Concerns Over Mass Weddings for Orphaned Girls in Nigeria sent
This week, we start in Nigeria, where women drivers have formed a support group to navigate a male-dominated industry. Then, we go to Zimbabwe, where journalists are working to improve coverage of LGBTQ+ issues despite conservative laws. Finally, in Germany, the upper legislature has approved a new gender self-identification law.
But first, in Nigeria, there’s controversy over the proposed mass wedding of 100 girls orphaned by bandit attacks in Mariga Local Government Area, Niger state.
On May 10, 2024, the Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, revealed plans to marry off 100 out of 170 girls on May 24, 2024. He proposed to cover the brides’ dowries and other associated expenses for the mass wedding.
Since the announcement, many human rights groups have voiced their criticisms, especially regarding concerns that many of these girls might be underaged and unable to give consent. The rights group Concerned Nigerian Citizens launched a petition on Wednesday, May 15, to stop the wedding plans, and it so far has over 11,000 signatures.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, has also criticized the plans, raising concerns over the legality of the marriage and violation of the Child Rights Act. She filed for a court injunction to stop the Speaker from marrying off the girls.
Feeling misunderstood, the Speaker clarified that his intentions were humanitarian and announced he would not attend the ceremony. However, his plans to provide financial support still stand should the weddings proceed. On May 17, 2024, the Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria (MULAN) condemned the minister’s position on mass weddings and decided to take her to court.
It’s still unclear whether the weddings will proceed as planned this week. Still, it’s unsettling that some believe marriage to be the only way to help orphaned girls rather than investing in their education or skills.
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Nigeria’s women drivers rally together to navigate male-dominated industry
From our site
What did Sheila Lumumba want?
Alone, Sheila Adhiambo Lumumba, a 25-year old non-binary lesbian lay dead in their one-bedroom apartment in a small town, north of Nairobi, for three days before finally being discovered.
Lumumba was sexually assaulted, hit on the head with a blunt object and stabbed in the chest, face, neck, and one of their eyes was partially gorged out. Their death on the 17th of April 2022 sparked calls for justice in Kenya where homosexuality remains illegal.
But who was Sheila Lumumba and what did they want? To be happy, but also to love and take care of family.
Brenda Akinyi, Lumumba’s cousin who knew them their entire life, described them as someone with a bubbly personality, a people’s person who loved partying.
“Sheila was just a normal young person who loved to party and go out with friends in their own free time. They were an independent, strong and ambitious person, loved people, was funny and a great friend to everyone,” says Akinyi.
Another of Lumumba’s cousins and friend Stacy Ogola testifies to Lumumba’s love for the party. “One day my mom went to work and left me some money for food. So I called Sheila. I told [them] we got money to drink but I don’t know what mom will eat when she gets back home.”
“So we went to celebrate [their] birthday and we celebrated mine too because I knew I would be grounded.. [their] birthday is 1st August and mine is on the 14th,” Ogola reveals fondly.
According to Akinyi, Lumumba was also “harsh and not easily swayed.”
The Struggle for Visibility: How Zimbabwean Journalists are Tackling LGBTQ+ Issues
In Zimbabwe, a highly conservative country that has been under a repressive regime for years, LGBTQ+ issues have remained highly polarised – a legacy of the hard-line stance of the late Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s former president.
A legacy that can be summed up in “worse than pigs and dogs,” a statement he once shockingly made about homosexuals, that still lingers among many people in the country, including journalists who have conveniently skirted around LGBTQ+ issues like a plague. So when a representative of the LGBTQ+ community, Agatha Marekera, recently told a public media workshop in Zimbabwe’s eastern border city of Mutare that the gay and lesbian population in the country is far higher than many people think, some journalists were both shocked and perplexed.
“There are so many people who are members of the LGBTQ+ community, but many people in the country don’t understand LGBTQ+ issues,” Marekera revealed to incredulous gasps.
