• Move Over Barbie, This Doll Gets Real About Anatomy. [AlterNet] An increasingly popular doll with genitalia and pubic hair offers an alternative to Barbies for a gift that can educate about sexuality without damaging body image. Amamanta, Spanish for breastfeeding, is a blend of two words that mean love and protection. It is also the name of a doll family whose members may appeal to holiday shoppers looking beyond the latest Barbie or Bratz doll for a present that's non-hazardous to body image and can also educate about how babies are made, born and nurtured. Each 16-inch cloth adult Amamanta doll has genitals and pubic hair, and the mother doll features breasts that can be snapped onto the baby doll's mouth to help reinforce the importance of breastfeeding. "I wish children to be happy and grow with the idea that sexuality is important and is part of our lives," says Margarita Maria Mesa Leal, owner of the company that makes the dolls. Leal hand sews dolls herself, in addition to employing 27 local women in Medellin, Colombia, all of them mothers. Dolls aren't cheap; an individual can be purchased for $39 or a family for up to $199. Leal didn't go into the particulars of what she pays her workers, but she says these prices allow her to pay a living wage and use only high quality materials.

Argentina

• Argentina Offers Care and Support to Refugee Women. [Reuters AlertNet, UK] In a welcome move, Argentina's new refugee law, approved by Congress in November, strives to ensure that women subjected to violence receive appropriate psychological care and support. Under the new law the national refugee committee, which was already attentive to women in these situations, is charged with observing UNHCR's guidelines on protection of refugee women and sexual and gender-based violence. These measures are part of Argentina's stepped-up response to violence against women. In Argentina, four out of every ten women suffer emotional, physical or sexual abuse, and some 6,000 claims of sexual violence are filed with the police annually. The real incidence of abuse however, is estimated to be much higher.

• UN: More Argentine Women Trapped in Sex Trade. [Xinhua, China] Working-class Argentine women are being forced into the sex trade in ever higher numbers by kidnappers, tricksters and gangsters, the United Nations said. The International Migration Organization, a branch of the United Nations, said that corrupt police officials are a key part of the sex trade. Judges, police and other legal officers are frequently named as accomplices of the pimps. The northeast Argentine province of Misiones has the highest incidence of the trade, while in Santa Fe, Mendoza and Entre Rios, pimping groups run brothels of up to 30 women, renting them to bars and moving them frequently. While most of the women trapped in the trade are Argentines, there are also women from Paraguay, who are trafficked in via the border provinces of Misiones and Entre Rios. They are sold by their captors for as little as 100 Argentine pesos (about 33 U.S. dollars), or as much as 5,000 pesos (about 1,600 dollars). "Kidnapping is a common way to capture women, especially in the (northeastern) provinces of Tucuman, close to La Rioja," the report said. "The victims are both adults and minors, mostly from humble households living in poor areas with very basic education, which reduces their chances of getting other work."

Bolivia

• Good News in Struggle Against Child Deaths. [Ekklesia, UK] A Bolivian NGO backed by church and other development groups has almost totally eradicated death-in-childbirth and significantly diminished infant mortality in one of the poorest regions of the country. The pilot scheme in two districts in Potosi, Bolivia, has been so successful that the progressive Evo Morales government has pledged to roll it out across the whole country, says UK-based agency Christian Aid. The organization, Causananchispaj, reported that in the area where the pilot program took place, 600 women died in childbirth per 100,000 in 2002. In the year 2004/2005 there was only one death and that was from pre-eclampsia, a very serious condition. The scheme works by training local health workers to adopt the simple premise that women's views and feelings about their deliveries should be at the centre of their birthing plans.

• Brazilians Transfixed by Fourth Anorexia Death in Two Months. [The Associated Press] The struggle for food has long been a drama for millions of impoverished Brazilians. But these days the nation is transfixed by another sort of starvation: anorexia among the successful and well off. The deaths of four young women in the last two months from anorexia — a disorder characterized by an abnormal fear of becoming obese, an aversion to food and severe weight loss — have been splashed across the front pages of newspapers nationwide. The subject has become a morbid fascination for Brazilians and a theme of a popular soap opera. It's also touched off a debate within the fashion industry that has long presented the rail-thin model as the paragon of female beauty. The most recent victim was Beatriz Cristina Ferraz Lopes Bastos, 23, whose death at a hospital in Jau, 300 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of Sao Paulo, was reported by national television news programs. Local media reports said she was 1.57 meters (5 feet 2 inches) tall and weighed just 35 kilograms (77 pounds).

