News & Stories
WOMAN with Gloria Steinem investigates violence against women in El Salvador
A new episode of the Viceland TV series “WOMAN” with Gloria Steinem takes an unflinching look at femicide – the deliberate murder of women just because they are women – in El Salvador, the country with the highest murder rate in the world. It features ORMUSA: the Organization of Salvadoran Women and new partner of Donor Direct Action.
Salvadoran women join Donor Direct Action
ORMUSA – the Organization of Salvadoran Women – becomes the 14th front-line women’s rights activist organization and the first from Latin America to partner with Donor Direct Action.
In the world’s most violent country, a place women can seek shelter
“It is, frankly, terrifying to be a woman in El Salvador” according to this BuzzFeed article which looks at Ciudad Mujer, a place for women to find respite from the county’s rampant violence. “The violence that women in El Salvador face is more lethal now,” comments Silvia Juárez of our partner organization, the Organization of Salvadoran Women for Peace (ORMUSA)..
Read the full BuzzFeed article.
Gloria Steinem’s new show links global instability to violence against women
An all-woman team of journalists for the Viceland TV show “WOMAN”, looks at what this violence means to the women themselves and the stories of people who are pushing back against the oppression women face. An episode on femicide in El Salvador features our partner, the Organization of Salvadoran Women, ORMUSA.
Read the full salon.com article with a clip from the episode.
Femicide
Femicide – the deliberate murder of women just because they are women – is common in El Salvador. On average, a woman was murdered every 15 hours during 2015.
The evidence about prostitution that The New York Times ignored
DDA partner, Rachel Moran of SPACE, supports decriminalizing prostitution – but not in the way advocated by the recent New York Times article.
Stop punishing Afghan women for ‘moral crimes’
“There are many discussions going on over the use of virginity tests and punishing women for moral crimes. Although it is known that both are human rights violations, they are being practiced in Afghanistan,” says Najia Karimi, Executive Director of the DDA partner organization Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan.
President Jimmy Carter speaks out on commercial sexual exploitation
“To curb prostitution, punish those who buy sex rather than those who sell it,” he says, citing evidence from DDA partner Rachel Moran of SPACE.
WRAPA to the rescue
With a new initiative under its Islamic Family Law program, WRAPA collaborates with religious leaders who talk about the need to preserve women’s rights during Friday prayers.
Read more.
Marta leads advocacy for Latvia to sign Convention to combat violence against women
Thanks to our partner, Marta, and its leader Iluta Lāce spearheading civil society advocacy efforts, the Latvian government has agreed to sign the Council of Europe’s Convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. The treaty entered into force in 2014.
Read more.
“Existing health systems are failing our women and girls,” says Dr. Denis Mukwege
Obstetric fistula, all too common in the DRC yet virtually eradicated in the U.S. and Europe more than a hundred years ago, is an indication that existing health systems are failing women and girls, says the Founder and Medical Director of the Panzi Hospital and Foundations, Dr. Denis Mukwege.
WRAPA Intensifies Efforts To Defend Women’s Rights
WRAPA strategizes on ways to boost efforts promoting women’s rights in today’s Nigeria.
Read more.