Participation

The best places for women to live in Latin America and the Caribbean are Barbados and Cuba, according to a May report from Save the Children that looked at a variety of health, education, economic and political factors. The worst are Guatemala and Haiti.

South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who will be vying for the position of African Union (AU) Commission chairperson next week, says she is ready to take up the post and thinks a change is needed within the African bloc.

Majdah al-Fallah flashes a broad smile and pumps the hands of shoppers in downtown Tripoli as she works potential voters on the campaign trail ahead of Libya's landmark national assembly elections on Saturday.

When rich countries like the U.S., Japan, and NATO nations get together periodically to discuss the future of development funding for Afghanistan, who represents the interests of women and children who actually live there? Mostly men.

SECURICO, the company that Zimbabwe's Divine Ndhlukula started in her cottage in the late 1990s with four employees and very little capital, has become one of her country's largest security firms. According to her, perhaps the biggest barrier she had to face when she set it up was her gender.

Papua New Guinea enters its second week of elections, but with the only female MP in PNG retiring, there are fears no woman will be elected in her place.

Of the more than 3000 candidate, only 135 are women, a PNG record.

But outgoing Opposition Leader Dame Carol Kidu, argues that while women have equal opportunity to run, a lack of access to funding means they don't have equal opportunity to win.

The Women's League of Burma (WLB) told a Burmese government peacemaking delegation on Thursday in Bangkok that it wanted to hold a nationwide women's convention to discuss peace and reforms and the role of women in development.

WLB General-Secretary Tin Tin Nyo said a convention was needed to explore ways to bring more Burmese women into the peacemaking and reconciliation efforts of the country.

Participants of a national consultation have demanded representation of female political workers in all party ranks to ensure women's true participation in the political process.

Watch the video that accompanies this article.

The top United Nations envoy in Libya today stressed the importance of the equal participation of women in rebuilding the country, as he commended the number of women who have registered to vote and to stand for election in the upcoming legislative polls.

Some 2.7 million people in the North African nation have registered to vote for members of a new National Congress, which will be tasked with drafting a new constitution for Libya.