NEWS
Fact Sheets | Press Releases | Speeches | News
NEWS ARCHIVE 2007
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DECEMBER
DEC. 10, 2007
16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence
Boys and Men as Partners for Prevention
ICRW's Asia Regional Office collaborated with a regional joint U.N. program to reach out and engage youth, particularly boys and men, in ending gender-based violence. As part of the 16 Days of Activism initiated by UNDP, UNFPA and UNIFEM in South Asia, ICRW organized an interactive panel entitled "Gender-based Violence - Will the Tide Turn?" at Delhi University and prepared an innovative exhibit to educate and involve participants.
Researchers from ICRW's regional office presented a snapshot of findings on gender-based violence, including the latest statistics as well as myths and facts; a screening of Boll spots (which are infomercials on various aspects of violence as told by men and women); and interactive activities that included questions to challenge notions of gender-based violence, gender norms, and masculine and feminine traits; attitude scales; and opinion charts. This innovative style of generating dialogue proved quite popular among the large groups of young men and women who gathered at the exhibit. As one student said, "This is the first presentation on gender and violence that is real and interesting. Most are so theoretical that we can't fit it into our lives."
Efforts to engage boys and men are limited, yet expanding this work has great potential for reducing gender-based violence, improving sexual and reproductive health, and promoting gender equitable attitudes. ICRW is working with a broad range of partners to build an evidence base of existing work and highlight opportunities for scale up.
DEC. 4, 2007
Global Fund Scales Up Gender-Sensitive Responses
Follows ICRW's Evidence-based Recommendations
Given the Global Fund's worldwide influence, ICRW applauds its bold leadership in making gender central to its response. Much more can - and must - be done to ensure that resources targeted to prevention and treatment consider the unique differences between women and men.
Specifically, ICRW recommended key action steps based on a two-year research study of the Global Fund:
- Increase gender expertise within the board, country coordinating mechanisms, civil society delegations and secretariat;
- Integrate gender analysis through operations including policy planning, monitoring and evaluation; and
- Improve and strengthen civil society's role in Global Fund governance.
For the complete set of recommendations,
read ICRW's full report.
NOV. 30, 2007
Leadership Needed to Eradicate HIV Stigma and Discrimination
Press release.
nov . 21 , 200 7
M·A·C Gifts Bring Smiles to Study Participants in India
Participants in an ICRW project to reduce sex workers' risk of HIV in Rajahmundry, India, recently received a welcome surprise - gift bags containing an array of cosmetics donated by M·A·C Cosmetics.
"Many of us have so much responsibility; we take care of our families, our children and many times our lovers. We are the ones who are buying gifts for others," says one participant in the Festival of Love project, which ICRW leads in collaboration with CARE and several sex workers' collectives in India. "It's a very pleasant surprise to receive a gift!"
M·A·C Cosmetics donated the gift bags to mark last week's release of preliminary study findings, which were shared with the project's participants. The event also coincided with the Indian holiday, Diwali, one of the largest festivals in India that is celebrated with the exchange of gifts, the lighting of candles and firework displays.
The Festival of Love project seeks to understand the factors that encourage people to sell sex, and explores ways to mitigate the impact of HIV risks once people enter the sex trade. The findings from this three-year project will be used to inform policy at the local, national and international levels, with particular emphasis on reaching U.S. stakeholders, including members of Congress.
M·A·C Cosmetics established the M.A.C. AIDS Fund in 1994, and donates proceeds from its Viva Glam lipstick line - more than $100 million to date - to projects that improve women's lives, such as this ICRW project.
Survey: 40 Percent of Respondents Say AIDS Not Fatal
ICRW President Participates in M·A·C AIDS Fund Roundtable to Discuss Survey Findings and Next Steps
nov . 16 , 200 7
After decades of fighting misconceptions and stigma related to HIV and AIDS, a recent survey found that more than 40 percent of respondents say the disease is not fatal, and about half acknowledged that they would be uncomfortable walking next to a person who had HIV or AIDS.
"Misinformation and stigma remain the primary obstacles to our progress against AIDS," says ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta, who participated this week in a New York roundtable discussion of policy experts, grassroots activists and fundraisers, sponsored by the M·A·C AIDS Fund . "Consider these facts: Only one in five people who needed treatment in 2006 received it; countless people living with HIV have suffered violations to their basic human rights because of their status; today more women than ever before are living with HIV.
"It is only within that context that we can truly understand the devastating impact of the misperceptions that still persist, as well as benefits that can be achieved through accurate information."
The survey, commissioned by the M·A·C AIDS Fund, involved 4,510 interviews with people in nine countries.
Read the M·A·C AIDS Fund press release . 
ICRW Welcomes Two New Program Directors
nov . 12 , 200 7
ICRW welcomes two new team directors, Margaret Greene, director of Population and Social Transitions; and Linda Sussman, director of HIV, AIDS and Development.
ICRW Research Published in Economic & Political Weekly
nov . 7 , 200 7
The Nexus of Gender Discrimination with Malnutrition: An Introduction
Despite the existence of extensive nutrition programs, malnutrition continues to affect nearly 50 percent of women and children in South Asia. Gender inequality plays a significant role, particularly at the adolescent stage of the life cycle. Malnourished adolescents who marry early have children who in turn become malnourished. This problem can only be addressed through a comprehensive approach of meeting nutritional gaps through targeted interventions and promoting women's empowerment, particularly that of adolescent girls.
Delaying the First Pregnancy: A Survey in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Bangladesh
The study was conducted in three sites in India and Bangladesh, where low birth weight is prevalent, and explores the ability of newlyweds to negotiate the timing of their first pregnancy. The pattern in each location generally reflected prevailing social views on contraception, childbearing and couple communication.
