A parliamentary select committee has begun compiling comments on a new constitution, gathered at 4,000 meetings held across Zimbabwe over the past three months. Gender activists are confident that women's views have been expressed; it will be up to the eventual drafters of the new constitution to ensure they are reflected. Over 700,000 people attended public meetings on Zimbabwe's draft constitution.

US$5,000 has been awarded from the Take Back the Tech! Fund to four outstanding South African Women’s organisations that are set to make an impact on the high levels of violence against women in the country. The four different projects will work with young black women in townships, black lesbians, rural para-legals and survivors of violence to increase awareness, reporting of incidents, and help survivors of violence on their healing journey.

Scarcity of jobs is worsening gender inequalities in sub-Saharan Africa, locking more women out of formal government and private sector appointments, a new World Bank survey shows. The report shows that women in employment is at under 40 per cent in Kenya, behind countries like Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and Sierra Leone where women engagement is over 80 per cent. Experts said the widening gender gap at the workplace in Kenya put policy makers in a dilemma as it threatens to shutter economic gains made over the past few years as women are locked out of income generating activities.

The Southern African Young Women’s Festival ran between 25 and 28 October. Young women were brought together to share experiences, energise each other and celebrate their youth and the potential they have to advocate for social justice in their respective communities. The Festival was a platform to equip young women with the practical skills they need for effective advocacy for women’s rights and included many exciting activities including the launching of the 16 Days national campaigns of activism.

The October issue of 'Walking the Talk', a quarterly publication of the African Union and the United Nations Development Fund for Women, is out. Headlines include:
- Grassroots approach to gender equality and women’s empowerment
- Kenya’s Vision for African Women’s Decade
- Women’s rights advocates seek to influence the human rights strategy for Africa
- Gender related decisions taken during the July 2010 summit in Kampala.

'I fell asleep at night on wet bedding. During the day my family and the community made me a laughing stock as I was leaking urine and spreading a bad smell. I stopped leaving the house. I felt alone and abandoned and humiliated, not least when my husband left to stay with his second wife.’ This is the sad testimony of Elisabeth Makhalichi, who developed a hole, called a fistula, after a difficult birth.

Martha Zulu dropped out of school in 2006 when she was 17 and pregnant with her first child (she would later have three more). She then married the father, Antony Zulu, an already-married farmer from the Central Province of Zambia. Her parents had also been peasant farmers, so Zulu said it made sense that she continue doing what she had grown up knowing. Yet for Zulu maize farming is not easy, especially because her husband makes all the decisions even though she does much of the work. 'The most challenging thing in our farming life is the dependence on manual labour because we do not have animals and other machinery to help ease our work,' said Zulu, who is the de-facto machinery on her farm.

The perception that women are only ever victims of conflict ignores the large numbers of female combatants, which can result in their exclusion from disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) report, 'State of the World Population 2010: From Conflict and Crisis to Renewal: Generations of Change', released on 20 October 2010, acknowledges the role women play in forging peace, but cautions against the assumptions of women as nurturers and 'natural peace-makers ... [choosing] non-violent solutions rather than conflict whenever possible'.

Salma Maoulidi looks at the future of Tanzania’s 50-50 Campaign as the country prepares for a general election. The campaign is meant to bring gender parity in parliament. Maoulidi argues the process is stalling as female politicians get caught up in a game where there is no women’s agenda and where women and women’s issues are largely absent from political debates.

For the 10th anniversary of 1325, Peacewomen is launching the ‘Women, Peace and Security Handbook,’ which examines thedegree to which the Security Council has internalised the thematic agenda of women, peace and security in its geographic work over the past 10 years, specifically in the Council’s country-specific resolutions. Divided into thirteen thematic chapters, the handbook is a reference guide for both progress made and action to be taken on the women, peace and security agenda.

Joyce Phiri* is only one of many women admitted daily to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), in Malawi’s commercial capital Blantyre, for complications of unsafe abortions. Winasi Boma, a supervising nurse at QECH, says the gynaecology ward admits about 20 women each day. Roughly half of these, he says, are there for post-abortion care. Like most of its neighbours in the region, abortion is illegal in Malawi (except to save the life of the mother). Phiri, a 21-year-old mother of two, sought to terminate her pregnancy only after a contraceptive implant failed.

We are officially in the Decade of African Women. The launch last week in Nairobi, adopted by the African Union (AU), is an apt moment to consider the realities of African girls who will become women between 2010 and 2020. The Fourth Gender and Media Summit organised by Gender Links was also held last week and provided a much-needed space to explore issues of youth and gender in Southern Africa. What are young girls’ thoughts and feelings on gender and the media? Pretty Skihonde, Mpumi Msibi, Kayla Xhethu and Nhlanhla Mbulawa are a group of energetic Grade Nine school girls from Johannesburg. They unanimously agree that they see more women than men on television, which is their only media source. Yet this perceived increase of women in the media does not necessarily translate to gender-aware representations.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay has spoken out about intolerance towards sexual minorities in Africa and elsewhere. 'Everyday, in every country, individuals are persecuted, vilified or violently assaulted, and even killed, because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Covert or overt, homophobic violence causes enormous suffering which is often shrouded in a veil of silence and endured in isolation.'

Uganda is the leading country in gender equality in East Africa, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap report 2010. The report released this week ranked Uganda at 33rd position out of 134 countries surveyed worldwide. Tanzania was the second in the EA region at number 66, while Kenya was the least performer at number 96. The report showed that Tanzania has been recording a steep drop since 2006 when the country ranked 24th out of 115 countries.

If all you ever read about gay people in Africa is in the western media (including gay media), you would be forgiven for thinking it's one endless horror story. Largely unnoticed amid all that has been the quickening development of gay communities and movements in many parts of Africa. In Kenya, for instance, David Kuria - a gay man - is standing for the senate. If elected, he'll be the second openly gay politician in Africa.

Discrimination against women not only exposes them to the worst effects of disaster and war, including rape, but also deprives their countries of a prime engine for recovery, according to a new United Nations report. The release of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) 'State of World Population 2010 report – From Conflict and Crisis to Renewal: Generations of Change' coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Security Council’s landmark resolution 1325, which aimed to end sexual violence against women and girls in armed conflict and to encourage greater participation by them in peace-building initiatives.

A teenage girl tries to abort and then begins bleeding at school. Her name and details get published in the media. Mona Hakimi calls for newsrooms to tell stories in a more compassionate way.

Migration is an integral part of today’s process of global economic, social and political integration. Globally, more than 210 million people are estimated to be migrating. Around 105 million of them are women. There are diverse reasons and causes for migrating, but labour migration driven by large economic and social inequalities in the world is a key aspect in this context. The report 'Women's labour migration in the context of globalisation' offers an introduction to important contemporary political analysis on the influence of globalisation on women’s work, mobility and empowerment.

The Feminine Action Union (UAF), a Moroccan association for the promotion of women's rights, announced on 13 October the creation of the National Observatory for the Improvement of Women's Image in the Media. The new centre will monitor violations against Moroccan women's dignity in the media, including in advertisement and art productions, at national, regional and international levels.

Despite liberal laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) students at schools and at tertiary institutions are faced with the harsh reality of prejudice characterised by homophobic slurs despite policies meant to protect learners. The South African Schools Act states that a school must serve learners’ educational requirements without unfairly discriminating. However previous research conducted showed that discrimination experienced by lesbian and gay people at schools is prevalent.