women leaders

India and the United States will jointly move a resolution to address violence, particularly against women and girls, at the Executive Board meeting of the World Health Organisation in Geneva later this month.

The resolution on “The role of health sector in addressing violence, particularly against women and girls” will be supported by Belgium, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway and Zambia.

Women voters outnumber men in 22 of the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu.

In the previous Lok Sabha elections in May 2009, women outnumbered men in 15 constituencies.

Maximum in southern districts

As in the past, the southern districts account for a maximum number of such constituencies – Madurai, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Dindigul, Theni, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Tuticorin.

As a young girl in Bangladesh, you could say I grew up parallel to the legendary rivalry between the country’s main political foes, Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia: two very powerful women with some serious political capital. Hasina is one of the only surviving members of her family, the majority of whom were brutally assassinated by army officials in the aftermath of Bangladesh’s bloody Independence. Khaleda Zia, on the other hand, is the widow of career military officer, Ziaur Rahman, founder of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that Khaleda Zia now heads.

Women in Puntland have expressed their dissatisfaction with their representation in the new Puntland Parliament. Halimo Mohamed Farah, the chairwoman of Puntland Women Alliance said that they were dismayed to learn that only two women were among the 66 newly assembled legislators.

She placed the blame on traditional elders, who she said do not recognize the role and leadership qualities of the Somali women. She vowed that they will continue to double their efforts to attain their rightful positions in the political arena.

Where are all the women?

A new study of women serving elected office in Utah shows that, even though Utah is one of the few states with a female Speaker of the House, the number of women serving in the state Legislature has actually declined over the past decade and only 12 of 161 mayors are women.

“Our young women are forming a new era in female history,” wrote Massachusetts feminist Judith Sargent Murray excitedly. “The Rights of Women begin to be understood; we seem, at length, determined to do justice.” The year was 1798. It would be two hundred and fourteen years until her home state would elect its first female senator, Elizabeth Warren. This year, it might get its first elected female governor, likely Democratic nominee Martha Coakley.

Recently, women leaders from around the world gathered in Brussels to participate in the inaugural Women in Parliaments (WIP) Global Forum. I was honored to join them.