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

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…

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…