For hundreds of years, to be a girl in Liberia was to be relatively powerless. To address that, advocates helped the Liberian Senate sign the Children’s Rights Act into national law in 2011.
Weekly global roundup: “virginity test” doctor is acquitted in Egypt while women’s football gathers momentum; condoms may literally save South Africa; a rosier picture of sex work in Thailand; journalist threatened for exposing female genital cutting in Liberia; and a steamy drama series in Kenya tackles sexual taboos.
Weekly global roundup: Who will be 2012′s 100 most powerful Arab women? Slut-shaming and victim-blaming persist in India; Liberia is slow to reconcile decades of sexual violence; the UN Commission on the Status of Women is happening now; Female Pakistand director wins country’s first Academy Award.
There are so many courageous women around the world engaged in peace work at all levels, including protest. But they are often met with violence, rape, or torture.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the “Iron Lady” of Liberia, made a
visit to Jon Stewart’s show this week to promote her new book, This Child Will Be Great, a memoir about her life of abuse, imprisonment, and ultimately her role as the first female president in Africa.
