UNGEI Network - The Gambia

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R**e Culture – Cover Your Eyes

R**e culture is when I was six, and my brother punched my two front teeth out. Instead of reprimanding him, my mother said “Stefanie, what did you do to provoke him?” When my only defense was my mother whispering in my ear, “Honey, ignore him. Don’t rile him up. He just wants a reaction.” As if it was my sole purpose, the reason six-year-old me existed, was to not rile up my brother. It’s starts when we’re six, and ends when we grow up assuming the natural state of a man is a predator, and I must walk on eggshells, as to not “rile him up.” Right, mom?

R**e culture is when through casual dinner conversation, my father says that women who get r***d are asking for it. He says, “I see them on the streets of New York City, with their short skirts and heavy makeup. Asking for it.” When I used to be my father’s hero but will he think I was asking for it? (will he think) Will he think I deserved it? Will he hold me accountable or will he hold me, even though the touch of a man – especially my father’s – burns as if I were holding the sun in the palm of my hand.

R**e culture is you were so ashamed, you thought it would be easier for your parents to find you dead, than to say, “Hey mom and dad,” It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t ask for it. I never asked for this attention, I never asked to be a target, to be weak because I was born with two X chromosomes, to walk in fear, to always look behind me, in front of me, next to me, I never asked to be the prey. I never wanted to spend my life being something someone feasts upon, a meal for the eternally starved. I do not want to hear about the way I taste anymore. I will not let you eat me alive.

R**e culture is I shouldn’t defend my friend when an overaggressive frat boy has his hand on her ass, because standing up for her body “makes me a target.” Women are afraid to speak up, because they fear their own lives – but I’d rather take the hit than live in a culture of silence. I am told that I will always be the victim, pre-determined by the DNA in my weaker, softer body. I have birthing hips, not a fighter’s stance. I am genetically pre-dispositioned to lose every time.

R**e culture is he was probably abused as a child. When he even has some form of a justification and all I have are the things that provoked him, and the scars from his touch are woven of the darkest and toughest strings, underneath the layer of my skin. R**e culture leaves me finding pieces of him left inside of me. A bone of his elbow. The cap of his knee. There is something so daunting in the way that I know it will take me years to methodically extract him from my body. And that twinge I will get sometimes in my arm fifteen years later? Proof of the past. Like a tattoo I didn’t ask for. Somehow I am permanently inked.

R**e culture is you can’t wear that outfit anymore without feeling dirty, without feeling like you somehow earned it. You will feel like you are walking on knives, every time you wear the shoes you smashed his nose in with. Imaginary blood on the bottom of your heels, thinking, maybe this will heal me. Those shoes are your freedom, But the remains of a life long fight. You will always carry your heart, your passion, your absolute will to live, but also the shame and the guilt and the pain. I saved myself but I still feel like I’m walking on knives.

R**e culture is “Stefanie, you weren’t really r***d, you were one of the lucky ones.” Because my body wasn’t penetrated by a p***s, but fingers instead, that I should feel lucky. I should get on my hands and knees and say, thank you. Thank you for being so kind. R**e culture is “things could have been worse.” “It’s been a month, Stefanie. Get out of bed.” “You’ll have to get over this eventually.” “Don’t let it ruin your life.” R**e culture is he told you that after he touched you, no one would ever want you again. And you believed him.

R**e culture is telling your daughters not to get r***d, instead of teaching your sons how to treat all women. That s*x is not a right. You are not entitled to this. The worst possible thing you can call a woman is a slut, a w***e, a bitch. The worst possible thing you can call a man is a bitch, a p***y, a girl. The worst thing you can call a girl is a girl. The worst thing you can call a guy is a girl. Being a woman is the ultimate rejection, the ultimate dismissal of strength and power, the absolute insult. When I have a daughter, I will tell her that she is not an insult.

When I have a daughter, she will know how to fight. I will look at her like the sun when she comes home with anger in her fists. Because we are human beings and we do not always have to take what we are given. They all tell her not to fight fire with fire, but that is only because they are afraid of her flames. I will teach her the value of the word “no” so that when she hears it, she will not question it.

My daughter, Don’t you dare apologize for the fierce love you have for yourself and the lengths you go to preserve it.

My daughter, I am alive because of the fierce love I have for myself, and because my father taught me to protect that. He taught me that sometimes, I have to do my own bit of saving, pick myself off the ground and wipe the dirt off my face, because at the end of the day, there is only me. I am alive because my mother taught me to love myself. She taught me that I am an enigma – a mystery, a paradox, an unfinished masterpiece and I must love myself enough to see how I turn out. I am alive because even beaten, voiceless, and back against the wall, I knew there was an ounce of me worth fighting for. And for that, I thank my parents.

