Participation

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with partner Heartland Alliance International has been strengthening the leadership of grassroots women in Haiti to engage in and advocate for redevelopment with the vision of a country where women participate in home, public and economic life free from the threat of harassment and violence.

Women face greater odds in achieving equal political representation in the Pacific Islands than in any other region of the world, holding just 3 percent of seats in national parliaments, compared to 20 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa and 18.5 percent in South East Asia.

The first assembly of Ethiopian Women's Federation was held in Adama, in Oromia Regional State at the weekend. Speaking at the opening Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Demeke Mekonnen, noted the significant contribution women continue to have in the country's new phase of development and their significant role in the on-going efforts to maintain peace, speed up development and build democracy in Ethiopia.

In a protest action organised by Avaaz.org and Sonke Gender Justice Network, gender equality activists from across Cape Town will gather outside the Houses of Parliament to call on the South African Government to commit to one billion rand a year to fund effective strategies to prevent violence against women, including a grassroots public education campaign to end the cycle of violence against women.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Demeke Mekonnen said women have significantly contributed in the efforts to enable the country enter a new development phase.

Park Geun-hye made history Monday by becoming South Korea's first female president, pledging to secure South Korea against the threat of an increasingly hostile North Korea at the same time as mending bridges with Pyongyang.

Saira Shakeeb Sadat wants her district, Khwaja Dukoh, to change. Surrounded by mud walls, the dusty hamlet in the remote northern Afghan province of Jawzjan is home to about 5,000 families. The isolation means security is good here, but little aid has reached the town.

But Sadat wants to make a difference, and now she has her chance: last month she was appointed Afghanistan's first female district governor.

The Kenyan constitution of 2010 requires that a women's representative be elected in each of Kenya's 47 counties during the next general election, which takes place on March 4. The requirement highlights the under-representation of women in Kenya's government.

By John Baimba Sesay (Press Attaché in China)

A women's parliamentary caucus in South Sudan's border state of Warrap has called for enactment of laws which upholds and respect women's rights and protects them from domestic violence, asserting that across the country women still faced considerable challenges.