In 1799, the French artist Vivant Denon, accompanying a team of scientists traveling to Egypt with Napoleon (who excused his invasion with the logic that he was bringing democracy to the Arabs) was touring some ancient sites along the upper Nile when he came across an 8-year-old girl in severe pain.

Iranian Ambassador Mashallah Shakiri has said that Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) has great role in women development in Pakistan. He was speaking in the campus, after the meeting of Iranian delegation with LCWU's management.

Female voices rang out loud and clear during massive protests that brought down the authoritarian rule of Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

Women in Tunisia are unique in the Arab world for enjoying near equality with men. And they are anxious to maintain their status.

In Tunis, old ladies, young girls and women in black judges robes marched down the streets demanding that the dictator leave.

When the former Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, convened the first meeting of the new UN women's rights agency, UN Women, in late January, she declared that ending violence against women would be a major priority. Marian Aggrey assesses progress and setbacks in the UN 10-year effort to empower women in peacemaking and outlaw rape as a weapon of war.

The United Nations (UN) Women, the newest UN entity, said on Tuesday that it will be working together with governments, women and other associations and stakeholders by focusing on four priority areas to ensure women's equality and their empowerment in the community they live.

Progress has been made toward quelling mass rapes by armed combatants in Congo, but the U.N. peacekeeping mission is still needed in the African nation and requires more helicopters to do its job, the U.N. envoy to the African country told the Security Council Monday.

"We know that the African Union summit is still very masculine but we are trying to bring in the voices of women," said Gertrude Mongella, former president of the Pan-African parliament, explaining the rationale behind the shadow summit organised by the Gender is my Agenda Campaign (Gimac) in Addis Ababa on 24-26 January.

The UN Security Council on Monday called on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to strengthen efforts to prosecute perpetrators of human rights and sexual abuses.

Brazilian UN Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, who holds the rotating Security Council presidency for February, made the statement to reporters here.

If there were any doubts concerning the impact of her Presidency in the African political arena, the President's interventions at all levels of the political equation, could provide a clearer perspective of the influence the 1st elected female President of Africa continues to wield throughout Africa and beyond.

In order to ensure gender-sensitive civic and voter registration in the lead up to and during the polling in January, UN Women provided substantive support to the Government of South Sudan, the SSRC, the South Sudan Referendum Bureau (SSRB) as well as to 37 civil society organizations in the region.