For some journalists, it was their first time sharing a conference room with individuals who openly identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community. This is because, in the past, LGBTQ+ members have largely taken the backseat for fear of backlash from both the conservative society and the government.
Around the world
DW
LGBTQ+ rights in Europe: Malta tops most progressive list
DW
LGBTQ+ rights in Europe: Malta tops most progressive list
The world celebrates International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia on May 17. To mark the occasion, ILGA Europe — a lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTQ+) rights group — is publishing its latest Rainbow Map based on 2023 data.
The Rainbow Map, which has been published annually for 11 years now, ranks European countries on their LGBTQ+ rights. It does so according to range of criteria including LGBTQ+ equality, protection from hate crime and discrimination, societal integration and sexual self-determination.
This year, Malta tops the ranking as Europe’s most progressive country for LGBTQ+ rights, scoring 88 out of 100 possible points. Iceland follows in second with 83 points.
EU states Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Denmark, Finland and Greece also scored highly, each with over 70 points. Roughly speaking, Europe’s northern and western states tend to have stronger LGBTQ+ rights than other countries on the continent.
Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, for example, are the lowest-ranked countries. Poland, meanwhile, occupies the lowest out of all EU states with a mere 17 points due to a decade of conservative PiS party rule. Following the change of government last year, Poland may rise up the ranking next year.
DW
Germany’s Bundesrat passes gender self-identification law
Germany’s upper legislature, the Bundestag, on Friday gave the final approval to a law that smoothes the way for people to change their gender and first name by simply making a public declaration.
Opponents of the existing system, requiring a court decision, complain it is invasive, costly and humiliating.
Under the current transsexual law, people may officially change their first name and gender only after they have been assessed by two psychiatrists and the court has given its permission.
The Self-Determination Act would allow these changes to be made in a simple procedure. The law defines a trans person as someone who does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, or not solely with that gender.
The legislation also applies to those who do not identify exclusively as male or female, termed nonbinary people.
The law would require people to inform registry offices three months before the changes are made.
HumAngle
Malnutrition Is Affecting Displaced Mothers’ Ability To Breastfeed Newborns In Northeast Nigeria
Two weeks after Falmata Ibrahim gave birth, her body stopped making breast milk for her baby.
The baby would whine for breastmilk, and in both desperation and frustration, she would let him suckle, but nothing would come out. It has been five months now, and she is still struggling to produce milk for her baby. It is all due to hunger and malnutrition, she says.
Falmata Ibrahim, 27, has been displaced for years now by the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast. According to her, the challenge of feeding her infant is an unusual one as she never experienced it in her previous four births.
“I felt shocked by the experience when I tried several times to squeeze out milk. There was nothing except agonizing pain in both my breasts,” she said of the experience.
About a year before Falmata started experiencing this harrowing health crisis, her family’s living conditions had worsened by the cut in humanitarian assistance in the Kawal Maila displacement camp and later the pressing life challenges after the camp was closed down by the government. Like many others in the camp, she struggled to find enough food to eat, leading to severe malnutrition.
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What moms really need: Less body-shaming, more support
Flowers and brunch are lovely, but there’s an invaluable gift almost every mom would enjoy: a healthier body image.
The pressure on women to look perfect isn’t our fault. Recognizing and resisting unrealistic appearance ideals can improve mothers’ lives at every stage of parenthood.
While women face appearance pressures throughout their lives, for those who give birth, the postpartum period can be especially fraught.
I’ll never forget being the mom of young kids in 2010 when model Gisele Bündchen posed for Vogue only months after having a baby. During the internet frenzy that ensued, the supposedly reassuring takeaway was that “ordinary” women shouldn’t compare themselves to a supermodel.
But almost all postpartum moms, celebrity or not, face an unspoken mandate to “bounce back” to their pre-baby body. Even if you had Bündchen’s genetics and support staff, it’s unreasonable and even cruel to expect you to focus your energy on appearing as if you’ve never been pregnant.