Mobility of Unmarried Adolescent Girls in Rural Bangladesh
The article's findings suggest that although gender discrimination and restrictions are widely prevalent, there are opportunities for change; not all families adhere strictly to the rules of social expectations. Moreover, in some cases, girls are skilled at challenging existing social practices and negotiating for more freedom. These insights may help encourage girls to continue their education, delay marriage and develop life skills critical for their well-being in the future.
nov . 1 , 200 7
ICRW and Instituto Promundo Release New Publication: Engaging Men and Boys to Achieve Gender Equality: How Can We Build on What We Have Learned?
Working with men provides an important set of approaches and tools that have great potential for improving women's lives. In May, influential decision makers who fund, implement or study programs on reproductive health, HIV and AIDS, and violence prevention gathered for a seminar, co-hosted by ICRW and Instituto Promundo and sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization (WHO), to discuss the importance of working with men and boys to promote healthy lifestyles among women and men, learn what is happening in the field with this approach, and develop a consensus on how to move forward.
The seminar proceedings and recommendations are summarized in the recently released publication, Engaging Men and Boys to Achieve Gender Equality: How Can We Build on What We Have Learned? The seminar and publication also are a springboard for a series of meetings, which will be held in late November in Geneva and Salzburg, Austria, to further develop this approach among partners and donors.
OCTOBER
oct. 22, 200 7
ICRW Presents New Report's Findings to World Leaders
At the global conference "Women Deliver" 
- held in London last week - ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta presented the key results of a new report, "Women Deliver for Development ," which was the centerpiece of the conference's opening plenary. The report, written by ICRW and funded by Family Care International, describes the adverse effects of maternal mortality and the proven link between cost-effective maternal health interventions and other crucial development goals such as HIV/AIDS prevention and poverty eradication. The 1,800 conference participants came from more than 100 countries and included world leaders, women's health experts and activists.
According to the report, if world governments collectively invested $5 billion in maternal health programs, the returns would yield up to three times as much-or $15 billion in productivity-saving women's lives, boosting national economies and lowering overall health care spending.
While Gupta discussed these findings in London, ICRW's Rohini Pande and Kirrin Gill presented the key results of the report at the World Bank's Women Deliver breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 18. Pande and Gill's presentation was followed by senior spokesperson on gender and development issues for the World Bank, and former ICRW president, Mayra Buvinic. Buvinic spoke on the Bank's Gender Action Plan and described gender equality as smart economics. Participants at the meeting included health and finance ministers, and senior staff from DFID, the U.N. Foundation and the World Bank.
Both events highlighted the need for consistent political support and commitment to cutting maternal deaths and investing in women worldwide. With increased political will and sufficient financial investment in maternal health, communities and nations can thrive.
Women Deliver for Development
I
oct. 17, 200 7
World Bank Special Session Addresses Improving Maternal Health to Boost Economic Growth
Session to discuss new ICRW report that recommends investing in maternal health to garner high returns in national economic productivity and lower health care spending
If world governments collectively invested $5 billion in maternal health programs, the returns would yield up to three times as much-or $15 billion in productivity-saving women's lives, boosting national economies and lowering overall health care spending, according to a new report by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) that was funded by Family Care International.
The report, entitled "Women Deliver for Development," will be discussed Oct. 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at a special session on maternal health during the World Bank's Annual Meetings in Washington , D.C.
Women Deliver for Development
oct. 15 , 2007
World Leaders Meet to Curb Needless Maternal Deaths
Every minute a woman dies in pregnancy or child birth. Nearly all these deaths are in the developing world. The sad fact is we know how to prevent these deaths but maternal health receives little attention or funding despite international commitments to reduce maternal mortality - Millennium Development Goal 5.
To increase political will around the world and improve maternal health, leaders - including ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta - are meeting this week for "Women Deliver," a global conference aimed at stepping up efforts to end the needless deaths of women who are giving life.
Improvements in maternal health have been uneven, inequitable and unsatisfactory. The lack of progress in maternal health has serious consequences for development. Women's roles as mothers affect other aspects of their lives, their families and societies in ways that reach beyond health and affect broader development outcomes such as poverty.
The investment needed for better maternal health is a fraction of world spending. And it makes financial sense because maternal health interventions are cost-effective. Yet investments continue to fall below what the development community knows is necessary to achieve the benefits of maternal health and the MDG goal for safer maternity.
Finally, we know that it is possible. Success stories abound, even in poor countries, of efforts that have been able to decrease maternal mortality. These experiences suggest that with the right commitment and investment, MDG 5 is achievable.
Women Deliver for Development
PBS NOW Hosts Reception for Upcoming Broadcast, Child Brides: Stolen Lives
oct. 9 , 2007
News reports remind us that the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to take a deadly toll, maternal and child mortality rates remain high, and domestic violence affects women worldwide. Yet few recognize one common denominator: 51 million child brides. The PBS weekly newsmagazine NOW hosted an evening reception Oct. 9 at the National Press Club for an upcoming PBS special broadcast on child marriage, Child Brides: Stolen Lives. During the one-hour special, PBS senior correspondent Maria Hinojosa travels to Guatemala, India and Niger to document the faces and stories of child marriage.
The evening reception featured short clips from the full-length special and included speeches by Hinojosa and ICRW's Vice President for External Relations Leslie Calman. Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede, a well-known spokesperson for women's rights and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, also spoke at the reception. The images and statistics of child brides seem daunting, but as Hinojosa reminded the audience, Child Brides: Stolen Lives is evidence of the change women can affect when they work together.
Child Brides: Stolen Lives airs nationally on PBS beginning Oct. 12. (Check your local listings.)
ICRW, CARE Release New Toolkit for Action and Learning on Gender and Sexuality
A new toolkit, Inner Spaces Outer Faces (ISOFI) — developed by ICRW and CARE — is now available to download. The toolkit, designed to aid international development staff and health organizations, is a collection of participatory educational exercises to help program staff identify, explore and challenge their own understanding of gender and sexuality in their lives, the lives of project participants and within the organizations in which they work.
