women’s status
Fipa Men Boil the Maize
The headline for the news report was arresting: “Rukwa Men Learning to Treat their Partners with Love.” A story from the Tanzania Daily News last week, reprinted by AllAfrica.com, describes the ways men in the Rukwa Region of Tanzania are treating their wives and how some of them are trying to improve. While the news […]
Ladakhi Woman Builds a Trekking Business
Thinlas Chorol, a Ladakhi woman, has challenged a profession that previously had been a male preserve by founding a trekking company staffed entirely by women from rural Ladakh. In the process, Ms. Chorol’s determination in establishing her new business exemplifies the traditional equality and strength of Ladakhi women. The writer of a news story last […]
Witchcraft Violence among the Fipa [journal article review]
Accusing, and even killing, others because they are supposedly witches is a widespread plague in Africa, particularly in Tanzania. Many people in the homeland of the Fipa people—the Sumbawanga District in the Rukwa Region of that nation—claim the magical powers of witchcraft. Sometimes those supposed magical powers are used for beneficial purposes, proponents argue—to cure […]
Semai Women Making Progress
When she approached the microphone at an international conference in Kuala Lumpur, Fatimah Bah-sin wasn’t intimidated by the fact that she could not speak English. A part-Semai, part Semak Beri woman from a village near Kuantan, Malaysia, she wanted to tell the ASEAN Women’s Forum meeting about the problems she witnessed in her community. After […]
Some Peaceful People Are Birdwatchers [a tenth anniversary reflection]
I was delighted when Jody and her husband Mark sat down at our table at the Christmas Bird Count dinner on Saturday evening, December 20th. Before we had even started eating, Jody asked what I was doing during my retirement years, so I told her about peaceful societies and this website. She expressed interest and […]
Gender Inequality among the Lepchas [journal article review]
A book by Anita Sharma published in 2013 described growing gender inequities in Lepcha society, but a current journal article gives an even more negative assessment of the situation. The differing conclusions were based on investigations of very different communities and they were conducted 10 years apart, but their contradictions need to be compared. The […]
Zapotec Women Push Changes [online magazine article review]
The Zapotec woman spoke insightfully: “I feel that we have deep roots as an indigenous town, which has changed over time, it’s true, but [it] is still very rooted in our values, in solidarity, brotherhood, in community work.” Carmen Alonso Santiago, director of the Zapotec NGO Flor y Canto (Flower and Song) in Mexico’s Oaxaca […]
Conflict Resolution and Gender Equality in Lepcha Society [book review]
The Lepchas, like most of the peaceful societies, are frequently stressed by changing cultural, social and economic forces, some of which affect their patterns of nonviolence. Anita Sharma published a book last year that seeks to enrich our understanding of, and appreciation for, those changes Lepcha society. A major goal of her work is to […]
Film Festival in Ladakh Promotes Women’s Equality
The organizers of the Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF) are promoting a movement in India to build awareness of the need to protect women and girls from rape, infanticide, and feticide. The festival, which began last summer, is now receiving films for its second year. Some 600 people attended last summer. Organizers are hoping the […]
Super Confident Ladakhi Women
An Indian news story last Thursday included a paean of praise for the equality that exists between Ladakhi women and men, a situation that is unique in a country where female abortion and infanticide are still widely practiced. The reporter was clearly impressed upon arriving in Leh, the largest community in Ladakh. “When you first […]
