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Welcome to the archives of News Deeply’s Women & Girls Hub. While we paused regular publication of the site on January 22, 2018, and transitioned our coverage to Women’s Advancement Deeply, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on the Arctic. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors contributors.
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Nigeria’s tech industry may be booming, but the sector is still dominated by men. A coding program aimed at girls from a Lagos slum encourages them to pursue careers in computers and teaches that tech could help life them and their communities out of poverty.
Sarah Hodin Project Coordinator, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Women and Health Initiative and Maternal Health Task Force
Kayla McGowan Project Coordinator, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Women and Health Initiative and Maternal Health Task Force
Mary Nell Wegner Executive Director, Maternal Health Task Force at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Vandana Tripathi Deputy Director, Fistula Care Plus Project at EngenderHealth
Four maternal health experts come together to examine how fistula, while known to be treatable by surgery, is also caused by unsafe surgical techniques, and what the global health community can do about it.
At Evangel fistula center in Jos, Dr. Sunday Lengmang performs a complicated surgery, always for free, to cure cases of fistula that most surgeons can’t or won’t even try to treat.
As part of our ‘Experts to Watch’ series, we meet six campaigners who are advancing research, policy and action on the ground to bring an end to female genital cutting.
In Nigeria, publicly addressing anything related to sex, such as HIV/AIDS testing, can spark fear and prejudice. But as the world prepares to mark World AIDS Day, one woman is helping Nigerians stay safe without the social stigma.
Since 2009, Boko Haram insurgents have kidnapped thousands of women and girls in Nigeria, some of whom are only escaping now. One survivor who managed to escape tells of how the terrorist group denied her food and beat her for refusing to become a suicide bomber.
Some of the women working with the Value Female Network were subjected to female genital mutilation when they were girls. Now they visit communities around Nigeria to raise awareness about the procedure’s dangers and help cutters find new ways to make a living.
Last year, the number of women making the journey from Nigeria to Italy, via Libya, was almost double that of the year before. But in their attempt to escape crippling poverty, the women end up caught in trafficking rings, abused and exploited.
For the past year, herders and farmers have regularly clashed and spilled blood in Nigeria’s north-central Kaduna state. Their wives, many of whom work side by side in the local markets, are trying to bring an end to this spiral of violence.
As part of our “Women and Jihad” series, we look at how escape from Boko Haram doesn’t always mean the end of the ordeal, as former militants’ ‘wives’ are often rejected and verbally abused by other female abductees.
Social media activism inspired Fatima Askira to collect clothes for women affected by Boko Haram. Nearly four years later, she is pioneering programs to help them rejoin their communities.
Hunger and insecurity stalks the displacement camps of Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, where people who fled Boko Haram face the risk of famine. Shaista Aziz meets displaced women concerned about destitution and abuse, and the female activists trying to help them.
Africa’s most populated country is facing environmental challenges that threaten to only get worse. But a new generation of activists and social entrepreneurs are helping Nigerians take steps toward a low-carbon, pollution-free future.
Boko Haram’s insurgency in Nigeria has killed over 20,000 people and displaced 2.5 million. Some humanitarian organizations are helping women affected by the violence get back on their feet financially, but the psychosocial support they need is much harder to provide.
In March, Nigerian senators rejected a bill proposing a new gender equality law, citing religious reasons. Author Lola Shoneyin says the move is a blow to women’s rights, but the younger generation could turn things around.
In Nigeria, where most pregnancy terminations are illegal, a women’s reproductive health organization called Ipas is harnessing the power of the police to expand abortion access. Hauwa Shekarau, the group’s Nigeria country director, explains how.
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