In our second blog for the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, Oxfam Canada’s Megan Lowthers looks back on six years of the Creating Spaces project, which offers powerful examples of how communities can mobilise to tackle GBV and win new laws to protect women and girls After years in an abusive marriage, Sonali, 23, visited a support centre …
The pandemic marks a new, brutal chapter in a history of violence against LGBTQIA+ people in Central America
As the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence begins, Oxfam gender justice lead for Central America and LGBTQIA+ activist, Natalia Marsicovetere, spells out the pandemic’s impact on LGBTQIA+ people in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador Central America has historically been a particularly violent region for the LGBTQIA+ population who face everything from street violence, to displacement, to lack of opportunities, to discriminatory public policies. The region has …
COVID-19: WIDOWS SPEAK ON DEAD JOBS, VIRTUAL FUNERALS & THE NEW NORMAL IN SIAYA
In June and July 2021, Roseline Orwa and Valentine Linette visited 5 villages in Siaya, Kenya when Nyanza province region was on a 3-month lockdown. The highly transmissible, more contagious Delta variant of Coronavirus was destroying the region. There were 2 to 5 funerals in each of the villages we visited. An elderly widow from one of the Rona Foundation groups had just …
COVID19: WIDOWHOOD ‘AGENCY’, EXPOSED BURDENS, CULTURE & GENDER ALLIES
Roseline Orwa and Valentine Linet set out in June 2021 to understand how widows in rural Siaya were coping and managing during Covid-19. With majority being survivors of two pandemics – HIV and Covid-19, we asked them how they wanted to engage. From which we employed deep sensitivity and a story telling approach during one-on-one interviews. In this blog, we …
We are in it together: Feminist activists in MENA united
Many social media followers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) would recognize names such as Israa Ghrayeb from Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), or Al-Anoud Sheryan from Yemen or Tara Fares from Iraq. These are young women in their twenties who were disfigured or killed by a family member or an intimate partner. Their stories shocked people and devastated women rights activist across the region. …
The struggle of Yemeni women between war and harmful social norms
Armed conflict, poverty, hunger and economic crisis have been severely affecting the lives Yemeni people over the past six years. Around 80% of the Yemeni population require some form of humanitarian or protection assistance, this means 24 million people, including 14.3 million in acute need. GBV is wide-spread in Yemen In the Yemeni context, gender-based violence (GBV) is a very …
Girls Not Brides – weaving the ‘evidence quilt’ for gender transformative law reform
Positive prospects amid the pandemic Girls have been given much reason to hope in the Philippines. This November, a historic first, the Senate unanimously approved the Girls Not Brides bill, which proposes to criminalize child marriage. Now the House of Representatives must take this life-saving measure across the finish line before the last step – a presidential veto or approval. There are an estimated 726,000 child brides in the Philippines, making it the 12th highest in the world for child marriage in terms of …
On the Path to End Violence Against Women: Supporting civil society to combat GBV in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Violence against women in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) does not only stem from deeply-rooted patriarchal norms, but also from the experience of the Israeli occupation. Existing literature shows a direct link between the increase in Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and exposure to occupation-related violence. The more people are exposed to violence from the occupation or perpetuated by settlers, …
A Long Way to Go: Influencing Social Norms to Combat Gender-Based Violence in Iraq
There are many social, political, religious, tribal and economic reasons that contribute to defining gender roles throughout the ages, and yet there appears to be a common thread of gender inequality across different times and territories. Iraq is no exception to this: with a long history of colonial rule, foreign intervention, successive conflicts and a volatile socio-economic context, there are …