Minorities and Indigenous Women

At the heart of Manila’s main thoroughfare, right at the People Power monument, a large group of Muslim women gathered one Sunday (Oct. 14, 2012), in pink hijabs no less, to send an important message to the rest of the Filipino nation as the historic framework agreement on the Bangsamoro was about to be signed: “Religious understanding now, Bangsamoro for peace, yes to national unity.”

Ijara — As Kenyans go to the polls today, could Sophia Abdi Noor become the first ever Somali woman to be voted in to the Kenyan parliament?

(Read article at: allAfrica)

Leyla Zana: Married at 14 to Mehdi Zana, a political Kurd some 20 years her senior who became mayor of Diyarbakir and spent 16 years in jail after the 1980 military coup, she found herself the single mother of two children. Learning Turkish with them as they were schooled, she also found her political voice — and went on to become, in 1991, the first Kurdish woman elected to the Turkish Parliament.

Four women are vying for the role of the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in what is being described as an “unprecedented” election.

For the first time in AFN election history, the number of female candidates is equal to the male candidates.

Still, history is against these women. While women have run before in past elections, the organization has never elected a female national chief.