Manila contraceptive ban

In Manila‘s poorest slums, a landmark legal challenge has been launched against a policy which has effectively banned access to birth control.

Now 16 women and four men are bringing a case against the government saying it has had a devastating effect on their lives.

There has been an increase in unwanted pregnancies which is pushing people deeper into poverty.

The Philippines has no national policy on family planning. Instead local officials decide what to provide, which means in some areas like Manila, contraceptives are simply not available. 

Dr Junice Melgar is an executive director of Likhaan, an NGO on women’s health. She is also co-author of a report on the impact of Manila‘s contraceptive ban.

She discusses with Shiulie Ghosh what needs to be done.

Seen but not heard

Living in Gaza is hard enough with the Israeli blockade and the falling bombs. But how much worse if you are deaf and unable to speak.

How do you learn anything, how would you earn an income? Geraldine Shawa has spent the last 15 years bringing hope to this silent community.

Her organisation Atfaluna has provided education and training for thousands of deaf children and adults.

And in an area where there is 60 per cent unemployment, particularly among women, they have been provided with the skills to earn a living.

The success of the programme means a group of people who were once stigmatised now have a respected place in society.

Everywoman went to meet them.

Changing faces

Asia has one of the fastest growing cosmetic surgery markets in the world. In China alone, the industry is worth nearly two and a half billion dollars a year. 

But critics say this fixation with beauty has a dark side.

Asian women are going to extraordinary and painful lengths to look more Western, including eye reshaping, breast implants and leg-bone extensions; and many pay a high price when such procedures go wrong.   

Anita Anand, is the author of The Beauty Game which examines how a global image of beauty is created, and she tells us her concern over the obsession with changing ones ethnic look.

International Womens’ Day was marked by various demonstrations around the world from women demanding their rights.

In Sudan, peacekeepers marched through the western region of Darfur in a show of solidarity with women suffering in the war there.

Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, told a delegation of campaigners that a bill will be introduced to reserve a third of seats for women in parliament and state assemblies.

In Gaza and the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian women demonstrated in protest at the recent Israeli attacks, and the blockade, which has deepened suffering for them and their children.

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This episode of Everywoman aired on Friday, March 21, 2008

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