In a traditionally male-dominated society, the 55-year-old leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has sought to turn her gender into an advantage in the campaign for this Saturday's election.
Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has registered her candidacy for an April by-election, as her opposition party comes full circle after being politically ostracized for two decades.
Reservation for women in leadership positions in Indian villages is having a positive role model effect and has changed the way young girls and their parents think about female leadership, a new research has said.
A group of men gathered around Amira El Bakry in Tahrir Square as she brandished a newspaper photo that shocked many Egyptians. It showed troops dragging a female protester along the street, her robe ripped open to reveal a blue bra and bare midriff.
Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff, has quickly stepped out of the shadow of her charismatic predecessor Lula. After one year in office, she is more popular than any former president was at this stage.
Hundreds of people have protested in Blantyre in Malawi about attacks on women for wearing trousers.
Bahrain's leading Shia Muslim cleric has told his followers to retaliate if women are attacked, in a warning to the country's security forces.
In the small hilly Indian state of Meghalaya, a matrilineal system operates with property names and wealth passing from mother to daughter rather than father to son - but some men are campaigning for change.
When I arrived in Colombia in July of 1994, I was surprised to see women in jobs usually held by men in almost every labor field, and especially amazed to see so many women in important leadership positions in finance and economics.