Women empowerment

When Canada’s premiers sit down next July 25 for their semi-annual summit, they’ll be making history by changing the face of provincial and territorial leadership.

For the first time, there will be six women at the meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., representing about 85 per cent of the country’s population. And at the head of the table will be Kathleen Wynne, who was sworn in as Ontario’s first woman premier just six months ago.

US Ambassador Peter W. Bodde today called for increased participation of women in the upcoming elections and announced that his government would work with the government of Nepal and civil society to encourage women and underrepresented groups to participate in politics. 

At a summer lunch with reporters in her Capitol conference room, Rep. Nancy Pelosi rolled out an ambitious economic agenda for women with next year’s congressional elections in mind.

The Somali Ministry of Development and Social Affairs is drafting a bill that outlines a new gender policy for the country and safeguards women's rights, particularly in politics and education.

The proposed legislation is part of a wide-ranging government programme that aims to promote women's rights and support their access to education, health services and participation in governance.

While 30% of parliament is supposed to be reserved for women, women make up less than 16% of the current parliament. 

Noorzia Atmar is the human face of women's rights in Afghanistan, her unbridled and open enthusiasm now bruised and sheltered from the public eye.

Today her voice has been muted, and her existence in a home for battered women epitomizes the rapid unraveling of what advancements had been made.

Two years away from the general elections, Nigerian women who converged under different organizations and auspices at a two-day summit organized by Nigerian Women in Parliament with the support of United Nations Development Programme and Democratic Governance for Development (UNDP/DGD), have started strategizing on how to gain more political relevance ahead of 2015.

The NGO Lawyers for Justice in Libya (LFJL) has welcomed the decision by Congress to reserve seats on the 60-member Constitutional Commission for women and ethnic minorities but has criticized the amount set aside for the former. 

It says that the allocation of six seats for women is “insufficient where women represent 49 percent of the population”. It also fears that “the measures outlined in the Election Law to fulfil the quota may have a negative impact on women’s participation”.

Serbia has made "certain progress", officials concluded at the session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

During the session, the Serbian government delegation presented the report on the implementation of the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).