Geneva has become the first city in Switzerland to have a parliament where women are in the majority. After the local elections on Sunday, women now occupy 45 of the 80 seats in the parliament.

Since women won the right to vote in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in 1990, females have risen to rule Switzerland's politics, making up four of the seven- member cabinet. Combining a career and motherhood in the Alpine nation presents a steeper climb.

Almost three-quarters of Czechs are of the view that there are few women in Czech politics, according to a poll conducted by the polling agency CVVM and released today.

Prague- Female mayors from European Union countries have to deal with similar problems at the municipality level as their male colleagues, but it is difficult for them to advance to higher levels of politics, participants in the first meeting of women mayors from EU countries agreed in Prague tod

The Forum 50 % civic group promoting women’s participation in public life and politics has launched a new online learning project entitled “Otevrena Univerzita” or “Open University”.

Many people say that politics are rough, inherently masculine and simply not for women. This is nonsense. Politics are only "masculine" because so few women are involved in them.

Almost three-fifths of Czech men and more than four-fifths of Czech women believe that the number of women in Czech politics is insufficient.
To read the full article, please visit the České Noviny's Website.

Women in the Czech Republic face many gender-related frustrations — unequal hiring procedures, lower wages and sexist attitudes at home and on the job.

Czech women are almost absent from the lists of candidates for the autumn regional and Senate elections, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) reported Monday.

At an international conference on the new ways to overcome gender stereotypes that took place in Prague within the Czech Republic's EU presidency Kocab said stereotypes in people's thinking complicates the position of women in the Czech Republic.

The Czech Interior Ministry is to propose law amendments that would raise women's share in the list of candidates to at least 30 percent, Lejla Abbasova, spokeswoman for Human Rights and Minorities Minister Michael Kocab, said Monday.

While the proportion of women in the post-communist world’s parliaments has been slowly rising, they remain woefully under-represented in high legislative positions and in government than in many Western European countries.

The recently released Social Watch 2010 reports point out the low participation of  Czech women in top politics. The report criticizes the fact that no woman was in the Czech government last year.

Morocco's Islamist-led government on Friday presented a new European Union-funded plan to promote women's rights and equality, but without earlier measures to legalize abortion and support single mothers.

Moroccan women are certain to win at least 10 percent of parliament seats in polls on Friday, but the kingdom needs to deepen reforms to advance equality in the male-dominated politics, activists say.

The issue of women in Parliament has returned to centre stage in Morocco following the country's recent legislative elections. In 2002, women were elected to 35 of the lower house of the Moroccan legislature's 325 seats; on September 7th, 2007, only 34 were selected.

National elections last October in Morocco brought 34 women to the first chamber of Parliament, but while the female MPs have proven effective legislators, their task has not been easy.

Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Leslie Campbell, hailed Morocco's reforms promoting women's participation in politics and electoral transparency.

King Mohammed VI announced on Wednesday the lifting of Morocco's reservations on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), describing them as obsolete.

A French women's rights group that led major marches to denounce violence to women in France's immigrant heavy suburbs is opening its first formal chapter in the Muslim world - in Morocco.

The progress made by Morocco in the field of gender equality is an example in the Arab world, visiting MP Lale Akgün from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the German federal parliament (Bundestag) said Tuesday.

Figures published by the Ministry of the Interior show that percentage of female candidates on supplemental lists has risen from 4.8% in 2003 to 15.7% this year. Yet, only 3.4% of candidates on the regular lists are women.

Morocco has just been through the last phases of its local elections. The reforms that were put in place for the occasion have indeed led to “technical” progress in the management of local communes, such as the voting of young people and women.

Fifteen years after the assassination of Russian MP and human rights activist Galina Starovoitova, those who masterminded her death are yet to be brought to justice. Starovoitova was shot to death in the lobby of her apartment in St. Petersburg on 20th November 1998.

The head of the resurgent Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, said on Tuesday feminism was a "very dangerous" phenomenon offering an illusion of freedom to women who should focus on their families and children.

Chairperson of the Federation Council of Russia (the upper chamber of parliament) Valentina Matvienko has been recognized to be the most influential woman in Russia for two years running.

Several women leaders are hoping for a higher representation in parliament after the December 2 elections than the present 10 percent.
To read the full article, please visit the IPS News Website.

Afghanistan woman member of Parliament, 30-year-old Malalai Joya, has been conferred the prestigious Anna Politkovskaya Award for her work in defending human rights.

Russia’s new public movement, which embraces the most successful of career women, is set on nominating a candidate who will win the 2018 presidential election.The movement’s leader Olga Kryshtanovskaya comments.

Until recently, Russian legislators completely ignored the respective rights of women.

While women in the region can vote, and are acknowledged for their role in community and low-level politics, at least two prominent women politicians in the region have insisted that the playing field is not level, and a woman’s ability to lead is still being questioned in Caribbean cultures.

iKNOW Politics was presented at a seminar on technology and campaigning to candidates in Latvia for the upcoming EU and municipal elections.

iKNOW Politics was presented at a seminar on technology and campaigning to candidates in Latvia for the upcoming EU and municipal elections.