Urban Poor ‘Fear’ Contraceptives
The Jakarta Post - Jakarta, Indonesia, 3/31/2012
Poor women in urban areas are reluctant to accept contraceptives offered to them for free. Elvi Royyana, 43, a midwife from an East Jakarta community health center (Puskesmas), said it was not easy to encourage people to use contraceptives, especially long-term ones such as implants or intra-uterine devices (IUD).
Health Care: Thanks to USAID, Central Warehouse Enlarged
The Express Tribune - Karachi, Pakistan, 3/31/2012
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director in Pakistan, Dr Andrew Sisson, inaugurated the newly renovated central warehouse at the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate. The Karachi-based, centrally run warehouse is used to store and distribute a number of reproductive health products such as safe birthing kits, HIV and AIDS and hepatitis screening kits that are supplied to 140 districts in Pakistan.
Gender Imbalance Set to Ease
China Daily, China, 3/30/2012
The skewed birth sex ratio, with more than 117 males for every 100 females, is targeted to drop to below 115 by 2015, a senior population official said. The ratio stands at exactly 117.78 males born for every 100 females, official statistics showed. In addition to campaigns to end sex selection, the commission is also working closely on raising public awareness and implementing policies favoring families with a girl, particularly in the countryside, Zhang Jian, publicity chief of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, said.
A ‘Third Gender’ on Facebook?
Hindustan Times - New Delhi, India, 3/29/2012
In an open letter, the only openly gay parliament member in Nepal, Sunil Babu Pant, has urged Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, to include an ‘others’ or a ‘third gender’ option on the social networking site. Pant cited the ruling made by the Supreme Court of Nepal in 2007 that guarantees gender identity based on self-identification. Gay rights groups in New Delhi have also joined Pant in pushing Facebook to include a ‘third gender’ option.
Indonesia`s Anti-Pornography Task Force Considers Short-Skirt Ban
Jakarta Globe - Jakarta, Indonesia, 3/29/2012
Asked to define pornography, an American Supreme Court justice once famously said: ‘I know it when I see it.’ The way Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali sees it, the answer to the same question might well be: ‘Short skirts.’ The government’s controversial anti-pornography task force, headed by Suryadharma, is now working on measures to tackle the issue - a discussion that includes coming up with a broad definition of pornography, which could potentially equate to dictating how women dress.
Twins Get Sex-Change Surgery in Shanghai
People’s Daily - Yunnan Province, China, 3/28/2012
A pair of 25-year-old twin sisters from Yunnan Province in southwestern China have successfully received preliminary sex-change operations in a Shanghai hospital to become males, seeing their long-cherished shared dream finally come true. In China, their legal gender will remain ‘female’ until all the surgical steps are completed and they go through the legal application for a gender-swap registry with the police. The twins said they started to realize their difference from other girls in kindergarten. They kept their shared secret from the family until last year when they came across news online that transsexual surgeries were available in Shanghai.
Conflict and Women Victims
The Himalayan Times, Nepal, 3/28/2012
The Nepali society is structured in such a way that women till date are regarded as incomplete humans. Due to the patriarchal social structure and similar male-centered legal provisions, women are at the bottom rung of social hierarchy, and their condition grew worse during and after the conflict. Raping women in broad daylight in front of the family members, and even gang raping them were common during the conflict. There are hundreds of women victims of sexual harassment, but there is no law to address their problems.
FPCCI Lauds Government’s Gender Equity Initiatives
Daily Times - Islamabad, Pakistan, 3/28/2012
The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) lauded government’s initiatives for ensuring gender equity, which it said was imperative for the national development. FPCCI will fully back the Islamabad Expo 2012, a women empowerment move organised by the Islamabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI) on April 7 and 8, said Vice President of the Federation Mirza Abdul Rehman.
Gender Budget yet to Yield Fruits
Deccan Herald - Bangalore, India, 3/27/2012
The gender-based budget resorted to by the State government from 2007-08 fiscal does not seem to have helped much in improving the skewed sex ratio in Karnataka. The initiative was taken up with an aim to promote gender equality, particularly to improve the sex ratio. The State Finance department has set up a gender budget cell to identify the quantum of resource allocation and expenditure on women and monitor translation of policy commitments into action.
Men and Their Demons
China Daily - Beijing, China, 3/27/2012
‘When we talk about gender-based violence, 90% of the cases are violence against women,’ says Feng Yuan from the Anti-domestic Violence Network in a recent forum organised by Internet portal Sohu.com in Beijing. UNFPA in China supported the country`s first research into violence against women that takes gender into account. ‘Though most of the 2,000 participants surveyed agree on gender equality, data shows unequal power relations between men and women are deep set in gender norms and common in society,’ says UNFPA in China consultant Wen Hua. Among 1,017 male respondents, 73% believe that men should be tough, and 52% say they would use violence to defend their honor.
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