CAIRO -- This week, Egypt's more than 52 million voters will go to the polls to decide whether to approve the country's rewritten constitution, which limits the scope of Islamic law and introduces new articles seen as a victory for rights advocates.
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.
Former US representative Gabrielle Giffords — still recovering from a shooting three years ago — said Thursday that she might consider a return to political office.
“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.
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.
The two most powerful women in Bangladesh — Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader, Bangladesh National Party chairperson Khaleda Zia — have made international headlines this month as elections in the troubled nation resulted in violence.
“When I began my research on the representation of women and female politicians in the media in the eighties, people kept telling me that ‘it will take time, but it will get better’. I believe that I have good reason to say that it hasn’t. It has become worse,” says Liesbet van Zoonen.
As we gather with family and friends across our great country to celebrate the end of 2013, and as we look forward to a more hopeful 2014, let this be a New Year focused on Canadians, and not on political drama and scandal.