The Women’s World Summit Foundation (WWSF) cordially invites you to submit nominations for its 18th annual PRIZE for women’s creativity in rural life, honoring creative and courageous women and women’s organizations around the world working to improve the quality of life in rural communities. Since inception of the prize program in 1994, 375 Laureates have so far been honored for their commitment and creativity with a cash award of US$ 1000. – each. All Laureates and their profiles are published on our web site www.woman.ch . A traveling exposition is giving visibility to all prize winners, available at our headquarters.  

Given your experience, interest and perspective with regard to issues of development, human rights, the environment, micro-credit, peace building and empowerment of women and girls, we greatly appreciate your participation and thank you in advance for sending us your candidates. About 10 prizewinners will again be selected in 2012 and announced to the media on 15 October – International Day of rural women.  

WWSF wishes to remind you that the United Nations General Assembly (6 November 2007) decided to officially declare 15 October as the International Day of Rural Women, which is the result of 13 years of WWSF lobby work. It is also the Day when Laureates are honored locally and nationally with the WWSF Prize in their respective countries and occasionally some of them are invited to an award ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland. Your nomination(s), following the nomination guidelines, must arrive no later than 30 April 2012 via the post. Link to guidelines:  http://www.woman.ch/index.php?page=nomination-guidelines&hl=en_US

The Medical Women's International Association Western Pacific council meeting was held via Skype on December 17, 2011. Click here to read the minutes of the meeting.

Many of our members were interested in a newsletter article we featured on the topic of genital cosmetic surgery, following on from a letter sent to the MJA. Dr Glenn Carruthers and Dr Rachel Robbins have recently sponsored a petition directed at The Executive Director Australian Law Reform Commission. It reads:

"For some time we have been concerned that unrealistic depictions of female genitals, as required by the Australian film and literature classification board, have resulted in misperception of oneself as abnormal, leading to emotional problems and an increase in unnecessary and poorly understood cosmetic surgery. Fortunately the current guidelines for the classification of publications in Australia are under review. This provides us with an opportunity to have a say on some issues in the scheme which are related to these social and health problems. These problems are ably highlighted in the submission by Women's Health Victoria."

Click here to read and sign the petition.

The Perfect Vagina is an interesting UK documentary that examines labioplasty, labial casting (to create the Great Wall of Vagina), perceptions of and normal variations of female genitalia, and hymenoplasty.

If you know a woman who has concerns about the appearance of her genitals consider directing her to the Great Wall of Vagina - an artistic display of 400 casted female genitalia showing appearances of all shapes and sizes.

The Chief Executive Women (CEW) 2012 Scholarship Program is now available and applications are open. CEW is a national member-based organisation which seeks to support the development of women at all levels within the business world - be it the corporate, public or not-for-profit sectors.

Each year CEW offers a range of executive education scholarships. In 2012 CEW is offering a total of 15 scholarships to be awarded to Australian-based women to attend a variety of Australian and international business schools. The scholarships are aimed at women at different stages of their careers, whether they are working in small medium enterprise, part-time positions or at the senior executive level.

For more information visit CEW at: www.cew.org.au/scholarships2012
For all enquiries email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Applications close in January and February 2012.