Post-conflict and Transitional Participation

Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammed Morsi on Monday named a team of 21 advisers and aides that includes three women and two Christians and a large number of Islamist-leaning figures, backing off campaign promises to appoint a Christian and a woman as vice presidents.

The move is the latest by Morsi, a longtime member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was inaugurated in late June, to establish his authority and break with the era of ousted President Hosni Mubarak by forming his own leadership.

Thousands of Tunisians rallied on Monday to protest against what they see as a push by the Islamist-led government for constitutional changes that would degrade women's status in one of the Arab world's most liberal nations.

The protest, by some 6,000 mostly Tunisian women, is the latest twist in a row over the role of Islam in a constitution being drawn up by a new assembly.

Tunisia's ruling Ennahda Movement is under pressure from both hardline Salafi Muslims, calling for the introduction of Islamic law, and secular opposition parties.

Following the Libyan revolution, in which women played a crucial part, and the participation of large numbers of female citizens in the July 2012 elections, Libyan women are now looking forward to a partnership and full equality with their male counterparts.

"Libyan women were instrumental in the country choosing a liberal and progressive government in the recent elections as many of them voted for the winning National Forces Alliance (NFA) of Mahmoud Jibril," said Nadine Nasrat, from the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).

Women from the civil society and political activists are demanding for their 30 percent quota as the deadline to the formation of a new government draws near.

More than 75% of assisted Syrian refugees are women and children. The targeting of civilians is well documented. But sexual violence against women and girls receives little attention. Cultural norms often prevent survivors from reporting sexual assault. Yet the facts are stark, and we cannot do them justice here.

Tunisian women are rising up against a proposed article in the new constitution seen by many as an Islamist ploy to reverse the principle of gender equality that made Tunisia a beacon of modernity in the Arab world when it was introduced six decades ago.
The National Constituent Assembly parliamentary committee adopted last week a proposed article that activists say would compromise rights enshrined in the Personal Status Code (CSP) promulgated in 1956 under Tunisia's first president, Habib Bourguiba.

When Bothaina Kamel began gathering signatures for her campaign to be not only Egypt’s first democratically elected president, but also its first female leader in centuries, just about everyone knew the campaign wouldn’t succeed.

But that wasn’t the point. As Kamel told GlobalPost during the run-up to the presidential elections in May, “We have to dream.”

The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) has launched a program to train women to spearhead citizenship education towards the promotion of peace, transparency and credibility of the December elections.

Dubbed “Promoting democratic citizenship to enhance elections peace, transparency and credibility in Ghana”, it aims at building the capacities of selected women from 15 electoral-violence prone districts to create more awareness about the need for peace.

The New York-based Women’s Media Center’s Women Under Siege Project has been using modern technology, from e-mail to YouTube to Twitter, to carry out ground-breaking research into sexualized violence as it unfolds in Syria.