The initial steps taken by Brazil's first woman president, Dilma Rousseff, have confirmed that a stronger female presence will indeed be a hallmark of her administration.

After taking office on Jan. 1 and naming nine female ministers, a record in Brazil, Rousseff announced that her main social goal is to eradicate extreme poverty.

Rumbek — Police in Rumbek, the capital of Lakes state in Southern Sudan beat up women who wearing trousers and young men with long hair on Friday. Lakes state police in forcibly cut the hair of men with long hair and cut women's trousers while they were still wearing them.

Historically, violence against women has been used as a political weapon in Haiti. Since last year's devastating earthquake, experts say women and girls are even more vulnerable to gender based attacks. NY1's Shazia Khan filed the following report.
You don't have to speak Creole to understand the terror experienced by Maricia Jean, a victim of rape in Haiti in 1991.

Fabienne Doucet is haunted by the stories of the women and children she has met who are still living in camps one year after an earthquake reduced the island nation of Haiti to rubble.

Lafole — Fighters loyal to Al shabaab movement on Sunday detained 15 Somali women whom are accused of violating the movement's strict orders on women.

A witness has told Shabelle Radio that the apprehended are said to have worn light clothes whose bodies could be easily seen.

NAIROBI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Women living in areas controlled by Somalia's Islamists say they are increasingly the target of more draconian rules meted out by the rebels bent on enforcing their ideologies.

Militants in a town in war-torn southern Somalia have imposed an unthinkably harsh restriction on the women who live there by refusing to allow them to work, leaving many families destitute.

The Declaration on violence against women adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993 requires states to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and in accordance with national legislation punish acts of violence against women whether those acts are perpetrated by the state or private persons.

Women can be a major power in convincing Mideast leaders to agree to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace deal, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday as she urged regional leaders to embrace the rising expectations of their skyrocketing youth populations.

'Muslim women' have been used as symbolic pawns in the global war on terror as well as in national disputes between groups vying for political power. In India this was demonstrated most starkly during the 1980s in the Shah Bano case, which has since come to exemplify the potential conflict between religion, culture and women's rights.