A New Zealand MP Carmel Sepuloni says it's a continuing battle to improve the abysmal numbers of women in Pacific Island parliaments, but hope is on the horizon.

Pacific women MPs and candidates who haven't succeeded in recent elections have gathered in Wellington this week to discuss female representation in politics.

Egyptian women played a critical role in the revolutionary protests that brought down former president Hosni Mubarak last month. But as Egypt transitions toward a new government, questions are being raised about whether women will gain a stronger role in politics.

Colombian NGOs have condemned the "high level" of violence against black, indigenous and poor women in a country where the female body has become a "battleground", W Radio reported Friday.

This was the message from the first presentation of the Support and Defense of Women's Human Rights in Colombia Round Table.

The FWCC's Gender Training of Trainers continued into its second and last week yesterday in Pacific Harbour with the training facilitated by world reknowned and Australia based Gender Trainer Dr Juliet Hunt.

Hunt's teaching is aimed at strengthening the skills of current gender trainers to:

Last week the U.S. Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it was investigating a Title IX complaint filed by 16 former and current Yale students: 12 female and 4 male students.

Israeli troops stormed a village near near Nablus early Thursday, arresting more than 100 women as they hunted the killers of an Israeli family, local officials said.

Hundreds of troops entered Awarta shortly after midnight and imposed a curfew after which they began rounding up the women, local council head Tayis Awwad told AFP.

Fiji Women's Crisis Centre hopes to create a society where people are aware of gender equality.

FWCC national co-ordinator Shamima Ali said women would enjoy their rights like men if there was gender equality.

Ms Ali said the centre was hopeful that trainers in gender equality would be able to work with various communities in their home countries and create awareness to ensure women enjoy their rights.

Congolese men and women have different views on sexual violence said Jocelyn Kelly, research coordinator for the Women in War program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative who presented research at Simmons March 29.

Kelly recently returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she investigated genesis, patterns, effects, mitigating and preventative factors around sexual violence.

University of Namibia students are participating in a range of activities to create awareness on the need to stamp out gender-based violence after research showed that the problem - which has become an acknowledged social challenge in the country - exists at their institution.

Many countries are celebrating growing numbers of women in political life, however the Pacific Islands continue to have the poorest level of women's participation in municipal governance. The International Women's Development Agency reports on their efforts to change this.