Role of women in society

Women are outnumbered in state legislatures around the country, particularly in Michigan, where female representation is at its lowest point in more than two decades.

As MLive reported Sunday, women inside and outside the state legislature are working to recruit new female candidates. But as of today, women hold only 28 out of 148 seats in the Michigan Legislature. 

Their history is the history of Chile. Michelle Bachelet and Evelyn Matthei were childhood friends whose fathers became top generals on opposite sides of the country's deep political divide.

Bachelet's father supported socialist President Salvador Allende until the 1973 coup ended one of Latin America's oldest democracies. Matthei's father ran the military school where Gen. Alberto Bachelet was tortured to death for refusing to line up behind dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Lindy Boggs was only 24 when she arrived in Washington as the top political adviser to her husband, newly elected to Congress.

Thirty-two years later, the seat became hers after Hale Boggs was presumed dead in a plane crash, and she made her own mark as an advocate for women and minorities.

Boggs died Saturday at the age of 97, according to ABC News, where Boggs' daughter Cokie Roberts is a political contributor.

A group of non-governmental organizations has come up with a programme to ensure that women safely participate in the forthcoming elections.

The programme, called The Women's Situation Room, will see women across the country and from different political parties receiving help as soon as they dial a toll free number that is set to be launched next July 29, if they experience any problems during the election period.