WAPO Series: A Woman's World: Struggle for Global Equality

The Washington Post has been a series called Woman's World: The Struggle for Equality Around the Globe. Its really good and includes video and other interactive tools. Such as this report about the changing role of women in Rwanda following the genocide there:

Here, women are not only driving the economy -- working on construction sites, in factories and as truck and taxi drivers -- they are also filling the ranks of government.

Women hold a third of all cabinet positions, including foreign minister, education minister, Supreme Court chief and police commissioner general. And Rwanda's parliament last month became the first in the world where women claim the majority -- 56 percent, including the speaker's chair.

One result is that Rwanda has banished archaic patriarchal laws that are still enforced in many African societies, such as those that prevent women from inheriting land. The legislature has passed bills aimed at ending domestic violence and child abuse, while a committee is now combing through the legal code to purge it of discriminatory laws. Washington Post

While the series does focus a great deal on the developing world, it is comprehensive in that it also covers stories about conditions for women in affluent countries such as discriminaiton against working mothers in Germany:More videos and links below the fold

and the low level of rape convictions in the United Kingdon:

Some of my favorite reports are on Japanese Women and their refusal or delay of marriage and how a change in pension rules are causing a stampede of divorces in Japan. Its really interesting seeing some of the same patterns of "singlehood" as women in this country except in Japan, there is still a great stigma about out of wedlock births so they aren't having children either.

The series covers the use of young girls in the domestic worker trade in Togo (In Togo, a 10-Year-Old's Muted Cry: 'I Couldn't Take Any More'),the high rate of deaths due to childbirth in places like Sierra Leone, the disproportionate affect of the world's food shortage on women and children in places like Burkina Faso  and the heart breaking story of the limited educational opportunities for some girls in India ("THis is the Destiny of Girls")

Here is a list of some of the stories in the series. For the full interactive series, you can foto the Woman's World site over at the WAPO.

In Affluent Germany, Women Still Confront Traditional Bias

In Britain, Rape Cases Seldom Result in a Conviction

Women Run the Show In a Recovering Rwanda

With Each French Birth, a Dividend From the State

In Pakistan, Searching for Freedom, Chained by the Law

A British Diplomat's Mission Of Rescue

Japanese Women Shy From Dual Mommy Role

In India, New Opportunities for Women Draw Anger and Abuse From Men

In Egypt, Some Women Say That Veils Increase Harassment

Japan: Learn to Be Nice to Your Wife, or Pay the Price

Comments

[jess]

I love this. Such a wonderful tool for comprehending the heaviness of female empowerment and discrimination.

[deborah]

Thanks for sharing. Proves that sexism is not limited to what a former colleague often (and irritatingly to me) called "the barefoot countries."

[gem2001]

I really wish that schools would take students through this series. Its really good and I think reinforces subjects such as geography, world history, and social studies. I learned a lot from it. Especially about Germany and Great Britain.

[Mari-Djata]

The Rwanda situation sounds very interesting. A government ran by women? Genius!

[Faith]

It just shows that the US in not necessarily the most progressive country in the world where all women are concerned. The women in Rwanda didn't wait to take leadership roles or ask 'permission'. That is something we can learn from here.

[Spinster]

Right on Rwanda. Thanks for posting. You learn something new every day.

[Fed up observer.]

It does not matter if it is Rwanda, Atlanta, Haiti, Europe, or anywhere, the fact of the matter is that sistas will ALWAYS rise to the occassion and do what needs to be done!

Bless the women of Rwanda and sistas the world over!