The number of women running for public office should get closer to 50 per cent, says the P.E.I. Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

The council has produced a new municipal election guide for the 2012 elections called "Women Care for Communities."

Women currently make up about 30 per cent of the municipal politicians on Prince Edward Island, a much higher percentage than in provincial and federal politics, but still well short of their proportion of the population.

A European Parliament committee has voted against the nomination of Luxembourg’s top central banker to a post at the European Central Bank, saying eurozone leaders should have looked at female candidates at a time when the bank has no women among its top leadership.

The unprecedented “no” vote Monday from the economic and monetary affairs committee comes after legislators complained no women were considered along with Yves Mersch.

A United Nations (UN) report which called for legalizing prostitution as a way of preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in Asia and the Pacific was condemned on Monday by a Philippine non-government group advocating women's rights.

Gabriela, the National Alliance of Women in the Philippines, said prostitution is the "worse exploitation that can be done to women."

After three days of meetings in Pristina, Kosovo, a group of women and men leaders from around the world has created the “Pristina Principles,” a set of guidelines and priorities aimed at eliminating barriers to women’s political participation, aiding their economic empowerment and giving them access to security and justice in the region and around the world.

In partnership with Governments across South Asia, UN Women’s Executive Director Michelle Bachelet and four elected women representatives from South Asia launched the first ever knowledge hub for elected women representatives in rural areas across the region.

Unveiled in the presence of more than 200 women leaders, experts and policy makers, the knowledge hub will use audio and video content in different languages to reach women leaders in remote areas, cutting past literacy and linguistic barriers.

The key issues of women's access to parliament and to internal parliamentary structures kicked off an engaged and lively debate at the 7th IPU Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament in New Delhi on 3rd October.

Women speakers of parliament from around the world have committed to doing more to increase women’s representation in parliament and its formal decision-making bodies.

Concluding a two-day IPU meeting in the Indian capital, New Delhi, focusing on making parliaments more gender sensitive, the group of 13 women speakers adopted the New Delhi Initiative for Gender Sensitive Parliaments.