Sub Saharan Africa

Women and minority clans will not have the opportunity to access political seats through nomination.

Members of Parliament's lower house of representative have voted against allocating women and members of minority clans parliamentary and local council seats through a quota system.

Read more at Somaliland Sun, published 1 September 2012.

Under the Copac draft constitution, which is set to be taken to a referendum in October, women MPs would be entitled to 60 uncontested seats allocated on a proportional representation basis in addition to other seats guaranteed under the 50-50 gender parity.

he struggle for women's empowerment, is not a new battle.  This is what Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told dignitaries last night's Women's Parliament gala dinner.

She said women in Parliament play a special role in making sure government implements policy promoting gender equality. Dlamini-Zuma bemoaned the lack of gender transformation, especially in the work-force. 

The Minister of Economic Development, Mr Ebrahim Patel, has called for the increased participation of women in the mainstream economy.

Speaking at the Women's Parliament in Cape Town today, Minister Patel said while the country's gender policies have been an area of clear success in the democratic era, South Africa still has a long way to go in the area of gender equality.

"The empowerment of women is an economic imperative. The productive sectors of our economy are the engines that drive economic development, and these are areas where women have been largely absent".

Somalia has recently selected its parliament on Somali soil for the first time since the civil war of the late 1980s. This is a significant achievement since regional power brokers such as Ethiopia and Kenya, with the financial and logistical backing of the European Union, the United States and the United Nations, concocted Somali governments in neighbouring countries. 

THE Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has agreed to reduce by half, the Sh500,000 it was demanding as nomination fee for any of the women hoping to join the country representative race.

TheSh500,000 amount is among the proposals which the IEBC has made in its proposed elections guidelines and rules. The proposal, exclusively reported by the Star,elicited widespread condemnation from a cross section of leaders in civil society, religious as well as political groups.

Two women are running for president: Amal Abdi Ibrahim and Asha Ahmed Abdalla.

In announcing her candidature, Asha Ahmed Abdalla, a member of parliament, accused the current government of favouring corruption and intimidation in the parliament.

This is the second time she runs in the presidential race: in 2004 she was defeated by former president Abdullahi Yusuf. While Amal Abdi Ibrahim, 37, who has been living for 20 years in Finland, announced that if elected she would fight for widows of war and single mothers.