Role of women in society

While we were meeting with women journalists in Afghanistan this past May, another group of Afghan women journalists were in Washington, D.C., meeting with congressional staff members. The overlap was coincidental, but both groups of Afghan women recounted similar stories of their growing role in Afghan media and, more importantly, the fight for Afghanistan’s democracy.

When Afghan taxi driver Sara Bahai has male passengers in her cab, she takes the chance to lobby them on female rights — and she hopes the country’s next president will also listen to her.

Bahai has been driving the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif city for 10 years, during which Afghanistan has experienced huge changes, including limited improvements in the lives of many women after the harsh years of Taliban rule.

FINNISH ambassador to Zambia Pertti Anttinen is concerned about low levels of women’s participation in politics in Zambia. Mr Anttinen also said Zambia should recommit itself to enhancing gender equality through various regional and international instruments. “At the local government level, only six percent of councillors are women while at the national level, women representation is at 11.4 percent,” Mr Anttinen said.

Big brows may be trendy, but the American public’s sense of propriety gets inflamed if they’re on a female elected official’s face. According to a recent study from Dartmouth University, and published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, female candidates are less likely to win elections in conservative states if their faces have mannish, or gender atypical, features. That includes thick eyebrows, ladies.

Women not only outnumber men on electoral rolls in the state, they also outscored them in casting votes. The Election Commission on Saturday said 2.03 crore women — 73.86% of the total women voters — cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections held on Thursday. In comparison, 2.02 crore men (73.51%) turned up at polling booths. But of 3,341 transgenders, only 419 (12.5%) voted.

GENDER minister Inonge Wina says the government is committed to increasing women participation in politics and decision-making positions.
Speaking when she officiated at the third Gender Protocol Summit and Awards ceremony in Lusaka yesterday, Wina said the government's commitment to gender equality was evidenced by the introduction of the National Gender Policy, which had strong commitments to regional and international instruments.

Egyptian women today still suffer from cultural, social and political discrimination with no indication from policymakers for progress. Though women attained the right to political participation in 1956, significant development has been minimal. The January 25 and June 30revolutions marked a significant change as women were at the forefront throughout.