We can hear African drums being played from the speakers as we make our way into a room which feels like a giant cinema. Greeting us are over 2,000 women and girls, ranging in age from 7 to 80, from over 140 countries. It is a sea of colourful, traditional dress depicting histories and cultures from all parts of the world, all gathered for the 12th AWID International Forum on Women's Rights in Development. "So many women,... Read more

This week, I didn't  go to a fabulous, energising international event held only once every four years: the AWID International Forum, 19-22 April in Istanbul, Turkey, which this year focused on transforming economic power to support women's rights. No. Instead, I was grounded here in Oxford, UK, with a bad back. Hasty plans had to be made to ensure Gender & Development's planned activities at AWID could go ahead... Read more

What you make of 2011 depends on your vantage point. The year's events look completely different depending on whether you are sitting at the bottom or the top, in the old north or the old south. From the bottom, this was a year of protest and revolution, toppling tyrants and throwing up new governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and (probably) Yemen. So far, thankfully, fears about the negative impact of such revolutions on women's... Read more