politics | Some more articles related to International Women's Day (Reply)

Disabled Women Activists are Loud, Proud and Passionate!

Mobility International USA (MIUSA) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower people with disabilities around the world to achieve their human rights through international exchange and international development. As part of their 30^th anniversary celebration, they created this "Loud, Proud and Passionate!" video. They filmed it during their 5^th International Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability (WILD) - here's how they describe it:Signing and singing with passion in Arabic, Spanish and English, 54 disabled women activists from 43 countries celebrate the achievements, pride and solidarity of women with disabilities around the world. These leaders are revolutionizing the status of women and girls worldwide. MORE

BANGLADESH

2009 article:Women with disabilities in Bangladesh marching forward

Women with disabilities (WWD) have been marching forward with capabilities and commendable role in different arenas of development in Bangladesh. They are gaining prominence day by day and lighting the way forward.

Ranjana selected as International Bridge Builder of Harvard University
Umme Kulsum Ranjana, has been prestigiously selected as one among ten International BridgeBuilders of Harvard University for her contribution in organizing women with disabilities’ rights movement in Bangladesh. Ranjana is a woman with physical disability and the President of Protibondhi Narider Jatio Parishad (National Council of Disabled Women-NCDW) a nation-wide network of organizations working with the women with disabilities in Bangladesh. Now Ranjona is participating in the International Conference of Bridge Builders at Harvard University, USA to deliver her speech on Experiences of Mobilizing Women with Disabilities in Rural Bangladesh held on 6-10 April 2009. Ranjona is the first Bangladeshi woman who has been selected for this award.

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Masuma’s 13th Solo Painting Exhibition is going on

13th Solo Painting Exhibition ‘My Dream’ of Masuma Khan started at Gallery Zoom of Alliance Francaise de Dhaka on 3April 2009 and will continue until 17 April 2009. Masuma Khan, a woman with severe physical disability, who has been recognized as a renowned painter in Bangladesh. She started painting at her very childhood at the age of three. Previously she was awarded President’s Medal as a talented child artist; Jaycees Prize; Anonna Award as the recognition of one among ten best women personalities in Bangladesh. Masuma got her graduation degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka.MORE

BANGLADESH: Mixed messages on sex work undermine HIV prevention

DHAKA, 12 October 2010 (IRIN) – Civil society is preparing to challenge a recent government decision in Bangladesh to exclude “prostitution” as a profession on new voter cards on the grounds it effectively blocks sex workers’ access to HIV prevention and life-saving health care.
On 17 August the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) announced “prostitution” would be recognized for the first time as a profession on new voter ID cards. But pressure from conservative religious groups led the BEC to reverse its decision, according to Shahnaz Begum, president of Sex Workers Network (SWN), a local NGO that works in half of the nation’s 64 districts.
Election commissioner Sohul Hossain told IRIN the term “sex worker” was omitted in order to prevent commercial sex work, in line with Article 18(2) of Bangladesh’s constitution, which states that “gambling and prostitution” should be “discouraged”.
But activists are seizing upon Article 40 of the constitution, which gives citizens the right to “enter upon any lawful profession or occupation”, arguing that women, therefore, can choose sex work as a profession.

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2010 articleWorld’s First Asia Pacific Transgender Network Launched to Champion Health and Rights of Transgender Women

(December 23, 2009, Bangkok, Thailand) Transgender women from 10 Asia Pacific countries and areas are coming together to say “No!” to discrimination and marginalisation by forming the world’s first Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN). After three days of intense meetings, it was decided that the APTN, composed entirely of transgender women across the region, will champion transgender women’s health, legal and social rights.

