Africa | Burundi | Crimes

Merck Wants To ‘Empower’ Infertile Women In Africa. Can Music Videos Help?

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In June, an unusual email arrived in the inbox of an NPR global health correspondent. The headline was: "Merck Foundation together with First Lady of Burundi release 'Plus Qu'une Mere' an empowering French Song as courtesy to all infertile women in Burundi and Africa." The email had a link to a video of a performance with an all-female choir. Wearing traditional African clothing printed with the Merck Foundation's logo, they sing a song with lyrics that encourage people not to blame women for infertility. They're performing before an audience of maybe a hundred people, most of them in
North America | United States | Corruption

Did NAACP president lie about her race? City investigates

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The City of Spokane announced Thursday it's investigating whether the president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP violated the city's code of ethics in her application to serve on the citizen police ombudsman commission. Rachel Dolezal serves as chair of the independent commission, in addition to her work as an adjunct faculty member at Eastern Washington University and president of the NAACP local chapter. On her application to serve on the commission, she identified herself as African-American. But public records, including Dolezal's own birth certificate, list her biological parents as
North America | United States | Business

This Is Why Bud Light Had No Problem Releasing An Offensive Marketing Campaign

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Yesterday, Bud Light issued an apology after facing a firestorm of criticism over beer labels that read, “The Perfect Beer For Removing ‘No’ From Your Vocabulary For The Night.” The labels are part of the “Up For Whatever” marketing campaign, which also faced criticism for a tweet during St. Patrick’s Day saying, “You can also pinch people who aren’t #UpForWhatever.” Both taglines could be construed to endorse unwanted sexual contact or, in the case of the most recent one, rape. Plenty of women know about rape culture and have fought against it, but women may not have be
Africa | Nigeria | Ethics

Oops: Nigerian First Lady Wrong to Claim 70 Percent of Ministers Are Women

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Nigeria's first lady Patience Jonathan, trying to drum up support for her husband's re-election campaign, told a women's rally of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi state earlier this month that 70% of the ministers in her husband's cabinet are women. At another rally in Sokoto, where Jonathan was represented by women's affairs minister Zainab Maina, local press reported her speech stated that 13 women - less than half of the total - served in the 31-member Nigerian cabinet. Of course, both cannot be right and Africa Check decided to investigate. According to the 2015
South Asia | Nepal | Ethics

In Nepal, Women As Second-Class Citizen Takes A Sad New Twist

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Sabin Shrestha, the executive director of the Forum for Woman, Law and Development, says it is really an issue of male control. "They think if they give equal rights to women in terms of citizenship, then the patriarchy system will be destroyed," she says. Former prime minister and Assembly member Madhav Kumar believes mothers should not have the same rights as fathers. The Interim Constitution made in 2007 clearly states that "any person whose father or mother was a citizen of Nepal at his or her birth is a Nepalese citizen." But in practice, women in this patriarchal society still face
Europe | France | Culture

The ‘moderate’ imam who claims ‘all women are selfish’

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An imam in France has claimed in a sermon that selfishness is part of “the nature of women”, comments that have shocked all the more because of his reputation as a progressive influence on Islam in the country. “No matter how much good you bestow upon a woman, she will deny it. Her selfishness drives her to deny it.” These were the words of Imam Mohamed Khattabi, delivered during a Friday sermon at the Aicha Mosque in Montpellier, southern France, on March 6, two days before International Women’s Day. Standing high in the mosque’s minbar (pulpit), Khattabi continued: “This
North America | United States | Ethics

MSM Reporters Give Hillary Clinton Standing Ovation after She Takes No Questions, Jokes about Email Scandal

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On Monday evening, mainstream media reporters reportedly gave Hillary Clinton a standing ovation after she joked about her private email scandal and took no questions from the press–at an event honoring excellence in journalism. In her speech, Clinton reportedly cracked jokes about her email scandal, saying she was “all about new beginnings. A new grandchild. A new hairstyle. A new email account. A new relationship with the press. No more secrecy, no more zone of privacy… After all what good did that do for me?” “Before I go any further, if you look under your chairs, you’ll