• From Dawn to Dusk, the Daily Struggle of Africa's Women. [Independent, UK] Women work two-thirds of Africa's working hours, and produce 70% of its food, yet earn only 10% of its income, and own less than 1% of its property. They work three hours a day longer than the average British woman does on professional and domestic work combined. An HIV-positive woman is nearly 10 times as likely to experience violence at the hands of her partner as a woman who does not have the disease. Domestic violence causes more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 worldwide than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war. In at least 20 African countries, more than half the women have also suffered female genital mutilation.

• African Union of Prostitution in France. [Ici Cemac, Cameroon] Cameroon and Nigeria are two big suppliers of black African prostitutes paving and pacing the streets of France’s major cities at night and some in broad daylight. Interestingly or not, they are not the only African countries supplying prostitutes to France and that are also in a tough competition with other supplying countries of Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Republics and Asia (China and India). Besides Cameroon and Nigeria, the other African countries supplying prostitutes in France are Algeria, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Morocco, Mali, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Senegal.

• Women Leaders Meet in Maputo. [AllAfrica.com] Women are born to live and not to die", declared Mozambique's former first lady, Graca Machel on Saturday. Machel, who currently heads one of Mozambique's best-known NGOs, the Community Development Foundation (FDC), was speaking at the opening session in Maputo of a meeting of African Women Leaders, and she was referring to the high rates of maternal mortality in Africa. "All the major diseases mostly kill women and children", she exclaimed. "It's not right that women should be dying every day". Women died silently and anonymously, Machel added, ending up as "nothing more than a simple statistic".

• Female Journalists in Consternation for Colleague's Death. [AllAfrica.com] Angola Women Journalists Association (AMUJA) share the pain felt by the relatives, colleagues and friends of the recently deceased ANGOP journalist, Maria da Conceição Luanda, who was a founder member of this organization. On a condolence message sent to the General Managing Board and employees of ANGOP, AMUJA refers that Conceição Luanda contributed with her knowledge to the foundation of the association and gave until her last day her contribute for the growth of the Angolan journalism and female affirmation. The letter, signed by AMUJA's secretary-general, Edite Daniel, closes expressing on behalf of all its members, "the deep sorrow for the loss of the distinguished colleague".

• Women Find Innovative Ways to Save Money. [Voice of America] Women in West Africa have implemented many types of informal banking as a result of not having access to regular credit. Some of these innovations are used to start or expand local businesses while others cover more basic needs, like a baptism or a funeral.

• What Do Women Want? [AllAfrica.com] Compared to 50 years ago, women represent an increasingly higher number of the world's labor force, with many studies placing the number at over 50%. However, this doesn't include women who work in the informal sector or the unpaid activities of women at the household level. On a broader level, women's access to health care and education, for example, are profoundly influenced by national economic policy - meaning that if international economic best practice doesn't take into account gender issues, then women are disadvantaged.

• Women Organization Debates Integrated Plan On HIV/AIDS. [AllAfrica.com] An integrated plan for the promotion of the human rights of women infected with HIV/AIDS and sensitizing about the pandemic disease for southern Cunene province will be approved on Wednesday, here, by representatives of Governmental and private organizations. The project, led by the Forum of Female Organizations "Women's Network" aims at creating a group of women infected with AIDS in the province, awareness campaigns, holding seminars in schools, health centers and distribution of informative material to avoid new infections. According to a note from the Women's Network delivered to ANGOP, the fight against stigma, promotion of human rights and contributing for a better health and medicine assistance of people with HIV, is also part of the plan.

• Country Elected To Lead Female Jurists Organization. [AngolaPress] Angola has been elected to the Presidency of the General Assembly of the International Federation of Women of Juridical Career, during the organization’s 19th congress held in Barcelona, Spain. The jurist Carolina Cerqueira will be chairwoman of the organization for the coming three years of mandate, whereas the Portuguese Teresa Celia Faria will lead the general secretariat. Speaking to Angop, Carolina Cerqueira added that the meeting debated issues related to women equality in the social, political and legal domains, the ways and strategies to eradicate gender inequality, women and access to property, health, education.