Instead of teaching my daughter to cover herself up, I will show her how to be exposed. Because no is not “convince me”. No is not “I want it”. You call me, “Little lady, pretty girl, beautiful woman.” But I am not any of these things for you.

I am exploding light, my daughter will be exploding light, and you, better cover your eyes”.

It is a girl's right to be Educated..

Lets make the future now, and lets make our dreams tomorrow's reality by sending our girls to school
Whit One book, one pen, one Girl-child, and one teacher per nation we can change the world.

Educating a Girl-child pa country is equivalent to educating the worl
There are so many problems in the world , but there is a very simple solution to all these problems...it's just one, and it's education..

Lets all come together and fight against the violence against women and the violation of womens' rights..
These rights are not of women but the women are born with them

Lets all learn to respect the fact..
The future must not belong to those who bully women...
It most be shaped by girls who go to scool and those who stand for a world where our daughters can live their dreams like our sons Education is the single most important job of the human race
HAPPY EASTER TO YOU BEAUTIFUL FOLLOWERS OF THE UNGEI NETWORK GAMBIA

With hard work and commitment you will surely make
Because the strugle continues victory is always certain

Nothing is impossible: Meet the Yundum girl who wants to go to Oxford University Ramatoulie Darboe is one of the top students in the...

WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT THEM
BRING THEM BACK

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN MOST END NOW...

Pakistani salon owner Masarrat Misbah discovered a new life mission ten years ago when an acid attack survivor came to her salon and asked her for help to look better. "When she removed her veil, I had to sit down. There was no life in my legs," Masarrat recalls in a recent BBC interview. "In front of me was a woman with no face. Her eyes and nose were gone and her neck and face were stuck together so she couldn't move them." Determined to help her, Masarrat found doctors to perform reconstructive surgery on the woman but her involvement didn't stop there -- she went on to start a non-profit organization called Smile Again which has helped hundreds of acid attack survivors rebuild their lives over the past ten years.

Masarrat has built one of the most respected salon chains in Pakistan and, since 2003, has not only funded the work of Smile Again but has turned her salons into refuges for women who have experienced such attacks. In addition to paying for their medical treatment, Massarat also teaches the women workplace skills and some have become beauticians at her salons. Two such women, pictured here, are Arooj Akbar, who was set on fire by her husband for giving birth to a girl rather than a boy, and Saira Liaqat, who had acid thrown on her by her then fiancé for refusing to leave her parents' house.

At least 160 acid attacks have been reported this year alone in Pakistan but advocates believe the real number is much higher. Masarrat believes that the government needs to do more to prevent attacks and help the women affected, stating "Because it is a female-orientated issue, it comes right at the bottom of their [the government's] priority list. Also, they say it tarnishes the image of our country. This is why it is hushed up and swept under the carpet."

She adds, "You listen to their stories and the attackers are motivated by such small reasons, sometimes no reason at all, and you think, 'Is this the world we want to live in?'" For her part, Masarrat is trying to build the kind of world she wants to see by helping one woman at a time rebuild their life.

An estimated 1,500 people, 80 percent of whom are women, are attacked with acid annually around the world. Those attacked are also overwhelmingly young women with an estimated 40 to 70% of the victims being under 18.

To learn more about Masarrat's organization, visit the Depilex Smileagain Foundation (Official Fan Page) and how you can support its important work, visit http://www.depilexsmileagain.com/, or read more on the BBC at http://bbc.in/1tO9780

This photo is from Adrian Fisk Photography's series "Pakistan's Burnt Beauticians" -- to view more of his photos, visit http://bit.ly/1wSKgiW

To learn more about acid attacks, check out the excellent 2012 Oscar-winning Best Documentary Short entitled "Saving Face" which tells the stories of Pakistani women who have become victims of such attacks. The film is digitally available on Amazon at http://amzn.to/1lPOIe6 or you can learn more about it at http://savingfacefilm.com/

For stories of girls and women experiencing and overcoming abuse and violence in their lives, visit our “Life Challenges” section at http://www.amightygirl.com/books/social-issues/abuse-violence

For more true stories of more inspiring girls and women who worked to change the world, visit our “Activist” section in Biographies at http://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography/biography?cat=207

To introduce children and teens to a young Pakistani activist who is working to make the world better for girls and women, we highly recommend Malala Yousafzai's autobiography "I Am Malala" for ages 14 and up (http://www.amightygirl.com/i-am-malala) and the "I Am Malala" Young Readers Edition for ages 10 and up (http://www.amightygirl.com/i-am-malala-youth-edition).

