Articles about Gl Opinion And Commentary Service
Where is South Africa zooming to? Wake up and smell the coffee from around Africa!
07 December 07
Regional relevance: South Africa
As a woman and South African with roots in many parts of the continent, the events of the last few weeks have filled me with a terrible sense of déjà vu. I was born in Zimbabwe of South African parents who became involved in the Zimbabwean liberation struggle from the coalface of the Mozambican border. My husband... [read more]
Tabloids as gender activists? Research tells another story
08 October 07
Regional relevance: Southern Africa (SADC)
The scene is the quarterly meeting of the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) in Cape Town in early 2007. The focus is a panel of tabloid editors. A media studies professor has just thrown down the gauntlet, saying in his view tabloids should not even try to masquerade as journalism. He cites the case of a... [read more]
Southern Africa: Gender activists urge leaders to bite the bullet
07 August 07
Regional relevance: Southern Africa (SADC)
5 August: A powerful consortium of gender activists has urged their leaders to make history by adopting the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development when they meet in Lusaka, Zambia from 16-17 August. [read more]
How free are women in the media?
02 May 07 | (1) Comment
Regional relevance: South Africa
World Press Freedom Day on 3 May is a day to remember the importance of jealously guarding the hard won gains of an independent and fearless media. But how free is the media, when thirteen years into our new democracy it is still so unrepresentative of the people whom it serves? [read more]
Sixteen Days: One step forwards two steps backwards?
22 November 06
Regional relevance: Southern Africa (SADC)
The year began on a positive note. Frustrated by each year having to answer the same set of questions about whether there had been any progress in ending gender violence, last year?s Sixteen Days of Activism campaign saw a groundswell of support for a coordinated year long campaign in which the Sixteen Days became... [read more]
Empowering women to speak out through ICTs
01 September 06
Regional relevance: Namibia
In countries and communities with limited access to even basic communications infrastructure, the Internet and computers is often a strange and far-off idea ? something for the educated, rich and powerful nations of the world. Yet the internet offers a huge opportunity for communication, one that can reach across... [read more]
Why is media literacy important for women
30 August 06
Regional relevance: Southern Africa (SADC)
Gender equality goes hand in hand with freedom of expression. The more women speak, the more we are on our way to gender balance and equality, not only in the media but also in society. However, media messages often convey content and images that maintain the stereotypical, patriarchal and hegemonic values about... [read more]
Budget needs to be put under a gender lens
29 August 06
Regional relevance: Zambia
Caught up in the business of daily survival, national budgets often go unnoticed by the very people that they should most be designed to help. [read more]
Widowed and dispossessed
28 August 06
Regional relevance: Southern Africa (SADC)
Women in Karonga, northern Malawi, have only two options when their husbands die: to be inherited by one of the brothers or male relatives, or to leave and go back to their home village, where they have no land or property, only their kitchen utensils. Divorced or widowed women who try to fend for themselves and... [read more]
