Save the Date: Accelerating Equality for Women and Girls Around the World

If you live in the New York City area, please join us on Thursday, December 3, for this important event. "Accelerating Equality for Women and Girls around the World: A Conversation with Media, Activists, Entrereneurs, and You" will include:

• Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of Half the Sky
• Taina Bien-Aime, Equality Now
• Bill Drayton, Ashoka
• Ana Langer, EngenderHealth

The event will be moderated by Maria Hinojosa, Senior Correspondent, NOW on PBS.

This event is free and open to all, but space is limited. To attend, you must RSVP to rsvp@engenderhealth.org. For more information, read the online invitation, or call 212-561-8456.

Live from MenEngage Rio: Inclusion of minority populations

Posted by Theresa Castillo

Today, breakout sessions offered a chance to really explore importance of inclusion, which basically means making programs as inclusive of minority populations as possible. This means including indigenous populations, migrants, refugees, the transgendered, commercial sex workers, and other marginalized groups. Usually, these groups are left out of conversations about improving health, improving communities, and creating a better life for everyone.

In our MAP work, we are aware of these vulnerable populations and include them in our outreach. One example is our new MARPs work in Ethiopia which directs HIV prevention efforts to the most at- risk, yet hard-to-reach, populations, including commercial sex workers. Achieving a gender-equitable world means that all people can enjoy human rights, including the right to health care. Moving forward, we need to continue expanding our reach so that as men become partners in the global call for gender equality, these groups remain an integral part of the conversation.

Remorseful father fights to stop rape

Several media outlets have covered the personal transformation of Dumisani Rebombo, Senior Program Coordinator for EngenderHealth’s Men As Partners® program in South Africa, most recently the Toronto Star (quoted below) and the Huffington Post.

“Dumisani Rebombo is protective of his daughters. He wants them to be happy and marry men who treat them well. It's a dream most fathers have, but not an easy one to accomplish in South Africa. According to the country's Commission on Gender Equality, a woman is raped every 17 seconds. Rebombo knows this too well. That's why he wants to make sure his daughters don't meet someone like his younger self. "In my youth, my friends and I, we gang-raped a girl in the village where I was growing up," he says.”

Read the rest of the article.