Turkey: Female activists make history with new law to protect women
Nazan Moroğlu, President of the Turkish Association
Turkey recently adopted a new law on the prevention of violence against women. Nazan Moroğlu, President of the Turkish Association, spoke to a Turkish newspaper, saying she felt the adoption of this law was the fruit of hard work by female lawyers and association. She believed the law would provide important measures to physically, economically and psychologically protect female victims of violence.
JAUW Disaster Fund Report
The Japanese Association of University Women (JAUW) Special Committee chose five scholarship students from the disaster-stricken area last September. The selection was based on the students’ academic performance, behavioral reports, school recommendations, and most of all, what the candidates themselves had written about their futures. The losses they have suffered are varied; destruction of homes, property hemorrhage by tsunami, loss of parent(s), or breadwinner’s joblessness or drop of income.
Three of the five girls are in their last year of high school. One girl is going to be a hairdresser just like her deceased mother. Others aim at becoming a childcare worker or a kindergarten teacher. The remaining two are in their first year of high school and they both want to become nurses.
Reading their report, we knew that the girls cheer up their family members in spite of difficult times and strive sincerely to reach their own goals. more »
Australia: AFGW – Mentoring with momentum
Mentors and mentorees networking
This activity supports IFUW Policy Resolution 2010, No. 1
An extremely successful evening was held on 22nd February 2012, by the Brisbane Branch of Graduate Women Qld co-sponsored by Griffith University and The Brisbane Institute. Griffith provided the venue and assisted with the catering, and The Brisbane Institute was able to identify and invite potential mentors.
The response was overwhelming, and we were very sorry to have to turn people away once we’d reached our ideal number of 10 mentors – 5 men and 5 women. We also had a full complement of thirty mentorees. more »
SAAWG: Personalised twinning within IFUW
When we think of twinning, it is usually at the organisational level. However, twinning connections can also occur at a more individual level. The South African Association of Women Graduates (SAAWG) was contacted by a mature student, Alison Martyn, from the United States who wished to visit Africa and undertake a project linked with her studies. Through a member of Women Graduates-USA, Alison got in touch the SAAWG National Office, which was working at that time with the Cape Town Branch on a mentorship project to address academic literacy and career development inadequacies in a number of high schools. more »
Finnish University Women Meet Graduates New to the Helsinki Area
The Finnish Federation of University Women seldom sees almost one hundred women come together on a cold winter evening after a hard day of work. Launching a brand new activity – Auroras – led to an exception. more »
VVAO: Leadership in Female Voluntary Organisations
Photo by Arno Nollen
From 26 November to 4 December 2011, twenty women from Spain, Turkey, Romania, Slovenia, Northern Cyprus and Switzerland met in Amsterdam to participate in a workshop on leadership in female voluntary organisations. There were also three “new Dutch” participants from Kuwait, India and Slovenia.
The workshop’s main aim was to provide capacity building for leaders of voluntary organisations, such as VVAO. During the workshop, participants learned about project management tools, leadership, attracting and retaining members, creating a successful team, managing finances, assessing risk, and benefitting from information communication technologies and social media. more »
Mexican Federation Holds National Colloquium
Margarita Almada, Nadima Simón, Angélica Tatua, Patricia Galeana & Alma Lorena Falcón Lozada
Last December, the Mexican Federation of University Women (FEMU) held a national colloquium “Breaking the Glass Ceiling”, at the Autonomous University of Campeche. This event was co-organized by the Women’s Institute of Campeche and was held as part of IFUW’s International Colloquia Project.
Dr. Patricia Galeana, founding President of FEMU and IFUW Vice President, gave the keynote speech, in which she reviewed FEMU and IFUW’s history and highlighted the importance of being part of both organizations, the latter being an important vehicle to ensure respect for women’s human rights. more »
Empress of Japan attends JAUW concert in aid of tsunami victims
Reiko Aoki, President of JAUW, writes:
On 17 December 2011, the Japanese Association of University Women (JAUW) held a charity concert to support our scholarship project for high school students who lost their parents to the disaster of 11 March 2011. It was a violin cello concert, played by Dr. Bunsho Mifune, a dentist by profession who had also qualified and trained as a semi-professional cellist. more »
Dr Patricia Galeana Awarded Mexico City’s Medal of Civic Merit
IFUW is proud to announce that on 3 November 2011, Dr Patricia Galeana Herrera, Founding President of the Mexican Federation of University Women and IFUW Vice-President, was awarded the 2011 Medal of Civic Merit by Mexico City. This illustrious prize was awarded in recognition of her life’s work on behalf of the rights of Mexican women, from her academic work and research, to her work as a member of the Mexico City Human Rights Council. Special mention was given to her role in the founding of the Mexican Women’s Museum, which traces the decades of Mexican women’s struggles to be recognized not merely as objects, but as full contributors to Mexican society. more »
