Participation

Oxfam International has vowed support for women in Sierra Leone to fully participate in governance. This disclosure was made by the Programme Director of Oxfam, Madam Penny Lawrence while addressing newsmen on Friday 10th June 2011 at the Oxfam Head Office on Wilkinson Road in Freetown. According to Mrs.

It will be difficult to enforce the requirement that a third of elected officials be women, the interim electoral commission has said.

This could spark a constitutional crisis because the new Constitution demands that at least a third of MPs representing the 290 proposed constituencies after the next elections be women.

As the first Muslim woman to be appointed to head the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Azizah al-Hibri, a Lebanese-American lawyer and prominent human rights activist, has an uphill battle in front of her.

South Asia may boast a number of women leaders and be home to cultures that revere motherhood and worship female deities, but many women live with the threat of appalling violence and without many basic rights.

A lot has been said about President Museveni's new Cabinet choices. Some names have attracted criticism while others have been praised. In explaining his choices, the President made mention of a “cross-generation” Cabinet that was picked on the basis of unity, mobilisation ability and expertise.

Women in southern Africa will soon move a step closer to having equal rights and opportunities with men when a regional gender protocol is ratified in the coming weeks.

Half of the 15 member states of the Southern African Development Community have already ratified the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.

The internationally-acclaimed street artist Shepard Fairey has created a captivating new design exclusively for Amnesty International in its 50th year to support its global call to defend the rights of women and girls in Nicaragua.

Women have won hard-fought rights in Afghanistan since the austere rule of the Taliban was ended by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001.

But gains made in areas such as education, work and even dress code look shaky as the government plans peace talks that include negotiating with the Taliban. Below are some questions and answers about women's rights in Afghanistan today.

Afghanistan's women are among the most oppressed in the world. Under Taliban-rule, they were denied education, married off as children, and honour killings were considered a family's right.

Coalition forces have been in Afghanistan now for almost 10 years, denying the Taliban the right to govern. So how has life changed for Afghan women?

There are 2000 students at Bamiyan University and women now make up 20 percent.

Feminists and activists criticized the absence of women in Prime Minister Najib Mikati's new Cabinet Monday.

At a time when women's issues have gained momentum in Lebanon, with the approval of several legal amendments toward women's rights, activists described the new Cabinet as a step back for gender equality.