Participation

Four recent cases of women slain allegedly at the hand of either a husband or father have prompted women and human rights groups to demand tougher Palestinian laws against domestic violence.

Several female activists marched through the streets of Bethlehem on Thursday demanding justice for women in a patriarchal and traditional society. They also demanded severe punishment for men who kill or batter a female family member.

“The daily toil and toll of keeping and making peace can challenge even the most persevering among us,” Secretary Teresita “Ging” Quintos Deles, of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp), has said.

On the first of her two-day visit to Senegal, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Wednesday hailed the increasing role of women in the country's politics, especially the election of 65 women into its 150-member National Assembly (parliament), PANA reported from here.

National Executive Secretariat of the ruling party's female wing, OMA, has appealed to all Angolan women to effectively participate in the electoral process, including casting the vote on August 31.

On a message, in the ambit of the African Women's Day (July 31), OMA congratulates all African women, manifesting its profound recognition for their contribution to the cause of reconstruction and development.

Since South Sudan's independence on 9 July 2011, the positive role that women played in the independence struggle barely features in development policy discourse. As in many post-conflict situations in Africa, despite their active role in bringing peace and independence, women tend to fade into the background when official peace negotiations begin and when the consolidation of peace and rebuilding of the economy become formal ventures.

Despite legislation designed to secure gender equality, women rarely make it beyond deputy positions in the Tajik government, and instead remain stuck in the lower ranks or hit a glass ceiling after reaching middle management.

Tajikistan has no female cabinet ministers, though the state committee for women and family affairs is headed by a woman.

The year 2012 has thus far proved promising for the African woman's status within public bodies following the recent election of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as African Union Commission Chair.

It is a clear sign that women are rising more and more above their circumstances.

At a news conference by the “My Nationality Is a Right for Me and My Family” campaign and the National Alliance for Legislating the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence in Beirut, the Lebanese women participating in the event seemed to struggle to voice their cause in a way their government might understand.

United States Ambassador to Jamaica Pamela Bridgewater is hoping that more Jamaican women will take a greater role in representational politics as the nation continues its shared drive with South Africa to provide a better life for all.

Bridgewater used her previous experience as consul general in South Africa to point out that the governments of the 'Rainbow Nation' and Jamaica had similar philosophies.

South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was elected on Sunday to become the first female head of the African Union (AU) Commission, ending a bruising leadership battle that had threatened to divide and weaken the organization.