Participation

In El Salvador in 1930, the first female president in all of Latin America was elected. Her name was Prudencia Ayala and she led the way in history to proclaim the equality of rights. Twenty years after that declaration, the government, in 1950, granted full equality for both sexes in El Salvador.

Yet, equality hasn't brought peace to the women of El Salvador.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a joint Nobel Peace Prize winner as a champion for women's rights, whose steely nerves have been tested at the helm of a deeply divided post-war Liberia.

Africa's first elected female president has won a second term in office, and the 73-year-old grandmother's task is not getting any easier as a disputed election showed her country remains polarised.

Gender Specialist at the Sierra Leone Conference on Transformation and Development (SLCDT), Madam Naasu Fofanah has stated that one of the resolutions of the Women of Sierra Leone for the Transformative Conference slated to kick off this morning was a clarion call for the Government of Sierra Leone to establish a “Women's Commission” that will promote the advancement of women and girls in Sierra Leone.

A South Sudanese women's alliance on Wednesday said the National Constitution Review Commission (NCRC) did not fully represent their interests after its swearing ceremony on Tuesday.

A new action plan opens far-reaching possibilities to improve the security of women and the world. With some caution, women's peace advocates plan to monitor its implementation.

With increased pressure for a U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and potential peace talks with the Taliban, many Afghan women fear their newfound rights could be jeopardized.

Women's rights activists in the Kurdistan region are demanding greater representation in the new Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) cabinet, saying despite a quota that sets aside 25 percent of parliamentary seats for women, female leaders do not have enough power.

The issues surrounding women joining the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have always attracted academic and social attention, which has aimed to understand the roots of why women have such a strong presence in the mountains.

Speech by Ms. Lakshmi Puri Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director UN Women at the initial consultations on the Zero Draft of the Rio+20 Outcome Document, New York, 25 January 2012.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dr Marilyn Wyatt, wife of US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron P.Munter on Saturday appreciated the legislation done by Pakistan's parliament especially related to women for their empowerment and to give them due rights and for their protection.