Observer News

Not easy every day to be a political woman? This is what said this Monday on "BFM TV" the Secretary of State for Ecology Chantal Jouanno. "One of the dreams of men is to see women doing wrestling matches in the mud," she added. "No it's fine, frankly in our team it's going pretty well," replied Anne Hidalgo, her socialist rival. The two heads of the list in Ile de France at the regional debated on the theme of machismo in politics.  Chantal Jouanno then challenged her rival on the words of the outgoing president and PS candidate Jean-Paul Huchon: "You would help us as women to condemn the words of Jean-Paul Huchon when he calls us claudettes, spice girls, blonde or the recordings where he imitates the voice of Valérie Pécresse, that is no longer done”. "I've never heard it done," retorted Anne Hidalgo who "does not comment on rumours, especially when they are peddled by the UMP". The first deputy mayor of the PS mayor o...

This is the solution found by the municipality of Bombay to fight against female school absenteeism.  Twelve thousand little girls leave school every year to stay at home and do household chores.  Worrying figures that made the municipality of Bombay react.  One million euros was granted by the administration to encourage young girls not to leave their school.  A timely initiative for parents.  "My father has no job and my mother is a cleaning lady. By earning one rupee a day, my mother insists that I go to school", confides a schoolgirl to the "Mumbai Mirror".  MS  

What do you think of when you disembark almost directly from a rural bled in Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, in Deauville, a seaside resort in Normandy?What do you think of when you find yourself in a saree among some of the most influential women in Armani suits on the planet? Mystery. Still, Sampat Pal Devi, a 47-year-old Indian who made the trip last weekend to take part in the Women's Forum*, is not one to be daunted. Social inequalities, the acquired advantages of some and the humiliation of others, she knows: it is the fight of her life. This cat-eyed woman – a sign of cunning in India – presents herself not as a social worker, let alone an NGO leader, but simply as a gang leader. And his Gulabi Gang ("Pink Gang") is becoming legendary: it is formed by hundreds of women from the lower castes of Uttar Pradesh, one of the poorest states in the country, all dressed in neon pink sari.  Charismatic and stubborn, Sampat Pal Devi mobilizes her army of pacifist vigilantes...