Feminist Africa an academic journal from South Africa that unusually has its full contents online. As one of the articles in the initial issue (2002) says, much of the research on Africa is driven by First World (government or NGO) imperatives, and very functionally based. This is an attempt to develop a more conceptual framework.
A small sample, from Re-righting the sexual body, by Jessica Horn in the 2006 edition:

Resisting moral corruption from the West is a common motif in the homophobic rhetoric of African leaders. What is bemusing is that moral condemnation and persecution of non-heteronormative behaviour is often supported by allusion to two texts: laws criminalizing “unnatural” sex and the Bible. Both were introduced via the European colonisation of Africa, and in the case of the latter, carried in again by a new wave of US-driven Pentecostal evangelism.
Pentecostalism has been quickly absorbed into communities facing the crisis of HIV/AIDS, severe poverty and armed conflict, providing space for communal catharsis while re-entrenching conservative Christian mores. Furthermore, as discussed above, in international negotiations, African states often seek solidarity with conservative Western governments, including the United States and the Vatican, to assert their claims against sexual rights and, in particular, homosexuality.
This selective, trans-cultural solidarity suggests that homophobia is less an “African” tradition than a patriarchal tradition that has been hijacked into local cultural discourses.

Remember the name Asha Katia with pride for her courage, and weep:

Asha Katia, 16, [a poor servant from the community formerly knowns as Untouchables] had taken 36-year-old Chhote Singh Rajput to court accusing him of raping her in 2005, said P. P. Sharma, police chief of Hoshangabad district in Madhya Pradesh where the crime occurred.
“The deceased was under immense pressure to withdraw charges and deny the rape allegation in court,” Sharma said. But Katia stood by her accusation, enraging Rajput, he added.
On Wednesday, he allegedly doused Katia with kerosene and set her alight in front of her family at her home in Sahalwada village.
Rajput denies murdering the girl. He was arrested by police soon after the killing and remains in custody.

Over on Comment is Free I’ve a piece arising from an Abortion Rights public meeting that I attended this week. It is something that I’ve thought a lot about, but not taken much action on lately.

Next year will be the 40th anniversary of women in England, Scotland and Wales (though not Northern Ireland) achieving the limited abortion rights they have now. Many may be shocked by that “limited” label, but the fact still is that a woman can’t decide for herself – she has to get two doctors’ approval. And finding two doctors to agree probably isn’t very hard for an articulate middle-class woman in London, but for other social groups can be a lot harder.

As the NUS speaker said, the old chant still applies: “Not the church, not the state, women must control their fate.”

I’ve decided to get actively involved in this – more on the subject soonish…

Pastor Heneghan of Gospel Community Church sees the issue of population growth in more biblical terms, specifically those taken from Genesis and Revelation. “Some people think that what I’m doing–having eleven children–is wrong. I don’t really get into that much. The Bible says ‘be fruitful and multiply.’ That’s my belief system. They don’t believe in God, so they think we have to conserve what we have. But in my belief system, He’s going to give us a new earth.” Overpopulation isn’t a problem in a universe where God promises a clean global slate.

From The Nation, about a large and fast-growing sect (naturally!), Quiverfull, that believes “God” should entirely control how many children a woman has, and her husband control everything she does.

… and that the “whites” must work to “outbreed” the blacks.

Lovely.

The assistant referee makes what you think is a bad decision about a penalty kick (although by no means is there unanimity on that point).

What do you blame? Of course it must be the referee’s gender that is at fault. Well, if she’s female: that’s the conclusion of the Luton football manager Mike Newell.

Funnily enough, I’ve never heard the same explanation for a male official – might be that you claim he needs glasses, that he can’t run fast enough, that he doesn’t really understand the game – but I’ve never heard a male’s gender blamed.

Newell said: “She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.
“We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom.
“It is absolutely beyond belief. When do we reach a stage when all officials are women, because then we are in trouble?
“It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have, but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems.
“This is Championship football. This is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots.”

Will be interesting to see the reaction to this. Just imagine what the reaction would be if he had said the same things about race. He’d be out on his ear in a second. Somehow, however, I’m not expecting that result when gender is the issue.

No that isn’t me talking (although I agree with the statement), but the Anglican Bishop of Perth (Australia).

Roger Herft has compared Sydney diocese’s refusal to ordain women priests with some Islam thinking that repressed women and gave them status as second-class citizens.
His criticism stands to widen the rift in the Anglican Church over women’s leadership roles just one week after the Sydney synod invoked scriptural authority to effectively block a debate on women priests. Sydney is one of a handful of dioceses in Australia where women are ordained deacons, but not priests.