Articles in Category: Women In the News

Lashes for Syrian Widow Living in KSA

The Associated Press today reported that a 75-year-old widowed Syrian woman, Khamisa Sawadi, who had been married to a Saudi, has been sentenced to 40 lashes and deportation for “mingling with two young men.”

The men (her late husband’s nephew and a friend of his), who were bringing her bread, were also arrested, convicted and sentenced to lashes.

Click here to read the full story
By Maggie Michael
Associated Press

Court Stops Marriage of 10-Year-Old Yemeni Girl

A Yemeni court prevented a family from marrying off their 10-year old girl, and described the planned arrangement as an illegal early marriage, said a human right group Thursday.

The primary court of Hajja province, north of the country, froze the contract of the marriage of the 10-year old Rahmana Ali Mabkhot, said Ahmad Al Quraishi, head of the Seyaj organisation for protection of childhood, a local NGO.

Nasser Arrabyee
Gulf News
United Arab Emirates

Grandmothers to the Rescue

dariel_bateman.jpgWhen Calgarian Dariel Bateman, 63, became a grandmother two years ago it rocked her world.

It also spurred her to join the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. The longtime volunteer -- who cooks for the Inn From the Cold and sits on the board of Volunteer Calgary -- was also drawn to the organization because she has a family member with "full-blown" AIDS.

"I would like for all those orphaned grandchildren of grandmothers in Africa to have what my granddaughter has: a good place to live, health resources, unlimited freedom to play, appropriate clothing and the ability to ability to access free, universal primary education," Bateman says.

Valerie Berenyi
Calgary Herald
Canada

RELATED LINKS:
Rescuing AIDS Orphans: A beautiful story about a delegation of 12 Canadian grandmothers who travelled across sub-Saharan Africa with the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Tears Over AIDS, Inequality in Africa: A follow-up to the Rescuing AIDS Orphans above.

Nepalese Women Confined by Tradition

nepalese_girl__baby.jpgIn the darkness, a 10-day-old baby boy wails.

It is midday, but the infant has not been allowed out of this special room, separate from the rest of the house, since being brought home after birth.

Only his young mother, Basanti Devi Bhul, can touch him.

She goes out a little but cannot touch anybody else because until the 11th day after the birth, society considers her to be unclean.

"I'm not doing any work," she tells the BBC.

"I just eat dry bread, green vegetables and rice - no lentils or meat. I can't touch any pots or pans or go into the main house. I just go out to wash myself and my clothes, that's all."


Also see these blog posts:
Making Our Voices Heard
Out of Africa (how menstrual issues can stop poor Kenyan girls from attending school)

Three Amazing Women Leave This Life

At least three amazing women were among the 50 people killed in Thursday’s plane crash in Buffalo New York.

Beverly Eckert, whose husband died in the World Trade Center tragedy, co-founded "Voices of September 11," an advocacy group for survivors and 9/11 families.

Alison Des Forges, a senior adviser of the New York-based Human Rights Watch's Africa Division spent four years in Rwanda documenting the 1994 genocide and had testified about that atrocity and the current situation in central Africa before U.N. and congressional panels.

Twenty-five-year-old Rebecca Shaw, a flight technology graduate of Central Washington University, was the flight co-pilot.

This moving video of her family, who show remarkable grace in the face of losing a cherished daughter and sister, is both sad and celebratory. Shaw’s mother describes Rebecca’s passion for life and her love of flying.

CNN

Also related to aviation: see a brief story about and video tribute to Nancy-Bird Walton, one of Australia's most famous aviators, who died in January at the age of 93.