Girls in nearly a third of African countries face significant barriers to education when they become pregnant. But this is changing. In 2019, Niger passed a law directing schools to allow pregnant girls to continue their studies and return after they have their babies. Mariama Mamadou is program director of Femmes, Actions et Dévelopement (ONG […]

African Union Guidance, Policy Reforms Needed to Ensure Girls Continue Education (Nairobi) – Adolescent girls in nearly one-third of African countries who are pregnant face significant legal and policy barriers to continuing their formal education, Human Rights Watch said today. Most African governments, however, now protect education access through laws, policies, or measures for pregnant […]

Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls The Sustainable Development Agenda, adopted by UN Member States in 2015, set a 2030 deadline for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Now, with under 10 years left to meet it, the world is not on track. Amid the […]

On Tuesday, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, issued its Annual Results Report, which revealed that despite global upheaval, the fund and partners have continued to expand their response. Results to Date The Report indicates that ECW investments have reached close to 7 million children […]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – As Haiti’s economy teeters on the brink of collapse and essential services crumble, residents of the capital Port-au-Prince are caught in a horrifying crossfire of surging gang violence, with rising accounts of murders, kidnappings, rape and forced displacement. Access to the few health centres and hospitals that are still functioning has become […]

Taking Stock of 20 Years of Western Promises to Stand by Afghan women Girls are banned from secondary education in the vast majority of Afghanistan’s provinces. Women are banned from most employment. Women in universities face harsh new restrictions. Many female teachers have been dismissed. The policy of requiring a mahram, a male family member chaperone, to accompany any woman […]

analysis By Awino Okech William Ruto has been declared the winner of Kenya’s presidential election. The final outcome, however, remains in the balance following a challenge from his main competitor, Raila Odinga. As president, Ruto would be charged with defending the 2010 constitution. It overhauled the governing framework of the country by devolving power to […]

The Kenyan 2022 General Elections represents a great step forward for women’s representation, albeit an incremental one. We have seen that a lot of women, both those who won and those who lost, have come forward to show that despite many decades where women have been despised in regards to political leadership, they can also […]

‘More women for more development’ is one of the inspiring mottos used by women’s organizations in São Tomé and Príncipe in their battle for more space in country politics. The dream of many women came true on 28 July when the National Assembly of São Tomé and Príncipe approved a long debated Political Parity Law […]

By Lisa Schlein The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, praised Liberia for removing gender discrimination from its nationality law, granting women the same right as men to pass their nationality to their children. With the stroke of a pen, Liberian President George Weah amended the country’s Aliens and Nationality Law on August 5, removing the primary […]