• Malnutrition Deaths From Anorexia Strikes Brazil. [All Headline News] Hollywood isn't the only place starving itself thin. It seems anorexia, the abnormal fear of obesity, is traveling the globe, even to areas where malnutrition is rampant among the poor. Brazil is no stranger to poverty or malnutrition, but when the rich start dying from malnutrition, heads rise and take notice. Dangerously thin models are dying and making headlines, but now others are dying as well. Twenty-three-year-old Beatriz Cristina Ferraz Lopes Bastos, who was a teacher in Rio De Janeiro, weighed only seventy-seven pounds when she died. Bastos is only one among the growing number of women dying from anorexia, including well-known model, Carolina Reston and twenty-one-year-old college student, Carola Sobrado Casalle.

• Brazil's New Battle With Food. [The Australian, Australia] Getting enough to eat has long been a struggle for millions of impoverished Brazilians. But these days the nation is transfixed by another type of starvation: anorexia among its successful and well-off.   The deaths of four young women in recent weeks from anorexia nervosa - a disorder characterized by an abnormal fear of becoming obese, an aversion to food and severe weight loss - have been splashed across the front pages of newspapers nationwide. The subject has become a morbid fascination for Brazilians, and is the theme of a popular TV soap opera. The deaths have touched off a debate in Brazil's fashion industry, which has long presented rail-thin models as the paragon of female beauty.

• The Scorpion Woman. [Foreign Policy] In many ways, Raquel Pacheco’s life was just like that of any other privileged Brazilian girl. She attended São Paulo’s best private schools, lingered at shopping malls with friends, and kept a steady diet of MTV and English classes. That is, until she turned 17. After an unexplained fight with her adoptive father, Raquel lost her allowance and was enrolled in a public school—itself a punishment for the Brazilian middle class. Enraged at the imposition on her life of luxury, she ran away from home. And when she decided to work as a prostitute at a private club in the Jardins, a chic neighborhood in São Paulo, she unwittingly became part of an unusual and growing Brazilian demographic: Young adults who work as prostitutes because they want to.

Chile

• Chile’s Women: 81% Report Discrimination. [Santiago Times, Chile] Despite having a female president and the government’s gender parity laws, a recent study by the Universidad de Chile shows Chile’s female population still feel discriminated. According to the study “Women, Discrimination and Politics 2006,” an alarming 94% of Chile’s women believe they live in a “macho” country. Eighty-one% believe they have suffered some form of gender discrimination, and 62% believe this presents obstacles in day-to-day life. The study interviewed 1,080 women over 18 years of age throughout the country, 27% of whom did not produce their own income.

• Church Influence and Marriage Fading Institutions. [MercoPress, Uruguay] The importance of religion in people’s lives has diminished and this has been most significant for Chile in the last sixteen years. Although most Chileans still consider themselves “religious”, the percentage has dropped dramatically from 77% in 1990 to 63% in 2006. Ms Lagos argues that the poll shows a more open, liberal society where women are playing a leading role, but at the same time presents a “values contradiction”. “On the one side values regarding women are more liberal, less marriages, single mothers, but at the same time she must act as housewife, have a university education, which creates significant tension since they are being demanded to simultaneously comply with traditional values and those of a more liberal society”, said Lagos.

• Women Who Made the News in 2006. [Jamaica Observer, Jamaica] Socialist pediatrician Michelle Bachelet, who suffered prison, torture and exile under Chile's military dictatorship, was sworn in as the nation's first female president in March. The 54-year-old president is a separated mother of three and is the first directly elected Latin American leader who didn't rise to power with the help of a powerful husband. She has promised to bring more women into Chilean politics.

