El Salvador: Guadalupe’s Pardon a Victory, But Still a Long Road Ahead

by Gabby De Cicco

FRIDAY FILES: On February 18 Guadalupe Vázquez[1], one of at least 17 women unjustly imprisoned for allegedly having an abortion, was released from prison after being granted a pardon by El Salvador's Legislative Assembly.

By Gabby De Cicco

A Gendered Lens on the Current Ebola Epidemic in West Africa

FRIDAY FILE - The latest World Health Organization's (WHO) Ebola situation report estimates the death toll in the current Ebola virus epidemic at nearly 9,400 with close to 23,300 people infected[1], AWID spoke to Liberian activists to learn more about the impact of the epidemic on women and girls in the region.

YCSRR & AWID Statement to the 47th Commission on Population and Development

The Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (YCSRR) and Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) applaud the Commission’s focus on the assessment of the status of implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.

We ask the members of the CPD47 to build upon the principles agreed to during the affirmation of ICPD in 1994 along with its 5 and 10 years review the 1994 ICPD and develop a rights-based approach to youth and adolescent sexual rights within the post-2015 development agenda.

Public Conversations with God

by Lucy Garrido, Articulación Feminista Marcosur

At the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean conference (ECLAC) Regional Conference on Population and Development in Montevideo, Uruguay in August 2013, AFM launched an innovative and engaging campaign calling on passersby to "Talk to God" without intermediaries, via a telephone booth.

Family Planning: Back to Basics

by Ayesha Khan

It does not seem so long ago when the women’s health movement marked a major victory in Cairo, as the United Nations Conference on Population and Development 1994 voted in favor of a broad-based reproductive health and development agenda to replace the narrow demographic-based obsession with using family planning to curb population growth rates.

Women’s Rights in 2009: Some Steps Back, Some Steps Forward

2009 was a year of losses and gains for women’s rights. Campaigns for gender equality experienced some setbacks in certain parts of the world – or on a given issue - and gains in others.

by Masum Momaya

Patriarchy allows child marriage and female genital mutilation to flourish

FRIDAY FILE : This week's ‘Friday File’ is a blog post written by our Young Feminist Activism team on the recent Girl Summit in London originally published on the Guardian's Poverty Matters blog.

By Ghadeer Malek, Rachel Arinii and Nelly Bassily

Young feminists must help steer the fight against wider issues harming girls including poverty, marginalisation and exclusion

Stigmatization and the Role of Associations in the Fight against HIV in Middle East and North Africa

FRIDAY FILE: At a recent international conference in Tunis[1] on Sexual and Reproductive Health in Arab Countries, AWID met Jocelyn DeJong, professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at American University in Beirut and coordinator of the Reproductive Health Working Group[2], to learn more about their research on the role of associations in fighting HIV stigmatization.

By Mégane Ghorbani

Women Take a Stand Against Monsanto Across Latin America

FRIDAY FILE: This year, on World Food Day, 52 countries organized a Global Day of Action Against Monsanto that became a catalyzer for several expressions of resistance against this corporation. In this Friday File we take a look at actions in three Latin American countries, where women are taking the lead in resistance movements.

By Gabriela De Cicco

World Conference of Indigenous Women: "Progress and Challenges Regarding the Future We Want"

FRIDAY FILE: The 2013 World Conference of Indigenous Women "Progress and Challenges Regarding the Future we Want" held from October 28-30 2013, in Lima, Peru, was attended by about 300 Indigenous women leaders from Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America, the Artic, Russia and the Pacific.[1]

By Gabriela De Cicco