Elections

The Committee on Political Participation of Women (CPPW) urged political parties not to take advantage of the role of women in the 2014 election by using them as a tool to gain political mileage. The CPPW said that the need for sincerity in working to address issues of female political participation as despite the Afghan government's rhetoric about improving Afghan women's rights, no significant progress has been made.

Can you name the politician with the most influence over the lives of women and their families in the past five years? Few would probably come up with Jenny Macklin, the low profile but highly prolific Minister for Families in the Federal Labor government since 2007.

Macklin’s portfolio is huge: in addition to Families, she is also the Minister for Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and Disability Reform, in one way or another touching the lives of just about every Australian.

In the lead up to the Federal Election on 7 September 2013, Australian Women Online will be profiling women from the major political parties in both houses of Federal Parliament.

Malians are still waiting for the government to announce full provisional results from Sunday's presidential poll. The presidency says the announcement has been delayed until Friday, the day by law when the results are due.

However, several candidates have already denounced partial results released earlier this week as fraudulent. Authorities said those partial results indicate a likely first-round victory for former prime minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita...