by Louise Hancock
-Afghanistan-

Nazifa is typical of millions of Afghan girls. She was forced to drop out of school as a teenager when the Taliban came to power and began to close down girls’ schools. For three years, she attended classes in secret and dreamed of the day she would be able to resume her education. Now 20, she is hoping to graduate this year and move on to college.

by Alexandra Marie Daniels
-USA-

In a coffee house on Alvarado Street in Monterey, California I sat down with documentary filmmaker Jules Hart to talk about her film Pink Smoke Over the Vatican. Pink Smoke, a story about the controversial movement for women’s ordination in the Roman Catholic Church, is a subject I would normally shy away from. I have actively avoided formal religion for most of my life. But when my friend Rick Chelew, who made the film with Hart, emailed me and said “This is a perfect story for The WIP,” I was intrigued. Pink Smoke Over the Vatican is about the Catholic women and men who have taken a stand, despite excommunication, to put an end to 2,000 years of misogyny, sexism, and silence.

by Leymah Gbowee with contributions by Thelma Ekiyor
-Ghana-

On March 3, 2011, hundreds of women gathered to protest peacefully in Cote d’Ivoire to end the political stalemate and the worsening security situation. The Ivorian women took to the streets of Abidjan to put pressure on their leaders to end the stalemate and allow peace to prevail. Seven unarmed women protestors were killed in the process by forces loyal to former president Laurent Koudou Gbagbo.

by Reem Abbas
-Sudan-

Sudanese contributor Reem Abbas reflects on the popular uprisings in several of the places she has called home. –Ed

My father came back from the supermarket armed with bags full of pasta, rice, flour, and canned products. He rushed there after hearing about protests in Benghazi. This was in mid-February, and the world was not yet aware of the events unfolding in Libya. My mother’s health was deteriorating and we were hoping for an immediate medical evacuation to the UK.

by Katie Palmer
-Philippines-

Nicki* was eight when her mother sold her to a local pimp in Southern Luzon, Philippines. She was forced to have sex daily with different pedophiles in a seedy brothel. Every night she danced on a stage where men would call her down, take her to a room, and sexually abuse her. This went on for a number of years until the Philippine Government’s Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) rescued her. Nicki stayed in the DSWD’s shelter for girl survivors of sexual exploitation for about two years.

by Jessica Mosby
-USA-

March 10 is the opening day of the 29th annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. From now until March 20, Bay Area residents can attend a varied selection of film screenings, discussions, interactive events, and musical performances at venues in San Francisco, Berkeley, and San Jose, California. I was particularly impressed with the selection of documentaries screening at the festival. The eight films in the documentary category each express a unique and global point of view that will definitely lead to thought provoking, and possibly heated, post-screening discussions.

by Katharine Daniels, Executive Editor

In preparation for this year’s centenary celebration, one that early reports indicate will be the largest International Women’s Day the world has ever seen, I thought a lot about my role in the movement. In planning The WIP's commemorative event, I wanted to include the facts and statistics that need to be shared about the status of women, but I also hoped to deliver a solution for balancing and healing a world that has become so terribly out of whack.

by Manar Ammar
-Egypt-

The sexual assault on CBS news correspondent Lara Logan at the hands of 200 Egyptian men in Tahrir Square the night former president Hosni Mubarak resigned came as no surprise to any woman who has been to or lived in the country. Logan, who was in the heart of Tahrir Square in the midst of the frenzy of celebration, was sexually assaulted and beaten for almost 30 minutes. A group of women and 20 soldiers took notice of what was going on and rescued the reporter. She was immediately flown back to the USA, where she was hospitalized.

Logan’s brutal attack has brought sexual violence against women in Egypt to the spotlight, calling attention to an old and rooted problem that has tormented the country for years.