Ms. Khartini Slamah, Founding Working Group member and Core-Group Chair of the Transgender Programme in Pink Triangle (PT) Foundation, Malaysia, says this represents a milestone in the history of transgender women in the region. She says, “For a long time transgender women have been represented among the MSM (men who have sex with men) sub-population group, but there is now a recognition that we are a distinct demographic with our own unique needs. We wish to be separated from the MSM umbrella and inform The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to stop clustering us under the MSM umbrella. Transgender women are not men – we have different issues and needs. Thus we have formed a network addressing the needs of transgender women only."MORE

2009 article The women with disabilities at grassroots level in Bangladesh

According to the World Health Organization (WTO), there are 7.5 million women with disabilities in Bangladesh. They often face great difficulty in accessing education, vocational training, employment and income-generating opportunities on an equal basis with others in our community. This is because of the discrimination they face on the basis of being women, disabled and all too often, poor. With the help of Bangladesh Protibandhi Kallyan Somity (BPKS), however, numerous role models are emerging of women with disabilities who are taking charge of their lives, who are building their own sustainable livelihoods and who are becoming active and valued members of their communities. Here are two of their stories.MORE

EGYPT
Women excluded from Egypt constitutional reform meetings cause protests

Today (Tuesday) male and female activists ban together in a one million man march in Tahrir Square to support women on International Women’s Day after women were not included in the committee to revise the constitution.

The march, which starts at 3pm is to voice their fear that women’s issues won’t be addressed properly post-Mubarak era. Liberation Square (Tahrir) has been the epicentre of the protests that led to the fall of the Egyptian president of 30+ years.

In a cultural vibe for the march the bands Ana Masry, Maryam Saleh, As we Lazee and City Band will perform in Tahrir Square at 4pm.

The march was organised through Twitter @Women4Democracy as well as through Facebook.

Egyptian million woman march ends with a gunshot

Today, on International Woman’s Day, Egyptian men and women activists organized a Million Woman March for women’s rights in Tahrir Square, which turned into a violent scene of confrontation.

“We are not convinced by the amendments of the constitution as they don’t give women the right to run for presidential elections, and there are still no equal rights,” said Reem Shahin, a member of the Million Woman March movement.

The Million Woman March started with activists sharing flyers and their ideas with other people in Tahrir. The ideas of the movement were not acceptable to the majority of the people. “I feel people are disgraceful, they don’t want equal rights for women,” Yasmine Perni, an Italian photographer participating in the march told Ahram Online. Perni had a long conversation with a koshary seller who told her that she is well off and does not need money and for that reason she should not voice her opinion. He also argued that women should stay at home and not engage in political life. The conversation became aggressive and the man started ripping up the flyers of the movement and throwing them on the ground.

People were standing in groups and the majority of conversations were tense. “Egyptian women are too emotional. They are different from western ladies,” Mahmoud Ahmed told Ahram Online.

Others rejected the ideas of the march because of religious backgrounds. “We rule by the Quran and the Quran does not allow a woman to rule men,” said Mustafa Tarek to Ahram Online.

Meanwhile, as a group of activists stood side-by-side holding banners of the movement calling for equality, another group of male protesters came from the other side to disrupt the march. As males and females activists chanted “Men and women, one hand,” “Muslims and Christian, one hand,” the other group described as “thugs” chanted “No, no, the people want women to step down,” and “The Quran is our ruler.”MORE

The strength of the street: An interview with Marianne Khoury

2010 article Looking Away From the Disabled

CAIRO, Apr 7, 2010 (IPS) - Egyptians find it hard to see past Mahrousa Salem's wheelchair, so they look away.

The veiled Egyptian woman is one of more than a million Egyptians with physical or mental disabilities living in the shadows of society. They are excluded from the education system, overlooked by employers, and invisible to city planners.

"We're not beggars and we don't want people's pity," says Salem. "We just want the basic rights for which we are entitled." MORE

Guaranteeing Women’s Rights In The New Egyptian Constitution

The new Egypt, leaving women behind

CAIRO, Mar 8, 2011 (IPS/Al Jazeera) - Marwa Sharaf el-Din, an Egyptian law PhD candidate at Oxford University, spent part of International Women's Day in Tahrir Square this afternoon to perform Zajal, a popular traditional form of Arabic poetry.

"Do I have to be broken to be an oriental woman; do I have to always say 'yes' to be an Egyptian woman?" her satirical poem reads.

Music bands and other performers will be showcasing their talents in front of thousands of people who will march to Tahrir Square to mark International Women's Day, which takes place every year on Mar. 8.

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The day before was a very disappointing one for women and women's rights activists across Egypt - when just one woman was included into the newly sworn-in cabinet. Essam Sharaf, Egypt's new prime minister, has instead announced the creation of committee that deals with the advancement of women, formed under the supervision of the cabinet.

