Women’s Empowerment – www.globalcitizenspress.com

MeToo: Global Movement or American Fantasy?

May 11, 2019

BY RONNIE LI – Japanese student Arika Matsu said the unwanted touching of her breasts at a business meeting two years ago led to her mission to empower women. Matsui has always dreamed of being a contestant a beauty pageant ever since she was young. A full-time student at Trinity College Dublin, Matsui competed in Japan for Miss Universe during her summer break. Always passionate about enhancing gender equality, Matsui…

In Peru, a Community-Based Radio Program Brings Hope to Survivors of Gender-Based Violence

May 10, 2019

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BY GIULIA MCDONNELL NIETO DEL RIO – Mujeres que no se dejan. Women who don’t give up. That’s the name of the community radio program that reaches an estimated 4 million people across Peru. First started in January of 2019 as a way to fight violence against women in the Villa El Salvador district of Lima, the capital, the radio program now reaches eight other districts in southern Peru. Every other Thursday, the radio hosts…

Yemeni Women Push for Peace in Taiz, Despite Threats of Violence and Arrests

May 6, 2019

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BY YILUN CHENG – Muna Luqman, a Yemeni human rights activist, has been assisting local women since rebel Houthis took over her city, Taiz, in 2014. Years of advocacy work against war and violence have taught her how dangerous it is for women to take part in peace building. But that does not stop her. “Women are most affected by the war, so we take the most risks,” she said….

Venezuelan Women Spend Hours and Hours on Food Lines

May 5, 2018

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BY MARIE PAULINE GENTRIC — It’s only 3 p.m. but Mary Limonta knows exactly what she and her daughter, Ann, will eat tonight – rice and vegetables. Yesterday, it was the same, and tomorrow, and even after tomorrow, it will be the same too. It’s been like that for a while. Since 2013, Venezuelans like Limonta have been trying to survive the most severe recession and food crisis in the country history. National production and imports have plunged and supermarket shelves are almost always empty. Prices rose 6,147 percent in the 12 months ending in February, according to estimates by the country’s opposition-led National Assembly. In this crisis, women are the ones looking for food. They spend between eight and 14 hours a week in line to get food, according to the report “Mujeres Al Limite,” released by four Venezuelan NGOs in 2017.

Rural Women Farm Half the World’s Food, But Have Few Legal and Cultural Rights to Land Ownership

May 2, 2018

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BY NICOLE LAFOND — For 66-year-old Uganda widow Pasculina Oming, the quest for farmland that is rightfully hers has cost her an arm. Two, in fact. A widow since 2014 in the Lira District of northern Uganda, Oming has been caring for herself, her seven sons and one mentally disabled daughter by farming the land she inherited from her husband. While federal law in Uganda recognizes Oming as the owner of the acreage, the customs of her local tribe, Iceme, dictate that the land belongs to her late husband’s family. In the spring of 2014, Oming was walking home from the market with her nieces when her brother-in-law attacked her with a “panga” machete, attempting to kill her for what was culturally perceived as arrogance for staking her claim over the land. Oming has received no justice from local courts for the attack, but a Ugandan legal team called Barefoot Law that is working to help rural women gain access to land in remote parts of the country has picked up Oming’s case.

Women Journalists Face Ugly, Persistent Harassment Online

April 13, 2018

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BY JINJIN LONG — Former CNN war correspondent Maria Ressa has been a target of vicious online harassment for the past two years. Following the publication of a feature series mapping the corrosive impact of organized political “cyber troops” in the Philippines; she received an average of 90 hate messages an hour for a whole month.