Home > Articles Articles Women Prevail Against Violence Mama Joyce and Josephine are unlikely heroines. Both women were brought low by abusive husbands who beat them, took away their dignity and choices, and left them with AIDS. Yet both women emerged as heroines in "SASA! A Film About Women, Violence and HIV/AIDS." This film tells the story of how these courageous women triumphed over gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS and gained power that helped them organize, become activists in their communities, and build meaningful and rewarding lives. (January 2008) Addressing Physical and Mental Health Consequences Charlotte Watts, co-author of "Stolen Smiles: A Summary Report on the Physical and Psychological Health Consequences of Women and Adolescents Trafficked in Europe," spoke at a recent brown bag of the IGWGW Gender-Based Violence Task Force on the health consequences of trafficking and what could be done to help women recover. (July 2007) Using Community Theater and Peer Education in Tanzania The Tuelimishane HIV and Violence Prevention project uses community-based theater as a medium for peer education related to HIV and gender-based violence. The Tanzanian project, which was partially funded by an IGWG small grant, found a "clear association between men’s HIV risk behaviors and their reported use of violence." (August 2007) Long-Held Assumptions Pose Obstacles in the Fight Against Domestic Violence According to a World Health Organization study that assessed the impact of a community-based intervention designed to reduce domestic violence in Rakai, deeply embedded attitudes may pose formidable obstacles to change. (June 2007) Implications for HIV/AIDS, Conflict, and Violence The language used to refer to young men in the African context is often pejorative. But Gary Barker and Christine Ricardo of Instituto Promundo argue in a report for the World Bank that these depictions fail to take into account the plurality of young men and realities in the region. If programs are going to be effective in addressing conflict, violence, and HIV/AIDS in the region, they contend, more sophisticated gender analyses are needed that also include men and boys. (May 2006) An Education in Making Schools Safe in Africa It is widely accepted that, in order to promote gender equality and empower women, girls must stay in school. But what if it isn't that simple, what if by sending girls into schools you are actually exposing them to violence and victimization, to bullying, rape, and molestation by classmates and even by teachers? That is the conundrum faced by the Safe Schools Program, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of Women in Development. "How do we make the classroom an environment with healthy interactions among students, among teachers, and between teachers and students?" asks the director of the program. It is a question that drives the pilot program examining gender-based violence in schools in Malawi and Ghana. (January 2006) After the Tsunami, a Drive to Reverse Tubal Ligations in Tamil Nadu Last December's Indian Ocean tsunami killed more than 100,000 children—from East Africa to Southeast Asia. Now, one state government in India is offering free reversals of tubal ligations to women there who lost children in the disaster and wish to conceive again, reports a new article from the Population Reference Bureau (PRB). But for some family planning experts in India, the new program is a stark reminder that India's health bureaucracy fails to devote sufficient counseling and other resources to promote easily reversible contraceptive methods. (July 2005) Inheritance Rights: The Gendered Experience of Loss When Angeline Siparo, who runs the country office for the POLICY Project in Nairobi, lost her beloved husband Billie in August 2002, she received a devastating first-hand lesson on the need for advocacy for women's inheritance rights in Kenya. (September 2004) Reproductive Health Programs Need to Involve Men Conflicting interests and inequities between men and women pose serious obstacles to good health. Recently, however, there has been increased awareness of the need to actively involve men in reproductive health programs. (November 2003)