North Africa and Middle East

Although Libyan women compose half of the population and were at the forefront of the February 17th revolution, among the tragedies of the transition period has been the severe blow to women’s rights.

Bayan Nouri has a tough job over the next four years – the new Minister for Women’s Affairs in Iraq must try to improve the economic lot of Iraq’s women, prevent systemic domestic violence against females and work on problems like female genital mutilation and underage marriage as well as somehow