This is a global invitation to dance! On February 14, 2013, women around the world are commemorating the 15th anniversary of V-Day, to end violence against women and girls. Women in Bonn are also part of the “One Billion Rising” movement to activate men and women across the world and sensitize them towards women’s issues. Join the flash mob at Bonn, Münsterplatz on 14 February, Thursday at 16:30.  Check out the choreography video so we can all match our steps :).

One Billion Rising in your city: for more details click here.

From left to right- Amen, Hira, Sundas and Ammara

I met them at a coffee shop. They were already waiting for me when I entered. The steam from the four cups of coffee on their table made patterns in the air. Coffee  had just been served and I knew I wasn’t late.

Meena Kandasamy is an upcoming poet based in Chennai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She writes on women’s themes and on the Dalits, member of the lower castes in India. Her poetry collection is called ‘Touch.” She spoke to DW blogger Roma Rajpal on being a poet and her passion for writing.

Sonali has undergone 22 surgeries

Acid attack survivor Sonali Mukherjee relates the horrific tale of her attack, how she felt afterward and how she tried to cope with her life. In this blog, which was initially a conversation with DW-blogger Samra Fatima, Sonali tells us why she chose not to kill herself.

The one-million-strong Bohra community in India is a small group of a muslim sect called the Ismaili Shias who are believed to have originated in Egypt. In India, they have settled in the western states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. This group practices female genital mutilation (FGM).

The fatal gangrape of a 22-year-old in New Delhi provoked a huge outcry all over India. More than one month after the incident, the trial against the six accused persons has begun. The incident has jolted Indians out of their complacence and forced them to rethink their attitudes towards women and how these attitudes propagate continual suppression and the ill-treatment of women in Indian society.

We present here a song called “Ma Nee Meri” (my dear mother) from the music band “Swang.” As the band members put it, this song is not to mourn her death, but to celebrate her spirit.

Fakhria (Zia) Maiwand, my lovely grandmother and daughter of Azizullah Maiwand the great-grandson of Tatar Baba, who was a known tribal leader in the Battle of Maiwand, in which the British Empire was defeated for the first time in history

“Waslat! Tell your cousin to move his head away from your shoulder or I’ll pick his eyes out” she yells at me. The lights have gone out in Kabul and it is dark in our apartment. With her long white hair and fair complexion, she reminds me of a ghost.