Participation

For more than 30 years, the subject of political reform in most of the Middle East was largely a part of covert debates. In little more than 30 days, however, it has forcibly entered the realm of the overt.

Is the new boss the same as the old boss?

As protest rolls through the public squares of the Middle East one of more unusual sights is women standing shoulder to shoulder with men, risking their freedom and their lives.

Building the capacity of national police personnel to protect women's rights is the focus of a three-day OSCE-supported workshop that opened today in Tashkent.

On the eve of President Obama's first trip to South America, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sang praises to the region, saying it had ushered in a period of steady economic growth while consolidating its transformation from dictatorships to democracy.

Here is the paradox. In one hand, we have ladies leading our countries and on the other hand, we are not even letting others see the face of the earth. Based on the declining sex ratio, a recent study has predicted that by 2020 India will experience twenty percent more males than females! This is the worst possible discrimination that we can inflict on women. We are denying them their right to be born!

As the youth-led Freedom Movement of 2011 spreads rapidly across the Middle East and around the world, one can only wonder what would be happening in Iraq today if the U.S. had not invaded eight years ago. What does the movement portend for the rights of women in other nations, such as Tunisia and in the United States?

A new report shows gains for women's rights across most of North Africa and the Middle East. But not in Iraq. The country with a large US military presence for so many years is actually backsliding when it comes to overall conditions for women.

Author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses the challenges facing Afghan businesswomen.

Kai Ryssdal: Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with his NATO colleagues on Afghanistan today. There's too much talk about leaving Afghanistan, Gates said, not enough talk about getting the job done right.