by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

The most striking element of the new documentary Tapestries of Hope is not the hell that the young rape survivors profiled have lived through, but their unbreakable spirit. The film is a vibrant international call to action and a breathtaking portrait of hope in the face of overwhelming odds.

by Delphine Zulu
- Zambia -

One of the key challenges facing Zambian female journalists is sexual harassment. “There are very few female Zambian journalists who have not experienced sexual harassment at the hands of male counterparts, [but] few [cases] have been reported,” says Pauline Banda, former Gender Editor at Zambia Daily Mail - one of the country’s biggest papers. She says the resulting frustration forces many female journalists to remain in lower positions or abandon the industry altogether.

by Brittany Shoot
- Denmark -

Copenhagen has been buzzing with activity the last two months. After the Olympics committee met here in October with a slough of American cameos from Oprah and the Obamas, the city quickly switched gears to prepare for the upcoming climate conference. Despite its importance, for much of the rest of the world, the upcoming meeting of world leaders is barely a blip on the radar. Only when major media outlets like CNN and The Guardian pull in does the rest of the world realize what the UNFCCC Copenhagen meetings in December could mean.

by Mandy Van Deven
- India -

Known for its bawdy sexual humor, over-the-top characters, and underlying social criticism, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales set the stage for the satirical theatrics which came to be known as burlesque. During its 700-year metamorphosis, burlesque has utilized various styles of music and performance to poke fun at issues spanning social and political themes, particularly conventional gender roles and sexual scripts. Combining the fundamentals of classical burlesque—parody, double entendre, and risqué sexuality—with elements derived from their own ethnic traditions, New York City’s Brown Girls Burlesque (BGB) is a 21st century incarnation of Chaucer’s magnum opus. Founded two years ago by AuroraBoobRealis, BGB is drawing a new audience to this old art form by blending women of color’s experience and artistic aesthetic with this historically Caucasian craft.

by Dr. Emel Baştürk Akca
- Turkey -

“We mothers, whose hearts are burning, have come together so that there will be no more pain. We do not want our children to die.” These words belong to Nurten Ekinci, a woman who lost her son during his military service. Another woman, Sakine Arat, lost three children after they joined the pro-Kurdish terrorist organization, the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). "This war does not benefit anyone,” she says. “It has lasted for years, and it needs to end."

Nurten and Sakine are only two women among many who are aggrieved because of the conflicts between the Turkish Armed Forces and the PKK. They came together on September 1st at a meeting with other military and PKK mothers in the Southeastern province of Diyarbakır to promote peace and support the government’s new Kurdish initiative.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

Post-war London is at its most enchanting in director Lone Scherfig’s new film, An Education. Nick Hornby’s clever screenplay, Scherfig’s apt direction and a talented star-studded cast that includes Emma Thompson, Alfred Molina, Peter Sarsgaard, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, and Sally Hawkins make the 95-minute feature one of the best films of 2009.

by Priyanka Bhardwaj
- India -

At the insistence of the United States, India has been granted global “nuclear exception” status despite being a non-signatory on nuclear non-proliferation treaties, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The Indo-US civilian nuclear deal (signed in October of last year), consensus at the Nuclear Supplier’s Group and clearance by the global nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), means that India can now access dual-use nuclear technology to generate electricity.

by Brittany Shoot
- Denmark -

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Celebrations for the historic occasion have been planned for months, and next week, Angela Merkel – Germany’s first and now second-term female chancellor – will lead festivities at the historic Brandenburg Gate. The massive symbolic structure, which was previously located in East Berlin, was the site of Ronald Reagan’s famous speech to Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, in which he instructed the former Soviet leader to “Tear down this wall!”

by Katharine Daniels
Executive Editor, The WIP

California’s Women’s Conference, one of our nation’s largest annual forums for women, took place in the port city of Long Beach October 26th and 27th. Hosted by Governor Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver, this year’s conference included an impressive lineup of women and men brought together to empower and inspire an audience of more than 25,000 women to be “Architects of Change.”

by Deborah K. Cruze, JD MA
- USA -

Kareem lays silently, hooked up to a ventilator and numerous other machines in the Intensive Care Unit. His family surrounds him, anxiously discussing what the next step should be. Yesterday he was an active, athletic father of four who owned his own business. Now the doctors are saying that the 57-year-old victim of a near-fatal car accident is unable to breathe on his own and that his brain shows severe neurological impairment. It is unlikely that he will ever wake up.