The exercises in the toolkit provide staff members a space to explore and articulate their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of gender and sexuality, and how to sensitively facilitate discussions on the same issues with community members.
The contents of the toolkit include:
- Introductory Exercises: Exercises designed to help staff explore and understand their personal ideas of gender norms and roles, sexual norms and identity, power and control, including how discrimination, social exclusion and stigma are addressed in programs.
- Situation Analysis: Exercises to help staff review how their own organization's programs currently address the issues of gender and sexuality, and identify areas for improvement.
- Participatory Learning and Action: Exercises to help staff work with community members to sensitively discuss issues related to gender and sexuality norms, including discrimination, stigma, and social exclusion.
- Reflective Dialogue: Group discussions that can help staff review both their personal and professional progress in integrating gender and sexuality into sexual and reproductive health programs.
- End of Project Evaluation: A report showing results of the initial ISOFI project in India and Vietnam.
The toolkit can be downloaded or viewed online at CARE's web site www.care.org/reprohealth .
Read the media advisory.
The New York Times Quotes ICRW President
Article Examines Third Annual Gathering of Clinton Global Initiative
oct. 1, 2007
ICRW's President Geeta Rao Gupta - who attended the Clinton Global Initiative -- was quoted in The New York Times on her successful quest to meet Dr. Larry Brilliant, director of Google's philanthropic activities.
Rao Gupta, describing her efforts to meet Brilliant, explained how prior to the conference, she had sent e-mail requests for a meeting to no avail. When she saw him at the conference, she asked for an impromptu meeting, and his reply: "Come on over."
The Clinton Global Initiative is an annual nonpartisan conference, designed to bring together global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges.
HIV Stigma and Gender-based Violence Toolkit Released
sept. 20 , 2007
INDIA Sept. 20 -- At a meeting of key HIV prevention and treatment partners in Hyderabad, India, Health Minister Chandra Sekhar Sambani, Andhra Pradesh, presented Reducing HIV Stigma and Gender-based Violence, a toolkit developed by ICRW with Bhoruka Public Welfare Trust. The toolkit, developed to aid frontline care providers, such as registered medical practitioners and traditional birth attendants, is a collection of participatory educational exercises organized around five major HIV-stigma themes: gender-based violence, shame and blame, understanding, fear, and moving to action.
ICRW’s gender and violence director, Nata Duvvury, also presented an overview of the impact of findings from an evaluation of the toolkit, which documented the positive changes in both attitudes and behavior of community members where the toolkit was used.
Toolkit contents
Table of Conents | Introduction | Chapter A: HIV Stigma – Naming and Owning the Problem | Chapter B: Gender Violence –Naming & Owning the Problem | Chapter C: Shame and Blame –Stigma & Emotional Violence | Chapter D: More Understanding and Less Fear | Chapter E: Moving to Action | Annex 1: Fact Sheets | Annex 2: Making Your Own Training Program | Annex 3: Games for Training | Annex 4: Overview of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 | Annex 5: Pictures for Use in Toolkit Sessions
Related Link: The Hindu- "Reducing HIV Stigma & Gender-based Violence."
ICRW, CSIS Call for PEPFAR to Fortify Gender Efforts
sept. 19, 2007
The good news: PEPFAR's gender efforts to date are making a difference. In its treatment rollout alone, some 60 percent of recipients are women. The better news: Even more can be done - and ICRW just released a report on how.
Experts from the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Task Force on HIV/AIDS released two reports today detailing steps that Congress and the U.S. Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) can take to strengthen AIDS programs for women and girls.
Both organizations called for the elimination of the abstinence earmark, the anti-prostitution pledge requirement, and the Mexico City policy as first steps to protect women's rights. They also called for specific program changes, including adopting formal operational guidance on gender for country programs, supporting an independent gender assessment of PEPFAR's programs - such as through the General Accounting Office (GAO) - and hiring a senior level gender expert within OGAC.
"PEPFAR's response to date has focused on women's and girls' vulnerabilities without a concurrent commitment to their rights," says ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta, who spoke at the event and is lead author of the report, It Can Be Done: Addressing Gender in the AIDS Epidemic through PEPFAR Programs.
"By strengthening its current program efforts - and now we have examples of what works and can be scaled up - we can ensure that PEPFAR succeeds in its fight against AIDS."
CSIS author Janet Fleischman adds, PEPFAR has made solid strides to address gender in its efforts - it collects sex-disaggregated data and has formed a technical working group on gender - but "we have to move beyond consensus statements and ad hoc projects to a more comprehensive and sustainable response."
Other participants at the high-level roundtable discussion on gender and the reauthorization of the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), included Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS executive director and under secretary-general of the United Nations; Michele Moloney-Kitts, director of programs, Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator; and Pearl Alice Marsh, senior professional staff member, House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
To learn more about the recommendations and the need for a comprehensive and sustainable gender response to AIDS, read the reports:
It Can Be Done: Addressing Gender in the AIDS Epidemic through PEPFAR Programs by ICRW.
Priorities for Action: Gender and PEPFAR Reauthorization by CSIS.
African Parliamentarians Strategize How to Fight AIDS, Improve Women's Health
Leading MPs from East and Southern Africa meet in Nairobi to discuss ways to expand women’s access to health care, strengthen national health systems
Sept. 11, 2007
Parliamentarians in sub-Saharan
Leading members of parliament (MPs) from
Read the media advisory.
Read recent project reports:
Parliamentarians for Women's Health: Project Paves the Way for Change
Parliamentarians Use Local Assessments to Connect with their Communities
Workshops Bolster Parliamentarians as Leaders on Women's Health
Networking Proves Vital Strategy to Improving Women's Health Care
AUGUST
Property Rights Hold Promise for Women's Empowerment
Dissemination Highlights New Research
Aug. 31, 2007
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ICRW and its partners recently completed several research projects to increase our understanding of how communities and countries promote, protect and fulfill women's property rights.
