21 Jan 2020 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM and Women's Rights

Articles

No sex, no babies: S.Korea's emerging feminists reject marriage
By Reuters, 20 Jan 2020

SEOUL, Jan 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - No dating, no sex, no marriage and no babies: two South Korean YouTubers who vow to stay single have caused uproar in the east Asian nation as it battles the world's lowest fertility rate. The duo have gained celebrity status for their SOLOdarity channel - with some 37,000 followers in its first year - where they have compared marriage to slavery for women and criticised the tradition of fathers giving away brides as offensive. "Marriage is the root cause of patriarchy in South Korea," said Jung Se-young, co-host of the channel's talk show, which is popular with young women who do not want to wed and become saddled with childcare and domestic chores like their mothers. The pair's "No Marriage" movement has tapped into burgeoning feminism in South Korea, which saw tens of thousands of women protest in 2018 against a epidemic of voyeurism or "spycam porn" .

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Artist, women’s rights activist murdered in Ciudad Juárez. Killing sparks protests in the border city
By Mexico Daily News, 20 Jan 2020

An artist and women’s rights activist was murdered in Ciudad Júarez, Chihuahua, late Friday night, sparking outrage and protests on the weekend. Isabel Cabanillas de la Torre, 26, disappeared Friday night after leaving a bar to return to her home in downtown Juárez on her bicycle. Chihuahua prosecutors announced on Sunday morning the discovery of a woman’s body in the downtown area. Messages and posts on social media quickly confirmed that it was that of Cabanillas. A clothing designer, painter and active member of a women’s collective, Cabanillas was active in women’s rights initiatives.

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Botswana: 2020 Landmark Year for Gender Equality
By AllAfrica, 19 Jan 2020

Gaborone — The year 2020 is important as it marks a number of milestones in the gender equality sphere, Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs Ms Anna Mokgethi has said. She was delivering the keynote address at an African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) validation workshop on a governance, gender and peace building study in Gaborone recently. Ms Mokgethi said this year was 20 years since adoption of the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women peace and security as well as five years into implementation of sustainable development goals. On the African continent, she said, 2020 marked the end of African Women's Decade, a period set aside for celebrating progress achieved. It was also the beginning of a new decade which would lead into the conclusion of 2030 development agenda, said Ms Mokgethi.

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What you need to know about today's Women's March
By CNN , 18 Jan 2020

The fourth annual Women's March is Saturday, and streets across the country and around the world will be flooded with women and allies to advocate for women's rights and equality. Thousands of women first swarmed the streets of Washington on January 21, 2017, to march for women's rights in the wake of Donald Trump's inauguration as the 45th President of the United States. More than 1 million people participated nationwide in the 2017 march. That march, the largest single-day protest in American history, has since become an annual event. Here's what you need to know about the Women's March. 

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Lipstick to learning: Canada's indigenous women using businesses to end violence
By Thomson Reuters , 17 Jan 2020

TORONTO, Jan 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Jenn Harper dreamed of a young native Canadian girl in lip gloss she knew she had found a way to help her community. The dream in 2015 prompted her to set up Cheekbone Beauty from her kitchen, a cosmetics brand with products named after successful North American indigenous women that gives 10% of profits to a fund to help educate children on reserves. Harper is one of a rising number of indigenous women in Canada setting up businesses that aim to have a positive social impact, with many focused on aboriginal women who have faced shocking levels of violence for decades. She said she set out to build a social enterprise that would inspire aboriginal youth, particularly girls, among whom suicide rates are up to six times higher than non-indigenous youth. "I am using lipstick as a platform to raise awareness about what is still happening to indigenous young people," Harper, 43, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview, wearing a hot pink lipstick from her Warrior Women range. 

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Gambia: GAMCOTRAP Sensitises Out of School Girls On FGM
By AllAfrica, 16 Jan 2020

Gambia Committee on Harmful Traditional Practice Affecting the Health of women and girls (GAMCOTRAP), Monday sensitised out of school girls on Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (FGM/C) in Lamin, Kombo North. The sensitisation is conducted under the project titled: Ending the practice of FGM/C through the engagement of children, youth, women and men in The Gambia. The project targets to engage girls, girls clubs and out of school girls in West Coast Region. The UNICEF funded activity aimed at enlightening out of school girls on the effects of harmful traditional practices. 

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