Glamour's 'Girl Project' to send girls to school Editor-in-Chief of Glamour Magazine Cindi Leive introduces "The Girl Project," which is an endeavor committed to sending girls to school who live...

The power of partnerships to transform ! Through the Girls' Education Challenge, is partnering with the private sector and working directly with girls, their families and communities to engage them and raise awareness on gender issues.

New blog. Read and share: bit.ly/1tuvRY3

Photo: Discovery Communications/2014

UNGEI Network - The Gambia UNGEI (United Nations Girls' Education Initiative) is the UN flagship program for girls' education l

Violence against women abbreviated (VAW) is, collectively, violent acts that are primarily or exclusively committed against women. Sometimes considered a hate crime,this type of violence targets a specific group with the victim's gender as a primary motive.

This type of violence is gender-based, meaning that the acts of violence are committed against women expressly because they are women, or as a result of patriarchal gender constructs. The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women states that:

"violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women" and that "violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men."

Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, declared in a 2006 report posted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) website that:

Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into s*x, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her.[5]

Violence against women can fit into several broad categories. These include violence carried out by ‘individuals’ as well as ‘states.’ Some of the forms of violence perpetrated by individuals are r**e; domestic violence; s*xual harassment; coercive use of contraceptives; female infanticide; prenatal s*x selection; obstetric violence and mob violence; as well as harmful customary or traditional practices such as honor killings, dowry violence, female ge***al mutilation, marriage by abduction and forced marriage. Some forms of violence are perpetrated or condoned by the state such as war r**e; s*xual violence and s*xual slavery during conflict; forced sterilization; forced abortion; violence by the police and authoritative personnel; stoning and flogging. Many forms of VAW, such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution are often perpetrated by organized criminal networks.[6]

The World Health Organization (WHO), in its research on VAW, categorized it as occurring through five stages of the life cycle: “1) pre-birth, 2) infancy, 3) girlhood, 4) adolescence and adulthood and 5) elderly”[7]

In recent years, there has been a trend of approaching VAW at an international level, through instruments such as conventions; or, in the European Union, through directives, such as the directive against s*xual harassment,[8] and the directive against human trafficking.

25 November is the International Day to End Violence against Women! UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka calls for action to end violence against women: "Women are beaten in their homes, harassed on the streets, bullied on the internet. Globally, 1 in 3 women will experience physical or s*xual violence at some point in her life. In some conflict situations, it may be more dangerous to be a girl or a woman than to be a soldier. Violence against women has become a real epidemic that must be stopped." Read her full Op-Ed: http://ow.ly/DzQ8C

UN Women UN Women is the UN agency for gender equality & women's empowerment.

Far far too common - and sadly often perpetrated by those closest to them.

On - and every day - it’s in our hands to against girls. Find out how: http://uni.cf/dayofthegirl

Gender discrimination makes violence against girls acceptable, feeding cycles of abuse.

Girls must be empowered with the knowledge, skills and options they need to reach their potential. Find out more: http://uni.cf/dayofthegirl

Register now for the 3rd Annual Virtual Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in WASH in Schools (WinS) Conference on 29 October!

The conference objectives include:
- Share recent research findings that relate to various aspects of MHM in WinS
- Highlight school-based MHM program descriptions and their potential for scale
- Share recommendations about how new MHM programs can be developed by WinS practitioners

Read more here http://uni.cf/1sd141n

Tens of thousands of girls in north-western Nigeria will benefit from a cash transfer programme aimed at helping cover the costs of sending them to school. The newly launched UNICEF initiative is funded by the UK Department for International Development.

How does this programme work? Read more here. http://bit.ly/1tBXq35

Menstrual Hygiene Management Conference | Menstrual Hygiene Management Conference | World We... The 3rd virtual MHM in WinS conference will build on the content and recommendations of the prior two conferences and continue the effort to fill in the gaps in the existing knowledge and advocacy around this important issue. The one-day conference will bring together academics and health, gender, e…

Enter our Youth Photo Competition for the chance to win $500 and have your work appear in the next EFA Report. Find out more and please share: http://bit.ly/1rMeuCI

For the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, youth are taking a stand for education at the Youth Rally.