• Norwegian NGO Promotes Women's Participation in Politics. [AllAfrica.com] An international conference on women's participation in public life and politics will take place on 17-19 October here, promoted by the Norwegian People Aid (NPA) and the UN Human Rights Office. The event, which is aimed at promoting women's participation in every sector of the society, will be divided in four panels, namely "Women's Participation in the Angolan Political Life", "The Political Empowerment of Women", "Women's Participation in Electoral Processes and "The Involvement of Women in the Peace and National Reconciliation Process". The conference will unite representatives from countries with good reference in terms of participation of women in political life, such as South Africa, Rwanda, Mozambique, Spain, Colombia and Brazil.

• Activist Calls for Female President in 2016. [AllAfrica.com] Botswana women have been urged to unite and elect a female president in 2016. "Let us support other women, ha motho a kgona, a re mo eme nokeng (if a woman is capable, let us support them)," farmer Motsei Galetshoge told the women's movement 40th anniversary independence celebrations at Boipuso Hall. She wondered how women expect to produce a president when they belong to different parties. Galetshoge who is a women's activist and an attorney who has never practised said although the celebrations were for 40 years, the women movement in Botswana goes way beyond 1966. She said small movements were formed to teach women the basic concepts of botho (politeness) and their role in the family set-up among other things. In celebrating, she said, women should go back and look at the rural communities where it all started. Galetshoge applauded the Botswana Council of Women (BCW) for helping Mpule Kwelagobe to win the Miss Universe title.

Cameroon

• Business Women to Promote Tourism in Africa. [AngolaPress, Angola] The Association of Global Business Women Managers, FCEM, chaired by Cameroon`s Françoise Foning, is organizing Business Days 14-15 September in Geneva, to reinforce the initiatives of business women in the development of the tourist industry in Africa. The organizers said the event would demonstrate the important role of women in the Pan-African and global tourist development sector, organizers of the African Business days said.

• Aid Agency Warns on Rapes. [BBC] Aid agencies in the Sudanese region of Darfur say they are alarmed by a sharp escalation in sexual attacks on displaced women and young girls.

• MONUC Troops Among the Worst Sex Offenders in DRC. [ANDnetwork.com] The United Nations has conducted more investigations into sexual exploitation and abuse by its peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) than in any other country, according to figures recently released by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

• UN's Congo Troops Face Sex Abuse Charges. [ANDnetwork.com] The United Nations is reportedly investigating a suspected child prostitution ring involving its peacekeepers and government soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

• 11 Female Civilians Detained in Garbo Town. [Mathaba.Net, UK] Reports reaching our service desk from the town of Garbo confirm the arrest and detention of eleven civilians who are all young females. The detention of these females took place on August 28. Local sources privy to the inner workings of the Ethiopian forces deployed in the town of Garbo reported that all eleven females are currently held within the military garrison. Relatives of the detained females are said to be wary of the possibility of their female relatives being raped by the Ethiopian militias.

• Population Report Focuses On Women Migrants. [AllAfrica.com] A new world population report focusing on migrants called on governments and individuals to recognize and value the contributions of migrant women, and promote and respect their human rights. The 2006 State of World Population (SWOP) report was launched here at a ceremony jointly organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the African Union.

• GFA Set to Revitalize Female Football. [AllAfrica.com] Since the introduction of female in the national league under the guidance of the national football governing body, the GFA, three seasons back, a lot of progress has been made in a bid to encourage and develop female football. In its new move to revitalize the game, the Gambia Football Association in collaboration with the World football governing body, FIFA will organize a one-day seminar on women's football. A press release from the Gambia Football Association reveals that the day-long gathering is schedule for Thursday, September 21, 2006 at the Independence Stadium, Bakau.

