© DW/M. Magunia

Scilla Elworthy Ph.D., Councillor of the World Future Council and founder of the Oxford Research Group and Peace Direct, was the one of the first women to publish a report on female genital mutilation that led to the World Health Organization campaign to eradicate the practice. Three-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, she recently published her latest book “Pioneering the Possible – Awakened Leadership for a World that works” and is certain that a different future for all of humanity is possible, if humans wake up.

How is it like to live as one of the IS women? What role do they play? Find out here, and read other news about women that made it to the headlines.

© picture-alliance/dpa/EPA/R. Yongrit

Even though female genital mutilation (FGM) is internationally recognized as a violation of human right it is still practiced on babies and young girls in many countries because the misconceptions surrounding FGM are deeply rooted in traditions reaching back many generations. But the fight against FGM continues and some of the campaigns against it have begun to bear fruit if only slowly. Read more news about FGM and other topics about women here!

(Copyright: DW/N. Conrad)

Female genital mutilation is still practised in many African countries, despite being officially banned. Girl members of the semi nomadic Pokot ethnic group in Kenya have to undergo the painful ritual.

A young Senegalese girl under cover in her mother’s traditional clothes, while they attend the official renouncement ceremony of  Female Genital Cutting (FGC) in Kidira, eastern Senegal, Sunday 12 March 2006.
Rights: picture alliance/dpa

Here’s a round-up of women’s news that made it to the headlines. Did we miss
something? Let us know through your comments.

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).