war

Femicide and violence against women have reached epic proportions in Mexico and Central America, making the reality very near impossible to ignore. Women Under Siege, an innovative new initiative to document and protect the stories of sexual violence survivors, launches today. 

Follow Jessica Mack on Twitter, @fleetwoodjmack

Kathleen Barry is interviewed on the problems of masculinity and war. Dr. Leroy Carhart changes offices and gets new protesters, and the Smithsonian caves in to people who use religion as a cover to attack gays and lesbians, and especially AIDS victims.

Follow Amanda Marcotte on Twitter, @amandamarcotte

Although the civil war in Sierra Leone ended in 2002, women in the country are still facing another deadly front—sexual and gender-based violence.  Sexual and gender based violence has continued unflinchingly into the post-war years. Glasgow, head of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said, “We saw rape and sexual violence used as a tool during the war, and now it is morphing into this culture’s society as something that is understood and even accepted.”

The conflict in Kyrgyzstan is spiraling out of control. Ethnic Uzbeks are fleeing their homes in Kyrgyzstan for safety while their houses are being burned. As in most conflicts around the world, this devastation is often felt by women who, while displaced, lack access to lifesaving reproductive health services. Further violence means that a country, which is already experiencing a dramatic increase in maternal mortality increase will face deterioration in quality reproductive health services.

The Daily Beast's first Women in the World Summit played stuck to lowest-common denominator issues, and avoided the "scary" and "controversial" (read: political) realities of women's lives.

This International Women's Day remember the women in Rwanda and the DR of Congo  - survivors of war and the sexual violence that so often accompanies war.