The President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, and the President of Malawi, Bingu wa Mutharika, along with other African leaders, encouraged African countries to enact specific laws that guarantee women’s equal access to opportunities and resources, specifically regarding the inheritance of land and the protection of the rights of widows. October 15 marked the beginning of [...]

A recent study released by Indiana University found that women are more likely than men to give to charity.  Additionally, women in almost every income bracket give almost twice as much as men in the same bracket.  The only exception to this is that women in the income bracket of $23,510  – $43,499, which is [...]

Women in Saudi Arabia have increasing access to the latest global fashion trends and the Arab pop industry through their televisions, prompting a growing demand for high-end beauty products. Indeed, in the past year, Saudi women spent $2.4 billion on cosmetics, one of the highest per capita sums in the world. This has sparked a debate throughout the country, as religious leaders condemn this new development. Official rules limit beauty parlor licenses, which leaves companies vulnerable to raids by the Mutawa, or the religious police. Some beauty parlors display stickers warning women of damnation for plucking eyebrows or showing a made-up face to anyone other than their husband.

The French legislature is attempting to combat the age-old corporate “boy’s club” mentality by considering a law that would mandate that corporate boards be composed of at least 40% female members. The law has already passed in the lower house of parliament and is currently being debated in the Senate. Corporate boards across the Western world are still extremely imbalanced in their gender makeup. Currently, women in France only hold 9.5% of corporate board positions. In the United States, boards are comprised of 12.2% women, and in the UK, 8.5%.

In Namibia, women who are diagnosed as HIV-positive are sometimes advised by doctors to undergo a sterilization procedure. Often the women do not understand what the procedure entails, in part due to the language barrier resulting from the 11 indigenous languages spoken around the country. Three HIV-positive women are now suing the state after having allegedly been sterilized without their informed consent.