"I appreciate the prime minister's acknowledgement of women's role but I do not agree that this is the solution. I highly doubt this newly created committee will have any power," says Sharaf-el Din.MORE

COTE D'IVOIRE

Ivorian women protest over killings
Hundreds march over shootings of women during a protest last week as four people reported killed in Abidjan

Hundreds of women protested on Tuesday in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire's commercial capital, over last week's fatal shooting of seven female demonstrators.

Seven women were killed by security forces as they took part in a demonstration against President Laurent Gbagbo, who has scoffed at calls to step down despite losing the November 28 election that the UN says was won by Alassane Quattara, his main rival.
Soldiers reportedly shot dead four people on Tuesday in an incident separate from the march.
The Associated Press said its photographer saw the bodies of three men and one woman inside a clinic where the victims had been taken for treatment.

The overwhelmed clinic had nowhere to put them, except on the floor where the blood of the dead pooled together, the photographer said.

Earlier, male relatives built a wall of burned-out cars to block the mouth of the freeway leading into Abidjan's suburb of Abobo where the female protesters, dressed in white and wearing red headbands, had gathered.
Mariam Bamba, 32, picked up a tree branch next to one of the blood stains on the pavement where the women were felled by gunfire.

"This leaf is all that they were carrying when they were killed," she said.
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Ivorian women in anti-Gbagbo march through Abidjan

By Media Coulibaly ABIDJAN, March 8 (Reuters) - Thousands of women marched through Abidjan on Tuesday calling for Laurent Gbagbo to step down, and one of several groups was broken up by youths armed with machetes and firing automatic weapons into the air.

Demonstrations were held in various parts of Ivory Coast's main city, a week after Gbagbo's forces shot dead seven women at an all-female march. Most seemed to go peacefully on Tuesday.MORE

Interestingly, on Feb 24 The Inquirer Online reported Greater Women Involvement Sought Over Ivorian Crisis

In solidarity with the people of Ivory Coast, especially the women and children population in that country, a cross section of Liberian women have underscored the need for greater women involvement as mediators to intervene in the Ivorian crisis. Speaking when she made the statement at the close of the two weeks fast and prayer held at the Fish Market Sport Ground yesterday by the women of Liberia in solidarity with their counterpart of that country, Cllr. Yvette Chesson-Wureh, of the Angie Brooks International Centre (ABIC) observed that since the Ivorian crisis started last November, they have not seen women playing a pro-active role as mediators in the crisis.

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She said women should play a pro-active role at all talks whether it is at the African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) level on other bodies that may be leading peace initiative to end the crisis. She added that women as one of the groups that are worst affected in crisis situation, they need to sit at the peace table, because as she put it, women have proven that when they sit at peace negotiations, it is easier to derive at a peaceful negotiation.

She cited the role of Liberian women during the crisis in Liberia and the pivotal role they played in finding a solution to the crisis. Two weeks ago, a cross section of Liberian women through the collaborative efforts of other women organizations launched a two-week fast and prayer to pray in the Ivory Coast. Before the fast and prayer, they sent a special team of peace builders to the borders to visit with Liberian refugees fleeing the political crisis in that country.MORE

ALGERIA

2010 article:Transsexual's memoirs breaks new ground in Arab world

AFP - In a daring, unprecedented move, a pioneer of the Arab world's underground transgender movement has released her memoirs, recounting her struggle to become a woman against all odds.

"Mouzakarat Randa al-Trans", or "The Memoirs of Randa the Trans", is a brutally honest narrative that traces Randa's battles with family, society, country, religion and abuse in her native Algeria.

Co-authored by Lebanese journalist Hazem Saghieh, the 144-page book released this year in Beirut unflinchingly details Randa's life from childhood as a male to her first sexual experience with a man and the consequences of her choice to live as a male-to-female transsexual.

"At some point I put two bottles of pills on my dresser and knew that I had a choice," Randa, who was named Fuad at birth, told AFP in Beirut.