• Proposed Law Could Outlaw FGM. [Reuters AlertNet, UK] The practice of fanado, or female genital mutilation, could soon be outlawed by a new bill to be presented to the Guinea-Bissau parliament. Fanado is a traditional initiation ceremony for young girls, in which the vagina's clitoris and lips are removed. Many of the country's 30 ethnic groups practice it, including all the Muslim communities, about 46 percent of the population, especially in the eastern regions of Gabu and Bafatá. The girls' bodies are painted with rice flour or talc powder, and animist girls, attracted by the drumbeats and dances, sometimes go to be circumcised with their Muslim girlfriends. Unicef estimates that some 2,000 girls are subjected to the procedure annually, and that 250,000 to 500,000 women suffer its medical and psychological consequences. The trade of cutting is handed down in families, and daughters proudly use their mothers' knives, already blunted by age. Given the unhygienic conditions and ignorance amongst the practitioners, there is a high risk of HIV transmission, as the same knife is often used in several operations. Legislation providing penalties and prison sentences for practicing fanado, drafted in 2001 by the Institute for Women and Children (IMC, from its Portuguese acronym) in partnership with human rights organizations, is being re-presented to parliament.

• Increased Penalties for Female Genital Cutting Proposed. [Reuters AlertNet, UK] Few of those who perform excision have been jailed under Ghana's 1994 law against the practice - as is the case in other African countries where excision is outlawed. Despite the low rate of prosecution, some Ghanaian lawmakers want to take punishment one step further. Proposed revisions to the 1994 law aim to punish anyone - especially parents and other family members - who give their consent to practitioners like Dari to carry out excision on young girls.

• ¢6 Billion Support for Women in North. [AllAfrica.com] About 10,000 women in the Northern region of Ghana are benefiting from more than 6 billion cedis Ghana government Emergency Social Relief Program and micro-credit facilities from United Nations Children's Emergency Fund and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). The support, which was channeled through DANIDA funded NGOs such as "Simli Pong" and the Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP) Loan Schemes was to empower the women and their families economically to reduce poverty.

• “The Role of the Female Teacher in Poverty Alleviation. [Public Agenda, Ghana] St Louis Training College, Mbrom, in Kumasi, has the environment it takes for female teacher training education; the atmosphere is peaceful, graceful, serene and green. The day was a Saturday, 8th July, 2006. God had begun the day with showers of blessing, as they say in Ghana, but stopped just when the 2006 Graduation ceremony was about to start; indeed, a spiritual blessing it was. The theme was “The Role of the Female Teacher in Poverty Alleviation in Ghana.” The crowed was thick and the atmosphere was disturbingly electric with a local drumming group spiking and spicing it with danceable tunes.

• Protecting the Rights of Female Migrants. [AllAfrica.com] Migration in Ghana and Africa at large is not a new phenomenon. It dates as far back as the days when war precipitated people to move from one part of Africa to the other, even before colonial boundaries were drawn. Today, millions of Africans, particularly women working overseas send hundreds of millions of dollars as remittances to their homes and communities.

• ODM-K Censured Over Women. [AllAfrica.com] A Muslim organization has criticized ODM-Kenya for excluding women from its top decision-making organs. Ms Nazlin Omar, chairperson of the National Muslim Council of Kenya, on Sunday said the role of women in the party was waning despite their enormous contribution. Omar urged party leaders to give women leadership positions. "As we move towards the crystallization of the party, we must have equal representation, particularly when important decisions are being made," Omar said. She accused the party leadership of not accommodating women into leadership positions even at the grassroots level. Omar said she would not relinquish her ambitions of pursuing the presidential bid for 2007 through ODM-K.

• Kenya to Host International Female Boxing Tourney. [AngolaPress] Kenya will host an all-women international boxing tournament in Nairobi in December, a local promoter confirmed. Jab Jab Promotions publicity manager, Emma Christine, says the bouts will feature five Americans, one Uganda, a Zimbabwean, a Zambian and a Kenyan. The main fight during the 1 December event will be the 10-round women’s International Boxing Federation (IBF) title contest between World Boxing Council middleweight Yvonne Reiss of America and compatriot Leticia Robinson. Reiss is no newcomer to Kenya as she was here in April and defeated former World Boxing Federation (WBF) middleweight champion, Congestina Achieng of Kenya.

