Role of women in society

KUCHING:More needs to be done to promote gender equality to strengthen women’s representation and allow women equal access to decision-making positions at all levels of society. Highlighting this yesterday, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said women still face significant barriers to full and equal participation in the structures and institutions governing their lives.

They make up one-fifth of the body. It doesn’t look anything like parity (or America), but they believe they can do what the men can’t — namely, get things done.

We invite you to read the article published July 12 2013

What is it about the “woman question” that drives so many pundits and politicians to despair in New Zealand? To call the all-women shortlist a “man ban” shows how clearly many of them see politics as being all about them, men.

 On the same day that she buried her father, Alma Leticia Reyes decided that she would follow in his footsteps and continue his candidacy for mayor of a Mexican town herself, and now - after winning the election - she will have the chance to carry out the plans that he intended to implement in office.

We invite you to read the full article published July 11 2013

President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai essentially just had a Skype breakup. According to The New York Times, the "slowly unraveling" relationship between the two reached a "new low" when Karzai unloaded on Obama in a video conference for negotiating with the Taliban without him. This falling out comes at a fraught moment, just as Obama is finalizing his endgame plans in Afghanistan.

Egypt’s women have been at the heart of the vibrant civil society movement that continues to press for the rights of all Egyptians.

Their participation in public life and the inclusion of their needs and priorities in any political solution is a prerequisite for inclusive democracy in Egypt.

UN Women is concerned by reports of the high prevalence of sexual assaults against women in public spaces.

In one episode of the Nigerian radio drama Dukan Karshe, a young man and woman decide to run for their local council to correct injustices, including government funds being diverted from schools and hospitals to line the pockets of local politicians. “It is time for us as women to take part fully in politics,” the woman says. “We are the mothers. We know what is good for our community.”

We invite our users to read the full article published June 26 2013

A useful workshop aimed at generating an understanding in the media of Haiti’s women’s quota was held on 13 June in Port au Prince.

The workshop was arranged jointly by International IDEA and the Haitian committee charged with the implementation of the 30% quota for women that was incorporated into the Amended 1987 Constitution (Article 17.1).