women's empowerment

If someone would have told me five years ago that I’d be co-directing a website with a state representative, connecting with progressive women leaders from around the country, and going to conferences to speak on young women in politics in 2014, I would have started laughing hysterically. But this is my life today.

A state of emergency, streets paralyzed with protesters, the fatal shooting of a leading pro-government activist and an election campaign teetering on chaos may not sound like the script from a rising Southeast Asian economic powerhouse.

But for Thailand -- which manages to combine economic success and political mayhem in equal measure -- this weekend's elections are just another page in an eight-year struggle between supporters and opponents of Thaksin Shinawatra.

As President Obama delivered his fifth State of the Union address this past week, he may have had more female peers watching this time than any president in U.S. history. In fact, female heads of state are more common now than ever before -- the number has quadrupled since 1960 when Sri Lanka's Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the first elected female head of state in the modern world.

As world leaders met on a global stage for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this past week, it wasn’t hard to notice that something was missing. Women make up half of our planet’s population, yet this year only 15% of the attendees at one of the world’s most important gatherings of decision makers and influencers were female.

Women in government or representation of women in Parliament are often quite hard for many to accept in this country, however since the national general election is just around the corner, it is the right time to give it a focus again.

All alone, it seems that Solomon Islands government remained unconvinced of the need for women's participation in Parliament. 

Representation of women in Parliament is not a new issue, but is significantly critical to the economic development and the political stability of this country as well as balancing of leadership.

The latest ABC News/Washington Post survey showed Clinton polling at 53 percent among registered voters nationwide in the hypothetical matchup against Christie, who garnered 41 percent support.

It’s only been a few days, but already the crutches are getting on Kirsten Gillibrand’s last nerve. A mid-October misstep on the squash court has left the famously energetic senator with a torn calf muscle that prevents her from putting weight on her heel without grimacing.

Seated at a conference table in her Capitol Hill offices, she demonstrates, flexing her foot, clad in a black Toms flat (“The most comfortable shoes I own!”), and gesturing at the large Ace bandage swaddling her right leg.