Women in Southeast Asian countries are urged to play more role in the government sector as an effort towards equality to men, ASEAN Foundation Executive Chairman Makarim Wibisono said here on Wednesday.

“My sole motive is to serve my people, especially women who have had no role in politics so far. I feel we can make progress only by bringing in women into mainstream politics.”

In Egypt, women's rights groups are pushing back against some Islamists' attempts to blame women for an upsurge in sexual harassment.

Post-revolution, the number of women reporting sexual harassment and violence has skyrocketed. So, too, it appears, has the tendency to blame women for the assaults against them.

The Taliban may have placed a ban on theatre, but women in Pakistan's northern provinces won't allow the threat of the militants' reprisals to keep them off the stage.

Since the beginning of January 2012, an insurgent group has been fighting with the Mali government for the independence of northern Mali, an area known as Azawad. This group, formally known as National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and also referred to as Tuareg nationalists, joined forces with Islamist rebels. By using their combined forces, they gained control of northern Mali in the spring 2012.

Around 95 representatives from civil societies and governments from Southeast Asian countries namely Indonesia, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and the Philippines call on more participation of women in corruption eradication programs.

The statement was made during the Southeast Asia Regional Conference held in Jakarta here on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Yair Lapid on Friday appointed Yael Andorn to be the next Finance Ministry director-general. Andorn, who was previously deputy director of the ministry's budget department, will be the first woman ever to fill the position, replacing current director-general Doron Cohen.

The cell was small with iron bars across the door. Three women, all naked, were chained to each corner. Nour was stripped, taken to the fourth, and handcuffed to the wall.

Every day, for more than 60 days, Nour says she and the other prisoners were raped in one of Syria's most notorious detention centres. Some of her attackers at the Palestine Branch of Military Intelligence in Damascus were in uniform, others in civilian clothes.

The Somali government plans to move displaced people to more secure camps in the capital Mogadishu and set up military courts to tackle “rampant” rape, a senior United Nations official said Thursday.

The U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura, said the government must also build confidence in the judicial system so that more women come forward to report rape.

The male tormentor of the young women of the Madiyav slum did not spot the danger until it was too late. One moment he was taunting them with sexual suggestions and provocations; the next they had hold of his arms and legs and had hoisted him into the air.