For several years now it has been recognized that HIV and AIDS is a feminized phenomenon. Women’s rights activists have asserted that in order to address the pandemic, it is necessary for women’s rights to be central to interventions. Now it seems like the battle for a women’s rights centred approach could be over before it has barely even begun.

By Kathambi Kinoti

Singapore has an estimated 160,000 migrant domestic workers – an overwhelming majority of them women. Singapore’s labour laws, however, still exclude domestic workers from key protections guaranteed to other workers, and as a result, exploitation is rife.

Culture of misogyny, illegal occupation, fuel sexual violence in military. By Helen Benedict.

For the Latin American and Caribbean region, the best outcome from the International Conference on AIDS being held in Mexico City this week may be what happened just prior to the conference.

An update on United Nations reform and the civil society campaign to reform and strengthen UN gender architecture.

Mawuli Dake looks at the ways in which women are being locked out of the democratic processes in Ghana and argues that societies "cannot claim to be committed to the principles and ideals of democracy and the universal values of equality" if groups within are marginalized.

Fair trade seeks to promote equity in international trade with an emphasis on protecting the rights of marginalised producers, particularly in the Global South. Can fairness and market forces co-exist? By Kathambi Kinoti

For women's rights and women's empowerment groups, the 3rd High Level Conference on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, in September, and the U.N. Conference on Financing for Development in Doha, in December, are opportunities to advance financing for gender equality issues.