• UN Hails India's Decision to Send Female Cops to Liberia. [Daily News & Analysis, India] Applauding India's decision to send 125 female police officers to assist UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia as an unprecedented move, top world body officials have said it sends a message not only to other post-conflict nations about the importance of having women officers but also to those contributing police.

• Indian Women Set for Historic Liberia Peacekeeping. [Reuters AlertNet, UK] Dozens of helmeted Indian women in blue camouflage uniform, holding automatic rifles, rubber-tipped bamboo sticks or fibreglass riot shields, position themselves in a circle, training in anti-riot operations. They are part of the first all-woman police unit being sent on a United Nations' peacekeeping mission -- to the west African nation of Liberia, painstakingly recovering from 14 years of an off-on civil war. Although women officers have been part of U.N. police units, this is the first time a standalone, all-woman force is being sent to a country by the global body.

• Female Club Presidents Meet Tomorrow. [AllAfrica.com] Barely six months into his ascendancy as President of the Women Football Presidents Association of Liberia, Mr. Wallace G. Weiah is expected to meet with all Presidents of Female Clubs in the country Tuesday September 12, in the board room of the Liberia Football Association, (LFA) in Monrovia. According to a citation sent to the eleven female clubs in the country, Mr. Waiah said the pending meeting would provide the forum to discuss problems facing women football in the country in order to derive a blueprint for football authority.

• Women Who Rape Men Deserve Stiff Punishment. [Malawi's Daily Times, Malawi] Stories of men raping women and defiling small girls have made numerous headlines in our press to such an extent that they seem to have lost steam whether they really are newsworthy at all. At some point, the stories attracted a huge uproar from women activists and the civil society who called for stern punishment for such offenders. Our courts have taken heed of such advice and now Chief Residents Magistrates handle particular cases of defilement purely for the purposes of handing down sterner punishments which otherwise cannot be given out by junior magistrates.

• 50-50 Representation, No Less, Says Swapo's Women Council. [AllAfrica.com] Women in Swapo are to push for 50% representation in the party's top decision-making bodies and in the National Assembly. A Central Committee meeting of the Swapo Women's Council at the weekend decided to lobby for changing the ruling party's constitution to allow half of the party's Politburo, Central Committee and MPs in the next National Assembly to be women. The move is likely to face resistance from their male counterparts. In 2002 Swapo President Sam Nujoma was forced to drop plans to nominate 21 women to the Swapo Central Committee. He was given legal advice that it was illegal but the resistance also took the form of claims of dictatorial behavior being hurled at him.

• Swapo Women's Council 50-50 Demand - Some Problems. [AllAfrica.com] The Swapo Women's Council say they want 50-50 representation in the Party's top decision-making bodies and National Assembly. Well, why not? I'd be the first to agree that women have not yet achieved their rightful place at all levels of society in Namibia. The main point in my mind is that they do not necessarily need to ask for quotas to achieve this end, but to simply to go ahead and do it since there's nothing prohibiting it from happening in the first place. Quotas may serve the purpose of pushing a country to reach targets in areas as important as gender equality, but in my view they don't necessarily enhance the quality of public representatives, whether they be Swapo senior officials or national office bearers in other areas. Namibia really does need to groom quality leaders, men and women. A large number of role models of either sex are not particularly prolific in this country, whether at Government level or in the private sector.

Nigeria

• Curbing Armed Violence Against Women. [AllAfrica.com] Reports have revealed that there are an estimated 650 million small arms in the world today. Nearly 60% of them are in the hands of private individuals, most of them men. The vast majority of those who make, sell, buy, own, use or misuse small arms are men, which does not portray good for the world's teeming female population.

