https://www.girlsglobe.org Gender equality, human rights and social justice. Wed, 19 Mar 2025 08:59:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://i0.wp.com/www.girlsglobe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/girlsglobe_icon_green2-1.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 https://www.girlsglobe.org 32 32 128553070 https://www.girlsglobe.org/2025/03/19/its-time-to-go-beyond-lip-service-to-end-gender-based-violence/ https://www.girlsglobe.org/2025/03/19/its-time-to-go-beyond-lip-service-to-end-gender-based-violence/#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2025 08:59:17 +0000 https://www.girlsglobe.org/?p=66459 Sarah Baartman, a Khoisan woman, endured extreme dehumanisation and exploitation in 19th-century Europe. Both in life and death she symbolises the abuse of African women by racist and patriarchal systems. Sarah was stripped of her dignity, displayed in human zoos, sexually, physically and emotionally abused for the amusement of the elite. 

This uncomfortable history is not just history – in many ways it is a haunting mirror of the present.

The world still sees women’s bodies as commodities, women’s labour as free and their opinions as not worthy. Systems of oppression continue to silence women’s voices in public and private spaces leading to economic exclusion and general disempowerment of women. 

During the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) summit, where deep reflections on the progress towards the Beijing platform of action are taking place, we must ask ourselves the hard questions and go beyond lip service to making the actual changes that will make a difference in women’s lives and end Gender Based Violence. ]]> https://www.girlsglobe.org/2025/03/19/its-time-to-go-beyond-lip-service-to-end-gender-based-violence/feed/ 3 66459 https://www.girlsglobe.org/2024/10/21/society-needs-to-stand-together-to-tackle-period-poverty/ https://www.girlsglobe.org/2024/10/21/society-needs-to-stand-together-to-tackle-period-poverty/#respond Mon, 21 Oct 2024 09:05:48 +0000 https://www.girlsglobe.org/?p=66142&preview=true&preview_id=66142 About 40 kilometres from warm Durban, lies a place called oThongati. Deep inside oThongati, is a neglected township called Magwaveni. Vibrant with township culture and an intergenerational population, Magwaveni resembles many South African townships. On 3 June 2024, Magwaveni was struck by a tornado that left more than 2,000 households destroyed. The right to shelter and food were not the only rights trampled on by this disaster.

The rights to proper sanitation and menstrual health were also violated.

]]> https://www.girlsglobe.org/2024/10/21/society-needs-to-stand-together-to-tackle-period-poverty/feed/ 0 66142 https://www.girlsglobe.org/2023/12/20/mehubas-story-surviving-child-labour-in-ethiopia/ https://www.girlsglobe.org/2023/12/20/mehubas-story-surviving-child-labour-in-ethiopia/#respond Wed, 20 Dec 2023 09:16:42 +0000 https://www.girlsglobe.org/?p=65094&preview=true&preview_id=65094
From an early age, Mehuba, a child labour survivor from Ethiopia, was trafficked by her father. Today, she is a successful business owner and creates jobs for other women. Mehuba's story clearly illustrates the drivers of illegal migration, which often force vulnerable women seeking decent employment as domestic workers into situations of modern slavery.
Read Mehuba's Story in her own words.
]]> https://www.girlsglobe.org/2023/12/20/mehubas-story-surviving-child-labour-in-ethiopia/feed/ 0 65094 https://www.girlsglobe.org/2023/12/19/rubys-story-escaping-forced-prostitution-in-ghana/ https://www.girlsglobe.org/2023/12/19/rubys-story-escaping-forced-prostitution-in-ghana/#comments Tue, 19 Dec 2023 09:32:55 +0000 https://www.girlsglobe.org/?p=65099&preview=true&preview_id=65099

#HerStory is an anti-modern slavery campaign to raise awareness of the prevalence of modern slavery, shed light on the impact it has on women and girls in particular, and amplify the voice of female survivors.

This is Ruby's story.
]]> https://www.girlsglobe.org/2023/12/19/rubys-story-escaping-forced-prostitution-in-ghana/feed/ 1 65099 https://www.girlsglobe.org/2023/11/25/unite-prevention-of-gender-based-violence-must-include-workers-rights/ https://www.girlsglobe.org/2023/11/25/unite-prevention-of-gender-based-violence-must-include-workers-rights/#respond Sat, 25 Nov 2023 07:54:58 +0000 https://www.girlsglobe.org/?p=65109&preview=true&preview_id=65109
While the prevention work continues to target individual perpetrators of violence, we pay equal attention to the ways in which gender based violence manifests structurally.

Gender based violence is the result of unequal power relations and finds formal expression in laws, policies and norms that entrench these unequal power relations and perpetuate violence. Gender based violence manifests at all levels of society, but interventions lack sufficient emphasis on the macroeconomic level at which gender-based violence is embedded through the policy choices at institutional level – both nationally and internationally. These systematically ignore the needs and realities of women and girls, including by eroding the already poorly resourced public services they rely on and failing to prioritize their wellbeing.

]]> https://www.girlsglobe.org/2023/11/25/unite-prevention-of-gender-based-violence-must-include-workers-rights/feed/ 0 65109