News
A MEETING between the government and the media ended yesterday with both parties agreeing to direct their energies towards "building national pride and self-belief without stifling critical public debate".
Engagement between government and South Africa's news media should be directed towards assisting the country's continuing transition from apartheid to democracy and building national pride and self-belief, without stifling critical public debate. Government and media also have to establish and sustain mutual trust and respect for the roles these institutions play in consolidating the democracy envisioned in the Constitution.This was one of the outcomes of the meeting on Saturday 29 October 2011 between the government and members of the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) at the Velmore Hotel and Conference Centre west of Pretoria. This was the sixth high-level consultation between the parties since 2001.
As we mark the 34th year after 19 October 1977, South Africa through a Parliamentary probing in September 2011, has reflected on the degree and lack of transformation of print media in our country. Also, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications in July 2011 reflected on transformational challenges in the advertising and marketing industry. These interventions assisted in assessing and taking stock of whether all citizens (poor and rich, rural or urban, etc.) have choice and access to information, freedom of expression, right to communication in languages of their choice. At the Parliamentary discussions, the Print Media of South Africa (PMSA) confirmed the essence of the MDDA report on Trends of Ownership and Control of Media in South Africa (July 2009) which indicated that the pace of transformation in the print media is too slow for a sector that is so critical in the sustainability of our democracy. PMSA reported that only an average of 14 percent of ownership of the mainstream print media is in black (historically disadvantaged) hands and women participation in board and senior management is limited to 4.44 percent. This revelation, 17 years after the first democratic elections in 1994, suggest that all stakeholders honestly and dispassionately confront the question of media transformation and diversity in the interest of all citizens and sustainability of our democracy.
Ninety percent of the non-governmental organisations in Mexico are founded and run by women, says journalist and women's rights activist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, even as crimes against women remain cloaked in impunity. Cacho was recently in New York, where she was awarded the Civil Courage award from the Train Foundation, and also spoke at a special event hosted by Columbia University. When Felipe Calderón became president in 2006, he deployed the military in a federal offensive against drug cartels and criminal groups, resulting in a virtual war in which more than 40,000 people have died. In 2010 alone, the death toll exceeded 15,000, according to Reporters Without Borders.
When Livhuyo Vhadau* was seven months pregnant and went for a sonar scan in Hamakhuvha in Limpopo's Thulamela local municipality, she was not suspicious when the doctor, whose name is being withheld for legal reasons, allegedly asked her to take off her maternity top before lying on the examination table. According to 22-year-old Vhadau, who told her story to the Mail & Guardian and has given a statement to local police, the doctor manoeuvred the scanner around her stomach for a bit before asking her to take off her trousers as he had "trouble feeling the baby". Then he asked her to spread her thighs and brought her a stool to support one of her legs. Vhadau still thought everything was alright. The doctor stood between her legs and asked her to remove her underwear -- before molesting her with his hands. As he violated her, he apparently tried to placate her with flirtatious talk, even inviting her to his home after she had given birth.
TWO constables from the Nelspoort police station, near Beaufort West, and a construction worker are appearing in court today for the alleged rape, statutory rape and sexual exploitation of four teens. The girls, aged between 14 and 18, lodged official complaints at the Beaufort West police station on Tuesday that the men had performed sexual acts without their consent over a period of time. The complainants allege the incidents took place between January last year and April this year, and again between August and this month. Children’s organisation Molo Songololo director Patrick Solomons said they were “highly concerned” that members of the police were implicated in the case and that one of the incidents allegedly took place at the Nelspoort police station.
"Petition against slander and defamation by the media towards transgenders in Malaysia " and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name.
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Following the gathering of South African women at the AWID forum in Cape Town in November 2008, as well as resolutions from taken at previous regional African Feminists Forum, feminists living in and from South Africa are coming together for reflection, alliance building and to explore the possibility of establishing a South African Feminist Forum. The two day meeting will take place in Cape Town from the 20th to 21st of October 2011.
Almost 10 percent of South African men have experienced sexual violence by another man, according to new research that probes the complex relationships between male victimisation and HIV risk.
