The ugly face of violence reared its head in Kenya after the presidential elections of December, and I now know that crisis was a window into the status of women's rights in Kenya and the gaps in responding to sexual and gender-based violence in this country.

For women in Africa, marriage is no protection against HIV. Their challenge is how to start negotiating for condom use 20 years into their marriages.

Since the crisis in Kenya began, I haven't yet heard of a woman who picked up a machete and killed her neighbor. As in many conflict-ridden places in the world, women stand out as victims as well as the ones who are looking for peaceful means to resolve the situation.

Efforts to curtail the spread of HIV/AIDS are about to go to waste in Kenya, if the current political crisis is not dealt with fast. Widespread sexual violence, displacement, and lack of access to providers are all contributing to the spread of the disease.

As you American readers prepare to vote for President in November, please remember the women of Africa. Never has the American debate over abortion become clearer to us in Africa than during the Bush administration.

African governments are still taking donor funding for HIV prevention with conditions that they know do not work -- and youth are stuck with inadequate information about how to prevent themselves from the consequences of sex.

As is usual with political upheaval, the crisis in Kenya is falling heavily on women and children.

For me, the worst violence of all is when a woman who wants either to stop or to space childbearing cannot do so because of lack of contraception.

The persistence of fistula is a signal that health systems are failing to meet the needs of women.

The new Panty Power campaign targeting Burma's military dictatorship is just one example of the creative methods women use to demand change.