Under Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year's maternity leave; that is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since Jul. 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had most of the rights that Western women do.

In an interview Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to NBC's Andrea Mitchell about women's rights and Middle East peace efforts.

Below is the complete transcript.

More than 4,000 girls took part in the second social, cultural and sportive festival for women commenced last Sunday at Bilquis Club. Attending the huge celebration was Prime Minister Mr. Ali Mohammed Mujawar, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Hamoud Obad, minister of Culture Mohammed al-Meflahi, Minister of State and Mayor of the Capital, Abdul-Rahman al-Akwa and several other Yemeni leaders.

An advance team for the first ever all-female contingent of police officers to UNAMID arrived in Khartoum from Namibia yesterday to begin preparations for their deployment to Darfur.

The 17 newly-arrived police officers are expected to be joined later this month by 13 others, all of whom will be conducting patrols in and around IDP camps and training local residents in community policing.

Eight years ago, I walked into the Nairobi office of the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness expecting a mildly helpful discussion of my project on women's property rights in Kenya. Ann Njogu, CREAW's director, was clearly very busy and a serious lawyer. Within minutes, I knew that she was also a passionate, forceful advocate.

Prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq, women working in the public and government sectors were entitled to receive a year's maternity leave under family laws enforced by the former Saddam Hussein leadership.

In the seven years since the US-led invasion which ousted Saddam, however, maternity leave has been cut to six months.

Donald Steinberg, Crisis Group's Deputy President for Policy, was recently named to the United Nations Civil Society Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security.

The Congolese conflict is considered the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, and the deadliest since World War II. Since 1998, more than six million people have died as a result of this war. Over two million people have been forced to flee their homes, and some 400,000 Congolese have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been kidnapped, raped, and tortured.

On average women constitute 18.8 percent of representatives in parliaments across the world according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). This gender imbalance has been subject to much feminist criticism and many campaigns for change have been staged to address the status quo. The situation is however different in Rwanda.