Participation

The Gender Research and Documentation Centre and the Political Science Departments of the University of Sierra Leone in collaboration with the 50/50 Group of Sierra Leone will formally launch a research project on interrogating young women's political participation in post-war Sierra Leone on 6 June 2011 at the Mary Kingsley Theatre, Fourah Bay College in Freetown.

Among the issues facing women in southern Sudan are high rates of poverty, illiteracy and maternal mortality. Bringing those numbers down by 2015 is the aim of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs.

Daniel Gérard Rouzier, the Prime Minister-designate, met last Friday with feminist activists worried about remarks and rumors reported by the local press on the possible disappearance of the Ministry for Women and Women's Rights (MCFDF) and the creation, in lieu of a Directorate of Women Affairs in the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The hullabaloo about councillors with challenges in taking oaths of office in English reminds me of Mr Adeel, a technician I met in Khartoum 29 years ago.

Since the beginning of the Arab Spring – starting with the unrest in Tunisia in early January – questions have been raised about the role of women in the uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East.

Photography of demonstrations in Egypt's Tahrir Square reveals the presence of women of all ages. The same appears to be true in other parts of Egypt, and in Tunisia, Syria, and Bahrain.

The day Fawzia Koofi was born, her parents, disappointed she wasn't a boy, left her to fry in the sun. It was a cruel introduction to the world, but Koofi was not deterred. She says she has faced every challenge her country has thrown at her and is still willing to die for a country that's threatened to kill her from day one.

Sakena Yacoobi has worked tirelessly to educate the women of Afghanistan. Now, she hopes to bring some of them to Saskatoon.

A program designed to pair Afghan women with Saskatchewan mentors is underway and despite the hurdles, organizers are hoping to launch the project this fall.

Women are big winners in the cabinet appointed on Friday. The number of women ministers rose from 16 in the last cabinet to 22 in the new one.

Women now constitute 28% of the ministers. If the vacant post of Minister of State for East African Affairs is filled by a woman, the percentage will rise to 30%.

As Iraqis meet to talk about creating an interim authority to govern their country, they will need to overcome divisive ethnic, religious, tribal and political barriers. Experience elsewhere shows that one sure way to achieve the necessary consensus and compromise is to involve women extensively.

Women entrepreneurs have demanded incentives and tax breaks in the Federal Budget 2011-12, saying that progress can only be achieved by providing equal opportunities to the 52 percent of the population of the country.