Following the Pentagon's March 17 release of its latest sexual assault statistics, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) delivered a speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives decrying rape in the military. Congresswoman Speier stated, "Read my lips, the military must end rape in this country.

On Wednesday, Representatives Mike Turner (R-OH) and Niki Tsongas (D-MA) introduced the Defense STRONG (Sexual Trauma Response, Oversight and Good Governance) Act that would increase the legal rights and protections for service members who have experienced sexual assault during their military service. The bill would provide victims with the right to legal counsel and would allow them to relocate to another military base.

The Saudi government's refusal to let women vote in municipal elections in September 2011 unlawfully deprives women of their rights to full and equal status under the law, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the election committee to allow women to vote and to run for seats on the municipal councils.

Despite its political and financial stability, India lags behind all other South Asian countries in making laws to protect the rights of home-based workers, said Sapna Joshi.

In Afghanistan's Herat province, the chief prosecutor general has a difficult job.

Fighting for justice against a profoundly corrupt political system is an uphill struggle, but for Maria Bashir the challenge is all the more acute.

It is a society that is still trying to shake off the worst excesses of the Taliban's patriarchal rule and being a woman in a position of power is not only rare, it is dangerous.

In a speech at Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman, Sudan, on April 9, USAID Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg announced a new USAID global grant program to increase the substantive involvement of women in peace processes.

Stung by fresh US criticism of its ability to defeat the Taliban on the Afghan border, Pakistan is turning to women in its latest bid to quell the terror threat and reduce poverty.

The government's Benazir Income Support Programme is designating $750 million, nearly half from US coffers, to create jobs and alleviate poverty by providing women with funds for food, health and training in the tribal belt.

The Minister of State for Women's Affairs in the federal government revealed on Monday forming a joint committee with the Ministry of Culture to develop a joint work plan and identify mechanisms for its application, pointing out that she discussed with the Minister of Culture , mechanisms to broaden the participation of women in order to access the decision-making positions in cultural institutions.

Uzbek authorities recently held a roundtable to discuss increasing the participation of women in political life, the Uzbekistan Daily news web site UzDaily.com reported on Monday.

The event put parliamentary deputies together with representatives of the Central Election Commission and political experts.