"I could either die now by taking the entire vial of medication, or start on the vial of hormones and live -- as a woman and with the possibility that I might die at the hands of someone else."MORE

President Bouteflika chairs ceremony marking International Women's Day

ALGIERS- President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika chaired Tuesday here a ceremony marking the International Women's Day. The ceremony took place at the Palace of the Nation in honour of the Algerian woman. It was attended by moudjahidate (women war veterans), civil society representatives, members of Parliament and intellectual women. In an open address, Minister for Family and Women's Affairs Saadia Nouara Djaafar said "strengthening women's abilities through entrepreneurship" was the theme chosen this year for the celebration of the event. The minister recalled the holding of several conferences and exhibitions shedding light on women that have shown their abilities in creating and managing microbusinesses.

UGANDA

Ugandan women fight for rights

Kasha Jacqueline Nominated to the Women Deliver 100 List

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Women Deliver is announcing the “Women Deliver 100,” a list of the hundred most inspiring people who have delivered for girls and women. Kasha Jacqueline, the Director and founder of Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG), is one of two Ugandan women on the list.

Uganda's New Vision reports:
TWO Ugandan women have been nominated for an award by a global advocacy organisation for their effort to reduce the number of women who die during child birth.

They are Jacqueline Kasha and Betty Bigombe, the chief mediator between the Government and the LRA rebels in 2004.
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USA
This US bill will hurt the world's poorest women

Native Women Seek Justice at U.N.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 2, 2011 (IPS) - The United States is facing international scrutiny for its apparent failure to prosecute criminals who enter indigenous territories to prey on Native women and girls.

Between 60 and 80 percent of violent victimisation of Native American women is perpetrated by non-Natives, says a U.N. expert on legal matters related to women's rights violations worldwide.

Rashida Manjoo, the U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women, notes that in the U.S., indigenous women are much more vulnerable to abuses than any other ethnic group in the country.

Manjoo, who met a number of officials and rights activists in her investigation of the situation of women in the United States, cited data showing that one in three Native women is raped during her lifetime.

In most cases, the rapists go free because the tribal elders have limited power to prosecute those who commit crimes on their territory. Native people say it is very hard for them to get help from the U.S. authorities.

"Since 1978 our tribal government, like all Indian nations, has been stripped of the authority to prosecute rapists and abusers that are non-Indians," says Terri Henry, councilwoman for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. MORE

AUSTRALIA

A disability services funding wishlist

If you had millions of dollars to put towards disability services in a given part of the world, what would you do with them? Here are some of the uses to which I’d like more funding directed where I live. I have a hard time imagining that these are the uses to which Keneally’s funding – which, as I’ve noted, won’t materialise anyway – would be directed, but a lady can dream. Hopefully the forthcoming Premier, Barry O’Farrell of the opposition, will step up.MORE

INDIA

Women's Day: 100 years later, much remains to be done

Prof Lakshmi Lingam, dean of research and development at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, says, “While it is important to highlight achievements, it is even more important to bring to light what has not been achieved. These ‘token’ women do not represent the better half of the country’s population who die silent deaths every day.”

Flavia Agnes, a women’s rights activist, says, “International Women’s Day is not a festival to be ‘celebrated’, it is a platform to highlight women’s issues and demand change. Only because a Priyanka Chopra walks the ramp or a Hema Malini endorses a special offer at a spa does not mean a rape will not take place in India that day.”

Indeed, while 'successful' women might illustrate how the lives of women could be enriched, violence against women continues across India.

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“Most 'days' are Band-Aids on bleeding wounds," says writer Jerry Pinto. "The idea of having a 'day' is to highlight the plight of the dispossessed and marginalised. Nothing happens after the day passes."MORE

UNITED NATIONS

UN Women Celebrates Launch as Leading Player in Gender Equality

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24, 2011 (IPS) - After years of planning, fundraising and consultations, U.N. Women was officially launched Thursday evening to much celebration.

Drawing luminaries from every realm of the international community, as well as the entertainment, politics, media and film industries, the event was in keeping with the historic moment that U.N. Women marks.

Formally known as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, U.N. Women combines four pre-existing U.N. agencies into one task force that embodies the highest ambitions and aspirations of the drivers of gender equality.

From grassroots organisations in far-flung corners of the world, to top-level diplomats, and everyone in-between, U.N. Women was saluted as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put an end to gender discrimination, and all its odious expressions and manifestations, throughout the world.

