All AU member states (with the exception of newcomer South Sudan) have become state party to the African Charter, and 26 of them have accepted the Women’s Protocol. The question should be posed as to what extent the promises of the Charter and Women’s Protocol have been realised. What has the impact of these instruments been on the practice of state parties? This publication, 'The impact of the African Charter and Women’s Protocol in selected African states', aims to start addressing this question.

Kingwa Kamencu broke down in tears as she spoke about the state of the nation’s roads during a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, last year. It was during that same conference last September that she announced her plans to run for president. The 28-year-old Kenyan woman had just returned to the country for holidays from Oxford University, where she recently obtained two master’s degrees on a Rhodes Scholarship, one in creative writing and the other in African studies.

An Egyptian movement started to thwart sexual harassment during Eid Al-Adha has recorded 300 attempted attacks during the first two days of the holiday. A 2008 survey by the Egyptian Centre for Women Rights found that 83 per cent of local women and 98 per cent of foreign women had been subjected to harassment at least once.

A young woman was stoned to death in Somalia after being convicted of engaging in out-of-marriage sex, reports say. Residents of Jamama town, 425km south of Mogadishu in Lower Juba region, said that militants loyal to Al-Shabaab carried out the stoning at the town’s main square in late afternoon.

During the uprising that toppled Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak women stood shoulder to shoulder with men in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, pressing the revolution’s demands for freedom, justice and dignity. But those who hoped the revolution would make them equal partners in Egypt’s future claim they may be worse off now than under Mubarak’s authoritarian rule. 'After the revolution, most of Egyptian society – and especially the Islamists – began attacking women’s rights,' says Azza Kamel, a prominent women’s rights activist.

Speaker Rebecca Kadaga caused a diplomatic stir on Monday on her official trip to Canada, getting involved in a spat with the host Foreign Minister, Mr John Baird, whom she accused of attacking Uganda’s human rights record in respect to sexual minorities. Mr Baird had demonised Uganda on allegations of persecuting sexual minorities.

Cameroon lawyer Alice Nkom, who is known for defending gays and lesbians in a country where homosexuality is outlawed, has said that she has been receiving death threats from anonymous callers over her stance. 'Since October 18, I have become the victim of anonymous death threats,' she said, adding that she has been warned to stop defending homosexuals.

Women comprise less than a third of the computer science, engineering and physics fields in some of the world's key emerging economies, according to a report. They also represent a small minority in leadership positions, such as heads of universities or science academy members, said the report, which was published this month (2 October) by Women in Global Science & Technology (WIGSAT), a consulting group based in Canada.

A new report points to the extensive violence experienced by girls attending school in Zambia. But victims rarely speak up about the abuse, and a lack of clear policies fuel the cycle of violence. Those are the main findings of a report, 'They are Destroying Our Futures' by Cornell Law School’s Avon Center for Women and Justice, which clearly outlines the extensive sexual violence against Zambian girls attending school.

On Friday 12 October, the Democratic Governance & Rights Unit (DGRU) of the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Sonke Gender Justice Network, lodged a formal complaint with the office of the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) calling on the CGE to investigate the lack of gender transformation in the judiciary. Research conducted by the DGRU reveals that at the Constitutional Court only two of eleven justices are women and at the Supreme Court of Appeal only seven of 24 judges are women.

Two top Muslim Brotherhood officials are being investigated by Egypt’s Attorney General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud over their role in allegedly inciting President Mohamed Morsi supporters to attack female protesters around Tahrir Square. Mohamed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian are under investigation, Mahmoud said. Mahmoud himself had only the day before defied an order to step down from his position after President Morsi attempted to push him out after a court acquitted former top Hosni Mubarak officials of their role in the infamous 'Camel Battle' during the 18 days of protests that ousted his rule.

African member states of the United Nations have submitted a draft resolution on ending female genital mutilation (FGM) to the UN General Assembly, in what campaigners have hailed as a landmark step to end a practice that has been inflicted on up to 140 million women and girls. FGM, which is widespread in parts of Africa and pockets of the Middle East and Asia, involves the partial or total removal of the external genitals, and in many cases the closing of the vaginal opening.

This analysis of the Constitutional Draft seeks to examine the document from the perspective of what it provides in terms of protection and/or advancement of women’s rights and position in Zimbabwean society. The analysis will address both the process leading up to the compilation of the Constitutional Draft as well as its contents.

Clarisse Kimbi barely ekes out a living from a tiny parcel of land in Kom village in the North West Region of Cameroon. Today, the mother of six finds it hard to put food on the table for herself and her children. But five years ago she, her husband and children were considered well-off. In 2007, farming on five hectares of land, Kimbi could comfortably feed her family, and still have enough surplus food to sell. In a country where 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, her family was counted among the wealthy. But things changed when her husband died five years ago. Almost everything was taken away from her and her children.

Raheli Philipo Kilaye is a Maasai woman. She lives in Longido, a village in northern Tanzania near the Kenyan border. For many years, collecting and selling firewood was this 37-year-old woman’s only source of income. Every third day, she walked 12 hours to collect two bundles of firewood from the bush, which she would carry to town on her back to sell in the market. If she sold the firewood, she earned 3000 Tanzanian shillings, about two dollars. But this arduous and unrewarding work is now just a bad memory. A year ago Mrs. Kilaye enrolled in a school for adult learners in Longido, where she is studying English, Swahili and mathematics.

With few career options, Sudanese women are increasingly building up their own businesses from scratch - earning themselves financial benefits and freedom. Many women are trying out their chances in the informal economy, which offers them flexible working hours as well as an opportunity to try out their creative new business ideas. Often their customers are women, especially educated or working women.

Developed by the GBV Prevention Network in collaboration with over 100 Network members, 'In Her Shoes' is an interactive, educational tool that raises awareness about the day-to-day reality for women experiencing violence and encourages activism among service providers and community members. By 'walking in the shoes' of survivors, participants gain powerful insight into the many obstacles women face as a result of violence. Click on the URL provided to download in English or Swahili or to find out more.

Many Sierra Leonean women who are unable to repay small debts end up in prison for want of decent legal representation after their creditors report them to the police, meaning that civil disputes turn into criminal cases. An estimated 10 percent of all charges issued by the Sierra Leonean police involve the failure to repay small debts. The criminalization of debt upsets the livelihoods of the accused who are mostly petty traders. Their children at times are forced to live with them in detention and their incarceration often breaks up families and deepens poverty, said Advocaid, a Sierra Leonean civil society group helping women and children offenders.

A landmark ruling on 12 October by Gaborone’s High Court found that gender discrimination based on Botswana’s customary law is unconstitutional. The court ruled on a case brought by three sisters, all over 65 years old, challenging a Ngwaketse customary law that holds the right of inheritance to the family home belongs to the youngest son. 'Critically, the judge made it clear that discrimination cannot be justified on cultural grounds before rejecting out of hand the argument put forward by the Attorney General that Botswana society was not ready for [gender] equality,' Priti Patel, deputy director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), said in a statement. SALC supported the sisters’ case.

Hundreds of Kenyan girls, including some as young as three years old, filed a petition in the High Court to try to force the police to investigate and prosecute rape cases they say have been ignored. The group of more than 240 girls accuse police of demanding bribes to investigate rape, refusing to record rapes unless the victims produced witnesses, and claiming victims had consented.