officials. The abusers of people known or assumed to be lesbian, bisexual, or transgender act with near-total impunity, Human Rights Watch found.

URL:

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/12/05/we-ll-show-you-you-re-woman

Saudi activist: Conservative report claims letting women drive will encourage premarital sex

Teaser:

A report given to the all-male Shura Council, which advises the monarchy in Saudi Arabia, claims that allowing women in the kingdom to drive could encourage premarital sex, a rights activist said Saturday.

Editorial:

From the article:

A report given to a high-level advisory group in Saudi Arabia claims that allowing women in the kingdom to drive could encourage premarital sex, a rights activist said Saturday.

The ultraconservative stance suggests increasing pressure on King Abdullah to retain the kingdom’s male-only driving rules despite international criticism.

Rights activist Waleed Abu Alkhair said the document by a well-known academic was sent to the all-male Shura Council, which advises the monarchy. The report by Kamal Subhi claims that allowing women to drive will threaten the country’s traditions of virgin brides, he said. The suggestion is that driving will allow greater mixing of genders and could promote sex.

...

Source:

Washington Post

URL:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/saudi-activist-conservative-report-claims-woman-drivers-will-have-options-for-premarital-sex/2011/12/03/gIQAtVmwNO_story.html

Date:

December 5, 2011

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

CLIMATE CHANGE: More than just a word game

Teaser:

While poor countries are jostling to ensure the lives of their people are protected in a deal on the changing climate being negotiated in Durban, various NGOs, agencies and research institutes are lobbying to get a word into the negotiating text. They include groups who are keen on the words “nutrition security”, and others who want to ensure that “women and children" feature in the text each time the word “vulnerable” appears.

Editorial:

From the article:

“It is not opportunistic. We are pushing for the empowerment of women and the recognition of the words ‘nutrition security’ - by that we are addressing so many issues at the same time,” said Cristina Tirado, director of the Centre for Public Health and Climate Change at the US-based Public Health Institute.

“Protection and promotion of nutrition and health are essential components of climate-resilient and sustainable development,” she added. ”Women serve as agents of change. Through their unique roles in the family and child care, agricultural labour, food and nutrition security, health and disaster risk reduction, they can be instrumental in addressing climate change, health and nutrition in an integrated way.”

,,,

Source:

IRIN

URL:

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94375

Date:

December 5, 2011

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Guide to help identify outstanding needs in women’s prisons

Teaser:

Conditions in women prisons’ and services offered to women prisoners have considerably improved in the past 10 years, but there is still “a lot of work to do,” according to a newly released “Guide for Working in Women’s Prisons in Lebanon.”

Editorial:

From the article:

The guide aims to help those wishing to implement projects in women’s prisons by providing general information on rights of prisoners and status of women prisoners in the country, as well as a 1999-2010 comparative study on women’s situation in prison.

Anita Nassar, the assistant director of the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World at the Lebanese American University, is the author of the guide, and of the 1999 study.

She said she noted “big, big progress,” in the country’s four women’s prisons over the past decade, describing Barbar Khazen prison in Beirut and Baabda, Tripoli and Zahle women’s prisons as “much better” than men’s prisons.

Giving the example of the Tripoli facility, she said it, in partnerships with NGOs, had installed hot water, arranged a room for training and implemented psychological and legal programs.
...

Source:

The Daily Star

URL:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Nov-30/155580-guide-to-help-identify-outstanding-needs-in-womens-prisons.ashx#axzz1ffo85qJu

Date:

December 5, 2011

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Getting to Zero Requires Zero Gender Discrimination and Violence – Time to Zero in on Women and Girls

Teaser:

Message from UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet on the occasion of World AIDS Day, 1 December 2011.

Editorial:

Today on World AIDS Day, we are called to action to achieve zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. On behalf of UN Women, I would like to stress that getting to zero requires zero discrimination against women and girls.

...

Source:

UN Women

URL:

http://www.unwomen.org/2011/11/getting-to-zero-requires-zero-gender-discrimination-and-violence-time-to-zero-in-on-women-and-girls/

Date:

December 2, 2011

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Making Macroeconomics Work for US: A Feminist Perspective

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:12am

As the world experiences increasing inequalities and gaps between and within countries, women’s rights organizations are working to challenge current hegemonic systems and develop alternatives for change. Building on feminist economic analyses, the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) is undertaking the production of periodic briefs - Nexus: Shaping Feminist Visions in the 21st Century - to enhance women’s leadership for the realization of human rights. The briefs aim to both engender analytical and practical approaches to human rights in general, and economic and social rights in particular, as well as strengthen the capacity of feminist and social justice movements.

Brief Number 1 - "Making Macroeconomics Work For US: A Feminist Perspective" - highlights linkages between macroeconomics and human rights in order to better inform discussions about solutions to the current economic crisis in the United States.

URL:

http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/publications/nexus/October%202011%20Brief%201.pdf

Member Organization:

Center for Women's Global Leadership

Macroeconomics and the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:07am

This report is the culmination of a two-day experts meeting, “Macroeconomics and the Rights to Water and Sanitation,” which took place in Lisbon, Portugal from March 31 to April 1, 2011. The meeting was organized as a means to contribute to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation’s work on gender equality and macroeconomics. To this end the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) in collaboration with the Special Rapporteur brought together economists, researchers and advocacy specialists working from a feminist perspective to offer analyses and recommendations.

URL:

http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/publications/Rights%20to%20Water%20and%20Sanitation.pdf

Member Organization:

Center for Women's Global Leadership

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