"Our research shows promising examples of how to make property rights systems work better for women," says Nata Duvvury, ICRW director of gender, violence and rights. "Securing women's ownership and control over economic assets, such as housing and land, must be part of any international development agenda. Our research suggests ways to move this agenda forward."
ICRW held a two-day dissemination meeting in Kampala, Uganda, to share findings of a global scan of legislation and programmatic interventions on women's property rights, qualitative research findings on the links between property and HIV and gender-based violence in South Africa and Uganda, and lessons from a grants program for innovative interventions in Africa promoting women's property rights in the context of HIV.
Media coverage from Uganda: Women Ignorant on Rights
Read the latest research:
A Snapshot: ICRW's Current Research on Women's Property Rights
Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response: Lessons from Community Interventions in Africa
Learning How to Better Promote, Protect and Fulfill Women's Property Rights
Mending the Gap Between Law and Practice
Women's Property Rights, HIV and AIDS, and Violence in South Africa and Uganda
AIDS Impact on Africa Highlighted at Recent Martha's Vineyard Forum
ICRW President among group of "all-star, all-female" panelists
Aug. 24, 2007
ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta will speak at an Aug. 24 forum on "The New Face of AIDS: Our Mothers, Our Sisters, Our Daughters," sponsored by the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University.
The forum, held at Martha's Vineyard, will discuss the increasingly dire but often unrecognized impact of AIDS on African and African American women.
"We've chosen this all-star, all-female panel specifically so that we could respond to the fact that AIDS is having a devastating impact on women, particularly those of African descent. This discussion will be a real eye-opener and call to arms for all Americans," says Henry Louis Gates, Jr. the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute.
The panel will be moderated by Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault of National Public Radio.
Other panelists include Dazon Dixon Diallo, the founder and president of Atlanta-based SisterLove, Inc., the first women's AIDS organization established in the southeastern U.S.; and Helene Gayle, the president and CEO of CARE USA, one of the premier international relief organizations.
Read coverage from the Cape Cod Times.
Read coverage from MVGazette.
Sen. Durbin Introduces Child Marriage Bill
Bills Now Before Both Houses of Congress
Aug. 14, 2007
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) quietly introduced a bill to reduce child marriage before the Senate adjourned for its August recess.
The Aug. 3 bill, S. 1998, is similar to the one that Sens. Durbin and Hagel (R-Neb.) introduced in July 2006.
The bill would call upon relevant U.S. government agencies to develop a comprehensive strategy to address child marriage within their existing development assistance programs, including health, education and governance. It also directs the U.S. State Department to systematically report on child marriage in its annual human rights report.
"With bills currently before both the House and the Senate, we are optimistic that Congress will take a firm stand against child marriage by passing these bills," says ICRW Policy Advocate Kathy Selvaggio.
"Millions of young girls will have a brighter future when these bills become law."
Learn more about child marriage and ICRW's advocacy efforts.
Revised Stigma Toolkit Now Available
Revised Edition Contains New Exercises and Modules
Aug. 9, 2007
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ICRW, the Academy for Educational Development and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance released a revised stigma reduction toolkit to help fight HIV- and AIDS-related stigma.
The toolkit is used by community and nongovernmental organizations throughout the developing world to facilitate discussion about the rights of positive persons and issues around gender, sexuality and morality.
This revised edition builds on the original toolkit and includes new modules to address stigma as it relates to treatment, children and youth, and men who have sex with men.
Learn more about ICRW's work on stigma.
Experts Call for More Integration of International Hunger, AIDS Programs
Congressional Briefing Also Highlights the Role of Gender
Aug. 7, 2007
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Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) calls for increased integration of hunger and AIDS programs. |
Hunger and AIDS often mutually reinforce each other with devastating consequences in the developing world, stressed Reps. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) July 31 at a congressional briefing with ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta and other experts. McGovern pointed to the stark fact, for example, that hunger and malnutrition drastically decrease the effectiveness of AIDS medication.
Asserting the importance of gender, Rao Gupta detailed how inequality renders women and girls acutely vulnerable to the nexus of hunger and AIDS. She urged that responses to hunger in AIDS-endemic areas be gender differentiated, consisting of both short-term and long-term programs targeted toward women and girls.
To show how this can be done, Rao Gupta cited a current initiative by ICRW and its partners to improve food security in rural HIV-affected areas of Tororo, Uganda— an initiative that has already garnered success by combining agriculture, nutrition, gender and HIV messages into one comprehensive program.
Other panelists emphasized the need to better integrate food security initiatives with HIV/AIDS programs. Officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) shared success stories as well as opportunities for improved integration of U.S. programs.
The briefing was sponsored by the House Hunger Caucus and the Congressional Global Health Caucus. Speakers included Tom Kenyon from OGAC; William Hammink from USAID; and Bruce Wilkinson from the RAPIDS Program at World Vision. Timothy Quick, senior technical adviser for nutrition and HIV/AIDS at USAID, moderated.
Read Geeta Rao Gupta's remarks.
Read the report: Transcending Boundaries to Improve the Food Security of HIV-affected Households in Rural Uganda: A Case Study.
