Participation

Pakistan's tribal areas are not known for female empowerment. The Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) which borders Afghanistan is an ultra-conservative region where women are mostly uneducated, and rarely leave the house without their husbands, if at all.

Women all over the developing world face harassment, threats, and abuse on a daily basis. The brutal gang rape of a young medical student in New Delhi last December ignited India, and the rest of the world, leading to mass protests for women's rights and demands for safer cities for all.

Colombian actress and social rights activist Patricia Ariza came to campus to speak to a full house of USF students and faculty, and other visitors about her unique movement for women's rights in Colombia.

Hon. Dr. Priscilla Joseph Kuch, Deputy Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare for the Republic of South Sudan, views violence against women as one of the major obstacles to the country's development.

Distanced physically from the conflicts and challenges that plague their nations, United Methodist women from Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Mozambique recently explored their roles as women peace-builders.

In a partnership with OneVoice association, Roles for Social Change Association (ADWAR) implemented a preparatory workshop in the association's hall with a participation of 15 women from Hebron district. The workshop is included "women of influence" project that OneVoice association implements in all the Palestinian districts.

Both International Women's Day and Egyptian Women's Day take place in March. The latter commemorates the day in 1919 when women staged their first demonstration in the country's history. That revolution saw women wave small flags as they called for freedom and independence, shouting slogans against the British occupation. Several of them were killed in the demonstration.

It was Ghanaian leader and pan-Africanist Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah who, paraphrasing Matthew 6:33, said, “Seek ye first the political kingdom, and all else shall be added unto you.”

This principle must have guided the many women who vied for various elective posts in the first General Election under the 2010 Constitution. Yet in the end, of the 290 MPs, only 16 women were elected.

As many as 14 women politicians from Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Timor Leste called for bigger and better female political representation and participation in Southeast Asia. The call was made during the regional Women's Leadership Forum Promoting Women's Representation in Southeast Asia held in Kuta over the weekend.

Women in the Balkans are leading a political revolution.

Historically given little say in the politics of the conservative region, they are increasingly taking top leadership posts, signaling that the traditional rules are changing as Balkan countries shake off their war pasts and move toward membership in the European Union.