An article recently published by The New York Times calls attention to the current status of “women’s precarious rights” in Afghanistan.

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghan women and girls have been able to go to work, attend schools and run for political positions. As Afghan and Western governments explore reconciliation with the Taliban, women’s advocates fear that modest gains might be lost.

Read the full story: “Afghan women fear loss of modest gains,” New York Times

The following is a post written by Vital Voices Asia Program intern, Shonali Banerjee.

The small Pacific island of Timor-Leste has been referred to by many as one of the world’s newest and poorest nations. However, recent progress has been made in women’s health and education.

According to the country’s latest Demographic and Health Survey, the current fertility rate stands at 5.7 births per woman, two children less than in 2003. The infant mortality rate has also dropped significantly in the last 7 years, from 60 to 44 deaths to 1,000 births.

Experts have attributed these leaps in public health to women’s increased access to education, a higher number of women in the work force, and the increased availability of reproductive health services. A recent survey also shows that there is a greater demand for family planning and an increase in the use of skilled birth attendants and maternal services.

One of the most drastic changes in the nation has been a shift in women’s attitudes toward childbearing. According to a survey, 72 percent of women in Timor-Leste want to have less children and space out having children. Only 35 percent of surveyed women felt the same way in 2003.

Former Health Minister Rui de Araujo says that these striking results show that the country was right to focus many of its policies on primary health care, health promotion, community involvement and education.

Read the full story: “Timor-Leste: ’spectacular’ reduction in child mortality rates,” IRIN Asia.

The following is a post written by Vital Voices Asia Program intern, Shonali Banerjee.

In an effort to reduce the domestic maternal mortality rate, the Indonesian government has announced that it will provide funding for deliveries performed by skilled birth attendants for three million women.

The Indonesian Health Minister has said that many maternal deaths can be attributed to the use of unskilled birth attendants. During the opening of a conference addressing the Millennium Development Goals, the Health Minister stated that the national government would help local governments fund skilled health professionals and health centers.

Only 5 percent of the 5 million pregnant women in Indonesia currently receive assistance for deliveries. Indonesia is currently off-track in meeting its maternal mortality rate target of 102 per 100,000 live births by 2015. The maternal mortality rate in Indonesia is six times higher than in its neighboring country Malaysia.

Read the full story: “Indonesia to provide poor with safer maternal care,” IRIN Asia.

During Visby Political Week in Sweden, a stage reading of Vital Voices’ documentary play - SEVEN - featured male members of parliament. Theater company Riksteatern produced the play in collaboration with Kvinna till Kvinna, an organization supporting women in conflict areas.

Producer and Director Hedda Krausz Sjögren writes about the performance in a recent post:

“The MPs’ identification with their ”voices” was evident, as was their refreshed concern for human rights issues.”

Read the full post: Continued success for SEVEN.

Vital Voices Network member Danielle Saint-Lot was recently interviewed by NPR’s Tony Cox on Talk of the Nation. Danielle is a co-founder of our Haiti chapter, Femmes en Democratie. During her interview, she spoke about the critical role that women must play in the reconstruction of her home country. With elections in the near future, Danielle says that women must vie for seats in the national congress.

“[women] have to be the ones rebuilding the country. And there’s, you know, quite a few groups of young women, emerging leaders that are going to run. For the moment, our organization, Femmes en Democratie, we’re supporting 50 women candidates for Congress.”

Listen to the full interview or read the transcript on NPR: “The Role Of Women In Rebuilding Haiti.”

The following is a post writen by Vital Voices Human Rights Program intern, Kait Talley.

On July 14, the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on forced child marriage to garner support for the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009.

Speaking at the hearing, Congresswoman Betty McCollum, who authored the bill, said, “A girl is not a commodity, but a person who has the right to grow, become an educated and productive citizen and eventually chose her own husband.”

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer, urged those present to “put child marriage in the dustbin of history.”

Vital Voices Global Leadership Award honoree Kakenya Ntaiya of Kenya offered testimony on her experience with child marriage. Engaged to be married at age five, Kakenya managed to negotiate with her father and attend school instead of entering into marriage. She said involving fathers in their daughters’ education can make a great difference in preventing child marriage. Watch Kakenya’s video to learn more.

In her remarks, she emphasized the role of education:

“Education is the key—the key to not only a better future for an individual, but also for a better nation at large. Education brings development to a home, a community, a nation and to the whole world. And most importantly it prevents early marriage. Education is the key to empowerment.”

