If women farmers were given more tools and resources, the number of hungry people in the world could be slashed by 100 to 150 million. This was the message conveyed by Josette Sheeran, executive director of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly Thursday to empower rural women for food security and nutrition.

Background

Physical and sexual violence against women in Iran, including violence perpetrated by state security forces, is rapidly increasing. News releases in official media, which usually censor such topics, have surprisingly reported on incidents of gang rape and assaults against women.

July 22, 2011

In Guatemala, a human rights emergency is raging, and no one is paying attention.

Women and girls are being raped, tortured and murdered, their mutilated bodies discarded in public places.

In the past decade nearly 5,000 young women have been murdered in this way, some as young as ten. The community of our sister organization in Barcenas, Guatemala is ground zero in this crisis.

Public voting is under way in a United Nations contest aimed at finding the best advertising campaign to promote awareness in Europe about the battle to defeat gender-based violence, which affects more than two out of every three women worldwide.

The Open Society Roma Initiatives invite proposals for the Romani Women's Empowerment Grants initiative, under the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015. This initiative aims to promote gender equality by empowering Romani women to take part in the decision-making processes affecting their lives and by ensuring that the concerns of Romani women are addressed appropriately in political, policy, and community domains.

Women of Egypt played a prominent role in the revolution of early 2011. They were essential organizers, leaders and spokespersons during all phases of the revolution and demonstrated in large numbers in the streets. They were also beaten and some even sacrificed their lives during the protests.

The media circus surrounding the Dominique Strauss-Kahn rape case dishes out more drama each day, with a side of lurid fascination. But we basically know how the story ends.