Europe and the CIS

The Hungarian parliament has changed course on a bill that introduces domestic violence to the Hungarian penal code.

The number of women standing in local elections in Armenia has barely changed from four years ago, despite government pledges to increase participation. Activists are now saying it might be is time for local polls to be subject to the same gender quotas as national elections.

An increasing number of women in Kosovo want to pursue a career and raise a family, but balancing the two remains a challenge in what is considered to be the most conservative male-dominated society in the Balkans.

Several NGOs staged a demonstration on Kossuth tér on Sunday to draw attention to violence against women and to speak up for women’s rights more generally.

Three members of the Russian female punk band Pussy Riot are among the eight candidates nominated for the 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Much has changed since the wannabe prime minister David Cameron pledged to give a third of his first government's jobs to women, thereby ending what he called the "scandalous under-representation" in parliament.

The Forum 50%, promoting equal representation of women and men in influential positions, has launched a campaign in support of the introduction of quotas for women in politics, its representatives told reporters yesterday.