Participation

The Ministry for the Status of Women and Women's Rights is not idle. The Minister, Marie Yanick Mézile multiplies the actions and intensify its efforts to enable girls and women to enjoy the same rights and privileges as men.

A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer was returned to prison on Monday, unexpectedly curtailing a three-day temporary leave to visit her family, which was expected to be extended.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has been serving a six-year prison sentence since September 2010, was granted her first furlough from Tehran's Evin Prison on 17 January on production of a hefty bail.

These are what true women warriors look like. Mujeres de la Guerra, Historias de El Salvador (documentary, book, photography) highlights 28 women leaders in El Salvador telling their stories of participating in the Salvadoran civil war and their continued work for justice and peace today.

This past Saturday marked three years since Haiti was stuck by a devastating earthquake. There is a place in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, called Cité Soleil. It means Sun City, and it is the poorest place, most dangerous place to live in this hemisphere.

The Women in Public Service Institute at Bryn Mawr College is a two-week program for emerging women leaders from post-conflict countries organized by Bryn Mawr and co-sponsored by Bryn Mawr, the U.S. State Department, and the Wilson Center as part of the Women in Public Service Project (WPSP).

Without a doubt, the inevitable fall of the murderous Iranian regime of Ayatollahs will be brought about by the female fighters.

The Iranian Resistance is mainly composed of women, and not surprisingly its President, Maryam Rajavi, is a woman. This is a thorn in the side of the cruel religious regime, and which is why they have further exacerbated the repression of women.

Due to recent media attention painting a negative picture on certain incidents related to women's rights issues in Libya which are undermining the progress that has been made in this area, I would like to highlight some positive progress.

This progress that has been made has not only been in the visible changes, but also the changes achieved in mentality and the importance of women's inclusion in decision-making.

On 26 November, WILPF's Yemeni partners, HRITC, ran the second workshop in a series in our MENA 1325 project focusing on women, peace and security in the Arab uprisings. About 60 people attended the workshop and at least a third was men.

As the euphoria over the US elections settles, another vote (far less in the media spotlight) is taking place. On 17 November, Sierra Leone will hold its third multi-party election since the end of the civil war, 10 years ago.

No matter what one thinks, or in what color one tries to see the appointment of Fawzia Yusuf Haji Adam as the first woman Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Somalia it is the historical significance of a woman reaching this far in tribal-based Muslim society, where women are seen only as an appendage if not indeed a property to their menfolk, that should not escape any conscientious person's attention.