On 19 November, courageous young campaigners will gather in London along with 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi, the Overseas Development Institute's Kevin Watkins, and Ann Cotton, Founder of Camfed, winner of the 2014 WISE education prize and campaigner for girls education. The event will include the UK launch of the petition. Together, we can raise child rights into the spotlight and put them front and center on the international agenda! Join us is in standing up so every child is in school and learning!

Join us in London or watch online here: bit.ly/1tDLgW0
Sign the petition here: upforschool.org

301 Moved Permanently

VALIDATION OF THE GENDER TRAINING MANUAL AND ACTION PACK..From the 19th to the 23rd of December 2014

Educate The Girls...
Tida Jatta-Jarjou Mo Nyang

Educate the Girls 'Educate the Girls' is a short documentary film about girls education in The Gambia. A group of 35 students and teachers from the University of Amsterdam wen...

Interview with Malala Yousafzai: The importance of girls' education Malala Yousafzai, the 16 year old who was shot by the Taliban, talks about the importance of education, how children are suffering and the role of women in s...

Tida Jatta-JarjouFatoumatta SahoMo NyangSatang Mam Mbye Cham,Njundu Njundu DrammehFatoumata Simaha Ceesay

The Hunger Project Follow women in Asia, Africa and Latin America as they make the journey from extreme poverty to dignity and self-reliance.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION..............................
Despite the fact that women in developing countries provide nearly 70 percent of the agricultural labor, they continue to account for over 60 percent of the world’s hungry. Lack of gender equality limits a woman farmer’s access to agricultural inputs, credit services and a market to sell her products. These constraints lead to lower crop yields, produce sold at a lower price and, ultimately, continued poverty and hunger for her and her children. Gender-equal access to these agriculture resources could increase the average woman farmer’s crop yields by 20-30 percent.

Given the opportunity to generate and control an income, women routinely invest significant portions of their income in food, healthcare and education for their families. Unfortunately, at the moment, the majority of women in developing countries lack economic power, resulting in a higher rate of girls kept out of school, minimal access to basic health care, increased HIV/AIDS prevalence and higher maternal mortality rates. Yet women continue to bear almost all responsibility for meeting the basic needs of the family.

A proven way to overcome many systematic barriers to a woman’s success has been increased participation by women in local, regional and national legislation as empowered change agents. In just 10 years, the amount of women holding seats in houses of national parliament in South Asia rose from seven to 18 percent. But a global goal of equal representation is still a long way off, with only one woman for every four men in parliamentary houses.

The Hunger Project recognizes the global gender imbalance of power and responsibility and empowers women to build their capacity and self-reliance as a way of overcoming obstacles. THP firmly believes that empowering women to be key change agents is an essential element to achieving the end of hunger and poverty.

Women’s Leadership Workshops in India, a Women’s Empowerment Program throughout Africa and specialized animator trainings worldwide empower women to seek positions of power and train all of our partners, women and men, to take responsibility for improving lives in their communities.

In Bangladesh, 45 percent of the total population consists of children below the age of 18, of whom 47 percent are girls. A girl child is not only a future mother but also a great asset to a country’s development. As long as girls are treated as inferior and less valuable than boys, the sustainable end of hunger and poverty will not be possible.

With a view to build mass awareness of the importance of valuing girls, securing their rights and advocating for policies that improve girls’ lives, the National Girl Child Advocacy Forum (NGCAF), of which The Hunger Project is a founding member, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, and Bangladesh Shishu Academy celebrated Bangladesh’s National Girl Child Day 2014 on September 30 on the theme “Ensure Education and Nutrition; Stop Child Marriage.”

More than 600,000 people celebrated the day in 61 out of Bangladesh’s 64 districts. At the national level, the celebration began with a colorful rally, after which participants took part in a meeting and cultural program. The rally was launched by Honorable State Minister of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Ms. Meher Afroz Chumki MP, who stated that child marriage is a curse of the progress of Bangladesh. She encouraged all to stop child marriage and work to ensure education and nutrition for girl children in Bangladesh. More than 2,600 participants from 51 organizations took part in the rally.

Awards were given to 35 children who participated in a corresponding essay competition and art competition, which was created around themes by age group, such as family, natural disaster, girl’s education and the role of parents in child marriage. More than 5,000 students participated in the competitions.

The festivities also included a special awareness debate competition, and the publication of a supplement in the newspaper, Daily Samakal, by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and the National Girl Child Advocacy Forum. The President of Bangladesh Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also issued separate messages on the occasion of the National Girl Child Day 2014.