This ongoing series highlights women’s news and information about foreign policy. This week’s post covers July 02 to July 08.

Nigeria

16-year-old Saibu Yetunde emerged the winner of a five kilometer race in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Yetunde emerged as the overall winner after finishing the race in 19 minutes and 39 seconds.

The annual race, called ‘Ogun Women Run’ is a 5km race organized by Brussels Sports Management Limited for adult girls and women in the state.

Read more here.

United Kingdom

31-year-old Jamie Barrow has been sentenced to jail for life with a minimum term of 44 years for the murders of his neighbour Fatoumatta Hydara and her two daughters, Fatimah and Naeemah Drammeh, after setting fire to their flat.

Using petrol from his motorbike, Barrow set the flat on fire on 20 November, then “walked casually away”. The judge at Nottingham Crown Court, Mrs Justice Tipples, told Barrow he was “well aware” of what he was doing.

Read more here.

Sudan

The heads of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Human Rights Office, the UN Refugee Agency, the UN Children’s Fund, the UN Population Fund, UN Women and the World Health Organization have raised concerns over reports of gender-based violence in Sudan – including conflict-related sexual violence against internally displaced and refugee women and girls.

Since the conflict began in April, the UN Human Rights Office in Sudan has received credible reports of 21 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence against at least 57 women and girls.

Read more here.

Afghanistan

The Taliban has banned women’s beauty parlors in Afghanistan.

The government order, confirmed on Tuesday, followed similar bans on women from schools, public spaces and most forms of employment since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

The ban gives parlors across the country a month’s notice to wind down their businesses and submit a report about their closure.

Read more here.

Kenya

Three managers at a cheese factory in Kenya have been arrested after they reportedly made female staff strip off so they could check who was on their period after a used sanitary towel was found in a bin that was not intended for such waste.

Their employer, Brown’s Food Co., has dismissed them and launched an investigation into the “shocking incident” at its factory, which produces cheese, milk, yogurt and ice cream.

The company will work with Senator Gloria Orwoba – who is known to champion Menstrual Hygiene Management as well as ending period shaming and period poverty in Kenya – on how to implement a Menstrual Hygiene Management policy.

Read more here.