Critics say abstinence programmes do not work

As Everywoman previously reported, the US government offers federal funding to schools which promote abstinence in their sex education classes. Basically, the message to kids is "save it for marriage". Sadly, it seems to be having the opposite affect.

A recent study shows the rate of teenage pregnancies in the US has risen for the first time in 15 years, and some experts are linking that to the abstinence programmes.

Everywoman discusses the way forward with Sharon Camp, the president of the Guttmacher Institute, a leading policy research organisation in the field of sexual and reproductive health.

Recap on Saudi restrictions on women

Inequality is still rife in Saudi Arabia

We reported that Saudi Arabia was planning to lift some restrictions on women, allowing them to drive and stay in hotels alone. But despite these first steps the majority of women there suffer daily inequalities: they cannot study, travel, work or even get into an ambulance without the say so of a male guardian.

In addition women are treated differently when it comes to marriage, divorce and inheritance. Although Saudi ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women seven years ago, and more recently was questioned by a UN committee about gender equality abuses in the kingdom, inequality remains rife.
 
Everywoman asked Mai Yamani, a fellow at the Brookings Institute - a public policy organisation based in Washington, when the situation will improve for women in Saudi.
 
Long-necked women

UN: Kayan women are trapped in a human zoo

The Kayans are a small hill tribe from Myanmar, forced from their homes by the brutal military regime along with other ethnic groups. But the Kayans stand out because their women wear multiple rings round their necks - a practice they have followed for generations.

The women are such a tourist draw, some suspect the Thai authorities want to keep them there instead of letting them relocate to new lives abroad.

The United Nations Refugee agency says the Kayans are trapped in a human zoo. Now one young girl is fighting back. In an act of defiance, she has removed the rings. Everywoman went to meet her.

The EU has passed a resolution demanding that the Japanese government officially apologise to and compensate the Asian victims of sexual slavery in World War II - also known as comfort women. The move joins other non-binding resolutions adopted by the United States, the Netherlands and Canada.

Meanwhile the government in Manila has banned Filipinos from taking work in Jordan, following reports of maids being abused and exploited there. More than 16,000 Filipinos currently work in Jordan, which joins a list of no-go countries including Nigeria, Lebanon, and Iraq.

A 75-year-old retired school teacher has won an international award for fighting corruption in Vietnam. Le Hien Duc has received death threats but is undeterred; she has spent the past 25 years haranguing officials - she once saw a police officer demanding a bribe, and chased him down with a camera. 

Watch part one of this episode of Everywoman on YouTube