Women's Leadership

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Vietnam’s appointment of its first female president belies a deep gender imbalance in the communist country’s politics and society and will do little to improve women’s rights, advocates said on Monday.

Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh was named acting president on Sunday following the death of Tran Dai Quang, a former chief of internal security appointed to the presidency in 2016.

Despite some gains, female politicians face an uphill battle in reaching the country’s 30% quota.

Women’s participation in Somali politics has traditionally been low, and a controversial topic in the country. Somali society typically ascribes to more conservative notions of a woman’s role in family and community life, rarely envisioning a position of political leadership in a male-dominated system. This has been changing, but there’s a long road ahead.

India is the most dangerous country for sexual violence against women, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation 2018 survey.

The survey, which measures sexual and non-sexual violence, discrimination, cultural traditions, health care and human trafficking, has been criticized for reflecting more perception than data.

Mali’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Monday named Kamissa Camara as his new foreign minister, joining a 33 member cabinet tasked with restoring peace and rebuilding the economy in Keita’s second and final term.

35-year Camara previously served as Keita’s foreign policy adviser, a position she was appointed to in July this year.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Mikie Sherrill, Democratic candidate for Congress, had finished a radio interview and was heading toward the stage at the local library where a crowd waited for her to begin an event with the mayor and a native-son-turned-astronaut.

But first, there was a smudge of chocolate to be dealt with.