World Pulse

Taking Your Voices to Rio+20

Learn how YOU can have a voice at the Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

NIGERIA: Access to the Internet Is Access to Life

by Obisakin Christianah Busayo

"My dream is to provide a safe place for women to access the Internet without fear of attack or being molested."

Through her own empowerment story, counselor and social entrepreneur Obisakin Christianah Busayo illustrates the impact of women's Internet access in her country. Read More »

Community Voices

In her letter to UN Women executive director Michelle Bachelet, Nigerian women’s rights advocate Olutosin Oladosu Adebowale decries practices that rob girls and women around the world of equal opportunities. Read More »

"My womb can only carry daughters and I would never trade them for any boys."

Community Voices

ZIMBABWE: Middle Class Women Have Needs Too

by Fungai Machirori

Zimbabwean writer Fungai Machirori makes the case that gender development isn't just for the poor. She challenges new UN Women executive director Michelle Bachelet to support leadership opportunities for women at all income levels. Read More »

"By nurturing positive examples of women in the developing world, we debunk negative stereotypes and give women and girls hope that they too may rise up one day to assume positions of authority."

Community Voices

CAMBODIA: Girls Discarded Like Soiled Linen

by Sarvina Kang

Cambodian student Sarvina Kang urges the newly formed UN Women agency to address root causes of sex trafficking in her country. Read More »

"The idea that girls and women are disposable commodities still prevails in Cambodian society."

Community Voices

KENYA: And Still I Have No House

by Afline

Widowed at age 25 and HIV positive, Afline tells her story of family betrayal and pleads with President Obama to pass IVAWA for the women of Kenya. Read More »

"After the burial of my husband I expected a 'normal' life as a widow, but that was never to be."

Afline

Community Voices

SOMALIA: A World Free of Violence

by Ruun Abdi

For Ruun Abdi of Somalia, IVAWA means a world where the women of her community are free from the every day threat of violence. Read More »

"The women of the world know that you have the power and capability to help women and girls across nations."

Ruun Abdi

Community Voices

For the Millions of Hushed Voices

by Shekina

From her home in Cameroon, Shekina urges President Obama to pass IVAWA to liberate women from what she calls a subtle and brutal form of slavery. Read More »

"Our imaginations cannot thrive when the world gives a deaf ear to the raging acts of violence that are perpetrated against us day and night."

Shekina

Community Voices

Because I Was Born a Girl

by Amei

Speaking out from the Maldives, Amei raises her voice for the women who suffer in silence, and asks President Obama to pass IVAWA. Read More »

"In my small, close-knit island community, people never speak out about abuse and mistreatment. We only hear the whispers of our suffering elders."

Amei

Community Voices

My Hope for Afghan Women

by Parwana Fayyaz

Parwana Fayyaz urges President Obama and the US Senate to pass the International Violence Against Women Act, and shares her vision for a new Afghanistan—where women are empowered and free from violence. Read More »

"Although we are sometimes invisible, women too are traveling in this broken ship, and we are part of this land."

Parwana Fayyaz