• Chile’s Bachelet Keeps Promise, Announces Preschool Reforms. [Santiago Times, Chile] Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet announced a series of reforms to preschool education and daycare, including more flexible hours for kindergartens and daycare centers, and a new Childhood Observation Center to monitor the efficiency of child support policies. The announcement took place at the opening of the new “Ardillitas” daycare center in Quilicura. With the opening of the new facility, Bachelet fulfilled a promise she made when she was running for the presidency. "A year ago, as presidential candidate, in a day care center in Valparaiso, I said that in December of 2006 we would have 800 new day care centers. ‘Woman’s honor,’ I said. And today, I am very happy, because we have met our goal.” The creation of 800 new day care centers effectively tripled the amount of centers in operation throughout the country. There are now 1500 such facilities available for infants aged between three months and two years and belonging to the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

• Free Access to Morning-After Pill Causing Big Controversy. [San Francisco Chronicle] President Michelle Bachelet of Chile is a feminist and physician who used to practice pediatric medicine at public clinics in poor neighborhoods. So it was hardly surprising that her government recently liberalized contraception policy by making the so-called morning-after pill available free at state-run hospitals. But since Chile is perhaps the most socially conservative country in South America, the measure has generated complaints and challenges not only on the right, but even from some of her allies. Opponents of the policy are furious because girls as young as 14 are being allowed to have access to the emergency contraception without any requirement that their parents be notified. "It is hard to understand the motive for such a reaction," Maria Soledad Barria, the minister of health and a physician, said in an interview last week. After all, she noted, the age of consent in Chile is 14, and the morning-after pill, also known as Plan B emergency contraception, has been available at private pharmacies catering to the well-to-do for five years and has survived court challenges.

• Pinochet Family Fraud Case Ended. [BBC News, UK] An appeal court in Chile has dropped a range of fraud charges against members of the family of former military ruler Gen Augusto Pinochet. Gen Pinochet's widow, daughter and daughter-in-law were alleged to have falsified passports to aid alleged cash transfers to foreign bank accounts. Correspondents say the decision is a big victory for the family, although other members still face charges.

Colombia

• UNHCR Puts Spotlight on Violence Against Displaced Women. [Reuters AlertNet, UK] As the UN refugee agency once again takes part in an annual campaign aimed at eliminating violence against women, statistics for Colombia paint a grim picture. An average of a woman a day dies because of the armed conflict in Colombia – some 1,600 women in the past four years either killed as a result of combat or summarily executed by one of the country's various armed groups. In such a culture of violence, women are also victims of crimes such as murder and rape, as well as domestic violence and psychological abuse. Women forced to flee their homes are particularly vulnerable – a government survey showed that almost half of all displaced women reported having suffered physical violence at the hands of their partners in the past year.

• Women Gather to Remember Lovers, Violence Victims. [CCTV] In Colombia, hundreds of women have gathered at Boliva's Plaza in Bogota. They are there to remember loved ones who are missing, or who have been kidnapped or murdered -- amid violence in the country. The demonstration also marked the commemoration of International Day of Human Rights. Widows, mothers and relatives of the victims dressed in black and holding white crosses sat on chairs all along Bogota's Septima Avenue. The United Nations has documented over 8,000,100 human rights abuses by leftist rebels, paramilitary groups and government forces during the four-decades of civil war in the country.

• Battered But Unbowed, Colombia's Social Organizations Fight On. [Upside Down World] Marina Martinez was busy getting her daughters ready for school one morning in August 2004 and so she missed the radio news report that the Colombian Army had killed three guerrillas in her home province of Arauca. One of those named was her husband Alirio, the popular regional president of ANUC, the peasants´ union. Then Isaias Jaimes, a family friend and human rights campaigner, came to tell her the horrible facts. Isaias had been with Alirio, staying the night at a house following a meeting of local leaders of the CUT, the trade union confederation. Then soldiers came and seized five of their group. They shot dead three of their captives – Alirio, Lionel Goyeneche and Jorge Eduardo Prieto - and planted guns and wires on their bodies. After a campaign the Attorney General’s office held an enquiry which conceded that the three murdered men had been unarmed. Marina gave evidence about her husband. “I told them that he had never carried a gun and was a man of peace” she said. But despite this victory for the truth the brutal persecution of Arauca’s social organizations continues. Deyanira Saldarriaga is an organizer for the Araucan women’s association. Its role includes supporting women who have been raped and abused by the military. She feels optimistic about the prospects for Colombia’s battered but unbowed social organizations. “I feel there is hope because there are so many people with knowledge and leadership skills” she said. “We have to work together”.

