Only four women were elected to Parliament in Malta’s general election, down from the eight female MPs elected in 2017.
A new government team named by Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has women in nine of the 17 cabinet positions.
Relatives of opposition members imprisoned by the regime addressed the panel, decrying the poor treatment and different types of torture the female prisoners suffer.
The National Women Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Louisa Hannah Bissiw, has called on the women leadership of political parties to mentor young ladies in and out of tertiary education to partake in active politics.
Female politicians still face numerous obstacles despite momentum for change.
On a sunny afternoon near a busy motorway in Beirut, former Lebanese MP Paula Yacoubian sits in the headquarters of her charitable organisation.
Al-Shabaab claim responsibility for attacks, including that which killed Amina Mohamed Abdi in run-up to elections this week.
MPA Heer Soho says community chose her as leader after her father.
Madeleine Albright, who came to the United States as a child refugee and rose to be the first female secretary of state, shaping American foreign policy at the end of the 20th century, has died at the age of 84.
Despite efforts to encourage women to both vote and run in local elections in the West Bank, candidates say much work remains to be done.