On the occasion of the Day of the Paraguayan Women, celebrated today, 24 February, a group of female workers have called for a greater participation of women in politics in Paraguay, in order to improve their social rights. Most of these women are in the informal economy, and many of them are artisans, domestic workers or owners of stalls.

The platform #womenalsoknowstuff is an online project that enables access to women experts on a wide range of topics. From African Politics, to International Law or Institutional Design, the platform provides information about dozens of female academics and experts. The site’s main purpose is to contribute to stop the underrepresentation of women in the social sphere, in particular the media, when it comes to cover specialized issues or areas of expertise.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently 

According to Human Rights Watch, Afghan women have been denied participation in the last 20 rounds of official peace negotiations. The exclusion of women is explained by some to be the result of women’s limited representation in Afghanistan, where men hold virtually all top positions in government and security institutions.

Violence against women takes many forms and it is a global phenomenon. It is the case, however, that during electoral processes violence against women is generally increased; the reason behind this trend is that the attention that the media pay to elections is often used as an amplifier for propagating the messages of violence. Thus, during the 2011 Nigerian national elections, several reports denounced that female volunteers suffered sexual harassment at polling stations.