Women in Southern Africa will soon move a step closer to having equal rights and opportunities with men when a regional gender protocol is ratified in coming weeks. Half of the 15 SADC member states have already ratified the Protocol on Gender and Development.
Egypts women were on the front line of protests in Tahrir Square that led to the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak, but they are becoming increasingly concerned that they are being sidelined as a new Egypt takes shape.
Falling tyrants and rising freedoms have been a recurrent theme of the Arab Spring. Invariably, in every discussion of democratisation in the Middle East, the question of women crops up. The key conundrum: will democracy be good for women's rights?
The All Political Parties Women’s Association (APPWA), established with the active cooperation of the local United Nations Coordinating Agency, UNIPSIL, aims at increasing the participation of women in Sierra Leone politics, particularly to attaining the 30% quota by all political parties.
In a fresh attempt to curb money power in the elections, the law ministry has proposed that the government fund women and scheduled caste and tribe candidates of recognised political parties.
The Lebanese Women’s Council called Friday on all women’s rights groups to put politics aside and unite toward holding MPs accountable in the coming elections.
The Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe has called on the Zimbabwean leadership, SADC leadership and the mediator, President Jacob Zuma, to work towards the production of a gender sensitive roadmap to elections.
Brazil's first woman president now has ten women in her cabinet, two short of her 30 per cent target.
The Arab Spring created hope for democracy in which women would at least have a voice. But we're still waiting.