• Women Protest Non-Passage of Widows Rights Bill. [AllAfrica.com] Widows in Delta State thronged the Government House, Asaba and the Delta State House of Assembly in their hundreds at the weekend to protest the killing of the Widows Rights Bill brought before the State House of Assembly. The lawmakers had thrown out the bill on the grounds that it contravened culture and tradition as they relate to widows in the state. Consequently, the widows vowed not vote for those seeking elective positions into the State House of Assembly if the Bill sent to the House since 2002 failed to see the light of the day. The women mobilized by the National Co-ordinator of Women Organization for Gender Issues (WOGI), Barr. Stella Odife, and President of Market Women Association, Delta State Chapter, Mrs. Tina Akintola, from the 25 local government areas of the state lamented what they called the apparent insensitivity and neglect suffered in the hands of the wards and family members.

• Women and the Democratic Process. [The Tide, Nigeria] All of us must today accept the fact that democracy thrusts on us, some measure of responsibility. For women to reap the gains of democracy, they must be aware of their rights and responsibility which include equal opportunity, freedom of expression and freedom of association and participation. And their obligations? To vote and be voted for. In other words women should freely participate in the electoral process and be able to also elect public officers accountable for their actions. This is because without accountability those elected become small gods and corruption sets in. And women are the most injured by corruption epitomized by poor governance. To thrive, democracy requires the commitment of all the decision maker, the governed, the house wife, every one.

• Government Urged to Support UN Reform in Women Empowerment. [People's Daily Online, China] The Nigerian government has been urged to support the reforms in the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to strengthen gender equality in all spheres of life. Joy Ezeilo, executive director of the Women Aid Collective (WACOL), an NGO in Nigeria, made the call in a statement released on Friday in the Nigerian capital Abuja. Ezeilo said there was a dire need for Nigeria to have a voice in the present reforms going on in the UN system. "This is a clarion call for all to join in advocating for the strengthening of the UNIFEM as members of the international community continue to debate on the UN reforms," she said. UNIFEM is a UN institution that provides assistance to innovative programs and strategies to foster women's empowerment and gender equality while giving voice to women and girls worldwide. "Unfortunately, the voices of African women, in particular West African sub-region, are missing. It has become imperative for us to speak out and demand that our governments give its influence," she said.

• Female Students Want Law On Maternity Leave. [AllAfrica.com] Female students from the National University of Rwanda (NUR) want the university authorities to introduce a clause in its general academic regulation, allowing maternity leave for married female students. According to the Chairperson of the University Women Students' Association (UWSA), Claire Musabyemariya, female students need the regulation to protect them when they suspend studies as they provide maternal care for their newborns.

• Female Journalist Expresses Interest in Executive Position. [Awareness Times, Sierra Leone] As the date slated for the holding of National elections of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) draws near, female career Journalist, and full fledged member of SLAJ, Mariama Coker has expressed interest over an Executive position. In an interview with Awareness Times yesterday, Madam Mariama Coker said that she is contesting for the position of Financial Secretary. According to her, she wants to "take care of the finances of the association." The Association’s finances, she said has not been handled well by the outgoing Financial Secretary.

• Women Prospectors Find Steady Income. [Reuters AlertNet, UK] Women make up 90% of Sierra Leone's small-scale alluvial gold prospectors, sources familiar with the mining sector say. Discrimination and lack of skills - less than 25% of Sierra Leonean women over the age of 15 are literate - prevent many women from entering the official workforce. They have a better chance of earning money as informal traders or as alluvial gold miners. Spurred on by the need to provide for their families, the women doggedly pan the tailings of the diamond gravel with their kitchen calabashes and shovels. Whilst the men around them search endlessly for the winning diamonds that may transform their lives, the women miners always get money at the end of the day.

