PORT-AU-PRINCE - First, Maria Sonia Salon, 56, lost her husband to the earthquake one year ago that leveled much of her poor neighborhood. Then, she was raped in the camp where she moved with her three children.

"It was 10 o'clock at night, and three men did that to me. One was big and dirty and smelled so bad," Salon told AFP.

THE year 2010 began with a political showdown on the side of women, especially those in the opposition. On January 18, the Police arrested 33 women from the Inter-party cooperation (IPC) who had stormed the Electoral Commission (EC) offices demanding the resignation of commission chairman Eng. Badru Kiggundu and his team.

The participation of female students in Edi Elementary School, Central Denkalia, has shown growth by 25%, according to Mr. Bedewi Idris, the director of the school.

He said that the modern school has provided vital impetus to raising the number of students in general and females in particular to pursue education. The school is admitting students from the surrounding villages of Karum, Abol and Antata'in, the director added.

Pregnant mothers in Bel'ubui administrative area, Southern Red Sea region, are now able to regularly make medical checkups and give birth at health stations thanks to the construction of health institutions, stated Mr. Ali Idris, a nurse in the center.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina– The Women's Democracy Network (WDN) along with the International Republican Institute (IRI) organized a two-day multi-party democratic governance training in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for newly-elected female members of the national and both entities' (Federation and Republika Srpska) parliament (BiH's governmental structure includes different legislatures to guarantee representation of Bosn

If the world's largest democracies have ensured equality since decades, can we now write a constitution which promotes discrimination? What is the point of 33% women's representation in the CA, if our voices are ignored? What is the point of a new constitution that does not guarantee equality to more than half of its population?

Director General of the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) Gro Brundtland has urged African countries to pay more attention to pregnancy safety.

Speaking in Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique, Brundtland said African women faced the highest danger of death during pregnancy or whilst giving birth compared to all other women in the world.

In Block 08, an anonymous sand coloured building in Helmand's Police HQ, seven veiled figures play out each afternoon their very own drama of the No 1 Afghan Ladies Police Academy.

The women, aged from 18 to 33, are the first recipients of a new scholarship to train as female police officers. At present there are less than 20 serving female officers in the Afghan police in Helmand.

Women need to take their place alongside men to help build peace across the world, human rights activist Dr Sima Samar has said.

Last week Dr Samar won the 2010 Tipperary International Peace Prize and the judging panel said she risked her life to fight for the rights of women and girls in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Free trade, weak government and rising religious fundamentalism made Indonesian women's lives more miserable last year, the Indonesian Women Coalition said.

Fluctuating prices of food commodities, such as chillies, have born extra burdens for women, as many in Indonesia are still traditionally responsible for preparing meals for their families, the coalition said in the notes of its 2010 review, made available over the weekend.