By: Blessed Mhlanga Women leaders from different opposition political parties have called for a unified front against Zanu-PF as they demanded a free, fair and credible 2018 general election. MDC-T Vice President Thokozani Khupe, addressing a Women Election Convention in Harare recently, led the charge, saying only a free, fair and credible poll would change the fortunes of Zimbabwean women. “As women, we demand a free, fair and credible election and only that poll can deliver a new destiny for our country and a future for our children,” she said. Khupe called on women to use their majority to remove Zanu PF from power by demanding a level electoral playing field and participating in the polls by voting. “We are the majority and we are going to determine the outcome of the 2018 elections, she said. National People’s Party leader Joice Mujuru said women had always played second fiddle to…

A Colombian woman reportedly swallowed at least $US 7000 in a desperate act to hide the money during a fight with her husband, according to doctors in the South American nation who extracted the bills through surgery. The 30-year-old woman swallowed rolls of $100 bills. She told the local RCN television channel she had saved up the money for a holiday with her husband after selling several electrical household items. Doctors said they were able to surgically extract 57 $100 bills from the woman’s stomach and intestines. Director of Surgery at the University Hospital of Santander, Juan Paulo Serrano, said the majority of the bills were surgically extracted from the stomach, while additional rolls would be passed through the colon. The fact the rolls were not wrapped up or packaged suggest they were not swallowed for any form of illicit transport, Dr. Serrano said, but rather were ingested in an…

By: Rachel Lau Things are looking bleak for young women in Canada when it comes to sexual harassment and assault, a study by the Canadian Women’s Foundation has found. The survey revealed that despite an increasing awareness about harassment and domestic violence, 79 per cent of Canadians believe that Generation Z (those born from the late 1990s to the early 2000s) are “just as, or more likely” to experience sexual assault. Of the 1,004 randomly selected Canadians aged 18 and over, 89 per cent of women and 69 per cent of men believe most Generation Z women will experience some type of sexual assault. “They’re not feeling optimistic partially because of the way it’s still talked about,” said Anuradha Dugal, Director of violence prevention programs at the Canadian Women’s Foundation. “There’s still a lot of blame and stigmatization going on. People don’t think it’s…

By: Rebecca Rosman Male dominance in Kenyan politics is receiving a shake-up with several women set to win governor positions in the August elections. Female politicians are poised to make history in Kenya’s upcoming August elections. A handful of women have made it to the gubernatorial ballot — and a win will mark the first time women have held Kenya’s powerful governor positions. For years, women have struggled for equal political representation in Kenya, which has East Africa’s lowest rate of women in parliament at only 19 percent. They often lack the political clout and money to run a campaign, but they also struggle to mobilise support given how politicians campaign in Kenya. “They tend to push women out because they are not able to rely on the same structures…to mobilise violence to mobilise support,’ Nanjala Nyabola, a political analyst based in Nairobi told RFI. “That’s not to say that…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently invited King Salman to attend the G20 summit in Germany after holding wide-ranging consultations on the agenda of the summit in Jeddah. Chancellor Merkel also renewed invitation to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, Deputy Premier and minister of interior, to visit Germany. “King Salman was formally invited by the chancellor to attend the G20 summit,” said German Ambassador Dieter W. Haller. In a separate development, Merkel recently attended a meeting of Saudi businesswomen in Jeddah. Merkel acknowledged there have been “significant changes in the role of women” since her last visit in 2010. She cited the historic first-time participation of women in Saudi Arabia’s elections for local municipal council seats in 2015. “I have the impression that the country is in a phase of change and that a lot more is possible now than some years ago,” Merkel added. Ambassador Haller said the German chancellor…

Village elders in the India’s Uttar Pradesh have prohibited women and girls from using mobile phones outside their homes, imposing a hefty fine on violators. The ruling is meant to prevent women from eloping or even interacting with men. The elders’ council or khap pranchayat of a predominantly Muslim village, Madora, have set the fine as large as 21,000 rupees (around $330) on those who break the ruling. Local police Chief Arun Kumar Singh has described the order, declared on Tuesday, as being “against the constitution.” “We do support their measures against illegal activities, but won’t allow them to curb the freedom of women,” Singh told AFP. The former village headman, Mohammed Goffar, who came up with the order, claims the mobile phones encourage women to elope. “Every week, there is a story about young boys running away with girls. In some cases, the elopement leads to violence. So…

By Ballah M. Kollie The Executive Director of Community Healthcare, Naomi Solanke, has cautioned that women will only support aspirants who will champion their cause and concerns in their political manifestoes. “If our agenda is not inclusive in terms of what we support at the grassroots levels of women, we are not going to carry you,” she stressed. She sounded the caution at the start of a three-day Feminist Agenda Setting meeting funded by Urgent Action Fund Africa held at a local hotel in Monrovia. Solanke said she expects that after the workshop participants will return to their respective communities and sensitize other women on the matter. According to her, women will continue to push local actors and make them knowledgeable of the need to continuously protect women, even after the presidential tenure of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. “She has played her part and is about to leave; so the…