• Italian Nun Slain; Pope Link Speculation. [Reuters] Gunmen killed an Italian nun at a children's hospital in Mogadishu on Sunday in an attack that drew immediate speculation of links to Muslim anger over the Pope's recent remarks on Islam. The Catholic nun's guard also died from pistol shots in the latest attack on foreign personnel in volatile Somalia. The assassinations were a blow to Mogadishu's new Islamist rulers' attempt to prove they have pacified one of the world's most lawless cities since chasing out warlords in June. The bodyguard died instantly, but the nun, from the Missionaries of the Consolation order based in Nepi near Rome, was rushed into an operating theater after being hit by three or four bullets in the chest, stomach and back. "She died in the hospital treatment room," doctor Ali Mohamed Hassan told Reuters. "She was shot outside the hospital, going to her house just across the gate."

• South Africa Women Begin Pre-Season Training. [CricInfo.com, UK] South Africa Women have begun their two-day pre-season training camp at the University of Pretoria, ahead of the 2006-07 domestic league which starts in October. Over the next two days, the squad of 20 will undergo a variety of fitness tests and play a limited-overs match to gauge the levels of match fitness.

• Women to Take to Joburg Streets for Charity. [Independent Online, South Africa] Thousands of women are set to take to the streets of Johannesburg on October 15. This time it's not to march for equal rights or the banning of a dompass, but to have fun while raising money for the Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa). The Johannesburg Spar Women's race, in its 14th year, have chosen Cansa as the charity they would like a good portion of their proceeds to go to. The race, run or walk, only by women - or men in drag - has enjoyed loads of success since its inception.

• Right to Abortion Remains Constitutional. [Mediaroom] Recent reports that the South African Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act passed in 1996 has been overturned are incorrect. The right to have an abortion in South Africa remains constitutional. Instead it is the 2004 Amendment to this Act that has been declared unconstitutional.

• 'Paradigm Shift' Needed on Women's Economic Role. [Allafrica.com] A "paradigm shift on the part of those who still have control of the economy" is needed to draw more women into economic activity, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said in the National Assembly.

• 1 in 5 Pregnant Women in W Cape HIV+. [Dispatch Online, South Africa] One in five pregnant women was testing HIV positive in the Western Cape’s public health antenatal clinics, according to a survey released by the provincial health department yesterday.  The HIV prevalence was highest in women aged 25-29 years, with an infection rate of 20,1% of the 8656 people examined at 400 facilities in the province’s 25 health districts. This meant that one in five pregnant women in this age group was HIV positive.

• North West to Launch Women's Glass Business. [AllAfrica.com] As part of efforts to bridge the gap between the first and second economies, the North Westgovernment is to launch a cooperative for women involved in the glass industry. The Bothakga jwa Bomme (Women's Expertise) cooperative is an initiative of North West Premier Edna Molewa and is sponsored by mining company Xstrata. It is to be launched in Rustenburg on Friday. Provincial spokesperson Cornelius Monama said the women would be trained to manufacture glassware for targeted markets.

Tunisia

• Injustice Lingers for Women. [Associated Press] In a country praised as a standard-bearer of women's rights in the Muslim world, Basma Hammami says the women in her family have been victims of lingering injustice.

• Rebels Expected to Release Captives As Army Pulls Back. [allAfrica.com] Aid agencies are preparing to receive women and children who have been held in captivity by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and are expected to be released after a truce in the 20-year war between the rebels and the Uganda government.

• UN Ready to Assist Women and Children Held by Rebels. [Raw Story] Plans are being made to reunite over 1,000 women and children held by guerillas of the Lords Resistance Army with their families following a ceasefire agreement signed with the Ugandan government, a UNICEF official said. The LRA, which has been fighting a 20-year brutal war in the north of the East African state, abducted children and youths for forced conscription and sex slavery. Girl abductees eventually gave birth to children in the bush.

• Battle of the Sexes. [The Mail and Guardian, South Africa] As Zambia moves closer to the presidential and parliamentary general elections on September 28, the country’s political terrain is still rough for women like Forum for Democracy and Development president Edith Nawakwi to win the number one spot.

• Abusive Policies Disrupt Progress on HIV. [Human Rights Watch] The Zimbabwean government’s abusive practices, coupled with inadequate health and social welfare policies, are undermining the country’s progress in fight against AIDS, according to Human Rights Watch report released today.