ICRW Responds to Article in The Economist
Aug. 2, 2007
ICRW recently responded to "The not-so-fair sex," an article published in The Economist about the spread of HIV in Africa through married women's infidelity:
SIR— The argument that HIV transmission is spreading in part due to married women's infidelity, fails to give a full picture of the sexual and gender realities faced by women and men worldwide, and in this case Africa ("The not-so-fair sex," June 28th). While the article rightly points out that understanding people's sexual behavior and how men and women transmit HIV differently are at the core of containing the AIDS epidemic, the cited research prompts more questions than answers. The surveys of HIV discordant couples from 11 African countries, which form the basis of Dr. Vinod Mishra’s research, do not answer why these married women are likely to engage in extramarital sex or whether that sex is consensual. It could be that women, like men, engage in sexual affairs for intimacy and pleasure. It also could be that married women living in extreme poverty find themselves forced to rely on sex as their family's primary form of currency. AIDS researchers simply do not yet fully understand the sexual realities of married women and men in Africa, or other important populations, including widows, young unmarried women and men, and couples whose partners are away for long periods. This is why a gender and AIDS research agenda is so critical – using a gender lens to examine these issues helps us unearth what causes HIV transmission. Before making sweeping conclusions that threaten to reinforce damaging sexual stereotypes, we must commit to further research on gender and sexuality. The integrity of our public health response to AIDS demands it. Geeta Rao Gupta |
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JULY
New Legislation Seeks to Reduce Child Marriage Worldwide
Bill would address child marriage as part of broader development efforts to improve U.S. development aid effectiveness
July 25, 2007
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) introduced The International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2007. The legislation, H.R. 3175, would help developing countries reduce their child marriage rates by tackling the practice’s root causes and bolstering community-based interventions to empower and offer opportunities to millions of girls at risk worldwide.
"This legislation recognizes that sound investments in child marriage prevention programs and approaches can offer hope and alternatives to girls and their families throughout the developing world," says ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta.
"ICRW commends Rep. McCollum for her leadership to reduce child marriage."
The bipartisan bill would provide U.S. assistance to prevent child marriage in countries with high prevalence rates by integrating prevention programs into existing development and democracy-building programs. Additionally, it would scale up innovative community-based efforts offering viable alternatives to early marriage.
Read more about ICRW's advocacy around child marriage.
Women Leaders Speak Out on Global AIDS Fight
Congressional Briefing Highlights the Centrality of Women and Girls to Fighting AIDS
July 25, 2007
Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) joined several women leaders from around the world to ask why women and girls, despite years of knowing that they are central to winning the fight against AIDS, are not regularly included in key decision making.
"If you want to know what needs to be done, ask me," says Esse Akonjom of the Positive Development Foundation in Nigeria. "I'm a positive woman living with AIDS and I can tell you what we need in my country."
The speakers emphasized that the prevention, treatment and care of women and girls must be a top funding priority for the proposed $30 billion reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is expected to happen in 2008.
The briefing was sponsored by ICRW; the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA); the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS; the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW); and the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC).
Learn more about ICRW's work on HIV/AIDS.
USA Today Uses ICRW Research in Article on Child Marriage
Article Examines the Problem of Child Marriage and the Congressional Response
July 17, 2007
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USA Today uses ICRW research to bring the issue of child marriage to millions. |
Child marriage is nothing more than "sanctioned sexual abuse and a human rights violation that destroys girls' lives," says Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) in a recent USA Today article on child marriage.
The article, "Child Marriages Rife in Nations Getting U.S. Aid," highlights the problem of child marriage in developing countries, where girls as young as 12 are routinely forced to marry.
Recent ICRW research, quoted in the article, shows the devastating effects of child marriage, including higher maternal and infant mortality and an increased risk for HIV infection, compared to women who marry in their 20s.
ICRW Senior Policy Advocate Kathy Selvaggio explains that child brides often marry much older men and "cannot negotiate condom use or insist on fidelity," leaving them at risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) are planning to introduce legislation in the Senate this month to help curb child marriage. McCollum is expected to introduce similar legislation in the House of Representatives.
Learn more about ICRW's work on child marriage.
Learn more about ICRW's advocacy efforts around child marriage.
Lack of Progress on Women's Empowerment Is Unacceptable
ICRW President Calls for Political Will to Achieve MDGs
July 16, 2007
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ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta speaks about the importance of promoting gender equality and empowering women. |
July 2007 marks the midpoint to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, including the third goal to promote gender equality and empower women. ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta bluntly acknowledged that if we don't accomplish this goal, there is no way we can accomplish the other goals — reducing poverty and hunger, fighting HIV/AIDS, reducing child mortality, and improving maternal health.
Rao Gupta acknowledged that progress has been made these past seven years toward achieving the MDGs, but emphasized that not enough has been done to empower women in the developing world
"We know what needs to be done. In most cases, we know how to get things done," says Rao Gupta, who was a part of the Millennium Task Force charged with coming up with detailed analyses and recommendations for achieving the third MDG. "All we need now are resources and political leadership."
Take primary education, for example. Education holds vast potential to protect girls in the developing world from poverty, hunger and even HIV. Yet we are still off track to achieve the goal of universal primary education.
Women also need property and inheritance rights in order to own land and become economically secure, yet laws and customs regularly deny women this right.
"We can't be lulled into inaction by signs of progress," she says. "Women and girls in the developing world are depending on us."
Rao Gupta had the opportunity to speak at a July 11 UNDP Washington Roundtable discussion with keynote speaker Hafiz Pasha, U.N. assistant secretary-general and UNDP's director of the regional bureau for Asia and the Pacific. Johannes Linn, executive director of the Brookings Institution's Wolfensohn Center for Development, also spoke. The discussion, Midpoint to 2015: Inclusive Globalization and the Millennium Development Goals, was co-sponsored by UNDP and the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Society for International Development.
Parliamentarian Champions Women's Health, AIDS Concerns in Namibia
Hon. Elma Dienda Speaks in Washington, D.C.
July 13, 2007
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Hon. Elma Dienda is a champion in Namibia's parliament for legislative changes to improve women's health. |
Hon. Elma Dienda considers herself an outspoken advocate for voluntary HIV counseling and testing (VCT), especially for women. During a recent trip to a Namibian health clinic with several other parliamentarians, Dienda volunteered for an HIV test to help raise awareness about VCT and decrease its associated stigma. Tested in front of journalists, Dienda talked about why both men and women need to know their HIV status: It helps save lives.
