Participation

Women are running for congress in record numbers this year. Now that all candidates have been nominated for the November 6th elections, 18 women are running for Senate (the previous record was set in 2010 at 14), and 163 women are running for House seats (more than the 2004 record of 141).

Last night the East West Institute, a foreign policy think tank that promotes dialogue and understanding on security issues—these days, often with Afghanistan, Pakistan and other South Asian nations—held its annual awards dinner.

A former U.S. ambassador has announced a multimillion dollar pledge to support a landmark U.N. resolution calling for women to be included in decision-making positions at every level of peacemaking and peacebuilding.

While the world has made significant strides in expanding opportunity for women and girls, continued inequalities remain, particularly in the areas of women's political participation and economic opportunity. Growing bodies of evidence show that women's political and economic empowerment are critical to fostering international peace and security, growing vibrant market economies, and supporting open and accountable governance.

Nearly two years after the start of uprisings across the Arab world, Arab women are confronting the reality that toppling dictators was only the beginning of their fight for freedom and equality.

The conflict that Somalia endured for more than 20 years took a heavy toll on the women of the country who now look to the new government for hope of better times ahead.

At the onset of civil war in 1991, the men of Somalia killed one another as clans vied for power, while women were left to pick up the pieces and support their families.

"Women continue to play a major role in the efforts for peace. Women continue to be those peace builders; continue to promote the environment that enables all citizens to search for peace, maintain peace and use the security that peace brings to be able to join in the processes of development that will touch the lives and change the condition of humankind," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said.

Two years ago, Sierra Leone's government invited the women's movement to draw up a bill to usher in the quota system they had been demanding for the past 10 years. The women set about working tirelessly to draft and push through a bill stipulating that women should have a 30% representation in government and public decision-making spaces. It was to be a private members' bill that came from those demanding the change.

Proscovia Alengot Oromait has become Africa's youngest Member of Paliament (MP) at the age of 19, after she won the Usuk county election with 11,059 votes. The outspoken youngster replaces her father who died earlier this year.

Malawi President Joyce Banda and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf delivered blunt advice Monday to those seeking ways to translate the principle of gender equality into practice: “Listen to the women.”