Compassion Australia CEO’s mission to end child marriage
Sydney, Australia For Clare Steele, International Women’s Day is personal. A mother and advocate living in Newcastle, New South Wales, Steele believes International Women’s Day is “not about empowering ourselves; it’s about promoting others”. As a result, she’s working hard this March to speak up for women – and especially girls – whose voices are […]
Finding hope and a future
In an article marking International Women’s Day, SALLY BRUCE, of DFN (Dignity Freedom Network), looks at how the organisation is working to set women free…
India’s Assam scraps colonial-era Muslim marriage law
Guwahati, India Reuters India’s Assam state has scrapped an 89-year-old law that allowed marriage involving underage Muslims, against opposition from leaders of the minority community who called the plan an attempt to polarise voters on religious lines ahead of elections. Assam, which has the highest percentage of Muslims among Indian states at 34 per cent, […]
South Sudan churches launch campaign against child marriage, violence
Nairobi, Kenya Church leaders in South Sudan have started a campaign against childhood marriages and violence, and now rampant among teenagers in the East African country. The country of more than 10.75 million people has the world’s fifth-highest prevalence of child marriage, according to the report by the UN. The report shows that 52 per cent of […]
Essay: Some refugee girls are forced into early marriage for safety – here’s why
UK academic AISHA HUTCHINSON looks at the reasons why the incidence of child marriage increase in communities impacted by conflicts or disasters…
In Jordan camp, Syrian refugees choose school over child marriage
Mafraq, Jordan Thomson Reuters Foundation Chatting enthusiastically in a classroom at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, a group of Syrian teenage girls share stories about married friends – some with babies already, and of their own lucky escapes. Fatima was 14 when she got engaged, but had second thoughts and broke it off. Sixteen-year-old […]
Essay: Slavery and war are tightly connected – but we had no idea just how much until we crunched the data
Scholar of modern slavery – MONTI DATTA, ANGHARAD SMITH, and KEVIN BALES – look, in an article first published on The Conversation, about what their research shows about the connection between slavery and conflict…
Child protection: How pastors in Kenya are helping girls escape FGM and early marriage
TONNY ONYULO reports on how church leaders are working to address issues like female genital mutiliation and child marriage, providing safe spaces and access to education…
Marking International Women’s Day, teenagers make a stand against child marriage
Teenagers from across the world have joined in making a stand against child marriage with a photo shoot that aims to draw attention to the plight of the millions of underage girls who are married each year. The campaign, which is supported by Compassion Australia, marks the one year anniversary of a release of a […]
International Women’s Day: Australian women Christian leaders look to empower women and girls across the globe
PETA MCCARTNEY speaks to three Christian women leaders in Australia – Clare Steele, CEO of Compassion Australia, Melissa Lipsett, CEO of Bapist World Aid Australia and Sharon Hollis, president of the Uniting Church in Australia – about the challenges females are facing around the world…