At a June 26 Washington, D.C., event, "Supporting Parliamentary Leaders to Improve Global Health: Lessons from the Field," Dienda discussed this experience and the need for leaders to take action on issues related to women and AIDS. Dienda, who participates in the Parliamentarians for Women's Health project, also described how the project provides her with the information-gathering tools and local data that she needs to effectively champion for legislative changes to improve women's health.
The Parliamentarians for Women's Health project, led by a consortium of partners including ICRW, works with select parliamentarians in four African countries on women and AIDS issues. Brionne Dawson, program officer for National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, also spoke at the D.C. event, which was co-sponsored by ICRW and Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative.
Learn more about ICRW's work on HIV- and AIDS-related stigma.
Property Rights Hold Potential in AIDS Battle
New ICRW Research Links Property Rights and the Ability to Cope with HIV
July 11
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This new report explores links between property rights and AIDS. |
It is not uncommon for a woman to be forced from her marital home by her in-laws if her husband dies of AIDS. Often suffering from HIV herself, such a widow – perhaps with children in tow – often leaves her home with no assets, stigmatized and forced to survive on her own.
ICRW, with partners, is working to change this reality.
"Our research takes us one step closer to understanding how secure property rights might help women protect themselves and their households from adverse consequences related to HIV, including stigma, poverty and property dispossession," says ICRW lead researcher Hema Swaminathan.
Partnering with groups in South Asia, ICRW released Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response: Emerging Efforts in South Asia, a report highlighting programs that work through legal and cultural mechanisms to help women from being dispossessed and impoverished because of HIV and AIDS.
The report shows that a complex, comprehensive strategy is needed to link women's property rights with HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, counseling and care services.
JUNE
Gender Barriers Must Be Addressed for HIV Prevention
June 28
We should be gaining ground in HIV prevention. More money and attention is being invested in HIV prevention than ever before. To get on track, we must address the gender barriers and other challenges impeding success.
A new report, "Bringing HIV Prevention to Scale: An Urgent Global Priority," notes that women's low status increases their vulnerability to HIV by "reducing their access to essential information and services, diminishing their ability to negotiate
safer sex with partners and increasing their risk of being victimized by sexual violence."
The report discusses the importance of strategies that empower women, including property rights, education, creating woman-controlled HIV prevention methods and the enforcement of laws regarding gender-based violence. It also recommends greatly expanding coverage of evidence-based HIV prevention, provides examples of successful scale up of prevention programs, and offers recommendations for action.
ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta is a member of the Global HIV Prevention Working Group, which produced the report.
Read the press release about the report.
Learn more from the Global HIV Prevention Working Group Web site.
Learn more about ICRW's work on HIV and AIDS.
Proposal for More AIDS Funding Is "Necessary, but Not Sufficient"
President's Call for Increasing PEPFAR Funds Must Include Gender-equitable Solutions
June 12, 2007
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Investing in women and girls is the most effective way to improve the health and well-being of families, communities and countries. |
President Bush recently called on Congress to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for an additional $30 billion over the next five years, beginning in 2008. The proposal was met with bipartisan support as well as the support of many international nongovernmental organizations. Some organizations note, however, that funding for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria has already reached almost $6 billion per year, meaning that this request is a small increase despite rising needs.
"More funding is necessary, but not sufficient, in the battle against HIV and AIDS," cautions ICRW Senior Policy Advocate Kathy Selvaggio. "The increased funds must target effective programs, and our research clearly shows that investing in women and girls — through education, microfinance or improved health services — is the most effective way to improve the health and well-being of families, communities and countries.
"ICRW will work with coalition partners and members of Congress to ensure that the additional funding goes to programs that find gender-equitable solutions to the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS," Selvaggio adds.
According to the White House, PEPFAR has provided more than 882,000 people in 15 countries with anti-retroviral treatment and is the largest international health initiative dedicated to a single disease.
Learn more about ICRW's work on HIV/AIDS.
Top Global Health Experts Urge Expansion of Men's Involvement in Programs Fighting AIDS, Promoting Gender Equality
June 4, 2007
Just prior to the Bush Administration's request for Congress to bolster AIDS funding over five years, top experts from international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and donor agencies pressed for the U.S. and international community to expand the involvement of men and boys in AIDS prevention programs and policies to aggressively curb the rising HIV infection rate worldwide.
"Men have long been portrayed as barriers to women’s health and their ability to achieve equality with men," says Margaret Greene, one of the seminar organizers and director of population and social transitions at ICRW.
"But increasingly, the international community recognizes that AIDS programs and health services cannot address AIDS and other sexual and reproductive health problems without acknowledging and addressing the roles and relationships that foster them," Greene adds.
Read more about the conference, including links to selected presentations.
MAY
Newly Launched Coalition to Advocate for Research on Provider-initiated HIV Testing
Coalition advocates for an evidence-based approach to HIV testing, counseling
May 30, 2007
With the release of international guidelines from the World
Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS on provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling in health facilities, a new international coalition was launched to advocate for further evidence about its advisability.
Globally, HIV experts have acknowledged a lack of research on the operational effectiveness and health and social outcomes, whether positive or negative, of provider-initiated HIV testing - two key issues related to the approach.
The coalition, Advocacy and Research on HIV Counseling and Testing (ARCAT), recently organized to help fill these research gaps toward building an evidence-based approach for HIV testing. Its research agenda will include assessing the approach's impact on adolescent psychology and behavior, and the availability of and access to legal services of people being tested. The coalition also will examine whether provider-initiated testing leads to greater access to treatment.
Read more about ARCAT's launch.
Read more about the background of ARCAT.
