Interest groups on gender equity have called on the President-elect Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to ensure gender balance in the formation of the new government in keeping with his promise to give women 35 per cent of the appointments if re-elected.
An Egyptian women's rights activist said she received a death threat because of a statement she made about the consequences of canceling the law that gives women the right to initiate divorce. On 14 April, Abul Komsan told Al-Masry Al-You
The appointment of Amani Bouresli, a Kuwait University finance professor and chairwoman at Capital Standards, as the new minister of commerce and industry, has been warmly welcomed by the business community, a local daily reported.
Saudi women have no right to vote in the rare, countrywide elections Saudi officials hold or to drive on the kingdom's roads. They have little say in matters of marriage and divorce.
Chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula called on Friday for a quota system to improve women's representation in the public and private sector. She said the Independent Electoral Commission was not happy with the number of women candidates in local government elections to be held on May 18.
Since the first democratic elections in 1994, women representation in Parliament has soared, owing partly to the ruling party's 50/50 principle at national and provincial spheres of government.
The 41st Parliament in Canada will have 76 women – up from 69 elected in 2008. Most are from the NDP, whose 40 women make up 39 per cent of its caucus. That’s the highest number of women in a Canadian federal caucus, but the percentage is lower than the NDP’s figures from the 2006 election.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has challenged men to champion the cause for the empowerment of women, saying women remained ``second-class citizens" and are often subjected to violence in many societies.