“Ceci n’est pas une pipe” [This is not a pipe], ofteninterpreted as pointing out that the painting is not a pipe but an image of a pipe. The same metaphor illuminates the philosophical essence of the Invisible Girl. When we talk about blogging girls, gamer girls, helpless girls, out-of-control-on-the-internet girls, girls as foolish innocents who invite sexual predation – is this girls’ reality or images of it? Are girls hidden in the notion of the gendered “Other”, in the general idea of a girl category?

First , this report captures the project called “ Addressing Gender Inequality through Awareness Raising: Ending Women and Youth’s Political Marginalization in Somalia” – a project supported by the Canada Fund for local initiatives implemented by our centre –SWSC.

Since 1990, Somalia has experienced statelessness, compounded with armed violence that has led to a high unemployment rate. But another kind of war is going on in Somalia – one that is being waged against the already fragile environment.

Sudden disasters and slow -onset environmental changes have the potential to trigger conflicts, especially in situations where people are already vulnerable and where the socio-economic, political and cultural context exacerbates existing tensions. Water security is a related -and perhaps one of the most serious – strategic issues of our time. Approximately 18 Middle Eastern and North African countries

The purpose of this short piece is to explore the root causes of piracy and its specific effects on Somali women. To grasp the particular effects of piracy on Somali women, I argue it is important to discuss the causes of what we call ‘Somali piracy’ and to provide a gender analysis of the issue. Somalia is located in the Horn of Africa and is endowed with a long coastline along the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

As someone who personally experienced the brutal war that destroyed my homeland, I would like to share with you briefly the active role which women played in the Somali civil war. Somali women were not passive as is often portrayed – they participated the war in various ways, supporting their clans by going to war with them, cooking, cleaning, nursing, or even spying on “the enemy”.