Engaging Men and Boys Can Yield Impressive Results in Fighting AIDS, Promoting Gender Equity
May 24, 2007
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ICRW and Brazil-based Promundo are working to engage men and boys more fully in the promotion of gender equity and health. |
Evidence increasingly shows that actively engaging men and boys in women's reproductive health and anti-AIDS interventions may produce lower HIV infection rates and reduce AIDS stigma and discrimination.
To engage men and boys more fully in the promotion of gender equity and health, ICRW and Brazil-based Promundo will co-host a one-day seminar, "Engaging Men and Boys in HIV/AIDS, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Gender-Based Violence: How Can We Build on What We Have Learned?"
The seminar, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization (WHO), will bring together top international experts to review existing evidence on the importance of working with men and boys and to strategize concrete steps on how to expand male engagement in anti-AIDS programs and policies.
Read more about the conference, including links to selected presentations.
Child Marriage Rates Rise as Young Girls Approach Adolescence, New Research Finds
Girls' low education, wide spousal age gap and poverty linked to child marriage
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Some countries with the highest child marriage rates have few or no programs to prevent child marriage. |
May 17, 2007
International assistance programs to prevent child marriage should target and tailor efforts to young girls approaching the "tipping point" age, around 13 or 14, when child marriage rates in developing countries start to increase markedly, according to a new ICRW study.
The study, New Insights on Preventing Child Marriage: A Global Analysis of Factors and Programs, found that key factors such as girls’ education, spousal age gap, and poverty strongly determine whether girls in the developing world will become child brides. Researchers examined various factors associated with child marriage, ranging from education and economic status to age gap, polygyny (a husband with multiple wives) and religion, to determine the possible risk and protective factors of early marriage.
"In our past work on child marriage, we collected anecdotal evidence that child marriage affects younger girls, ages 10 to 13, but until now, we had not fully understood the magnitude of this problem," says Saranga Jain, the study's lead researcher. "In fact, the greatest number of child brides often marries around the age of 13."
Read a policy brief on how to end child marriage.
Read a press release about the report.
Learn more about child marriage.
School, Relationships, Family Are Key to Improving Adolescents' Health
Integrated Approach Needed
May 16, 2007
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DISHA provides educational and income-generating opportunities that offer girls viable alternatives to early marriage. |
Simply providing health care services to young people is not enough to improve adolescents' reproductive health. To be effective, programs must address key transitional life experiences - schooling, relationships, friendships, work and marriage - that present the possibility for positive or negative experiences, practices and choices.
ICRW is leading an integrated approach to improve the health and well-being of young people, particularly in impoverished communities in India. DISHA, the Development Initiative on Supporting Healthy Adolescents, works in 200 communities in two Indian states: Bihar and Jharkhand.
Working with six partners, DISHA increases the availability and use of reproductive health services, addresses social constraints such as the pressure to marry daughters at young ages, and provides educational and income-generating opportunities that offer viable alternatives to early marriage and childbearing.
"Empowering girls today will transform individuals, their families, their communities and ultimately the world," says project director Sanyukta Mathur.
Read about DISHA's integrated approach.
Read about the results of a baseline survey designed to assess adolescents' needs in communities where DISHA works.
Learn more about ICRW's work on reproductive health.
Senate Introduces Global Health Resolution
May 15, 2007
Sens. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.) introduced a concurrent resolution expressing support for increased U.S. assistance to improve health in developing countries. The May 3 resolution, which does not have the force of law, recognizes that long-term gains in health require equitable access to health care services by women, girls and other vulnerable populations.
"The resolution reflects a growing awareness among policy officials in D.C. that health care, especially for poor and marginalized people, is crucial to long-term development and stability," says ICRW Senior Policy Advocate Kathy Selvaggio. "ICRW's research shows that investing in women and girls is the most cost-effective way to improve the health and well-being of families, communities and countries."
Learn more about ICRW's advocacy efforts.
ISOFI Program Improves Reproductive Health Programs
May 8, 2007
Few health care providers or fieldworkers are truly equipped to address gender and sexuality. Yet the systematic consideration of gender and sexuality in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) program design is crucial to success.
An ICRW program that works to address this gap was featured in a recent journal article, Power, Pleasure, Pain and Shame: Assimilating gender and sexuality into community-centred reproductive health and HIV prevention programmes in India. Through the Inner Faces, Outer Spaces Initiative (ISOFI), ICRW collaborated with CARE in India and Vietnam to learn how to more effectively integrate gender and sexuality into CARE's SRH programs.
The program successfully integrated gender and sexuality into HIV-prevention programs for truckers and reproductive health interventions for women.
The article appeared in April 2007's Global Public Health and was co-authored by ICRW Vice President Sarah Degnan Kambou, V. Magar, G. Hora and A. Mukherjee.
ICRW expands the ISOFI program to the Balkans.
Learn more about ICRW's work on HIV and AIDS.
APRIL
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Delaying marriage reduces the chances that a woman will experience violence in marriage. |
ICRW Shares Insights at Population Conference
April 24, 2007
Delaying marriage reduces the chance that a woman will experience violence in marriage — still more evidence for the need to eliminate child marriage in the developing world. ICRW shared this and other findings from recent research at the annual Population Association of America conference.
Seven ICRW staff attended the New York event, one of the premiere meetings for demographers, sociologists, economists and public health specialists.
One paper, presented by Kerry MacQuarrie and several other researchers, focused on the strong influence husbands and in-laws have on childbearing decisions. Margaret Greene, ICRW's director of population and social transitions team, presented a paper on early childbearing's negative impact on the cycle of poverty. Other researchers presented findings on adolescent reproductive health, women's empowerment, child marriage and women's reproductive choices.
Can Policies Change Men's Behavior?
April 23, 2007
ICRW's Margaret Greene met with partners in Brazil to identify policies that encourage gender-equitable behaviors from men with respect to sexual and reproductive health, maternal and child health, fatherhood, and gender-based violence.
