women's empowerment

The Pacific region has the lowest level of representation of women in national legislatures, a tag that it would like to shake off.

But one woman who has made it into her national parliament is Charmaine Scotty.

She recently became only the second woman to win a seat in Nauru's assembly since independence in 1968.

We invite our users to read the full article published October 24, 2013

Hundreds of Paktia Province women October 23 rallied in Gardez to announce their intentions to actively participate in the upcoming elections next year.

"We will be voting for the candidates who could help us achieve our rights," civil society activist Anar Gula said.

Women's participation in the electoral process has increased in Afghanistan recently.

We invite our users to read the full article published October 24, 2013

The Cook Islands finance minister says interventions may be needed to fast track greater participation by women in politics.

Mark Brown is chairing the 12th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women, being held in the Cook Islands capital, Rarotonga, this week.

Two hundred delegates from across the region have gathered for the summit, which is focusing on the link between gender equality and successful development.

No less than 35 percent of the newly elected MPs in Zimbabwe are women, thanks to a special electoral quota system to increase women's representation in Parliament. At age 29, Tionei Melody Dziva is the youngest of them. She has a strong desire to uplift the lives of women and youths.

It's raining machismo in France. Chucking it down, in fact.

From parliament to local councils, via national media and regional newspapers, storms have erupted as French men indulge in misogynist outbursts that could have come from the cave age.

Now, thanks to the name-and-shame tactics of social media networks, France's long-suffering women, who might previously have shrugged off such attacks as everyday sexism and machismo, are hitting back.