Asia and the Pacific

Samiyeh Balochzehi, 26, who was elected mayor by the Kalat city council, is an engineer and has a master’s degree in natural resources management from the Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch in Tehran. A local who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said that Balochzehi is a widow, that her sister is on the city council and that she comes from a wealthy and influential family.

While you may witness injustice on a daily basis, when was the last time you decided to interfere and help change a stranger’s situation? Either afraid of societal reprimand or confused on how to make a difference, many elect to ignore the pressing situations currently going on (homelessness, starvation, war crimes, etc…) and live in the comfort of what they feel is ‘security’. Yet, if no one does anything, waiting for someone else to step up, nothing will ever be achieved or change.

The 1,110 affidavits filed by candidates during the nomination process till Saturday throw up some interesting figures and information about those who want to represent Delhiites in the Assembly. 

Women candidates affiliated to major political parties contesting in the upcoming CA election have accused their parties of not being supportive toward them at all.

Speaking at an interaction on ´Media Monitoring: Representation of Women in Constituent Assembly and Women Issue´ organized in the capital, Hisila Yami, a UCPN (Maoist) candidate for Kathmandu´s constituency 7 and a former minister, said that she had to struggle a lot to secure her candidacy as a direct candidate.   

The percentage of women in Singapore's Parliament is better compared to a decade ago and it is more important to anchor political representation on meritocracy rather than impose gender quotas, Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Social and Family Development Low Yen Ling said on Tuesday.

Out of 99 seats in the House, 25 are currently occupied by women.

Do not be misled by the depiction of Pakistani women in popular media. While the thought of Pakistani women may conjure a stereotypical oppressed and burqa-clad image, times are changing fast. 

In Nepal, only twenty percent of women have some form of land ownership. Deprivation of land rights is synonymous with poverty and denial of rights. But over time a number of women-led land rights campaigns have brought about important changes at the national policy level.

We invite our users to read the complete article published November 11 2013