15 May 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & women's rights

Articles

Fear of voter backlash hurts war on FGM - MP
by The Star, 15 May 2018

Elected leaders from Maasailand are not keen to fight FGM for fear of losing votes, Kajiado South MP Katoo ole Metito has said. The Maasais practise female genital mutilation as a rite of passage into womanhood. On Sunday, Metito said politicians do not want to be seen to be going against their culture, even though FGM is backward. 

Read More

Kenya court rejects plea for equal property rights in divorce
by Reuters , 14 May 2018

A Kenyan court on Monday rejected a plea for a change to the laws on how property should be split in divorce cases, a ruling activists said was a blow for women’s rights in the country. Kenya’s High Court dismissed a 2016 petition from the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA), an advocacy group that had argued the Marriage Properties Act was unconstitutional because it entitled each partner only to what they contributed.

Read More

‘I Can Finally Dream’: Tunisia Expands Protection for Battered Women
by The New York Times, 12 May 2018

Tunisia has always prided itself on being the most advanced Arab country when it comes to women’s rights. Women here have long had the right to divorce and gain custody of their children, and polygamy was abolished the year after the country became independent in 1956. Yet violence against women remains a widespread and persistent problem. Economic violence and domestic sexual abuse are among the most prevalent types of aggression.

Read More

A Sudanese teenager killed her rapist, and Muslim women are fighting for her life
by The Guardian, 10 May 2018

Violence against women does not discriminate. One in three women across the globe experience physical or sexual violence in their lives, regardless of race, age or income. Intimate partner violence is the most common form, with physical violence occurring to as many as two out of three women who have ever been in an intimate partnership.

Read More