Kakenya explained how she was able to achieve her own dreams through education. In 2009, she opened a school, Kakenya’s Center for Excellence, where she provides education to girls who might otherwise be forced into marriage.

UNICEF Senior Child Protection Specialist, Francesca Moneti, commented on the connection between forced child marriage and women’s health: “child pregnancy is the single most important problem in nutrition. A 19-year-old mother has a 60 percent greater chance of dying than a woman in her twenties.”

Stephanie Baric, senior technical advisor of CARE USA, said that “[change] requires a holistic view of the situation and the patience and long-term focus to work with communities to create change from within.”

After the testimonies, Congressman McGovern said, “I end this hearing with hope,” and thanked the panelists and those who attended for their continued efforts to bring an end to forced child marriage.

On June 21, Vital Voices partnered with Priority Films to host the world premiere red-carpet screening of REDLIGHT, an inspiring and powerful feature documentary about child sexploitation. Produced and narrated by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Lucy Liu, REDLIGHT focuses on the personal stories of the victims and two of Vital Voices’ remarkable network women from Cambodia, grassroots activist Somaly Mam and parliamentarian Mu Sochua. Both women, who have worked with Vital Voices for many years, have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and have won numerous human rights awards around the world.

On July 13, Baroness Mary Goudie, Member of the House of Lords and Vital Voices Board Member, hosted a breakfast reception and discussion on Global Women’s Issues and Human Rights. Senior Vice-President for Government Affairs at the American Legacy Foundation, Stephenie Foster, moderated the exchange of ideas on issues ranging from human trafficking to corporate social responsibility – all of which are covered on Baroness Goudie’s recently launched blog.

It’s imperative, said Baroness Goudie, that everyone join in on the online conversation about development and women’s equality: “Blogs are becoming the place to have conversation.”

Various guests, including Ambassador-at-Large of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Louis CdeBaca, agreed that partnerships between NGOs, business leaders and governments are crucial for developing cross-sector solutions and lasting progress.

Baroness Goudie insisted that ties from “company to country, and country to company” are needed to bridge divides between business, politics and development. The need for new research and a commitment of political will would help expose exploitative distribution chains while providing examples of companies that are both successful and free of slave labor.

The issue of women’s participation in politics, as well as on corporate boards, was raised by various guests who cited studies from The World Bank to Ernst & Young which find that women’s increased participation reduces corruption and improves revenue.

Regularly updated, Baroness Goudie’s blog includes guest posts on international issues from leaders in diverse spheres, read the latest entry here.

A new initiative from The Blind Project - Be A Biographer - is calling on supporters to join in an open source challenge to tell the stories of survivors of trafficking through design. A collective of advocates united by their passion to end the commercial sex trade in Southeast Asia, The Blind Project focuses on restoring survivors of trafficking and slavery through viable employment and skills training in fashion design and production.

A panel of judges, including Vital Voices Global Leadership Award honoree and network member Somaly Mam, will choose the winning designs, which will become part of a new apparel line.

Submissions are due before September 15. Visit The Blind Project to learn more and check out the submissions so far.

The following is a post written by Vital Voices Asia Intern, Shonali Banerjee.

At 20-years-old, Bai Yitong is one of the youngest female village leaders in China. Though she is proud of her unprecedented victory in the Shaanxi Province election, she says that her duties as head of Gaojie village might be easier to address if she were a man.

In an interview with the New York Times, she stated: “Some male chiefs use violence, and it’s much quicker [to address the duties of a village chief]. As a woman, I can’t do that. But there are things that are hard to achieve if you don’t use force.”

Yitong’s experience reflects the struggle of women leaders to retain legitimacy within their electorates. On issues such as family planning, women are regarded with respect – on other issues, however, they are often viewed with reverence than male counterparts, often for their opposition to the use of violence.

While national statistics show that women’s participation in the economic and business sectors is rising, women still struggle to establish themselves in the political sphere.

Of the nine members of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party’s Politburo, the nation’s most powerful decision-making body, not one is a woman. Only three of 27 government ministers are women.

Since 1997, China has dropped from 16th to 53rd place in the world rankings of female representation in parliament. Experts cite progress in other nations as the main reason for China’s dramatic drop in rankings:

“It’s not that China has gotten worse. It’s that the rest of the world has gotten better.”

Read more: Women Struggle for a Foothold in Chinese Politics -NYT