Women

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November/December 2004

Wangari Maathai

of Kenya wins 2004 Nobel Peace Prize

Wangari Maathai rose to prominence fighting for those most easily marginalised in Africa - poor women.

Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt movement in Kenya in 1977, which has planted more than 10 million trees to prevent soil erosion and provide firewood for cooking fires. A 1989 United Nations report noted that only 9 trees were being replanted in Africa for every 100 that were cut down, causing serious problems with deforestation: soil runoff, water pollution, difficulty finding firewood, lack of animal nutrition, etc. (Read More)

http://www.nobel.no/eng_lau_announce2004.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3726084.stm

Iran Moves to Roll Back Rights Won by Women

The hard-liners who won Iran's parliamentary elections last February have focused on women's rights in their efforts to reverse some of the reforms carried out under the moderate president, Mohammad Khatami.

Iranian woman chopped up husband

An Iranian woman has been sentenced to death for murdering and chopping up her drug addict husband who allegedly tried to rape her 15 years old daughter, press reports said today.

Free of Taliban's Yoke, 2 Afghan Women Rise Again



ERAT, Afghanistan - The first sign of change is a sign, posted on the brown mud exterior wall of Soheila Helal's house and garden to announce her private courses. When the Taliban controlled this western city, Ms. Helal had to teach in secret. Now she is free to advertise.


Beaten Afghan brides


I had an inspiration about where Osama bin Laden might be hiding. But when I visited the women?s detention center in Kabul, there was no sign of him. I did meet Ellaha, a bold 19-year-old prisoner who startled me by greeting me in English. (Like many Afghans, she uses only one name.) She had been attending college as a refugee in Iran when her family pulled her out, alarmed that education might corrupt a young lady's morals.