News from women's groups
Homophobic violence during LGBTI rally in Georgia
May 2013- On Friday May 17th, activists in Georgia came together peacefully to
mark International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. When thousands of
people, led by ultra-conservative Orthodox priests and church supporters,
violently attacked a silent street-action event, the police in the Georgian
capital Tbilisi failed to protect LGBTI activists.
Read more >>
Women's rights news
Challenging fundamentalisms: women’s rights activists lead the way
May 2013- Women are often seen to symbolically embody morality and cultural identity. Within a values system where women are responsible for ensuring morality and social harmony, controlling women’s bodies and limiting their freedoms is seen as a mechanism to “protect” society. Limiting access to abortion, reducing women’s choices in clothing by enforcing dress codes and forced body alteration such as female genital mutilation/cutting are all attempts to control women’s and girls’ agency.In the final installment of our web series ‘Change is happening’ we reflect on the challenges and progress made by the women’s movement in resisting fundamentalisms.
Mama Cash news
Writing women’s rights history together
This year, Mama Cash celebrates that for 30 years now we have had the privilege of
supporting women, girls and trans people around the world who have
organized themselves to claim their rights and improve their lives. In
1983 Mama Cash was founded as the world’s first international women’s
fund. In three decades of funding feminist activism we have helped to break taboos and build bridges. We invite you to explore our shared history at www.history.mamacash.nl.
Mama Cash news
Zohra Moosa is Mama Cash’s new director of programmes
May 2013- We are excited to introduce you to Zohra Moosa, our new director of programmes. She is joining Mama Cash this month. She comes to Mama Cash from Action Aid (UK), where she was their Women’s Rights Advisor for three and a half years. She led AAUK’s policy and advocacy work on women’s rights through research, policy analysis, programme advice, campaign development, and media and advocacy.
Prior to joining AAUK, Zohra was the Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer at the Fawcett Society in the UK, one of the UK’s oldest and best known feminist organisations. Since 2007, Zohra has been a freelance blogger and reporter for the Guardian’s “Comment is Free”, openDemocracy and The F-Word.
Mama Cash news
Mama Cash Annual Report 2012: She’s Alive & Kicking!
May 2013- In
Mama Cash’s 30 years of feminist grantmaking, we have seen our grantees
make great progress in changing the world. Together with women’s
movements and activists, we continue to work with passion and commitment
to achieve social justice. That’s why we are using the tag line She’s
Alive and Kicking! in our jubilee celebrations this year and why we gave
our annual report 2012 the same name.
We are proud to
present our results and achievements of the past year.
Read more >>
Blog by Nicky McIntyre
My rotten tomato for Margaret Thatcher
April 2013-
As a young woman, I studied at Somerville, at the time a women’s
college at Oxford University. Baroness Margaret Thatcher also studied at
Somerville College. When Margaret Thatcher passed away recently, I was
reminded of the confusion she has always stirred in me.
On the one hand there was the pride that I could study at a prestigious
university and a college that promoted the education of women and
produced many renowned women leaders. And on the other hand
there was the shame I felt that this woman leader could be so different
from my vision of a real leader, and so uninterested in promoting the
rights and leadership of women.
Women's rights news
In solidarity with the Garment Workers Unity Forum in Bangladesh
April 2013- Mama Cash stands in solidarity with our grantee Garment Workers Unity Forum (GWUF) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. They are bravely dealing with sorrow and facing critical challenges following the building collapse last Thursday. GWUF’s president, Mushrefa Mishu, informed us that many of their friends were killed or injured in the building.
GWUF advocates for the labour rights of women workers in the garment industry in and around Dhaka, including the right to a safe work place. The fire in the Tazreen fashion factory in the same district last November is still fresh in the memory of GWUF and garment factory workers, and now they are hit again by a serious industrial accident in the workplace. This latest incident shows the severe unsafety of many of the low wage workplaces where clothing for Western labels is produced.
Our thoughts are with our sisters at GWUF and with all garment workers hit by this tragedy.
News from women's groups
Women’s Fund Georgia under fire
April 2013- The
Women’s Fund in Georgia (WFG) has been raising funds to support women’s
groups working for social change since 2005. The Fund is working hard
to shift Georgian attitudes about women’s rights issues and also about
engaging in philanthropy as a way to effect social change. The Fund’s work has frequently met with opposition and hostility, and in February the WFG experienced more serious threats.
Read more >>
Women's rights news
Change is happening
30 years of women's rights activism
We also see our anniversary as a perfect moment to reflect on the impact of three decades of women’s organising in making our planet a more just place for women, girls and trans people. This week, we are launching a web series looking at some of the achievements of women’s rights movements in the past 30 years.
Read the web series Change is happening >>
News from women's groups
They are Alive and Kicking
April 2013- Many of our grantees took the opportunity on International Women’s Day to show their work, celebrate their successes and raise awareness for the challenges women, girls and trans people face in their communities.
From demonstrations to debates, new websites to video projects and performances to workshops, their activities show incredible variety and creativity. Above all, they show that they are Alive and Kicking.
Read about our grantees’ activities in March >>
Women's rights news
Indian women demand freedom, not ‘protection’
February 2013-
The gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi last December has
provoked unprecedented protests across India. The woman died from her
injuries two weeks later. The crime has focused attention on the
deep-rooted misogyny in politics, religious organisations, legal
systems, and on the streets of India and countries around the world. Mama Cash spoke to two Indian feminists, Geetanjali Misra and Prabha Nagaraja, to delve deeper into the work that women’s rights activists have been engaging in for decades, and to try to understand why the recent public outrage about this case has been so strong.
Read more >>
News from Mama Cash
Immense portrait launches campaign to Defend Women Who Defend Human Rights on 10 December 2012
December 2012- Activists often have to get their hands dirty to make a statement, to raise awareness, to build a movement, to create change. In solidarity with the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders, Mama Cash volunteers and staff dug into the earth and got our hands dirty last week with urban artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada to create an immense land-portrait of an anonymous woman activist.The image covers a piece of land about two football fields large in Amsterdam and took a week to build out of sand, hay and black, fertile soil. We unveiled the piece on International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2012.
Read more >>
Mama Cash news
New Mama Cash end of year campaign
They set their sights on real, life-affecting change for themselves, their communities and their countries. In their activism, they point out the obstacles and problems they face and how they will overcome them. They open our eyes.
Read more about our (she opens your eyes) campaign>>