• Female Farc Commander Tried in US. [BBC News, UK] The trial of a former Colombian guerrilla commander extradited to the United States has begun in Washington. Nayibe Rojas - better known by her alias, Sonia - is accused of smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine into the US. She denies the charges. Ms Rojas was a leading member of the left-wing rebel group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). Her trial is part of US efforts to weaken the group, which gets much of its funding through the drugs trade.

• President-Elect Names Cabinet: 7 Women, Including First Female Defense Minister. [The Associated Press] Ecuador President-elect Rafael Correa announced his 17-member Cabinet, appointing seven women to key posts including Ecuador's first female defense minister. Correa told reporters he would "try to achieve gender equality." He acknowledged it was "something we are not going to reach, but at least we will get close." New Defense Minister Guadalupe Larriva, the president of Ecuador's Socialist Party, will also be the first armed forces chief who never served in the military. "Ecuador will really become a democracy when all the institutions of the state are clearly subject to civilian society," Correa said. "That is why it is very important to break the tradition of putting an ex-officer in charge of the Defense Ministry and put in a civilian, and if possible a woman." Retired army Col. Luis Hernandez, a military analyst, called Larriva's appointment "positive" and said Ecuador's armed forces are prepared to take orders from a woman.

• ‘There Now Seems to be a Fashion to Kill’. [Sunday Herald, UK] A land of stunning beauty, it seems an almost lawless society where murder is endemic and public lynchings are common, with around 400 cases between 1996 and 2002, according to the UN. At the morgue we were told that around 15 to 20 bodies arrive each day, mostly people gunned down in the street. Many of the victims are women, and Amnesty International issued a report recently that highlighted a staggering increase in the numbers of women murdered in the country. Since 2002, when 163 women were killed, the figure has increased by more than 300%. In 2005, 665 killings of women were registered, and between January and May this year, another 299. According to Guatemala's human rights ombudsman, as many as 70% of murders of women have not been investigated by the police, and in 93% of cases no arrests have been made.

• Four Accused of Smuggling Women for Prostitution. [ktla 5] Four women from Guatemala have been arrested as part of a scheme in which young women were lured into the U.S. with promises of good jobs and forced to become prostitutes in Los Angeles. The women were arrested when investigators from the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Labor and the LAPD served search warrants at six Los Angeles homes and apartments linked to the alleged prostitution ring. Charged with importing and harboring undocumented immigrants as well as harboring them for prostitution were Gladys Vasquez Valenzuela, 36; her sisters, Jeanette, 25, and Albertina, 48; and Albertina's daughter, Maria Vicente de los Angeles, 27. Another relative, Maribel Vasquez Valenzuela, is being sought by authorities.

• US Attorney - Five Charged With Running Prostitution Ring. [Lawfuel, New Zealand] Four female members of a Guatemalan family have been arrested on federal charges related to their operation of a prostitution ring that used young women who were recruited in Guatemala and lured to the United States with promises of jobs in restaurants and retail stores. Once the women were smuggled into the United States and reached Los Angeles, they were forced to work as prostitutes to pay smuggling fees, which often escalated to as much as $20,000. The four arrested, and a fifth relative who is a fugitive, allegedly threatened and, in some cases, physically assaulted several of the women who failed to cooperate or attempted to escape.

• Women Create Blankets in Health Class. [Columbus Telegram] A gift from the heart was recently presented to area foster children thanks to the efforts of a group of Latina women. The women attend health education classes at the Community Wellness Center in Columbus, where they not only learned about healthy living, but also learned how to knit and crochet. The 14 pastel-colored blankets they made as part of their first project will now help children in foster care know someone cares. “It is truly a gift from the community to the community,” said Candy Wombacher, Community Wellness Center certified fitness trainer. “There's a lot of love and a lot of effort put into this gift.”

• Some 38 Women Killed in Spiraling Violence. [People's Daily Online, China] About 38 women have been killed this year in Nicaragua in spiraling violence that saw no end in sight. The cause of the women's deaths was domestic or sexual violence. About 300 cases of sexual harassment have also been filed, the Network of Women Against Violence said. It was a positive thing for Nicaraguan women to start going to the police for help after sexual abuses, said Juana Jimenez, the organization's representative. A lot more should be done to prevent violence against women in the country, she said, warning that violence against women in the country saw a tendency of increase. In the last few months, women defense organizations have also condemned assaults suffered by women on taxi where they were abused and thrown out of the vehicle after being deprived of money and personal possessions.

