Entries will be accepted from April 28 until June 28, 2009 By Muevete por la Igualdad, www.mueveteporlaigualdad.org

Bajo La Sombra is a photo contest that tries to sensitize and view the struggle of women around the world to enforce their rights. We want to attract attention of society and the governments to meet the Millennium Objectives and the goals of the Beijing Platform.

Your vision of the world can contribute to the change.  Show it to us!

The photo contest will focus on two subject-matter themes:

- The Political Participation of Women: The importance of women being in all areas of decision-making to politically represent society and be represented.

- The Economy of Care Providers: Focusing on activities, goods and services required for reproduction and maintenance of life, which for years have been realized by women and yet have not been visible or valued. From the campaign, we want to make visible these activities and advocate the need for shared responsibility between men and women and make visible the assumption of responsibilities by the state.

AWARDS

There will be only one award provided in the amount of 1.500 €. Also 9 finalists will be selected with a Special Mention, whose photos will be displayed in an exhibition that will cover at least five Autonomous regions and four countries of Latin America throughout the year 2010.

In the deliberation, the jury will take into consideration the aesthetic, sensitive, and informative qualities of the presented works. Members of the jury will be:

Amelia Varcárcel

Cayetana Guillén Cuervo

Claude Bussac

Iván Hidalgo

Mª Ángeles Durán

Nuria Varela

Rosa Cobo

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Participants must be over 18 years in age and a resident of Spain, Latin America, or Africa, regardless of your nationality. Participants can be enthusiasts of photography or professional photographers. Each participant may submit a maximum of 1 work in each category.

Photographs may be submitted by email or regular mail. The deadline for receipt of works is between April 28 and June 28.

Email submissions should be sent to prensa@mueveteporlaigualdad.org specifying the subject "Photo Contest".

Sending submissions by post is also acceptable. Please include submissions on a CD, using a folder specified as "Photo Contest." Only digital photo submissions will be accepted. The photographs must be sent in schedule form 9 hours to 20 hours at the following address:

Ayuda en Acción

C/ Enrique Jardiel Poncela 6

28016 Madrid

Please specify the following in a Word document:

- Title of the work

- Brief description of the photo (where taken)

- Author's full name, telephone number, postal address, email address and a secondary contact person in case the author is not reachable

The verdict of the jury and the names of the contest winners will be announced at a public event during the last quarter of 2009, at a place and date that opportunely will be indicated.

For more information about the contest, please visit www.mueveteporlaigualdad.org

On February 27, 2008, The Open Society Institute hosted a forum titled "Women in Conflict Zones-- Why are Governments Failing and How are Women's Rights Movements Responding?"  At the event, sponsored by the Open Society Institute International Women's Program, leading NGO panelists discussed their cutting-edge work addressing violence against women in conflict and post-conflict zones, their challenges, and where they see governments failing.  Featured speakers included Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng, Marie Claire Ruhamya, and Gopal Krishna Siwakoti.

To listen to an audio recording of the event, please click here.

The American Refugee Committee International and Communication for Change have collaborated on a unique participatory video project that helps conflict-affected communities raise their voices against gender violence.

To see a video clip of the "Through Our Eyes" project, please click here.

Released in 2007 by IRIN News, "Losing Hope: Women in Afghanistan" documents the plight of women living in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

To view the film, please click here.

Released in 2004 by IRIN News, "Our Bodies...their battleground" highlights the crisis facing women, girls and infants throughout the world, both during conflict and in its wake. This film gives a voice to victims of rape in The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia, and seeks to challenge the culture of impunity that allows this violence to continue unchecked. 

To view the film, please click here. 

In January 2008, CBS/60 Minutes premiered "War Against Women: The Use of Rape as a Weapon in Congo's Civil War." The clip, featuring CNN's Anderson Cooper, documents stories of violence against women within the context of the civil war in Congo. To access the footage, please click here.

Meet the Artists: Lisa F. Jackson, Director of "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo"

Shot in the war zones of the DR Congo, this film breaks the silence surrounding thousands of women and girls who have been kidnapped, raped and tortured in an intractable civil war. The filmmaker, herself a survivor of gang rape, talks with activists, peacekeepers, physicians and the rapists themselves. She travels to remote villages to meet rape survivors who have been shamed and abandoned, providing a piercing, intimate look into the horror, struggle and ultimate grace of their lives.

To watch an interview with Lisa F. Jackson, click here.