women's empowerment

Rwanda's parliament is now almost two-thirds female, while Malawi, Liberia and Senegal have women at the helm. Western feminists, take note.

What would have once sounded like a far-fetched feminist fantasy – namely women forming the majority of a parliament – is a reality in one country in the world, Rwanda.

Early reports from the parliamentary elections last Monday indicate that women now hold nearly 64% of the seats. Prior to the genocidal conflict in 1994, the figure was just 18%.

Women voters were prevented from participating in the by-elections taking place in the Union Council Kari Shamuzi NA-25 earlier today, Express News reported.

The reason behind this is not yet known.

There are 308 polling stations where voting will take place till 5 pm.

There have been similar previous incidents in the past when women were prevented to vote. Not a single woman could cast her vote in NA-103 Hafizabad during the by-elections in August.

On Sept. 11, a story broke about a female student taken into custody at one of the most prestigious universities of Turkey, Middle East Technical University (METU). Ezgi Ozen and her friends were protesting a government road project that may destroy 3,000 trees on the METU campus and nearby neighborhoods. Another protester was able to shoot a video of Ozen being handcuffed and escorted to police vehicles. The video shows an officer yelling, “If she resists, her arm will be broken.” Unarmed and relatively small, could Ozen really have “resisted” the police?

Continuing the celebrations marking ten years of uninterrupted peace, the women of Liberia presented a five-count resolution to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf highlighting their plight and how they can be resolved for the common good of Liberian women and girls.

The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, on Tuesday urged more Nigerian women to vie for elective positions in 2015.

Dame Jonathan said this in Owerri in a message to the inauguration of Coordinators of Women for Change and Development Initiative (W4CDI) ,  her pet project.

The First Lady was represented by Dr Rabi Ibrahim, the National Coordinator of W4CDI.

We invite you to read the full article published September 17, 2013

There have been quite a few woman sarpanches — elected heads villages — in India. But, arguably there have been few like Chhavi Rajawat, the current sarpanch of Soda village in Rajasthan, who left a corporate job to help her ancestral village develop. Ms. Rajawat, who has a management degree, quit her post at Airtel, one of the country’s biggest telecom providers, to bring safe water, power, toilets and education to the village in the western Indian state where she spent part of her childhood.

Myanmar needs to change its constitution as fast as possible to put the country firmly on the path to democracy, Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the country's democratic opposition Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in last year's parliamentary by-elections, giving her a seat in parliament.

But the 68-year old faces a tough challenge to have the constitution changed to push on with reforms and to allow her to run for presidency in 2015.

2023 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. The symbolism of this date has led to 2023 being set as the “deadline” for many financial, political, and social targets. However, any growth needs to be social for it to be sustainable.

The fundamental question is how to prevent, prosecute, and eliminate violence against women. As long as violence against women is widespread and accepted, there can be no genuine mention of gender equality.