FRIDAY FILE: Four years ago, in 2007, a Brazilian judge prosecuted 1,500 women for procuring abortions.[i] That same year, a twenty-year-old woman, Ana María Acevedo, died in Argentina of cancer-related complications because her doctors refused to treat her; she was pregnant and an abortion might have saved her life.

FRIDAY FILE: More than 100 million women worldwide wear diamond engagement rings, but at what cost to women in mining communities in Southern Africa and elsewhere?

By Masum Momaya

As another summer ‘engagement ring season’ comes to a close in the northern hemisphere, jewelers in countries such as Germany, India, Japan and the US are calculating profits from sales of rings bought for women as a promise of marriage.

“Without a doubt information and communication technologies (ICTs) are changing the way we carry out our activism – in our neighbourhoods or globally – and women´s rights activists are in the thick of it.” AWID interviewed Erika Smith of the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) on women using ICTs to mobilize.

By Gabriela De Cicco

AWID: Can you tell us some of the ways that ICTs can and have been used to mobilize especially with regard to women’s rights?

FRIDAY FILE: On June 16, 2011 the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) 100th Annual Conference adopted the Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers which requires governments to protect the human and labour rights of domestic workers and defines minimum standards for decent working conditions.

By Kathambi Kinoti

FRIDAY FILE: In the current global context of persistent systemic crisis, women’s rights advocates, organizations and movements around the world have been struggling to identify possible alternatives to the neoliberal economic framework that is having a negative impact in the lives of so many people, but disproportionately on women.

By Diana Aguiar and Natalie Raaber

FRIDAY FILE: The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) that takes place from 29 November to 1 December 2011 in Busan, South Korea, will be a key moment where development actors gather to assess whether or not previous commitments on the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action have been met, and where important decisions on the development cooperation agenda could be made.

By Ana Ines Abelenda and Anne Schoenstein

FRIDAY FILE: In May of this year, the Dutch government launched the Funding Leadership and Opportunities for Women (FLOW)Fund— which represents the replenishment of the successful MDG3 Fund.Women’s rights and civil society organizations that meet the criteria can apply for FLOW through July 29, 2011.

FRIDAY FILE: The release of recent figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that, despite an increase over 2009, donor countries are way off track on delivering on their aid disbursement commitments. Women’s organizations are mobilizing for profound changes in the system to better meet development needs and guarantee respect for women’s rights.

By Ana Inés Abelenda and Anne Schoenstein

FRIDAY FILE: Every year, the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice produces a Gender Report Card that assesses the progress of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in rendering gender-inclusive justice. AWID spoke with Brigid Inder, the Executive Director of the Women’s Initiatives, about the issues highlighted by the ICC Gender Report Card 2010.

By Kathambi Kinoti

FRIDAY FILE: At first glance, female genital mutilation and genital surgery carried out for cosmetic purposes might seem intrinsically different. On closer examination, however, they may be more similar than they initially appear.

By Kathambi Kinoti