The findings presented at the annual Sexual Violence Research Initiative in Cape Town by Kristin Dunkle, assistant professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in the US, are based on a household survey conducted among about 1,740 men in two of South Africa's nine provinces - KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape - by the Medical Research Council (MRC). Published in 2009, the research became commonly known as the "MRC rape study" and showed that more than one in three South African men admitted to having raped a woman - but little attention was paid to sexual violence experienced by men.
We have Women's Day; what more do women in South Africa want, right? We also have a ministry focusing on women and other "vulnerable groups in South African society", so our needs should be covered, no? Angie, Tina, Nosiviwe, Lindiwe, Dipuo, Nkosazana, Maite, Mildred, Susan, Gwen, Naledi, Bathabile, Edna, and Lulama . are not just beautiful women's names, they are 15 of the 34 ministers in President Jacob Zuma's cabinet. There are many more women in government and other state agencies, so we are not doing so badly when it comes to women's representation, yes?
Despite efforts to fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Rwanda, it has been noted that the public still misinterprets the campaigns with most thinking that they are aimed at protecting only women and children, and not men. This has contributed to the increasing cases of violence against men, according to the Chief Gender Monitor, Oda Gasinzigwa. "In the past years, very many women and children were victims of GBV, compared to men; which is why most of our campaigns targeted them. But it should not imply that men are ignored in this move, like some people have perceived it," Gasinzigwa noted. She made the observations in an interview with The New Times, reacting to recent police statistics which indicate an increase in the number of men assaulted by their spouses.
Rural and indigenous women in northern Argentina, hit hard by the expanding agricultural frontier, deforestation and the spraying of toxic pesticides, spoke out about their problems and set forth proposals for discussion at the next global summit on climate change. They did so at the Women's Hearing on Gender and Climate Justice 2011-Argentina, held Tuesday Oct. 11 in Resistencia, the capital of Chaco province, 950 km north of Buenos Aires, attended by representatives of organisations from the northern 10 of the country's 23 provinces.
Last night, Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died. Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. In reality, her environmental activism was part of a holistic approach to empowering women, advocating for democracy, and protecting the earth. Wangari Maathai was Kenya's foremost environmentalist and women's rights advocate. She contended that women have a unique connection to the environment and that human rights violations against women exacerbate environmental degradation. Throughout Africa, as in much of the world, women are responsible for tilling the fields, deciding what to plant, nurturing the crops, and harvesting the food. They are the first to be aware of environmental damage that harms agricultural production. If the well goes dry, they are the ones who are most concerned about finding new sources of water and the ones who must walk further to fetch it.
Government policies are seldom lauded, yet Rwanda's forest policy has resulted in a 37-percent increase in forest cover on a continent better known for deforestation and desertification. Rwanda's National Forest Policy has also resulted in reduced erosion, improved local water supplies and livelihoods, while helping ensure peace in a country still recovering from the 1994 genocide.
Now Rwanda can also be known as the winner of the prestigious Future Policy Award for 2011. "Rwanda has sought not only to make its forests a national priority, but has also used them as a platform to revolutionise its stances on women's rights and creating a healthy environment," said Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement. She issued a statement for the award ceremony in New York City last week just days before her death from cancer in Nairobi Monday at the age of 71. "Rwanda has been a very divided country since the 1994 genocide but this policy is helping to bring peace and value to the people," said Alexandra Wandel, director of the World Future Council, which administers the Future Policy Awards.
If women farmers were given more tools and resources, the number of hungry people in the world could be slashed by 100 to 150 million.
This was the message conveyed by Josette Sheeran, executive director of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly Thursday to empower rural women for food security and nutrition. In October, the Committee on World Food Security will meet at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters in Rome, followed by the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) next year, both opportunities to increase the role of rural women in alleviating poverty and hunger.The event this week was co-sponsored by UN Women, the United Nations entity for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, and WFP, among others. Representatives from government, grassroots community organisations and the private sector were on hand to embody the "new coalition that has to come together to make a difference", as Sheeran put it.