Credit: Ontario Women's Directorate on Flickr under CC 2.0

(WOMENSENEWS)--

Cheers

On the launch of the U.N.'s International Day of the Girl Oct. 11, money poured in from organizations to support girls worldwide. The Ford Foundation announced a five-year, $25 million commitment to help end child marriage, a practice the foundation said afflicts 10 million girls around the world every year. The United Nations Population Fund said it will invest an additional $20 million over the next five years to reach the most marginalized adolescent girls in 12 countries with high rates of child marriage. The New America Foundation's Global Assets Project said in a report, Investing In Girls, that targeting girls is a more effective way of ending intergenerational poverty than programs targeting children generally.

More News to Cheer This Week:

Journalists on Twitter praised ABC News Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz for her moderation of the first vice presidential debate after criticizing Jim Lehrer's approach in the first presidential debate, Poynter reported Oct. 12. She said after the debate both candidates told her, "You were tough, but good job." CNN reported that she kept the candidates in line, pressed for firm answers and when it was time to move on they moved on.

Col. Jeannie Flynn Leavitt was named the Air Force's first female wing commander, overseeing 5,000 airmen at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina, ABC news reported Oct.10.

Women will benefit from significant improvements to ensure an efficient, effective, and equitable health care under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 says Dr. Susan Blumenthal, public health editor at The Huffington Post and former U.S. assistant surgeon general, The Huffington Post reported Oct. 11.

Syrian novelist Samar Yazbek won the prestigious PEN Pinter International Writer of Courage Award, CNN reported Oct. 10. Yazbek risked her life to document her countrymen's suffering.

Google will hold the first "Geek Girl" meet-up in the Philippines capital of Manila next week, the Egyptian online magazine Bikya Masr reported Oct. 10. With the field largely dominated by men, Google hopes the event can spark interest and awareness of the impact women in the IT field can have on the sector.

Jeers

Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old champion of girls' rights and education, was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in north-western Pakistan's Swat Valley, BBC News reported Oct. 10. Yousafzai was targeted because she "promoted secularism", the Islamists said. On Oct. 11, the first annual "International Day of the Girl Child," Yousafzai became an international icon, known simply as "Malala", reported The Atlantic Oct. 12. "If Pakistan has a future, it is embodied in Malala Yousafzai," a New York Times editorial said.

More News to Jeer This Week:

Radical Islamists are compiling a list of unmarried mothers in northern Mali, raising fears of cruel punishments such as stoning, amputations and executions, a senior United Nations official said, CNN reported Oct. 12. Women are the primary victims of violence in Northern Mali, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic concluded after a four-day visit to the country, AllAfrica.com reported Oct. 9.

Domestic violence rates rose by an average of 30 percent each time England won or lost their games during the 2010 World Cup, Wiley said in a statement Oct. 11.

Jose Manuel Castelao Bragano, a Spanish government official, is drawing international fire after declaring that "laws are like women, they're there to be raped," The Huffington Post reported Oct. 10.

Female journalists in Australia are twice as likely to be sexually harassed at work than women in other professions, Sky News reported Oct. 10. The survey of 577 female journalists working in the country also found that