Large numbers of women have been raped, sexually assaulted, beaten and abducted in Ivory Coast, according to a humanitarian aid organization.

The International Rescue Committee [IRC] is calling on the international community to “ramp up” support programs for victims of gender-based violence [GBV] “to address the needs of the humanitarian disaster.”

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says that a women-sponsored legislation calling for the enactment into law the reservation of 30% legislative and political positions for women is unnecessary.

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) representative Shadia Yousif Bakhait said on Saturday that women could help reduce poverty in the country by utilising their abilities in different sectors.

The president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society heard many questions about her country from Nova Scotia students this week.

The majority were about the future women face in Afghanistan, Fatima Gailani said Thursday.

Back in 1960, Sri Lanka made headlines across the globe when it became the first country to elect a female leader. This could have been the start of a promising future for Sri Lankan women in politics. Instead it became painfully obvious that Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her daughter after her were only able to reach such a position through their family connections.

The UN recently reported that a staggering 50 percent of Haitian women and girls living in the displacement camps in Haiti after the tragic February 2010 earthquake have been sexually assaulted.

The crisis engulfing the Middle East and North Africa shows that greater citizen participation and better governance are crucial for economic development and the World Bank will do more to emphasize both, says World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick.

The raw courage demonstrated by Eman al-Obeidy in persisting in telling her story of alleged repeated gang rape and torture in Libya is helping to change the dialogue in Libya and the Middle East about the use of sexual violence as a weapon of repression.

On 20 March, the day before the Mother's Day holiday in Lebanon, 30,000 people of all ages took the streets of Beirut chanting slogans and demanding the abolition of the country's confessional system. This was the latest in a series of demonstrations that began on 27 February with 3,000 young people committed to demonstrating each Sunday for a secular Lebanon that guarantees equal rights for all its citizens.

Glued simultaneously to the TV, Blackberry, laptop, and my own windows, I watched Arab politics come back to life just a few short weeks ago. As someone who has devoted her life to promoting women's human rights and political participation, I continue to rejoice at the role women are playing in the ongoing revolutions spreading across the Arab world.