Hasna Barkat Daoud is a Djiboutian lawyer and former government minister.
Hasna Barkat Daoud was Minister of Youth, Sport and Tourism since at least 2010 under President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh. [1] [2] In this capacity she represented Djibouti at the May 2010 Sixth Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Greater Horn Horizon Forum which discussed the role of youth, the media and non-governmental organisations in the region. [2] Daoud had been Minister of Women and Family Planning and concurrently Minister of Relations with Parliament since at least 2012. [3] In her women and family planning role she hosted a United Nations Economic Commission for Africa conference on the eradication of female genital mutilation in February 2014, a cause close to the heart of first lady Kadra Mahamoud Haid. [4] Daoud launched the Intergovernmental Authority on Development Women and Peace Forum on 25 October 2015 in Djibouti. At this event she emphasised the role of women in peacemaking, regional integration and social and economic development. [5] Daoud attended the 18th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe in December 2015. [6]
Daoud stood down from both ministerial roles on 15 May 2016. [7] She now practices as a lawyer in the capital city. [8]
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva. The prevalence of FGM varies worldwide, but is majorly present in some countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and within their diasporas. As of 2024, UNICEF estimates that worldwide 230 million girls and women had been subjected to one or more types of FGM.
Waris Dirie is a Somali model, author, actress and human rights activist in the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM). From 1997 to 2003, she was a UN special ambassador against FGM. In 2002 she founded her own organization in Vienna, the Desert Flower Foundation. She has won numerous awards recognizing her work on eradicating FGM, including the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (2007).
Emma Bonino is an Italian politician. She was a senator for Rome between 2008 and 2013, and again between 2018 and 2022. She also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2014. Previously, she was a Member of the European Parliament and a member of the Chamber of Deputies. She served in the government of Italy as Minister of International Trade from 2006 to 2008.
The Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children(IAC) (French: Comité interafricain sur les pratiques traditionnelles affectant la santé des femmes et des enfants) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) which seeks to change social values and raise consciousness towards eliminating female genital mutilation (FGM) and other traditional practices which affect the health of women and children in Africa.
International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation is a United Nations-sponsored annual awareness day that takes place on February 6 as part of the UN's efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation. It was first introduced in 2003.
There have been several studies concerning women in Ethiopia. Historically, elite and powerful women in Ethiopia have been visible as administrators and warriors. This never translated into any benefit to improve the rights of women, but it had meant that women could inherit and own property and act as advisors on important communal and tribal matters. As late as the first part of the 20th century, Queen Menen, consort of Emperor Haile Selassie I, had a decisive role in running the Ethiopian Empire. Workit and Mestayit regents to their minor sons have been held responsible for their provinces. They owed their rights to landed property because of a special type of land tenure that expected tenants to serve as militia to overlords, irrespective of gender. In 1896, Empress Tayetu Betul, wife of Emperor Menelik II, actively advised the government and participated in defending the country from Italian invasion. Prominent and other landowning women fought against the second invasion in 1935–41. With the assistance of European advisors, women in the ensuing period were kept out of the army and politics, even as advisors. Instead, they were restricted to family and household work of raising children and cooking. With a steady increase in female representation in education, they have started to undertake nursing, teaching, and other similarly supportive roles. Over the 2018–2019 period, their gradual participation in state politics has been increasing at a steady pace.
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, better known as the Maputo Protocol, is an international human rights instrument established by the African Union that went into effect in 2005. It guarantees comprehensive rights to women including the right to take part in the political process, to social and political equality with men, improved autonomy in their reproductive health decisions, and an end to female genital mutilation. It was adopted by the African Union in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2003 in the form of a protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting (FGC), female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is practiced in 30 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa, in parts of the Middle East and Asia, and within some immigrant communities in Europe, North America and Australia. The WHO defines the practice as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."
Women in Chad, a landlocked country in Central Africa, are the mainstay of its predominantly rural-based economy and they outnumber the men. Chad is a country with diverse and rich cultural practices, such as male beauty pageants and long-kept-secret hair products. Despite their numbers in the general population, there are very few women in governmental positions and gender equality is far from being a reality in Chad. Chad is rated by the World Bank as the third least gender equal country in Africa. Additionally, there are few women who attain higher education, and many who receive a college degree do so outside of the country.
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a Constitutional Republic in West Africa. Since it was founded in 1792, the women in Sierra Leone have been a major influence in the political and economic development of the nation.
Female genital mutilation in the United Kingdom is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia of women and girls living in the UK. According to Equality Now and City University London, an estimated 103,000 women and girls aged 15–49 were thought to be living with female genital mutilation (FGM) in England and Wales as of 2011.
Mama Fatima Singhateh is a Gambian lawyer, judge, and politician. Between 2009 and 2013, she was a judge in the High Court, then at the Court of Appeal of The Gambia. She subsequently served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Gambia from 2013 to 2014, and again from 2015 to 2017. She currently serves as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children.
Nigeria has the highest rate of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the world in total numbers. It is usually experienced by girls aged 0 to 15 years old. It involves either partial or complete removal of the vulva or other injury to the female genital organs and has no medical benefit.
Jaha Dukureh is a Gambian women's right activist and anti-female genital mutilation campaigner. Dukureh was subjected to female genital mutilation in the Gambia when she was a little more than a week old. She is the founder and executive director of Safe Hands for Girls, an organization working to end FGM, and was the lead campaigner in The Guardian's End FGM Guardian Global Media Campaign. In April 2016, she was named to the 2016 Time 100 list. Dukureh was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in February 2018, has won the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, and is a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for Africa. A feature film about Jaha's life was released by Accidental Pictures and The Guardian.
Moumina Houmed Hassan is a Djiboutian politician serving as the country's Minister for Women and the Family. Hassan was appointed to this role in Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed's cabinet in a reshuffle in May 2016. She replaced Hasna Barkat Daoud.
Hawa Ahmed Youssouf is a Djiboutian civil servant and politician. In 1999 she was appointed Minister-Delegate for the Promotion of Women, Family and Social Affairs, the first female minister in the country. Four years later she also became one of the first group of women elected to the National Assembly.
Anna Aloys Henga is a Tanzanian lawyer and human rights activist who is known for her social services including women empowerment initiatives such as coordinating anti-female genital mutilation in Tanzania. She became the executive director of Legal and Human Rights Center in 2018.
Safia Elmi Djibril is a Djiboutian politician and women's rights activist.
Women's rights in Djibouti are a source of concern for various human rights organizations, both within Djibouti and without. While minority groups are represented at all levels of the government, they effectively have no power to alter legislation, due to the repressive nature of the regime. Despite a legal quota that ensures that women hold at least 25 percent of the seats in the National Assembly, they remain underrepresented in leadership positions. Over 60% of women are illiterate. They face barriers to employment and appropriate health care. Rates of female genital mutilation remain high despite campaigns dating back to the 1980s.
Hodan Addou is a Somalian international civil servant who has been engaged with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and its successor, UN Women in developing policies for women and women's empowerment since 1992. She has been a programme officer in Kenya; gender and conflict advisor in Burundi; the Regional Peace and Security Adviser for East, Central and Southern Africa; and Country Programme Director in Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Uganda. She is presently the Country Representative for UN Women in Tanzania.