• Zapatistas: Revolutionary Women's Laws. [Melbourne Indymedia, Australia] Women shall not be beaten or physically mistreated by their family members or by strangers. Rape and attempted rape will be severely punished. Women will be able to occupy positions of leadership in the organization and to hold military ranks in the revolutionary armed forces. How many "leftist" elected regimes in Latin America have such progress...certainly not Nicaragua where Ortega has agreed to ban abortion. Women will have all the rights and obligations elaborated in the revolutionary laws and regulations. Although most of these items seem like basic rights, most women in Chiapas do not have these rights given to them. Abuses against women are widespread and frequent all over Mexico. While the Zapatista women are granted these rights, the majority of women are subjected to practices that are barbaric. Since 1994, there have been 684 documented cases of assaults on women and children, including over 300 rapes, mostly by government forces.

• War on Women: Nicaragua's Left and Right Unite for Total Abortion Ban. [The Bridge] In a move of catastrophic proportions for the women and girls of Nicaragua, and ignoring hundreds of women protesting the passage of the measure outside of the National Assembly last week—many calling the decision a “death sentence” for pregnant women and a “violation of human rights”—the Nicaraguan parliament has unanimously moved to implement a total ban on therapeutic abortion. The measure was approved a week before the national elections.

• Historic: First Female to Assume Presidential Duties. [Living in Peru, Peru] Mendoza del Solar will make history in Peru. In her function as second Vice-President of the Republic, she will assume responsibility of the Government Palace while President Alan Garcia is attending the inauguration ceremony of Rafael Correa, newly elected President of Ecuador. Mendoza del Solar will become the first woman in the history of Peru to assume the role of leading the country, the Peru's Presidential Press Secretariat stated in an official note. Garcia and Peru's Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garci'a Belaunde will represent the county at Correa's official inauguration, which is also attended by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Lourdes Mendoza, the second vice-president and congresswoman from the city of Arequipa, will be in charge of presidential functions during Garcia absence. Peru's first vice-president, Luis Giampietri, is attending personal matters next week.

• Refugee Women Victims of Violence. [Reuters AlertNet, UK] Marisa* from Peru, is a married mother of two boys who worked in a liquor store. She fled an abusive husband, who once hit her so hard when she was five months pregnant she lost the baby. In Peru, Marisa tried twice to escape her violent husband by heading to the capital Lima. But she was forcefully returned to her husband by acquaintances. When she could bear it no longer she decided to flee to Argentina, the most distant Spanish-speaking country in Latin America.

• Police Rescue Woman From Kidnapping in Miraflores. [Living in Peru, Peru] Peruvian police officers rescued a young woman from the hands of kidnappers in the Limean district of Miraflores. The kidnappers used the 'secuestro al paso' technique, a method where victims are momentarily kidnapped and robbed, and sometimes raped and killed. The kidnappers were under the guise of a 'colectivo' taxi that operated a route along Avenida Arequipa in Miraflores and San Isidro. The woman, identified as Karim Bazan Cruz, boarded the colectivo-taxi with 4 kidnappers, 1 woman and 3 men, already aboard and posing as passengers. According to Bazan Cruz, after driving a few blocks the female criminal turned to Cruz and said, "don't move unless you want it to be worse," and proceeded to take her money and credit cards with all corresponding pin numbers and codes. The kidnappers then traveled down Bajada Balta road where another member of the kidnapping ring was waiting in a different car. Fortunately, Peruvian authorities were on the trail of the kidnappers and moved in on them as they were exchanging vehicles.

• New Refugee Laws Earn Praise From UN. [Scoop.co.nz] The United Nations refugee agency welcomed Uruguay’s approval of laws containing guarantees on the processing of asylum claims and special provisions for the protection of women and children. UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told a press briefing in Geneva that the new law, approved by the Uruguayan Congress last week, “provides a very solid framework for the full exercise of refugee rights. The laws guarantee that asylum claims must be processed within a reasonable period of time and ensures smoother access to documentation, education, health and employment. There are also special provisions in place for refugee women and unaccompanied children.