Almost a year ago Change.org bloggers Alex DiBranco and Mike Jones started covering the South African phenomenon of ‘corrective rape', the increasingly common crime in which men rape lesbian women to 'turn' them straight or 'cure' them of their sexual orientation.

More than seven years after the US- and UK-led invasion of their country, Iraqis continue to endure an occupation that has systematically violated their rights to life, dignity, self-determination and economic development. The occupation has been and continues to be so destructive and so violent that one in four Iraqis are estimated to be dead or displaced. One in five Iraqis has been made a refugee or an internally displaced person (IDP).

The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), in collaboration with the Grenier International NGO, conducted an awareness-raising session on preserving a peaceful post-election environment for about 100 women in Nagnénéfoun Village, in the northern commune of Korhogo, on Friday 7 January 2011.

This indicator will not tell the real story. Women constitute 27 per cent of Afghanistan parliament against 11 per cent in India. But listening to Habiba Danish and Shukriya Paikan, the women members of the Afghanistan parliament, can give you a fair idea that numbers can't say it all. Nor do comprehend what they have gone through before reaching where they are now. But, they can tell you the real tales of grit.

A non governmental organization called Hope for Children Sierra Leone on Wednesday 5th January 2011 administered free treatment on diabetes and high blood pressure patients at the Tamba Kula Wharf, Man–of– War Bay, Aberdeen, Freetown.

In her statement, one of the founders of the organization, Nucy Lewally, noted that this programme was initiated by her late husband, Abdul Rahman Lewally, who died a year ago.

It's been a year since Haiti was hit by the devastating earthquake that crumbled structures, cut short lives, and imposed new challenges for people who were already in vulnerable situations. Shortly after the quake, we blogged about the impact of natural disasters on women's sexual and reproductive rights and health.

Society must recognize that women should be allowed equal opportunity for participation in security structures. This is the message Atlantic Initiative is sending via a new project implemented in cooperation with the Association "�ene �enama" (Women to Women) from Sarajevo.

Marie thought Alfred was the one.

With a serious dose of the cutes and generous as a dream, Alfred was a catch. He had brains, too, and encouraged her to do well in school. Unlike some of Marie's girlfriends' beaus, Alfred, always the gentleman, never pressured her to do things she that made her uncomfortable. It was all platonic, and Marie loved it.

A video recording has shown the Sudanese police, in the presence of a judge, brutally whipping a woman suspected of performing an "indecent act."

Kidnapped women are being exchanged in the city of Kirkuk, Iraq.

In the last eight months, there have been 232 cases of violence against women and children in Yemen.

It was a gathering of men for women.

Some 35 men from the Department of Social Welfare and Development's Men Opposed to Violence Everywhere (MOVE) with other male representatives from other national government agencies and non-government organizations in Baguio recently convened for a forum dubbed, “Men's Forum: Mainstreaming gender and development in the family, workplace, and community.”