Somalia

Following the downfall of President Siad Barre in 1991, a civil war broke out in Somalia between the factions. The internecine conflict has taken its heavy toll on all Somalis, but women in general face a disproportionate burden. With many men fleeing and abandoning their families, women have learned to fend for themselves after their husbands died. Regrettably, the tribal hostilities terminated male dominated jobs. During the clan and factional conflict, Somali women took up crucial roles generally allocated to men as breadwinners and protectors of their families.

Somali women have been facing formidable challenges and complain about marginalization in politics but they in turn played a pivotal role in securing peace deals between warring forces on the ground. Among the stumbling blocks are cultural and strict religious beliefs, lack of distant goal, psychological backwardness, rape and domestic violence.  

Following Somali state collapse in 1991, women braced up for arduous tasks by putting their lives on the frontline to make urgently pressing priorities possible and shape their own destinies.

Popular Somali musician and member of parliament Saado Ali Warsame has been shot dead by Islamist militants.

She was killed along with her bodyguard in a drive-by shooting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

A spokesman for the Islamist al-Shabab group, Abdulaziz Abu Musab, told the BBC that she was targeted for her politics and not her music.

The BBC's Mohammed Moalimu in Mogadishu says she is the fourth MP to be killed this year.

Puntland’s new minister for women affairs and Family Development Anisa Abdulkadir Haji Mumin has today officially taken over office in a ceremony held at the Ministry’s headquarters in Garowe.

Former Minister Halimo Haji Hassan handed over to the new minister documents containing the recent developments achieved by the previous team of the ministry and pending plans.

While al-Shabaab loses ground and progress and development spread throughout Somalia, women are seeking a larger role in re-constructing the country.

They are helping rebuild Somalia in many fields, such as education, health, politics and even security. Out of the many Somali women leaders across the country, Sabahi profiled three women -- Asli Ismail Duale, Sadiya Abdisamad Abdullahi and Dunia Mohamed Ali -- who are using their knowledge to educate and heal the public, and promote gender equality.

Hodan Ahmed and her family were forced to flee Somalia in 1991. The civil war that drove them from their home would go on for two decades. Ahmed live abroad in India and then in Kenya, where she got her education and began her career, but her dream was to return to Somalia to give her children the chance to grow up where she could not.

We invite you to read the full article published July 2 2013 by our partner, NDI