"For the first time in history women at the United Nations will have a seat on all the major decision-making bodies within the UN," Kathy Peach, chair of the Gender and Development Network Working Group on U.N. Women, and head of external affairs of VSO UK, told IPS.

"So for the first time women will have a place at the highest level on bodies such as U.N. AIDS," she added.
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Peace Before Women's Rights, or Women's Rights Before Peace?

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 25, 2011 (IPS) - 1325. It's a combination of digits that might not mean much to the majority of the world's population, but these four numbers are a crucial tool in the global struggle for gender equality.

Introduced in October 2000, 1325 is the first United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at fighting gender-based violence in conflict, and increasing the number of women at the decision making tables of peace and security.

However, while the spirit of 1325 is clear - women's rights must be achieved before any type of peace can prevail - its implementation in both the U.N. system and member states has been frustratingly slow.

Dr. Abdul Momen, the Bangladeshi ambassador and permanent representative to the U.N., is among those at the forefront of advocating the importance of the resolution.

Momen is a rare breed: a male diplomat and women's rights activist, he has long voiced the value of bringing more women into positions of power.

And while he believes 1325 has achieved measurable progress in gender equality, he acknowledges the U.N. and its member states could do more to boost its adoption across the world. MORE

Women's Coalition Denounces Exclusion by Security Council

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 12, 2011 (IPS) - In October 2001, the United Nations Security Council endorsed a resolution recognising that women's participation is essential to sustain efforts for peace in the world. But did the international body ever ask world's women leaders to take part in the decision-making process?

Activists associated with a global coalition of women's right activists say the answer is "no".

"You cannot do anything [about peace-building] if women are not engaged in the decision-making process," said Mavic Cabrera-Balleza of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, an umbrella organisation of over 80 rights groups across the world.

"If any policy is to be effectively implemented, you need to consult with women's representatives," she told IPS, after the group sent a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other senior U.N. officials, as well as the member nations of the Security Council. MORE

Without Grassroots, the Tree Will Not Stand

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 8, 2011 (IPS) - Women from grassroots organisations all across the globe arrived in New York this week for a five-day summit dedicated to bolstering female and community- based representation at the all levels of political decision making.

Following on the heels of this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Grassroots Summit on Women’s Leadership and Governance, hosted by the Huairou Commission, attracted individuals from a range of institutions, spanning village healthcare advocates, to international scholars.

The event offered a chance for participants to share local success stories and challenges, while creating a platform for grassroots organisations to strengthen their partnerships with entities such as the newly formed UN Women.MORE

Women in Agriculture - Gender Gaps Are Holding Back Development

SANTIAGO, Mar 8, 2011 (Tierramérica) - On the occasion of the 100th celebration of International Women’s Day, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) presented a surprising and alarming assessment of the situation of rural women, based on a comprehensive analysis of men and women farmers around the world.

Female-headed households are not necessarily poorer than male-headed households.

In its annual report "The State of Food and Agriculture 2010-2011," which focuses on "Women in agriculture: Closing the gap in development," FAO reveals that women farmers have unequal access to and use of a wide range of agricultural resources -including land, livestock, and mechanical tools-, inputs -such as fertilisers, pesticides, and improved seeds-, and financial and extension services -such as agricultural credits and technical know-how and training.

What is new and surprising about this assessment is that it found that, although in varying degrees of intensity, this imbalance is observed in every region of the planet and is repeated under different national, cultural, political, and religious conditions.MORE

Meet the Other U.N. Women

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 2, 2011 (IPS) - Tucked away from the high-level plenary sessions of the 55th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a small chapel opposite the United Nations headquarters came to life Wednesday morning with the voices and stories of the real women behind U.N. Women.

Hailing from over 27 countries, the heads of local food cooperatives, radical educators, grassroots activists organising around issues of housing, eco-sustainability and safe cities, and visionary matriarchal leaders crowded together to shout their message loud and clear: "We are agents of change, not aid recipients!"

Organised by the Huairou Commission, an international coalition that works with grassroots women's groups to promote their collective political power at the global level, the "Grassroots Speakout on U.N. Women" brought 50 women activists together to share their stories, suggestions and critiques of the newly established agency on gender equality and women's empowerment.

