What are the lives of Russian women settled in northern Norway like? Stereotypes about Russian women as prostitutes or old-fashioned housewives abound in local communities in the north of Norway, explains researcher Jana Sverdljuk.

Many women in Turkey want to use Islam to free themselves from traditional life-patterns. They think that Islam supports women getting an education, working and being politically active, at the same time as it emphasises women’s central role in the Muslim family.

It is usually the ex-politician Kåre Willoch who speaks about public safety. And then he concentrates on society's vulnerability for accidents, catastrophes and terror - and how to avoid such misery. Kristin S. Scharffscher has a master degree in resilience management from the University College of Stavanger. She uses the theories from this programme to find out how to reduce the risk for rape and sexual abuse in refugee camps.

The documentation centre for women, CENDOC-MUJER in Lima has made 26 volumes of women-related articles available in a database that is now being distributed to a network of women’s organisations throughout Peru.

Young Muslim girls are often described as victims of a culture hostile towards women that deprives them of the possibility to control their own days and their own lives. Cand.polit. Nina Rundgren wanted to see how young Muslim girls in Stockholm experienced their personal situation, and give them a voice. The girls' statements assert that there is room for personal choice both within and beyond the framework set up by their culture.

It is impossible to fight HIV and AIDS without using the knowledge to be found among the locals. Especially women's knowledge and their networks must be used. Because a person's health is not only the result of individual choices, it is equally a result of environment, culture and society. Local culture and local institutions must be regarded as resources in the work against HIV and AIDS, not obstacles. This is the opinion of Vendelin Simon. The last two years he has been studying in Bergen at the 'Gender and Development' programme at the Centre for Women and Gender Research.

The Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research at the University of Oslo annually awards a prize for outstanding women's studies and gender research. In 2002 Ingunn Ikdahl won the prize for her master's thesis on women farmer's rights to land in Tanzania. Ikdahl's work has already impressed professionals, both nationally and internationally.

Women are prevented from using contraceptives by their husbands in Zanzibar. In Uganda the baby boys of the AIDS-dead end up on the street.

Women in both Norway and Turkey handle a gender-divided labor market and have the mein responsibility at home. But while Norwegian women can expect support from their partners and the state, Turkish women depend on help from their relatives and mainly their mothers.