When Diah Pitaloka took over the youth wing of Indonesia’s third-biggest political party two years ago, her male colleagues addressed her as “Pak,” which in Indonesian means “Mr.”

The world’s most populous Muslim country will now penalize political parties that fail to meet a requirement for females to make up at least 30 percent of candidates in the elections as it seeks to halt a widening divide between the sexes.

Indonesia ranked 97th of 135 countries last year on the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index, down from 90th in 2011.

Pengerang Member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said has been selected as the Chairperson of the Malaysian Women's Parliamentary Caucus.

Azalina said as the chairperson of a women's caucus, she would definitely ensure that women-related issues would continue to be raised in the Dewan Rakyat.

 In a country where they have been playing second fiddle to men for centuries, women candidates outnumber men in the ongoing polls to the West Bengal village councils, the third tier of India's electoral democracy.

An estimated 90,000 rural women are contesting the pollls out of a total of 169,000 candidates, that is over half the total number of candidates in the elections that would decide representatives in 58,865 seats.

Political parties in Liberia have been asked to ensure that at least 40 per cent of all elected positions at the district, regional and national levels are occupied by women.

The electorates have also been advised to vote for women to occupy political positions instead of always giving preference to men.

The Executive director of Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL), made the call at the start of a three-day workshop in Gbarnga themed "Reinforcing Women's leadership in key positions in 2014 and 2017".

The lot of Nigerian women in the workplace has not always been pleasant. It is even more brutish in the political arena. Gender activists and other stakeholders gathered in Abuja recently to ponder their lot.

MRs. Rifkatu Samson Dannahn the only female member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, suspended for about one year from the House by her male colleagues, was the cynosure of many eyes at the Women in Parliament summit in Abuja penultimate week.

Violence against female protesters was a terrifying hallmark of the unrest that led to the fall of the Morsi government. Local NGOs documente more than 100 reports of sexual violence, including rape, between June 30 and July 3, the day of the “coup-volution” which ousted Morsi.

Among the many issues bringing protestors together at Gezi Park, the now-iconic site of struggle in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, is the demand for women’s liberation.

Coming from many walks of life and expressing a myriad of ideals and values, the women of the Occupy Gezi Movement have nevertheless voiced a collective desire: to fight the undercurrent of deeply entrenched patriarchal values and reclaim autonomy over their own bodies and lifestyles.