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Happenings

South Africa: Married Women Seek Consent to Keep Their Birth Names

In 2019 in South Africa, adult women need their husbands’ permission to keep their birth names. In some instances, they even need evidence of their father’s consent. This is according to home affairs officials. It is a common lament among married women that the Department of Home Affairs changes their name to that of their husband – unasked. It is usually working women who have professional personas, but often it is women who simply want to keep their birth name. For government, though, the reason should be irrelevant. By ticking the box on the marriage form that a woman wants to retain their birth name, she is giving the Department of Home Affairs a legal instruction. However, many home affairs officials around the country do not believe that women have the right to make this decision – or if women do decide to keep their name, they do not know…

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Happenings

European Commission Elects First Female President

Her nomination was approved by 383 votes in a secret ballot on Tuesday evening at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. There were 327 votes against her and 22 abstentions. After being elected by a narrow margin of just nine votes over the required 374, von der Leyen called for a “united and strong Europe.” The 60-year-old outgoing German defense minister and multilingual mother of seven will succeed Jean-Claude Juncker, who has served as president since 2014 and will step down on October 31. She will be tasked with leading the EU’s executive body and providing political guidance to the Commission, which proposes new laws, manages the EU budget and is responsible for enforcing EU law. Prior to the vote, von der Leyen made a series of promises to attract the support of parliament members from across the political spectrum. Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, she said that she wanted…

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Asia News

Japan: Twenty-Eight Women Elected into the Upper House of Parliament

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s aim of bridging the gender-equality gap is beginning to take shape in Parliament, although it is largely thanks to women from opposition parties. Twenty-eight women were elected to the upper house of Parliament recently, tying the record set in the previous upper-house election three years ago. That represented 23% of the 124 seats at stake. Sixteen of the 28 new women came from outside Mr. Abe’s ruling coalition, which retained its majority in the election, putting Mr. Abe on track to become the nation’s longest-serving leader. In elections that focused on diversity to an extent that is rare for Japan, opposition parties hoped that fielding a large number of female candidates would loosen Mr. Abe’s grip on power. A record 28% of candidates were women, in the first national election held since a gender-parity law was implemented last year saying that political parties must aim…

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Happenings

Mozambique Ends Child Marriage

The Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique approved here on Monday a law on the prevention of early marriages. The head of the Commission of Human Rights, Constitutional Affairs and Legality, Edson Macuacua told the parliamentary members that with the law, there will be fewer girls dropping out of school and fewer girls forced to marry at an early age. “It will ensure a full growth and development of the girls’ personality, which contributes to a more just society, where boys and girls enjoy equal opportunities,” said Macuacua. Mozambique is among the top ten countries with the highest rate of early marriage where 48 percent of women got married before they were 18 years. Poverty is pointed out as one of the main determining factors of the phenomenon. Source: Xinhuanet

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Happenings

Congresswomen Responds to President Trump’s Racist Tweets

The four US congresswomen attacked by US President Donald Trump in tweets widely called racist have dismissed his remarks as a distraction. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib urged the US people “not to take the bait” at a Monday news conference. President Trump had suggested the four women – all US citizens – “can leave”. He has defended his comments and denied allegations of racism. The president did not explicitly name the women in his initial Twitter tirade on Sunday, but the context made a clear link to the four Democrat women, who are known as The Squad. He sparked a furore after saying the women “originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and they should go home. Three of the women were born in the US and one, Ms Omar, was born in Somalia but came to the US…

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Happenings

Russian Priest Faces Interrogation for Undermining Women’s Intellectual Ability

A Moscow-based newspaper has published an open letter challenging statements derogatory to women’s intelligence made by a top official in the Russian Orthodox Church. The letter addressed to Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, was published by Novaya gazeta after Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov, the head of a church commission on family issues and the protection of mothers and children, told the Orthodox Christian Radonezh radio station in a July 7 interview that intelligent women “are still rare.” “Women aren’t that smart. Of course, there are [smart] women like [Polish-French Nobel Prize winner] Marie Curie, but they are still rare,” Smirnov said. Novaya gazeta called the archpriest’s statement “even more baffling since the main duty of his department is to protect mothers, who are women.” “Probably, Dmitry Smirnov is too busy…and unaware that violence against women in our country has reached an alarming level,” the newspaper wrote, mentioning…

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Happenings

Scholars Support the Idea of ‘Women’s Universities’

The recent idea of establishing universities specifically for women in Turkey, which was suggested by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, received full support from scholars, who interpreted the act as a move that should be made as soon as possible. “As a female academic, I believe that it is a quite good idea. Turkish women should be more modern, educated and equipped. These women’s universities are a great opportunity for that purpose,” said professor İlkay Erdoğan Orhan, the dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Gazi University. Speaking to Sabah daily on the matter, Orhan said there are many fields where women are needed the most. “In my opinion, it is very beneficial for women to be experts in these areas,” she noted, adding that across the world, there are various women’s universities. Visiting Japan last week to attend the G20 summit, Erdoğan delivered a speech at a Mukogawa Women’s University…

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