The Women of “Women, War and Peace”

The remarkable five-part PBS series Women, War and Peace concludes on Tuesday, November 8 with War Redefined, the capstone piece that brings together the issues brought up in the previous films about conflicts in Afghanistan, Colombia, Liberia and Bosnia. Narrated by Geena Davis, the film touches on, among other things, how the proliferation of small [...]

Peace Unveiled–An Interview with Afghan Women’s Rights Activist Hasina Safi

The next installment of the groundbreaking five-part PBS series Women, War & Peace, airing October 25, takes us to Afghanistan, where women continue their fight to carve out a role for themselves in the country’s future. Peace Unveiled follows the lives of three different Afghan women as they share their hopes, fears and struggles. The Ms. Blog [...]

In a First, UN Holds Brazil Accountable for Maternal Death Under CEDAW

Nine years ago, 28-year-old Alyne da Silva Pimentel died needlessly from a difficult pregnancy after her care was both delayed and botched. A Brazilian of African descent, Pimentel lived in one of Rio de Janeiro’s poorest areas. When she delivered a stillborn pre-term fetus in her district’s local hospital, she languished without proper care until [...]

The Echoes of Suffrage

Throughout the 72 years suffragists fought for the vote, they endured ridiculous arguments against women’s rights. “Because suffrage isn’t controversial now, showing people what it was like then makes it easier for them to identify with fighting for equality issues today,” says Wanda Sobieski, an attorney and the coordinator of Tennessee’s Woman Suffrage Coalition. The [...]

Haiti’s Women 6 Months Later: Getting Back to Work

Nearly six months after the earthquake in Haiti, those of us involved in the UN humanitarian response are still struggling to provide those who have survived sexual violence with access to services they need–not an easy task, since there wasn’t much in the way of services for them to begin with. At the same time, [...]