"For too long, grassroots women have been excluded from agenda-setting, planning and consultations in the U.N.'s gender architecture," Huairou's CSW statement read. "At most they have been viewed as targets or beneficiaries at the stage of implementation, or included in a token way on panels."

Now, the statement proclaimed, it is time to move beyond tokenisation, and to seize the moment offered by U.N. Women to bring the real activists, victims and workers to the table.
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BRAZIL

Women in "Pacified" Favelas Claim Their Rights

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 2, 2011 (IPS) - The peace imposed on the more than 200,000 people living in the Complexo do Alemão group of favelas in Rio de Janeiro by Brazil's military police is helping to pave the way for the recognition of basic human rights.

The problems most readily associated with the city's overcrowded shanty towns are drug trafficking and armed gangs, while the frequent episodes of violence against women have remained hidden and received little attention from the authorities.

Women "could not speak up and had no one to turn to. There was a lot of aggression. Violent husbands who beat their wives can be found in any society, but because this is a closed community, laws and protection are all the more vulnerable," 34-year-old Sheila Santos de Andrade told IPS.

Police Inspector Celia Silva Rosa, in charge of looking after women victims of violence or abuse, told IPS that "before pacification, there were very few complaints from women in poor communities.

"Many victims were afraid of reprisals from drug gangs. The perpetrators of the violence would threaten to report them to the local drug lord," she said.

In December, a police team spent a week at the Complexo do Alemão, taking down complaints, mainly about physical injuries and threats, Rosa said. "The week we were in the favelas many cases were reported, and two aggressors were even caught in the act. Women are starting to claim their rights," she said.MORE

COLOMBIA

Colombia: Celebrating International Woman's Day

In Colombia, the celebration of International Woman's Day has become a tradition, and it is reflected online with netizens sharing different perspectives through websites, Twitter and blogs.
"Colombian Smile." Image by Flickr user marcovdz (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The digital magazineEquinoXio is featuring special coverage on the day with a number of posts [es], among which are a story [es] by Silvana Escobar, an article aboutwomen in “the Cínec” [es] (film adaptations of comics) by Dr. Comic, and other posts by Magda Liliana Escobar [es],Eisen Hawer [es], Focvs [es] and Fabio Villegas Botero[es].
The website of the International Committee of the Red Cross published a report [es] on a peasant woman from the Nariño department in southwestern Colombia:
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ARGENTINA

A Woman’s Worth: Argentina's activist 'abuelas'

As we mentioned briefly on Saturday, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) gave a notable award to Argentina’s Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo (“Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo” in Spanish). The Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize was bestowed upon the Argentine human rights activists in honor of their “tireless battle for human rights and peace by standing up to oppression, injustice and impunity.”

The “Abuelas” were founded in 1977 with the aim of finding babies stolen during the “Dirty War” period. In the 34 years since their creation, the group has reportedly identified over 100 children whose biological parents where either killed or “disappeared” under the brutal military regime.

Their tireless work has been crucial in the trial of former junta presidents Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone, who stand accused of masterminding the kidnapping of 34 children for illegal adoption. Through meticulous research the “Abuelas” hope to bring some measure of justice to those whose lives have been forever changed:

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NEPAL

Nepalese Maoists Abandoned by Party and Family

KATHMANDU, Mar 7, 2011 (IPS) - As ‘Flames of the Snow’, a documentary on the ten-year civil war waged by Nepal’s Maoist party played at Kathmandu’s Kumari cinema recently, Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" saluted women who fought in his People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

"Our People’s War would not have been possible hadn’t thousands of women cadres from the villages come forward," acknowledged Prachanda, the former prime minister.

However, five years after the guerrillas signed a peace accord, fought an election and headed the government briefly, almost 1,200 women warriors have been left out of the benefits meant for former fighters.

"I walked with the PLA during the war, they were my family," said Pushpa Pariyar, bent over a sewing machine at a training centre in Kathmandu. "Then came peace and I was discharged. It’s unfair."

The 17-year-old is among the 4,008 combatants who were ‘honourably discharged’ last year after a UN verification found they had been recruited in violation of international norms. Nearly 3,000 had been inducted as minors, and the rest after the peace pact. Almost 30 percent of them are women. MORE