It’s hard to imagine any scenario in which shooting a 14-year-old child is justified. And yet, the Taliban attempts just this by insisting its attack on Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai (pictured) is ordained by Islam. Yousafzai first attracted the group’s ire for her insistence on the right of girls to be educated. At the age Read more
Church groups need to recruit young women to perform voluntary work traditionally done by older women, leaders say. Lutheran Women SA president Joan Zilm said older women performed crucial everyday tasks in congregations and women’s groups contributed significantly to congregation and district budgets. “If women weren’t there to do those things I wouldn’t say the Read more
Statistics and surveys may show that getting hitched is falling out of fashion but, as soon as children come along, every woman would rather be wed. Are you sitting comfortably? Or at least sitting? Because further down this page I am going to make the sort of bold, incendiary statement that will divide – but Read more
The gong for the Most Bizarre News this week surely goes to the Anglican Church, whose men at the top have decided women need to be reminded of their position – one of submission. Positively kinky, quite hilarious and maybe just a touch offensive. Having seemed one of the most progressive of the larger church Read more
The Vatican’s official newspaper is for the first time in its 150-year history publishing an all-colour women’s supplement “to give voice to the value that women bring to the church”. Women, Church, World will be edited by women and published withL’Osservatore Romano, the newspaper founded in 1861 and published by the Holy See on the Read more
“Become the woman of your dreams, and you’ll attract the man of your dreams,” Sarah Swafford advises young women. As “dorm mom,” or resident hall director, to 142 girls who lived in Benedictine College’s St. Scholastica Hall, Swafford had a “front-row seat” into the lives of young women who came to her to talk about Read more
One of the striking features of innovative interfaith work is the very high proportion of women and girls who are involved, despite the received image of mostly male religious leaders in dialogue. Of the 687 young people who applied to be one of our 34 Faiths Act Fellows, there were 487 women and 200 men. Read more
The US Catholic bishops maybe about to re-think their objection to Obama-mandate, that employers’ health insurance cover must cover contraception. The bishops are meeting in Washington this week, and while there is no public indication of their dropping their fight, Reuters reports there are small but clear signs from within the Conference that suggest they Read more
Tonga’s director of women’s affairs, Polotu Paunga says the island kingdom has made a lot of commitment towards women empowerment and gender equality.
Speaking from the 9th Meeting of the Commonwealth Gender Plan of Action Monitoring Group (CGPMG) in New York, she told Radio Tonga News a major outcome of the annual consultation this year was the confirmation of the Framework of Monitoring and Evaluation of the implementation of the revised1995 – 2015 Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender and Development.
Read the article...A jealous husband is facing life in prison after chopping off his wife’s fingers because she began studying for a degree without his permission.
Rafiqul Islam, 30, blindfolded his wife Hawa Akhter, 21, and taped her mouth, telling her he was going to give her a surprise present.
Instead he made her hold out her hand and cut off all five fingers. One of his relatives then threw Ms Akhter’s fingers in the dustbin to ensure doctors could not reattach them.
Read the article...