"ICRW research indicates that women's sexual and reproductive health can be improved when men are involved," says Greene. "Policies and programs that engage men can improve the health and well-being of both men and women."
The project works in Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa to better understand whether and how policy-based interventions can catalyze positive change in a timely, cost-effective and sustainable manner.
Spring Newsletter Highlights Girl Power
April 17, 2007
ICRW's spring newsletter looks at several ICRW programs that work with adolescent girls to ensure adolescents' safe, healthy and productive passage into adulthood. One program works with six partners in more than 200 communities to provide educational and income-generating opportunities that offer viable alternatives to early marriage and childbearing.
The newsletter also notes the Feb. 21 Washington, D.C., premiere of Mira Nair's The Namesake, co-hosted by ICRW and the National Museum of Women in the Arts; a wrap-up of ICRW's 2007 gala; and ICRW's internal growth.
Click here to read the newsletter.
Springing Forward
ICRW Grows to Meet Demand
April 2 , 2007
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ICRW continues to grow to ensure that women's voices are heard. |
The awareness that women are key to sustainable and effective international development is growing. ICRW's influence continues to expand with increasing demand for evidence-based research and quality programs that integrate gender into development efforts.
To ensure that women's voices are heard, ICRW is adding new staff, growing from a small nonprofit with a staff of less than 10 in 1976 to the premiere "go-to" organization for expertise in the field of gender and development today.
The numbers tell the story: Over the past 10 years, ICRW's annual operating budget has increased tenfold, from $1.45 million in 1996 to $14.5 million in 2006. During this time, staff size has nearly tripled, from 32 to 84, including 21 staff in our India and Uganda offices.
With such tremendous growth comes a need to refine our internal structure. We congratulate several of our staff who recently have been recognized for their pivotal roles in ushering ICRW through this growth period:
- Kathleen Barnett, promoted from vice president to senior vice president;
- Sarah Degnan Kambou, promoted from group director to vice president of Health and Development; and
- Anju Malhotra, promoted from group director to vice president of Social and Economic Development.
Additionally, ICRW is creating a new position, chief operating officer, to help manage its growing portfolio, staff and field presence.
We're not stopping there. This fall, ICRW will move to a larger office just a few blocks away at
2021 L St. N.W. in downtown Washington, D.C.
All of these changes together will further our efforts to fulfill our mission of improving the lives of women and girls in the developing world.
If you want to be a part of our efforts, click here to donate.
MARCH
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ICRW's Rohini Pande discusses a 10-year research program on adolescent reproductive health. |
Insight for Youth Reproductive Health Programs
March 26, 2007
Today's youth population is the largest in history. Ensuring adolescents' smooth transition to adulthood is an unprecedented opportunity to shape the development of their societies.
ICRW coordinated multisite research and intervention studies on youth reproductive health in India. Researchers discussed their findings at a March 20 event held in Washington, D.C.
Results revealed that one of the best — and fastest — ways to improve adolescents' health is to involve parents, in-laws and the communities where adolescents live.
Click here to learn more about the results from the program.
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Leslie Calman discusses the importance of child marriage in relation to other development goals. |
Congress Focuses on Global Women's Issues
March 21, 2007
In a belated celebration of International Women's Day, Women's Edge Coalition held a March 16 congressional briefing on women's global issues. ICRW Vice President of External Relations Leslie Calman was one of 10 speakers who addressed congressional staffers and interested parties about issues that will come up in Congress this session, including foreign assistance funding, girls' education, HIV and AIDS, and violence against women.
Calman discussed the importance of preventing child marriage in relation to other development goals. "We can work for education, but when child marriage happens, education stops. We can work to end poverty, but child marriage deprives girls of knowledge, skills and income. We can work to end maternal mortality, but child marriage creates pregnancy complications and often death. We can work to end infant mortality, but child marriage creates it," says Calman.
Upcoming Senate legislation would make child marriage prevention a higher priority in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) development programs and standardize reporting on child marriage in the U.S. State Department's annual human rights reports. Sens. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Hagel (R-Neb.) are expected to re-introduce the bill this spring.
Click here to learn more about ICRW's work on child marriage.
Click here to read Leslie Calman's full remarks.
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"Too many women around the world are forced to endure violence simply because they are women." |
ICRW Calls for an End to Violence Against Women, More Investments in Adolescent Girls Worldwide
March 7, 2007
On the eve of International Women’s Day, ICRW is calling on the United States and world community to act decisively to end violence against women and girls, asserting that the empowerment of women is an effective prevention strategy.
ICRW also is pressing for the United States and world community to invest more in adolescent girls, saying community-based interventions can reduce child marriage and protect girls from poverty and serious health risks.
Oscar-winner Meryl Streep — 2007 Golden Globe winner for best actress in a musical or comedy — and other dignitaries will join this call to action at ICRW's 2007 gala, "Champions for Change," at Union Station in Washington, D.C.
"In too many parts of the world, adolescent girls are robbed of their potential by early marriage, by limited schooling, and poor health care," Streep says. "And when girls fail to thrive, societies fail to thrive."
Click on the links below for more information.
International Women's Day Press Release
Meryl Streep's remarks from the gala
Geeta Rao Gupta's remarks from the gala
Rev. Johannes Heath's remarks from the gala
Karen Manson's Remarks from the gala
Nancy Mahon's remarks from the gala
Bio of ICRW President Geeta Rao Gupta
Bios of Special Guests, Honorees and Presenters
FEBRUARY
ICRW Holds Sessions on Child Marriage, Adolescent Health at Annual CSW Meeting
Feb. 26, 2007
Every year, members of the United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women gather in New York City to "evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide."
At the 2007 meeting, ICRW will facilitate two seminars:
Thurs., March 1:
Too Young to Wed:
Ending Child Marriage in Developing Countries
Fri., March 2:
Improving the Reproductive Health of Indian Youth:
Findings & Policy Implications from Community-based
Intervention